NX5200/NX5400 PTT issues

[R_Rabbit10]

I've been experiencing an issue with four radios developing over the past 3 months. The two NX5200 models (manufactured in May 2020) and two NX5400 models (manufactured in October 2018) are all exhibiting the same problem.

When I press the PTT button to transmit, the transmission cuts off after around 2 seconds. This is happening consistently across all four of my radios.

I've reached out to my dealer to see if they can diagnose and fix this issue, but so far they haven't been able to resolve it.

I'm curious if anyone else has encountered a similar problem with these radio models. If so, were you able to find a solution? Given that multiple radios of different models and ages are now experiencing the same transmission cutoff, I'm concerned this may be a more widespread issue that could eventually affect all of my radios.

Any insight or advice the community can provide would be greatly appreciated as I try to get these radios working reliably again. Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[buddrousa]

Sounds like they are failing to capture the repeater either analog or digital and are dropping.
If they ever worked correctly then I would think they have alignment issues or receiver is failing.

 

[R_Rabbit10]

Sounds like they are failing to capture the repeater either analog or digital and are dropping.
If they ever worked correctly then I would think they have alignment issues or receiver is failing.

Thank you. They have worked correctly up until they didn't, both on digital (5400) and analog (5200). Dispatch can hear me talk for 2 seconds and then it drops, regardless of what repeater (site) I am on.

 

[tweiss3]

Age of the battery? Is the antenna intact, or is it mangled? What about the antenna connector?

 

[kd4efm]

Big question, what level FW?

 

[R_Rabbit10]

Age of the battery? Is the antenna intact, or is it mangled? What about the antenna connector?

Antenna's and antenna connectors are intact and clean. Batteries are at 90-96% health, age varies from a few years to a few months, but they do get swabbed out for fully charged ones if needed.

Big question, what level FW?

EX K 4.51.02 for the NX5400 and K 4.30.00 for the NX5200. These are the latest ones I received from our dealer. They tell me there are no newer firmware version available for the radios to be compatible with the Harris system they connect to.

 

[mmckenna]

Are other radios using the repeater having a similar issue?

There can be a number of causes for this. To have all 4 radios fail the same way at the same time suggests one common point of failure.

I've got a bunch of NX-5400's on my trunked system and am not seeing anything like this.

 

[R_Rabbit10]

Are other radios using the repeater having a similar issue?

There can be a number of causes for this. To have all 4 radios fail the same way at the same time suggests one common point of failure.

I've got a bunch of NX-5400's on my trunked system and am not seeing anything like this.

Two trunked radio's (nx5400) and two non trunked radio's (nx5200) are now displaying this issue. It does not matter which sites (repeater) the trunked or non-trunked radio's use, the display the same issue. I have noticed that all these radio's are in the same serial number range...

 

[mmckenna]

OK, so more details would be helpful.

Are they running in Analog, NXDN, DMR or P25 mode when they do this?
Is this amateur radio use, or commercial type use?
Who's radio system is this? Is it yours or someone else's?
You mentioned the 7/800MHz model and VHF model, is this a common radio system with multiple bands, or completely separate VHF and 7/800MHz systems?

 

[R_Rabbit10]

OK, so more details would be helpful.

Are they running in Analog, NXDN, DMR or P25 mode when they do this?
Is this amateur radio use, or commercial type use?
Who's radio system is this? Is it yours or someone else's?
You mentioned the 7/800MHz model and VHF model, is this a common radio system with multiple bands, or completely separate VHF and 7/800MHz systems?

54: P25
52: Analog (separate) and Analog into the digital P25 system.
It is the governments radio system for emergency services, supplied by Harris. They provide the infrastructure and the end users (Police/Fire/EMS) need to purchase the individual radio's. It is thus a commercial system.

To summarize, the 54 model radio's are only used on the digital P25 system. The 52 models are used on a separate analog system AND on a system where analog radio's can access the digital P25 system.
The 52 model has this issue on both the systems. The 54 also has this issue using the simplex channels that are assigned to the digital system and on the trunked P25 system.

All of these radio's have been working without any issues, until this started happening. No software of hardware changes were made to the radio's, nor was the programming updated for our radio's on the Harris UAS. My other 50 portable radio's (mixed 52 and 54) are continuing to work without issue.

 

[AM909]

... When I press the PTT button to transmit, the transmission cuts off after around 2 seconds. ...

What exactly is happening? Does the red TX light on the radio extinguish? Do you have a simplex (direct) channel and does it happen there, too?

 

[R_Rabbit10]

What exactly is happening? Does the red TX light on the radio extinguish? Do you have a simplex (direct) channel and does it happen there, too?

Correct, the red tx light extinguishes. It happens on simplex channels as well.

 

[n7maq-1]

Does this happen with the local PTT or SP/MIC or both? We maintain hundreds of NX-5x00 and I have never seen this issue except with bad batteries.

Jim

 

[buddrousa]

With the TX light going out and the PTT still pushed leads me to think POWER.
Can these Radios be reprogrammed to LOW POWER for testing?

 

[mmckenna]

All of these radio's have been working without any issues, until this started happening. No software of hardware changes were made to the radio's, nor was the programming updated for our radio's on the Harris UAS. My other 50 portable radio's (mixed 52 and 54) are continuing to work without issue.

OK. And have you confirmed with the system administrator that these radio ID's are valid on the system?

I agree, sounds like battery issue if the radio just stops transmitting.
Or, the radios need alignment.

Like others, I'm using NX-5400's, but on an NXDN system. Haven't seen this issue, and I've got a mix of different firmware versions. My end users would let me know if they were not working.

 

[kayn1n32008]

The only issue I could think of, would be to read each radio, and ensure the time out timer(TOT) has not inadvertantly been changed.

The VHF radio behavior doesn't make sense on analogue repeaters. There is no 'handshake' like that occurs in DMR convntional or trunking or in P25 trunking.

The fact this issue is occurring on simplex as well has me scratching my head, and the only things that could cause this are bad batteries and the TOT.

 

[AM909]

Correct, the red tx light extinguishes. It happens on simplex channels as well.

Analog simplex channels?

 

[R_Rabbit10]

Does this happen with the local PTT or SP/MIC or both? We maintain hundreds of NX-5x00 and I have never seen this issue except with bad batteries.

Jim

It happens with both.

With the TX light going out and the PTT still pushed leads me to think POWER.
Can these Radios be reprogrammed to LOW POWER for testing?

That's what I thought as well. But even with fresh 100% charged batteries it happens. They can be reprogrammed, however that's gonna take a couple weeks as my programming keys have expired unfortunately and they need to be send to the government to get re-keyed (turn-around about a month)...

OK. And have you confirmed with the system administrator that these radio ID's are valid on the system?

I agree, sounds like battery issue if the radio just stops transmitting.
Or, the radios need alignment.

Like others, I'm using NX-5400's, but on an NXDN system. Haven't seen this issue, and I've got a mix of different firmware versions. My end users would let me know if they were not working.

I am the system admin for my agency. No changes have been made to any programming either on the radio, or on the system. Even with brand new batteries (got a new batch a few months ago), this happens. They would simply not be able to connect to the system at all if the radio id's are not valid in the system. It actually happened to me yesterday with a radio. I was using the radio fine to talk to dispatch, no issues what so ever, then all of a sudden it started suffering from this issue.

The only issue I could think of, would be to read each radio, and ensure the time out timer(TOT) has not inadvertantly been changed.

The VHF radio behavior doesn't make sense on analogue repeaters. There is no 'handshake' like that occurs in DMR convntional or trunking or in P25 trunking.

The fact this issue is occurring on simplex as well has me scratching my head, and the only things that could cause this are bad batteries and the TOT.

No programming has been changed, either on the radio, or on the system.

Analog simplex channels?

Yes.

 

[buddrousa]

I am looking for current draw if they work on low test the current draw on high using a bench adjustable power supply set to battery voltage

 

[mmckenna]

OK, that helps.

Bad batteries? I know you said they were new, but do they work OK on other radios?

Radio out of alignment far enough that it fails?

Missed the part above about conventional, so that kind of rules out the trunked system being the issue, and since you are the admin, I'm sure you checked the access controls.

Really sounds like it's an internal issue and a trip to the service monitor would be something to try. Maybe it's out of alignment and drawing more current when transmitting that the battery can supply, or the radio goes wonky.

Probably not much else you can do at this point.