Question about radio capabilities

[JackRoberts23]

Hey all, I have been wondering this forever. I even looked it up and can't find anything. Why doesn't Motorola make any radios that are capable of dual band frequencies (in an affordable price range because I know APX has it but it's SO expensive). Is it just not possible or what?

 

[mbnv992]

“Motorola” and “affordable” will never go together in the same sentence. Been like that since the dawn of time. And a dual band “affordable” radio by Motorola ? Good luck.

 

[JackRoberts23]

I meant something more like 1,000 dollars instead of 5,000. I know you won’t get it for anything even close to 600

 

[W9WSS]

I don't see Ham Radio as much of a market for Motorola Solutions (Their current name). Not a great investment for the commercial market.

 

[MTS2000des]

MSI is a profit driven company that sells to govs. Quality equipment and affordable prices aren't used in the same sentence. They don't care to sell to hobbyists, whackers, cheapskates, et al.
It's like a BMW, if you have to ask, you can't afford it, and should probably head down the street to a Hyundai/Kia dealer.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

 

[ElroyJetson]

There's much more profit to be made in selling literally thousands of highly reliable radios to any given individual public safety organization (and there are many such organizations) than there ever could be in selling lower priced radios built to a cheap price point to mere mortal civilians.

 

[W9WSS]

Would you classify Amateur Radio as a "niche market" at best?

 

[ElroyJetson]

Compared to the public safety market, where radios are sold by the thousands and replaced with new ones not too many years later? Absolutely, compared to that, amateur radio is a niche market! There's no comparison!

Incidentally I'm extra class. I've been licensed for well over 30 years.

One of the complaints I hear from other "fellow hams" is that they can't get new batteries for their 2 meter HT....which dates from the 80s. LOL.

 

[Cortexian]

For the MOTOTRBO / DMR line most customers will deploy a site on a specific given system, and as a business they are unlikely to require interoperability between sites/other businesses. Everything a business has will be on the same system, and likely implemented by a channel partner or the big M themselves depending on the scope.

Sure, there are contractors that may run their own radio equipment (rare). And for them, something like an ION or R7 with V/U/7-8 might be beneficial so they can hop onto any particular site they visit... But it's a ton of investment into something that almost no one except HAMs and rare selected contractors may utilize.

The only real reason for the all-band APX 8000 is due to interoperability between different agencies on different frequencies and systems.

 

[nokones]

I meant something more like 1,000 dollars instead of 5,000. I know you won’t get it for anything even close to 600

Wait a decade or two and the APX series radios will be a lot cheaper with reasonable prices.

 

[ElroyJetson]

Yes, they all get MUCH cheaper once they're no longer supported by the manufacturer and parts availability is limited to what's remaining on the shelves of repair shops...or cannibalized radios. Great time to buy into the platform!

 

[radiotweester]

I don't think it was really publicized, but the XTL can be configured to work like a dual band. You need 2 radio bricks VHF, UHF, 700/800, 900 and a common control head. The only dual band commercial V/U I remember before the APX and "Interoperability" were made by Vertex and that was decades ago.

 

[nokones]

Will the XTLs firmware be compatible with the two radio configuration? I believe you'll need at the 07 controlhead and is the XTL firmware compatible with the O7 or the O9. In the CPS you don't have the option to select the O7 or the O9 controlhead so it might not be doable. I had the same thought and was going to buy the shorty data cable and try it until I noticed that you can't select the controlheads.

 

[marcotor]

Will the XTLs firmware be compatible with the two radio configuration? I believe you'll need at the 07 controlhead and is the XTL firmware compatible with the O7 or the O9. In the CPS you don't have the option to select the O7 or the O9 controlhead so it might not be doable. I had the same thought and was going to buy the shorty data cable and try it until I noticed that you can't select the controlheads.

You're mixing APX and XTL. 07/09 are for APX. GCAI short cable, 07 control head and it works great. E5 gives dual display as well.

An XTL5000 dual brick configuration (Say UHF1/VHF) will work with the W3 handheld control head. Both radios require the proper flash for dual operation, a W series TIB on the radios, one radio to be the master, and the other slave. A simple serial cable is used to connect the radios - yes any $8 Amazon cable works - with no special cabling required. This can also be modified if you are too cheap to use 2 speakers. There is an expensive and hard to find Motorola cable as well, which requires a W3 with a special connector as well.

 

[radiotweester]

Will the XTLs firmware be compatible with the two radio configuration? I believe you'll need at the 07 controlhead and is the XTL firmware compatible with the O7 or the O9. In the CPS you don't have the option to select the O7 or the O9 controlhead so it might not be doable. I had the same thought and was going to buy the shorty data cable and try it until I noticed that you can't select the controlheads.

marcotor nailed it. There's a few schematics and info if you search for W3AXL XLT.
If I remember correctly, the slave radio can have either an Odyssey (single DB25) and GCAI (round) connectors or the W series (dual DB25). I'd forgotten about the HHCH. I don't know if W5 or W7 had been tried? I only can think of once where I saw this and it was due to cabin space. Now that they are fairly cheap surplus it might be fun to play.

​

 

[nokones]

You're mixing APX and XTL. 07/09 are for APX. GCAI short cable, 07 control head and it works great. E5 gives dual display as well.

I have several Motorola XTL 5000s with the O5 control head. In the CPS, I only have the option of selecting the O3 or O5 control head. You cannot control more than one radio unit with these two control heads, there are no options/programmable features for the control of a second radio with an O5 control head. So, I'm open to learning how a person would control two radios with my XTL5000 radio and O5 Control head.

 

[marcotor]

Not sure what to tell you, the W options come up in CPS for me.
And as far as I know there never was a jig made for the O series heads to control 2 radios.
The W3 option was really limited to 3 letter agencies.