Troubles with xts5000

[Defender92]

This will be the fourth xts5000 I’m programming for GMRS. After a little trial and error I got the other three working great. I wasn’t able to clone this fourth one. It gave me an error saying “the feature set does not match”.

So I manually went in and copied all the fields from a working codeplug. I when I transmit and receive it’s just static.

Looking at the radio information I don’t see H35 - Conventional Systems Operation. Is this my problem?? Is this radio only capable of digital?

 

[N4KVE]

No, it just means the flash code from this radio is different from the one you’re trying to clone from. Open both, & drag & drop from the master to the slave.

 

[nokones]

If the feature set does not match more than likely you cannot clone. You will need to build a new codeplug file for the radio. This is where the Channel Picklist Tool will come in handy for pasting the channels in the respective zone(s) to save keyboard keystrokes except for the gazillion left and right mouse clicks, and mouse pointing and pull downs. The channel picklist will not set the conventional personality; you have to set the personality yourself. for each channel if different than personality #1.

One the Channel Picklist Files are developed. and saved, it is all mouse operation and essentially no typing. Use the mouse and not a touch pad.

 

[Defender92]

If the feature set does not match more than likely you cannot clone. You will need to build a new codeplug file for the radio. This is where the Channel Picklist Tool will come in handy for pasting the channels in the respective zone(s) to save keyboard keystrokes except for the gazillion left and right mouse clicks, and mouse pointing and pull downs. The channel picklist will not set the conventional personality; you have to set the personality yourself. for each channel if different than personality #1.

One the Channel Picklist Files are developed. and saved, it is all mouse operation and essentially no typing. Use the mouse and not a touch pad.

I wish I did this before I did the gazillon mouse clicks.

I guess my main question is not having the “H35 - Conventional Systems Operation” feature will this prevent me from running analog? It’s just static when I transmit and receive. And it appears my codeplug is identical to my working radio.

 

[chief21]

I guess my main question is not having the “H35 - Conventional Systems Operation” feature will this prevent me from running analog? It’s just static when I transmit and receive. And it appears my codeplug is identical to my working radio.

SmartNet and SmartZone feature sets also include Conventional Operation. Just be sure that whichever Conventional Personality you reference for your GMRS channels is set to analog (non-Astro).

 

[nokones]

I wish I did this before I did the gazillon mouse clicks.

I guess my main question is not having the “H35 - Conventional Systems Operation” feature will this prevent me from running analog? It’s just static when I transmit and receive. And it appears my codeplug is identical to my working radio.

No, just make sure that in the Zone/Channel Assignment menu, Personality Type column you have each channel set for "CNV" and not "TRK". Also, in the "Tree View", under the Conventional Personality, you should at least have "Conventional Personality - 1", click on the personality that you are going to assign for that specific channel assignment. Under the "RX Options", make sure that the "Rx Voice/Signal Type" is set for "non-Astro", then click on the "Tx Options" and set the "Tx Voice/Signal Type" to "Non-Astro".

Then make sure that this "Conventional Personality -1" or whatever conventional personality you're using, is set for the channel(s) in the Zone Channel Assignment that you intend to use under the "Personality #" column.

Non-Astro is the Analog modulation setting and "Astro" is the digital modulation setting. The "CNV" is the setting for conventional operation (Non-Trunk) and "TRK" is the setting for the Trunking Operation.

 

[Defender92]

No, just make sure that in the Zone/Channel Assignment menu, Personality Type column you have each channel set for "CNV" and not "TRK". Also, in the "Tree View", under the Conventional Personality, you should at least have "Conventional Personality - 1", click on the personality that you are going to assign for that specific channel assignment. Under the "RX Options", make sure that the "Rx Voice/Signal Type" is set for "non-Astro", then click on the "Tx Options" and set the "Tx Voice/Signal Type" to "Non-Astro".

Then make sure that this "Conventional Personality -1" or whatever conventional personality you're using, is set for the channel(s) in the Zone Channel Assignment that you intend to use under the "Personality #" column.

Non-Astro is the Analog modulation setting and "Astro" is the digital modulation setting. The "CNV" is the setting for conventional operation (Non-Trunk) and "TRK" is the setting for the Trunking Operation.

I double checked it so many times. Everything is CNV and non-Astro. I woke up this morning and played with the radio again. Now it seems to transmit fine but won’t receive. I didn’t do anything to it since last night. If I open the squelch with my programmed monitor button I can receive just fine. I don’t have any tones programmed.

I wonder if I just got a bad radio. It’s weird because it honestly looks like it was never used (maybe this is why it wasn’t used). I think I’m going to swap out the housing to see if it has anything to do with the buttons, speaker or mic. I’ll report back after.

 

[Defender92]

I just swapped out the housing with a working radio. Nothing changed. Must be something internal or my programming.

Transmitting just fine. Not receiving unless I hit the monitor button. No tones programmed!

 

[n3obl]

Has the radio been recently aligned.

 

[Defender92]

Has the radio been recently aligned.

I didn’t know that was a thing

 

[nokones]

I didn’t know that was a thing

A good tune job will make the radio very happy.

 

[mmckenna]

I didn’t know that was a thing

You don't run your car for 25 years with no oil changes and no tune ups.

And you don't run a radio that long without an alignment. Electronic components age and the performance of the radio drifts away from the factory specs.

Problem is that the service monitor used to perform the alignment is expensive. A good new one will run you around $50,000.
You can pay a radio shop to do this for you, and they'll usually charge you their bench time rate, which may be around $100/hour. A good tech can align a radio like that in 30-45 minutes. But a lot of shops won't support these older radios.

You might find a friendly hobbyists that has an older service monitor that might do it for you, but finding one local to you may be a challenge.

Or, you go on e-Bay, spin the wheel and buy a new radio for $50 and hope you get one that's seen some level of preventative maintenance recently.

 

[nokones]

Sunny Communications in Colorado will service the XTS and XTL and other vintage series radios. I believe they charge around $35-50 a radio, not including shipping. They've been good to deal with

 

[Defender92]

You don't run your car for 25 years with no oil changes and no tune ups.

And you don't run a radio that long without an alignment. Electronic components age and the performance of the radio drifts away from the factory specs.

Problem is that the service monitor used to perform the alignment is expensive. A good new one will run you around $50,000.
You can pay a radio shop to do this for you, and they'll usually charge you their bench time rate, which may be around $100/hour. A good tech can align a radio like that in 30-45 minutes. But a lot of shops won't support these older radios.

You might find a friendly hobbyists that has an older service monitor that might do it for you, but finding one local to you may be a challenge.

Or, you go on e-Bay, spin the wheel and buy a new radio for $50 and hope you get one that's seen some level of preventative maintenance recently.

Makes sense now. I spin the wheel 4 times on UHF xts5000 radios and only one was not so great. I guess not too bad. It’s weird because it appears unused. But maybe this can happen from just sitting. It had a 2006 date in the radio info in CPS.

 

[Defender92]

Sunny Communications in Colorado will service the XTS and XTL and other vintage series radios. I believe they charge around $35-50 a radio, not including shipping. They've been good to deal with

That’s funny you mention that. I just booked a vacation in two weeks from now in Colorado Springs and I live in Michigan. I think I’ll be driving right by that place. Looks like I have my solution 😁

 

[MTS2000des]

Components age and change in value, even if a radio is sitting in a box untouched. Nothing can stop time. This is why "new old stock" electronics are not always worth what greedy sellers think they are. A radio like this 20+ years old is still a two decade old radio. Think about how different the world was 20 years ago. Smartphones barely existed (Blackberry!) and Taylor Swift was still in high school.
Digital radios need good alignment to perform well especially older legacy ones like the XTS/XTL. Problem is fewer and fewer shops have the stuff on hand to do it. Since these radios are long in the tooth and replaced with newer subscribers like APX (which are also getting long in the tooth), doesn't make sense to support them. Remember too, if they touch a radio and it bricks, they own it and have to replace it.
That is another risk with these relic radios: EEPROM failure.

Time takes it's toll on everything. Electronics are no exception.