XL wifi programming

[ElroyJetson]

Just to say it...the only thing about any of this that is new to me in ANY way is the XL series radios. I'm very nearly as much of a veteran of the GE-to-Harris side of the radio business/hobby as I am to Motorola. Nobody needs to be telling me what's what or thinking that I should be treated in ANY way like a newbie, except specifically with regard to the new things brought to the table by the XL series. I was hacking Motorola radios before they were programmed via PCs. (Yes, hardware hacking. When turning a 4 channel MX-300S into a 48 channel radio was a handful of parts and some time with a soldering iron. Those were fun times.)

 

[GTR8000]

@ElroyJetson you may not be a "newbie", but you often come across as being out of touch, having let time fly right by you. No one should take issue with you asking questions, however there are times when you make declarative statements when it's clear that you're unfamiliar with the subject matter, or you're reaching back 20+ years to answer a question about modern technology. It's a bit perplexing, frankly.

 

[ElroyJetson]

Fair enough. The reality is that I haven't been able or even, at times, interested in staying up to date in the radio industry. I stopped working in the field in 2014 and have not ever had jobs in the field that I'd like to have had, because of unfortunate combinations of location and timing. I would have liked to chart out a career path working for an MSS and end up as a senior tech adviser or consultant but the county I live in went with GE just about the time I'd have been ready to get a job with the MSS so that kind of changed the path before I even got started down it. I ended up working in electronics manufacturing instead. It wasn't until 2007 that I got back to an RF tech position focused only oin on the radio industry.

 

[sbk1982]

When you use it to program radios, do you connect to the outside world, or just use it as a standalone?

I use it stand-alone. I use my laptop to provide it power but link to the WIFI with my laptop. Works like a charm.

 

[wa8pyr]

I use it stand-alone. I use my laptop to provide it power but link to the WIFI with my laptop. Works like a charm.

OK thanks.

 

[ElroyJetson]

I got one of those yellow routers, and that was very easy to set up and the radio sees the router and connects to it. But I still don't see it via discovery over wi-fi in RPM2 which causes me to ask again, for the third time, if it is possible for the radio to be configured so that it will not appear over wifi by software selection?

Please answer that question with a yes or no answer. Not looking for anything but that one answer to that one question.

No, my programming cable still has not arrived, in fact the order hasn't even been confirmed and I placed it two weeks ago. I am less than happy about that. But that's not a matter for this topic's discussion.

 

[BMDaug]

I got one of those yellow routers, and that was very easy to set up and the radio sees the router and connects to it. But I still don't see it via discovery over wi-fi in RPM2 which causes me to ask again, for the third time, if it is possible for the radio to be configured so that it will not appear over wifi by software selection?

Please answer that question with a yes or no answer. Not looking for anything but that one answer to that one question.

No, my programming cable still has not arrived, in fact the order hasn't even been confirmed and I placed it two weeks ago. I am less than happy about that. But that's not a matter for this topic's discussion.

Yes… nothing is impossible.

-B

 

[BMDaug]

Seriously, I don’t know how else to try and help you. I haven’t had time to test this extensively and even when I have time, who knows if I’ll be able to replicate this or accurately set up a test, since I don’t know how the mission play you have loaded is set up… I hope your cable comes soon!

-B

 

[ElroyJetson]

Me too! I've never had a radio for so long without the ability to program it. Very annoying.

 

[sbk1982]

If your radio is seeing the wifi network, make sure RPM2 is configured correctly to also use the wifi network.

In RPM2 > Tools > Preferences > Miscellaneous/General
Makes sure "Enable WiFi" is checked and the Service Name is entered (default "harrisradio").

Any changes here will require restarting RPM2.

Make sure your computer is also connected to the WiFi prior to opening RPM2.

 

[redbeard]

I got one of those yellow routers, and that was very easy to set up and the radio sees the router and connects to it. But I still don't see it via discovery over wi-fi in RPM2 which causes me to ask again, for the third time, if it is possible for the radio to be configured so that it will not appear over wifi by software selection?

Please answer that question with a yes or no answer. Not looking for anything but that one answer to that one question.

No, my programming cable still has not arrived, in fact the order hasn't even been confirmed and I placed it two weeks ago. I am less than happy about that. But that's not a matter for this topic's discussion.

These are in stock with fast shipping. I have one and know the guy who makes them. Very Halal.

Harris Programming Cable for Unity XG-100P and XL-200/185P Portable Radios | eBay

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[ElroyJetson]

Yes it's set to enable wifi. Done long ago and double checked.

 

[nikronzo]

only other issue that I can foresee occurring here is mDNS not functioning properly between the XL and the router, then to the windows computer. If its some POS boilerplate router with basic functionality it might be interfering with RPM2 seeing the XL.

I guess there could also be a bug we are not aware of dependent on elroys firmware and RPM2 version, having the latest RPM2R14D & XLPR014 firmware on my enterprise network; XLs show up just fine.

 

[ElroyJetson]

Once I get a cable I'll be able to investigate various settings and maybe get to the bottom of it. Until then it seems that speculation is all that's possible, and that's kind of pointless.

 

[nikronzo]

well you are asking for definitive answers from questions that provide a myriad of variables

• does your radio support mDNS and is it properly configured?
• whats your radios firmware version
• what RPM2 version are you using
• is your windows PC able to ping the XL radio wifi IP?

 

[ElroyJetson]

In order...
Don't know. I do NOT yet have a programming cable so I can not access the personalities in this radio.
R11C06
R10A11
Haven't tried, will probably have to learn how to do that.

 

[ElroyJetson]

Finally got it. I was able to download both personalities in the radio via wifi. Strangest thing...it started working when I changed the service name in RPM2, and then changed it back.
And I'm back to using my original wifi router, my old trusty Apple Airport Extreme.

Now...I want to convert and upload my "standard" P7300 personality to this radio, but I'm getting an error with the maximum EDACS LID, but the field is greyed out. It's 16383 when 16382 is the limit. Funny thing is, I've never entered it as 16383.

 

[marcotor]

I dn’t have a problem using /\/\ radios, I just don’t prefer their business/software/upgrade model and people love to root for the underdog!

I am relatively new to the Harris world, altho I had an appreciation for GE audio a long time ago. I find myself amused that a $35B company is the "underdog" Great radios up to the purpose, and I am not giving up my /\/\ radios either.

 

[BMDaug]

I am relatively new to the Harris world, altho I had an appreciation for GE audio a long time ago. I find myself amused that a $35B company is the "underdog" Great radios up to the purpose, and I am not giving up my /\/\ radios either.

It’s the public safety market specifically… in that market, Moto is king… $35B is mostly military, which is another thing I like about Harris. Public safety is Moto’s bread and butter, but it’s a side gig for Harris in terms of profitability.

-B

 

[ElroyJetson]

Believe it or not, the value of Motorola Solutions by market cap is 49.03 billion as of just about a week ago. Yes, it's still bigger than L3 Harris, and I was actually surprised to discover that. VERY surprised. In fact I figured that L3 Harris would have been substantially larger than Motorola Solutions as they do so much more than just public safety communications, that's just one division of the company.

I was, and remain, surprised that Motorola didn't buy out their GE legacy competitor back in the dark days when Ericsson parted ways with GE and left the company hanging which led to them reorganizing as Comm-Net, which was hanging on by the skin of its teeth and suffering crippling damage due to the Pennsylvania and New York OpenSky disasters, but which was then saved from extinction by the acquisition by Tyco/M-A-Com. (A deal that specifically excluded a bail-out for the OpenSky debacles.)

Motorola possibly could have bought the GE egacy for pennies on the dollar, and then retired it forever and forklift upgraded their acquired new customer base with all Motorola equipment, provided that the acquisition would have met with regulatory approval, as it might have fallen into the monopoly/anti-trust laws area.

I was surprised they didn't do it. If I'd been in charge of Motorola it'd have been done without hesitation, but possibly by doing it via a wholly owned subsidiary.