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Onthewater850

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Garage sales are a past-time of mine. Visited one this weekend which had some interesting stuff, and while browsing, I picked up a conversation with a guy who (I'm assuming) lived there. Guy was about 20 years of age, briefly discussed some hunting gear which was for sale, until He changed the subject to some handheld radios that He "didn't ever use". I was curious, so I asked to take a look. He brought out two heavy and expensive-looking Motorola radios, and told me that He lost the charger, and didn't want to buy another since He "had hardly ever used them".

I told Him I'd give him a $100 for them, and to my surprise, He agreed. I quickly left before He changed his mind.

Later, I removed the battery on both radios, and noticed a last name and rank written in metallic pen, and some military style labels. ASTRO XTS 5000 sounded like a model number, so I googled it. I didn't find much for results except on Motorolas site, and what I read gave me the idea these things aren't meant to be floating around outside the military.

So, do I have several thousand dollars worth of stolen military electronics, or do I have some junk surplus walkie talkies?

I don't feel like it's a good idea to ask the police.

I live on the doorstep of Eglin AFB, and I'm suddenly getting images of Airforce Police / SecForces booting down my door and hauling me away...
 

bezking

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Wow, that's an amazing price. They may or not be useful to you, so let's find out :)

Look at the underside of the radio. On the battery there is a button. Press it in and pull up the bottom of the battery. If you can, take a photo of the labels on the back of the radio and post it here.

Sent from my Motorola ATRIX 4G
 
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svfd17

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Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.654 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/389)

Maybe I should start going to garage sales in your neighborhood.
 

kb2vxa

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Oooh, niiiIIIiiice! <pant> <drool> Finding out what band they're on is easy if you have a microwave dummy load and frequency counter. (;->)

xts5000

"I didn't find much for results except on Motorolas site, and what I read gave me the idea these things aren't meant to be floating around outside the military."

Not really, except for ruggedized combat radios the ones they use are pretty ordinary.
 

mmckenna

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XTS-5000's are not a military radio, however they may be used by the military. They are a high end Motorola single band portable. Probably cost $3000 (roughly) new depending on the exact software load.

These are not casual "walkie talkie" radios, and you don't sell them for $50 each. You certainly wouldn't dump them as useless just because he "lost the charger".
It could be legit, but I'd bet they they are hot and someone is looking for them. Those radios don't end up a garage sales being sold by 20 year old's for $50 each.

You either got the deal of the century, or you just accepted stolen property. I'd do my best to find out who owns them and get them returned. Maybe if you are lucky, you will get your $100 back.

You can start by looking for their previous owner here: Global Stolen Radio Database
I'd also contact your local police, maybe even the Air Force base. Better to do due diligence now, rather than getting busted later.
 

DickH

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I'd also contact your local police, maybe even the Air Force base. Better to do due diligence now, rather than getting busted later.

Good advice. Being charged with posession of stolen property would not be pleasant.
 

Onthewater850

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I'll get a picture up tomorrow. In the pictures I'm finding, the labeling behind the battery is white / grey with black text. My labels are black with lime green writing. Is this of significance?
 

timkilbride

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I'd also contact your local police, maybe even the Air Force base. Better to do due diligence now, rather than getting busted later.

Good advice. Being charged with posession of stolen property would not be pleasant.

The cops would have to prove he knew they were stolen, just can't charge him for it because he has it. I just went through this with a stolen police scanner.

Tim
 

Gator596

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The cops may not have to prove knowledge!
In some jurisdictions (I don't know about Florida but it may abide by the same principles) if you buy something WAY below market value there is a presumption that you knew they were stolen. The law basically acknowledges that any prudent person would know that "if it's too good to be true, it probably is".
I would follow the advice about contacting the cops as previously given.
Also - depending on what system the radios were on, and someone who knows more about Motorola can chime in, even turning the radios on may enable them to "afiliate" or contact their home network.
if so, they may already be "stunned" or "stung" (disabled) from home base.
$100 is NOT worth getting the civilian cops and Militray Police mad at you.
Good luck - let us know how it turns out.
 

gewecke

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Garage sales are a past-time of mine. Visited one this weekend which had some interesting stuff, and while browsing, I picked up a conversation with a guy who (I'm assuming) lived there. Guy was about 20 years of age, briefly discussed some hunting gear which was for sale, until He changed the subject to some handheld radios that He "didn't ever use". I was curious, so I asked to take a look. He brought out two heavy and expensive-looking Motorola radios, and told me that He lost the charger, and didn't want to buy another since He "had hardly ever used them".

I told Him I'd give him a $100 for them, and to my surprise, He agreed. I quickly left before He changed his mind.

Later, I removed the battery on both radios, and noticed a last name and rank written in metallic pen, and some military style labels. ASTRO XTS 5000 sounded like a model number, so I googled it. I didn't find much for results except on Motorolas site, and what I read gave me the idea these things aren't meant to be floating around outside the military.

So, do I have several thousand dollars worth of stolen military electronics, or do I have some junk surplus walkie talkies?

I don't feel like it's a good idea to ask the police.

I live on the doorstep of Eglin AFB, and I'm suddenly getting images of Airforce Police / SecForces booting down my door and hauling me away...

I would be very surprised if those talkies are not "hot".
On the positive side it could be that this kid was clueless what he had, but for now being suspicious should be an understatement!
...keep your fingers crossed. ;)

73,
n9zas
 

Jay911

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Black labels with green text are not necessarily military - Motorola puts labels like that on a number of the XTS series of radios.

The biggest thing to look for will be the serial number. It will be in the format 999XXX9999, where the 9s are numbers and the Xs letters. Plug those values into the stolen radio database that mmckenna linked to earlier in the thread, and see if they come up.
 

PJH

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I've picked up legitimate used high tier stuff for dirt cheap on surplus. Sometimes the department who handles it just doesn't know what they have, or how to price it. Sometimes they just want it gone. Right now I am working on a deal for equipment that went for 5k apiece and getting it for under $100 a copy from the original agency.

Label color doesn't matter....there has been interesting discussions on when labels changed, for what, and where. In short, other than curiousity factor, it has no real bearing.

These days you can still pick up XTS radios fairly cheap used or otherwise. Their life span will shortening up this year with the introduction of the rest of the APX line.

As far as these radios, the pen labeling can be from anything. There are enough milita and REACT groups that have more Colonels than the pentagon.

If you don't want them, I'd be happy to pay you for them and I'll donate them to a fire department in need.
 

bezking

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Based on the FLASHport Code, I would go out on a limb and say that's not a military radio. The radio has no P25, no trunking, and no encryption. It has as few features as you can possibly get on that platform and the military's not into analog conventional anymore..
 

mmckenna

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Yep, conventional and analog only. High tier platform stripped down to a basic radio. Interesting combination of stuff, or lack of.

So, likely not military, but again, not a cheap radio. Maybe Fire or PD. FM ratings on the radio suggest Fire or maybe HazMat. Maybe refinery or other hazardous location.

The Genesis site isn't the last word, so just because it isn't there doesn't mean it isn't hot. I'd still say due diligence would be a wise path to take.
 

bezking

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The ones in that auction have Project 25 Digital capability. Yours don't (assuming the FLASHport Code is the same for both radios), which significantly lowers their value.
 
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