(Novice) Preparing 28 UHF Police/EMS XTS3000 Model II For Sale. What Needs To Be Done?

[phreaktor]

This is one of the major problems with buying surplus radios at auction. Advanced System Keys are placed on radios to prevent tampering with the codeplug. When they are taken out of service and sent out to auction, no one de programs them. You may be able to use the ASK removal tool. Google will be your friend for that one. There’s other software that can be used but not spoken of.
Long story short, if you can’t remove the ASK, you’ve got a pallet full of doorstops and paper weights.

I've been searching for hours and can't find the two utilities needed publicly available. They were hosted on www.p25.ca, but that site is defunct. The other location is behind a Russian paywall and no way I am trusting that. An eBay programming seller claims "there is no fix for the XTS3000 and it will need to be reflashed. $35 a radio" Is that true or is he pulling my leg to get a sale? This sucks, but I'm not giving up as this is getting interesting. If anyone knows what I'm talking about and can PM me, please do.

 

[MTS2000des]

No, there is a way around it, but removing the ASK restriction requires either tools that aren't mentioned here and/or skills with a hex editor and understanding well above a "novice" level.

 

[prcguy]

Do the radios in question have "M.L.F.D." engraved on the front panel? Here is something along the lines of what the OP is doing and these are currently on eBay. Motorola XTS3000 H09SDF9PW7BN GMRS READY P25 UHF Portable Radio 450-512 | eBay

 

[chrismol1]

I believe the ASK removal tool is for only astro25 (handhelds xts2500/xts5000) is it not, the radios in question are xts3000s? Yea, these pain the ass

 

[phreaktor]

Do the radios in question have "M.L.F.D." engraved on the front panel? Here is something along the lines of what the OP is doing and these are currently on eBay. Motorola XTS3000 H09SDF9PW7BN GMRS READY P25 UHF Portable Radio 450-512 | eBay

No, but those are from the same auction.

 

[phreaktor]

I did manage to get a copy of the aforementioned utility, but, it only works for radios with CPS R09.00.00 or Higher and following model numbers: H46xxxxxxxBN H66xxxxxxxBN H67xxxxxxxBN H79xxxxxxxBN aka ASTRO-25 radios (1500,2500,5000).
The XTS3000 requires you to have a non-ASK radio and copy the "S" records into the ASK'd ones using [redacted utility], which I am looking into now as I have used Hex editors before.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

whatever you do, back up the tuning data for each radio or you might lose them.

 

[com501]

50BMG rounds are coming down in price, just sayin'. This is becoming a PITA that I would have given up on two pages ago.

 

[phreaktor]

whatever you do, back up the tuning data for each radio or you might lose them.

That is another process I’ll have to learn how to do. Is the Astro Tuner software that came with the CPS used to do this?

50BMG rounds are coming down in price, just sayin'. This is becoming a PITA that I would have given up on two pages ago.

To each his own. This exact configuration is selling for $200 a kit (sold listings) on eBay and I enjoy the learning process that comes with problem solving.

 

[Skypilot007]

I know some else that purchased radios from this same auction. The radios are surplus from Burlington County NJ 500MHz smartzone trunking system. There were also several zones of conventional channels. Most all the radios have ASK.

Here is contact information for the group that maintained those radios. Maybe they can help you in some way.

Staff Directory • Communications Support Division

www.co.burlington.nj.us

 

[MTS2000des]

Here is contact information for the group that maintained those radios. Maybe they can help you in some way.

Staff Directory • Communications Support Division

www.co.burlington.nj.us

Good luck with that.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I know some else that purchased radios from this same auction. The radios are surplus from Burlington County NJ 500MHz smartzone trunking system. There were also several zones of conventional channels. Most all the radios have ASK.

Here is contact information for the group that maintained those radios. Maybe they can help you in some way.

Staff Directory • Communications Support Division

www.co.burlington.nj.us

Wouldn't hurt to write a letter to the division head asking for the ASK and system information deleted from the radios.

 

[MTS2000des]

And who is going to pay for the labor? Y'all gotta be real, when we demob radios that are for a system that was taken down, we're not going to invest the labor involved in wiping the deprecated system from the ancient 20 year old radios. When my Smartnet system went off the air, I was not going to bother removing the useless programming nor remove ASK from MTS2000 and MCS2000s that were sold for scrap. I had a staff of two and our priorities were assisting users with the new system, taking care of addressing programming glitches, and training folks. Sorry hard to spend a few weeks (which is what the effort would have taken) to wipe 1200 or so ancient radios so some hobbyist could have a toy.

It's just not reality.

 

[mbnv992]

At this point with this new found information I would just sell the radios as-is / as parts only and just sell the batteries for what little profit you can make on them. Definitely not worth it at this point. Get rid of them all and if you still want to tinker with a radio - get an XTS5000 - they are cheap enough now ( from a reputable seller ).

 

[prcguy]

I would recommend an XTS2500 over a 5000 any day, unless you must use a vehicle adapter.

At this point with this new found information I would just sell the radios as-is / as parts only and just sell the batteries for what little profit you can make on them. Definitely not worth it at this point. Get rid of them all and if you still want to tinker with a radio - get an XTS5000 - they are cheap enough now ( from a reputable seller ).

 

[clbsquared]

I would recommend an XTS2500 over a 5000 any day, unless you must use a vehicle adapter.

Why?

 

[DeoVindice]

I would recommend an XTS2500 over a 5000 any day, unless you must use a vehicle adapter.

Only for a light-duty radio. 2500s are mono-board and all function keys mate directly to the board rather than a replaceable flex. They're not bad but I wouldn't buy another.

 

[n3obl]

I actually prefer a 5000 over a 2500. Just like the feel of it.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

And who is going to pay for the labor? Y'all gotta be real, when we demob radios that are for a system that was taken down, we're not going to invest the labor involved in wiping the deprecated system from the ancient 20 year old radios. When my Smartnet system went off the air, I was not going to bother removing the useless programming nor remove ASK from MTS2000 and MCS2000s that were sold for scrap. I had a staff of two and our priorities were assisting users with the new system, taking care of addressing programming glitches, and training folks. Sorry hard to spend a few weeks (which is what the effort would have taken) to wipe 1200 or so ancient radios so some hobbyist could have a toy.

It's just not reality.

I wonder who paid for the labor to put all those Spectras I used to see that had been through the drill press. Or MX300s with the code plugs physically yanked out?

That is not the issue, it is simply an official request to have those with the ASK master key remove them. If it is a self maintained county shop, they likely have a fee schedule to do so. Or if contracted out, the new owner of the radios can pay the commercial shop to do so. Permission requested and obtained is all I suggested. It would not hurt to ask.

The correct thing would be for the agencies selling off gear programmed with ASK to disclose that it is unrepairable, non working equipment.

 

[n3obl]

Actually an easier method is to allow a feature in CPS or/ TUNER that will allow anyone to be able to clear and blank a radio to default as pulled out of the box. ASK is mainly to protect the programmed (System) data from modifications but it should allow to have a one command reset to default mode. Now obviously Motorola does not support the older stuff hence they will never make that happen.

Yes I know some will say ASK is to protect the radio itself. Many times I see these with ASK end up being auctioned off without properly being cleared.