Programing a Trunked radio for monitoring only

[GroundLoop]

Hah. Very useful info! Thanks.

I am Good to go, he cackled.

 

[kb0uxv]

Please, take the time to read this entire thread before you monitor on your Motorola. I know posters here are getting tired of this being mentioned, but it is my opinion that they either don't understand or don't care what happens when a radio affiliates with a valid ID. All legal issues aside, it could get someone hurt. There are a few methods in this thread that are suggested to not cause affiliation.

 

[GroundLoop]

Dude, I've read this entire thread, with far more interest than most. Indeed, to me, this topic is the most interesting in all of RR.

Want to help people "do it right"? Make sure nobody does it wrong and gets in trouble or worse, gets someone hurt or bothered?

Give directions. Give explanations, give details. Right now, there is very little in the way of useable instruction for someone who wants to "do it right". There are posts to the effect of "It's impossible do it right! You can never monitor without transmitting" and "Wrong, you can do it right. I do it."

It seems like a Wiki page on a tested/known-good process would be helpful. Sure beats "If you have to ask, you can't do it" which never got very far as a teaching method.

 

[bezking]

Hi all,

As you'll see I unstuck this thread and created a new summary sticky that links back to here: http://forums.radioreference.com/mo...ou-want-monitor-trunked-system-moto-read.html
If you guys notice any key points I left out, just shout and I'll add them in.

Thanks!

@GroundLoop, see if my new sticky helps clear it up.

 

[kb0uxv]

You worded that well, thank you for including the red letter warning. May I also suggest a comment about the scan member limit on the Motorola radios? 10 member portable / 15 mobile as apposed to the larger capacity of a scanner.

Also the other RX method, which does not involve the hacked key, of putting in the voice channels in a scan list tied to a RX only personality set to CQPSK modulation and digital CSQ un-mute. Just my two cents, nice work.

 

[bezking]

Edited! Thanks for the tips.

 

[Batwings21]

Assuming the radio is programmed correctly, there remains a hurdle to be cleared: Affiliation. When the radio is placed on a Trunked system, it sends an announcement to the system controller containing its Radio ID (which you must define in the programming) to let it know that it's there. If the system administrator notices that your radio is unauthorized, s/he can send a command over the air to kill your radio, turning it into an unusable brick. Not even the Motorola Depot can recover a killed radio.

This is technically inaccurate.
1) Every time a radio is read by Depot software the inhibit flag is cleared, when they program the radio it is no longer inhibited. The software even prompts them to investigate the reason why it was inhibited.
2) Anyone with a hex editor and a way to read/write srecords from a radio can uninhibit one.

 

[bezking]

Thanks Batwings, I'll correct.

 

[radioman2001]

You should add that a system key can be generated with a simple note pad application not just Motorola proprietary software. Except for smart key required radios.
As far as inhibited radios, keep a copy of your "S" record to recover a bricked radio.

 

[Eaton90]

What exactly can be done to the killed radio to restore it's performance?
Thanks!

 

[bezking]

Depends on the radio. Do you have an S-Record (not a codeplug, an S-Record)? If you don't know what that is, you don't have one

 

[Eaton90]

No, I've got no S-record. The radio in question is XTS 2500 (or XTS 1500)...

 

[w5lsi]

Will the "Hidden" method that is describes work on the MTS 2000 as well?

 

[Seadoo]

Radios that are flashed upgraded now to handle the rebanding will not be able to be uninhibited with the depot software. It will clearly tell you this now. " This Radio has been inhibited by the system operator. ONLY motorola depot or the dispatch terminial that disabled this radio can uninhibit it. It no longer gives you the option to uninhibit the radio. This was done on purpose. If you have an old s-record before your radio is flashed and your new codeplug is different than your old codeplug aka options, your s-record will override any new options that were flashed to your radio since an s-record overrites the codeplug as well which could cause operating issues with your radio and cause issues with the target TRS.

 

[rescue161]

Radios that are flashed upgraded now to handle the rebanding will not be able to be uninhibited with the depot software. It will clearly tell you this now. " This Radio has been inhibited by the system operator. ONLY motorola depot or the dispatch terminial that disabled this radio can uninhibit it. It no longer gives you the option to uninhibit the radio. This was done on purpose. If you have an old s-record before your radio is flashed and your new codeplug is different than your old codeplug aka options, your s-record will override any new options that were flashed to your radio since an s-record overrites the codeplug as well which could cause operating issues with your radio and cause issues with the target TRS.

How is the Motorola Depot uninhibitting radios then? Why wouldn't the Depot Tool work to uninhibit these radios.

 

[FFPM571]

Remember who issues the system key.... Thats how

 

[rescue161]

But the Depot is not going to set up a console just to send an uninhibit burst to a radio once they figure out that it's a legit uninhibit. They have tools at their disposal to do that for them via software, but only after checking with the system manager of the system that it's programmed for, of course.

 

[exkalibur]

With respect to the un-inhibiting. Some radios (GTX and Maxtracs I know at least) can be uninhibited by as simple read/write of the codeplug. Other radios (MTX/MCS/MTS/Astro Spectra/Astro Saber/XTS3000) can be restored by simply re-flashing your archived copy of the codeplug/S-Record (you DID save one right? ). Newer ASTRO25 series radios (XTS1500, XTS2500, XTS4000, XTS5000 and their respective mobiles) cannot be recovered this way. The only known way is to have the radio sent back to the depot where they can read the radio with some special software and remove the inhibit flag. I can't imagine this would be done without a lot of questions however, as the radio saves the last affiliated system and talkgroup in memory so they could see what system zapped the radio.

Of course, the only LEGIT way to have your radio uninhibited is to have it done by the same system that did it in the first place. This is done fairly often by police agencies who loose a radio during a pursuit only to find it later.

Of course, if you are using an unauthorized radio on the system even for RX only, I wish you the best of luck with trying to get that done, and please send me a copy of the phone call . I would be curious to see what the actual legal standing would be of this. IE, I buy a 100% legit radio brand new from a Motorola shop, I get Bob the Tow Truck driver to get it programmed by someone, and it get zapped...they've effectivly made my radio inoperable, even on the business band frequency I have licensed in it. I wouldn't want to test that, but it would be curious.

 

[James_Bond_007]

disable the pa stage by disconnecting V+ to the final rf stage. exciter is less then 100mW and will never break through past the now disabled pa stage. problem solved. radio will never affiliate even accidentally.

 

[MTS2000des]

Radios that are flashed upgraded now to handle the rebanding will not be able to be uninhibited with the depot software. It will clearly tell you this now. " This Radio has been inhibited by the system operator. ONLY motorola depot or the dispatch terminial that disabled this radio can uninhibit it. It no longer gives you the option to uninhibit the radio. This was done on purpose. If you have an old s-record before your radio is flashed and your new codeplug is different than your old codeplug aka options, your s-record will override any new options that were flashed to your radio since an s-record overrites the codeplug as well which could cause operating issues with your radio and cause issues with the target TRS.

I can tell you for a fact this is not true. I've personally observed a HOST/DSP V15 that got inhibited get wiped with depot. And it wasn't at the depot either.