• 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.

Question about radio capabilities

JustinSchmidt

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2023
Messages
153
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

Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2009
Messages
508
Location
AZ
“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.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

JustinSchmidt

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2023
Messages
153
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
 

ElroyJetson

I AM NOT YOUR TECH SUPPPORT.
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 8, 2002
Messages
3,548
Location
DO NOT ASK ME FOR HELP PROGRAMMING YOUR RADIO. NO.
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.
 

ElroyJetson

I AM NOT YOUR TECH SUPPPORT.
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Sep 8, 2002
Messages
3,548
Location
DO NOT ASK ME FOR HELP PROGRAMMING YOUR RADIO. NO.
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

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 30, 2022
Messages
7
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.
 

radiotweester

Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2006
Messages
339
Location
Oregon
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

Newbie
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
36
Location
Sun City West, AZ
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

I ♥ÆS Ø
Feed Provider
Joined
Nov 4, 2004
Messages
1,072
Location
Sunny SoCal
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

Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2006
Messages
339
Location
Oregon
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

Newbie
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
36
Location
Sun City West, AZ
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

I ♥ÆS Ø
Feed Provider
Joined
Nov 4, 2004
Messages
1,072
Location
Sunny SoCal
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.

Screenshot 2023-09-17 081231.png
 
Top