Motorola XTS2500 (display & lights)

[Danny37]

I got one of these radios from a member here and was informed that it was a military surplus radio with a dim lighting display and keypad. Is there anyway to restore it to its default settings?

Do I just buy one of these and swap it out?
Motorola OEM XTS2500 KeyPad Board for Model III Portables 0104026J98 *NIP* | eBay

Appreciate the help in advance.

 

[K2NEC]

Honestly I am not sure. But I have seen a few of those radios recently and have wondered myself. I didn't see a setting to just lower the display level so I think it might be the actual display and keypad that have dim LED's. Which if that is the case then yes a new keypad and LCD should do the trick. But get a second opinion first.

 

[XTS3000]

Those Military surplus radios are actually Military STOLEN radios. When they were stolen about 10 years ago, some camera shop in New York were selling some of them on eBay. I bought one, unknown they were stolen Military property. I found out they were stolen when NCIS (yes just like the TV show of the same name) when 2 NCIS agents showed up at my door! Ding-dong goes my doorbell, looked at my backdoor camera and seen a woman at the door and a guy hiding where only the security camera could see him. He had a gun clearly visible on his side hip. I yelled through my door “hello”, the lady’s response was “this is NCIS, I need to talk to you now!”. I let them in and that’s when I found out I bought stolen Military property on eBay. I was interviewed for well over an hour and they took the radio and everything that came with it. NCIS was fairly informed about these stolen radios, but not completely informed. These radios had options H02 and H04 (remote stun and remote kill). These NCIS agents kept asking about the iButton which is used to un-stun radios that have been stunned. I didn’t get this iButton with the radio.

What NCIS was misinformed about these radios was the H02/H04 options. They thought these radios could stun or kill other Military equipment like radars, air craft carriers, you name it! Needless to say, they confiscated the XTS2500 and gave me a receipt for everything they took. I still have this receipt. Paid $850 for the radio, and now I had nothing.... Fast forward 6 months, I checked my paypal account and the $850 was refunded!! Wow, I was shocked because that was well past their “refund time frame”. I didn’t request this refund, but over joyed getting my money back.

There were many people like myself who got visited by NCIS and had their radios confiscated. One guy, I believe, in the state of Washington went to his local TV station about stolen items being sold on eBay. This TV station aired a special report about stolen items being sold on eBay. This video may still be on YouTube.

To the OP, that dim keypad also contains the radios AES-255 UCM. If you replace it with a normal keypad, you loose the AES-256. I would research if NCIS is still hunting down these stolen radios before spending any money on a different keypad. The dim keypad and display are 3 SMT resistors that need to be changed to bring it back to normal brightness, including the top red/green LED. Sorry, I don’t have any info what resistors need to be changed.

Good luck

 

[Ant9270]

Those Military surplus radios are actually Military STOLEN radios. When they were stolen about 10 years ago, some camera shop in New York were selling some of them on eBay. I bought one, unknown they were stolen Military property. I found out they were stolen when NCIS (yes just like the TV show of the same name) when 2 NCIS agents showed up at my door! Ding-dong goes my doorbell, looked at my backdoor camera and seen a woman at the door and a guy hiding where only the security camera could see him. He had a gun clearly visible on his side hip. I yelled through my door “hello”, the lady’s response was “this is NCIS, I need to talk to you now!”. I let them in and that’s when I found out I bought stolen Military property on eBay. I was interviewed for well over an hour and they took the radio and everything that came with it. NCIS was fairly informed about these stolen radios, but not completely informed. These radios had options H02 and H04 (remote stun and remote kill). These NCIS agents kept asking about the iButton which is used to un-stun radios that have been stunned. I didn’t get this iButton with the radio.

What NCIS was misinformed about these radios was the H02/H04 options. They thought these radios could stun or kill other Military equipment like radars, air craft carriers, you name it! Needless to say, they confiscated the XTS2500 and gave me a receipt for everything they took. I still have this receipt. Paid $850 for the radio, and now I had nothing.... Fast forward 6 months, I checked my paypal account and the $850 was refunded!! Wow, I was shocked because that was well past their “refund time frame”. I didn’t request this refund, but over joyed getting my money back.

There were many people like myself who got visited by NCIS and had their radios confiscated. One guy, I believe, in the state of Washington went to his local TV station about stolen items being sold on eBay. This TV station aired a special report about stolen items being sold on eBay. This video may still be on YouTube.

To the OP, that dim keypad also contains the radios AES-255 UCM. If you replace it with a normal keypad, you loose the AES-256. I would research if NCIS is still hunting down these stolen radios before spending any money on a different keypad. The dim keypad and display are 3 SMT resistors that need to be changed to bring it back to normal brightness, including the top red/green LED. Sorry, I don’t have any info what resistors need to be changed.

Good luck

Apparently you’ve never heard of DRMO. They aren’t stolen at all, and are auctioned off at GSA auctions BY the military. They will remove the crypto keys from them, or 0 them out and then 403.25 every frequency in the radio and sell them to surplus auctions.
I guess you had a freak incident, because they are a dime a dozen online.

 

[N4KVE]

Just because your’s was stolen doesn’t mean all dim display 2500’s were stolen. Sorry for your bad luck, but many similar radios are being sold by reputable E-Bay sellers. The mod is out there on the internet. I have photo’s of the mod, but don’t have the ability to post them here. But I can message them to any smart phone.

 

[Giddyuptd]

There is a thread somewhere on another forum i forget where that explains what you need to do to undim the ucm module which is the keypad also on the xts2500, 1500.

It requires knowledge of pretty good reflow skills and changing a couple tiny things out. If you have no reflow station, skills, or time to get the components then it would be easier to remove the existing keypad with ucm on it and find a basic keypad board for the 2500.

 

[Danny37]

There is a thread somewhere on another forum i forget where that explains what you need to do to undim the ucm module which is the keypad also on the xts2500, 1500.

It requires knowledge of pretty good reflow skills and changing a couple tiny things out. If you have no reflow station, skills, or time to get the components then it would be easier to remove the existing keypad with ucm on it and find a basic keypad board for the 2500.

Would this work then if I swap it out. Or do I need to buy a display too?

Motorola OEM XTS2500 KeyPad Board for Model III Portables 0104026J98 *NIP* | eBay

 

[n3obl]

That will work if you no longer need hardware encryption.

 

[FFPM571]

Yes there was a pallet of XTS2500 stolen from a dock at West point many years ago.. Most were recovered... The ones being sold now are DRMO radios that were used in the desert and middle east. Many are in sad shape on the outside..

 

[Danny37]

That will work if you no longer need hardware encryption.

Thanks I have no use for encryption anyway so I don't mind. Would I need to get a replacement lcd screen too or is the lighting issue tied to the keypad?

 

[n3obl]

no the resistors on the keypad board are dimming the LCD display. By swapping you will have full brightness.

Also will need to turn off secure under general settings when you pull the keypad board since the original is also a secure board.

 

[Danny37]

no the resistors on the keypad board are dimming the LCD display. By swapping you will have full brightness.

Also will need to turn off secure under general settings when you pull the keypad board since the original is also a secure board.

Awesome, thanks!

 

[Danny37]

What a God-send, here's the mod for you tech-savy people. Also if you're looking to recase your xts2500, you'll have a guidance on how to perform it.

 

[rescue161]

You are going to be seeing more and more of these on Ebay and elsewhere due to the Marine Corps mandating that all computers be upgraded to Windows 10. Once they are upgraded, the end users find that their USB-serial adapters fail to work and then off to DRMO their radios go. I see it day after day. I try to inform the units that all they need to do is use the factory USB cable and they should be good to go, but most units don't know to call us. Just throwing it out there.

 

[GTR8000]

You are going to be seeing more and more of these on Ebay and elsewhere due to the Marine Corps mandating that all computers be upgraded to Windows 10. Once they are upgraded, the end users find that their USB-serial adapters fail to work and then off to DRMO their radios go. I see it day after day. I try to inform the units that all they need to do is use the factory USB cable and they should be good to go, but most units don't know to call us. Just throwing it out there.

Hmm, I've programmed XTS 1500, 2500, and 5000 models using ASTRO 25 CPS R20.01.00 with Windows 10 Pro, using cheap knockoff serial cables connected to both a physical serial port as well as using a TRENDnet USB to serial converter. Never had a single issue.

 

[rescue161]

It is highly dependent on the hardware. My work computer will not work with the serial adapter that we were using on Win 7. We are also limited as to what hardware/software we can use on government computers. That being said, the factory USB cable and Advanced System Key on Windows 10 using our platforms works 100%.

 

[GTR8000]

It is highly dependent on the hardware. My work computer will not work with the serial adapter that we were using on Win 7. We are also limited as to what hardware/software we can use on government computers. That being said, the factory USB cable and Advanced System Key on Windows 10 using our platforms works 100%.

Fair enough, I definitely understand being restricted to certain hardware/software based on policy. Besides, when programming public safety/military equipment, the OEM stuff should be used anyway.

 

[K2NEC]

I can program the XTS3000 with win7 32x no problem but 64x gives me a problem. Like rescue said it depends on the hardware.

 

[Danny37]

I can program the XTS3000 with win7 32x no problem but 64x gives me a problem. Like rescue said it depends on the hardware.

Same here could never get it to work on win7 64 bit, but on 32bit it works but sorta iffy. XP works flawlessly

 

[BigLebowski]

I bought a couple that popped up on ebay. Cosmetically rough and have obviously been to the sandbox, and had Host/DSP 8. Got them upgraded to the latest firmware and they work fine. AES too.