• To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:

    Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.

    If you are having trouble legally obtaining software please state so. We do not want any hurt feelings when your vague post is mistaken for a free request. It is YOUR responsibility to properly word your request.

    To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

    The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online (i.e., Kenwood). Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. Often the Kenwood software is less than $100 so don't be a cheapskate; just purchase it.

    For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).

    This is a large and very visible forum. We cannot jeopardize the ability to provide the RadioReference services by allowing this activity to occur. Please respect this.

Programming a Kenwood TK-8180

Status
Not open for further replies.

westtexan7

Member
Joined
May 12, 2016
Messages
7
You can flash conventional firmware to a Passport radio and then use KPG-89D for programming. The problem is that firmware programming is disabled by default in the SJ-180 software, unless the person who programmed the radio went in and enabled it. You can try putting the radio into Firmware Programming Mode by holding down the "S" button while powering on the radio. If it won't go into Firmware Programming Mode then you will have to read the radio with the SJ-180 software, go into the settings and enable Firmware Programming Mode, and then write the info back to the radio before you can flash the conventional firmware. If you need the latest conventional firmware then shoot me an email and I can help you out.

garrettramsey21@yahoo.com

I sent you an email. For everyone else, since I last posted, I was able to obtain the SJ-180 software. You are correct that once I read the config, it was not set to allow firmware programming. I can change that now, but I haven't had the chance to compare the two firmwares. Does anybody know of a reason to go back to conventional firmware instead of Passport, other than to use the KPG-89D software (which looks almost the same to me as the SJ-180)? Are there any features available with the conventional firmware that is not available in Passport firmware?
 

nightfoam

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jul 12, 2010
Messages
15
Hi, sorry to dig up an old thread. Just picked up a used TK-8180 and found its loaded with SJ-180 software. We're programming it with the rest of our radios- with KPG-89D, so I'm looking to get it back to the Kenwood Firmware. Once I get my hands on the firmware, how do we install it on the radio? Through the KPG software or the SJ or?
Thanks.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top