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XG-100P Widebanding

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n4njj

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Just bought a used Unity XG-100. Looking in the feature set, it says that wide band is disabled. I was led to believe that all Harris radios came with both options even though in my mind I wasn't sure how since Motorola and Hytera aren't doing that with the "new" FCC narrowbanding rules. Anything that I can do to enable the feature? I'm looking to use this for talking on ham radio. Thanks.
 

n4njj

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Any tips on getting the wideband upgrade? Feature list says that wideband is disabled. I'm a ham looking to mostly use on amateur service so the wide would be helpful. If not, I'll be narrowing out my machines (been meaning to), but no dice on machines I don't own.
 
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I believe you have to write a justification to Harris , and they will send you a new feature string to enable it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

rescue161

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As fast as the XG100 and XL200 are concerned, they can do wide band in the 2M portion. For whatever reason, they did not include the 70CM portion.
 

Radioman96p71

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Later versions of XGP (above XGP2 IIRC) already allow the ham bands to operate with wideband selected. This only covers 144-148 and 440-450 MHz.
 

AK9R

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Posting the same question in two different threads is known as cross-posting which is not typically allowed in the RadioReference forums.
 

n4njj

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Later versions of XGP (above XGP2 IIRC) already allow the ham bands to operate with wideband selected. This only covers 144-148 and 440-450 MHz.

I’m new to Harris. What does the XGP mean? How do I find out which version I have?
 

rescue161

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It's the version of firmware. Press the menu key, then arrow down to utilities. Then select Radio Info. That will give you the software version. I am using a mixture of R06K and R05C and neither one allows wideband in the UHF ham spectrum. VHF is good to go.
 

n4njj

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Thanks. I will check that out tonight. What is the protocol for getting an update to the firmware? Will I lose current features with a firmware upgrade? I'm only concerned about getting wide on ham frequencies. My GMRS repeater is setup for narrow. I haven't tried anything on VHF ham band yet to see if it goes thru. Not a whole lot of VHF activity in Vegas.
 

rescue161

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You will not lose features, but you will lose the programming. The firmware is highly dependent on the version of RPM you have. If you are using RPM 10B, then I'd personally avoid using anything other than R02A. We are forced to use certain firmware versions due to us having to use RPM 14 for the XG100 and RPM 2 for the XL200.

In RPM, if I put in a UHF amateur frequency (440-450) and set it to wide-band, it lets me program the radio, but then the display shows "INVALID CHANNEL." If I put in a wide-band VHF (144-148), it works fine. This is the same for the XL200 and the XG100 radios that we have. I asked Harris if they could send me the feature code to enable wide-band, but have not heard back yet. We have thousands of the XG100 and I just don't like them at all. The XL200 looks promising, but there are still some short-comings in my opinion.
 
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n4njj

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Okay. A lot of acronyms and model numbers. I'll check out my firmware version tonight and check back in. Generally speaking, to get the wide band entitlement/firmware, is there a fee? I know I've had to pay for the license with my Hytera DMR gear and some of my Motorola equipment. I assume that all of these companies probably use similar business practices.

As an aside, will the XG-100P do GESTAR?
 

rescue161

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I'm not sure on the cost as we don't use wide-band for our system. I just asked for the XL200s that they gave us to "put through the ringer." I was told that they'd just send us a new feature string. They are wanting us to buy the XL200, so they'll probably send it for free.

I don't have a radio with me currently, but looking in RPM, the GESTAR is shaded out. I am able to select MDC however.
 

n4njj

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I don't have a radio with me currently, but looking in RPM, the GESTAR is shaded out. I am able to select MDC however.

Yeah, that's what I noticed, too. I sometimes like to turn MDC on just to "stir the pot." The GEStar is even more annoying sounding. Not a feature I'd pay for though.
 

rescue161

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LOL

We use MDC on my GMRS repeaters for ID. I also have a console that can send inhibit/enable commands, so when I loan out radios that don't come back, I kill them over the air. It also annoys the crap out of the CCRs that may happen onto the repeaters. We don't hear the burst due to DOS, but they sure do, so they don't stick around.
 

n4njj

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CCRs?

We use it on GMRS for ID, too. I also use it with my users in New York on my AllStar repeaters... locally here in Vegas it's used to stir the pot or for ID with New York when it's linked-up.
 

n4njj

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So has anyone actually had success getting Harris to allow wide band operation on the 70 CM ham band? My contact said that Harris has talked about it, but there is no option at this time. Looking to see if anyone else got a different answer.

Regardless, even talking narrow on a wide repeater, I'm still better off than with a Baofeng.
 

N4KVE

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The only way to get them to help you would be if you told them you are the head radio guy for your county, & are considering purchasing 200 Harris radios for the PD. But to just call them, say you are a ham with one Harris radio, & need wide band for the UHF portion, they won’t lift a finger to help you.
 

BigLebowski

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You may have some success going through a Harris dealer although I will say that there seems to be some disconnect among TAC and others within Harris.

Case in point: I bought DES/AES for my Unity a couple weeks ago and asked about adding "Encryption Lite" (ARC4) as well to my XG-100P. Harris documentation for the XG-100P says it is not supported however their price sheet says it is. They added it to my feature string with no problem but RPM won't let you program it.

I also asked about getting the wideband restriction removed and was told it shouldn't be an issue on 440 ham.. must be a firmware bug. Updated to the latest firmware and it's still there.
 
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