• 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.

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    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).

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XPR programming Was: Hello all

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Brandonbalke

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Brand new to the world of dmr and stuff. Always been interested in radio talk but never got around more or less time. But my work just got away from radio communication in our work vans. So I was able to pick up a few Motorola XPR 4550s. And a 40 ft tower. And a few XPR 6550 hand helds. The company I work for purchased them from sharps communication and not had no use for them. But they seem to be restricted on what they can do. Will be putting up the tower and antennas this weekend but I have a feeling I won't get any further until I can figure out these radios. And why some of the functions are not accessible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Really looking forward to getting to know you all too btw.
 

KC4YIN

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The first question is what are the model numbers on the radios? This will tell what you can do with them. These numbers tell what band the radios operate on and what power levels they are. The model numbers begin with the letters AAM 27 XXXXXXX for the 4550's and AAH55XXXXXXXX for the 6550s. If you can tell us what those numbers that would be a big help. You must be licensed for whatever you intend to do with them.
 

Brandonbalke

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Sorry I haven't been able to get back on. I'm an HVAC technician and been in and out of people's homes and hospitals left and right lately. And a lot of overtime so by the time I get home I'm passing out. But here I have two different types and these are the model numbers

Aam27qnh9la1an

On the radio itself as soon as I go into the menu I have contacts one contact is MDC the next one is QC11. I can go to scan hit okay and nothing happens. Whenever I go to zone it has zone 1 and smart radio. It skips over the mailbox and the other one in jump Street to utilities

Firmware version is r010810 CP version is 100001. Whenever I go to smart radio it just says searching ID 1 searching ID to searching ID 3. No idea what's going on with them.
 
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KC4YIN

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Aam27qnh9la1an indicates these are 25 watt UHF 403-470 Mhz radios. They work great on the ham bands. The next question is what are you licensed for in the UHF band you can use these on? Another question is: Do you have the CPS for this equipment and if you do and you can read the codeplug in the radio or is there a password on it?

Firmware version is r010810 CP version is 100001. Whenever I go to smart radio it just says searching ID 1 searching ID to searching ID 3. No idea what's going on with them.


This is very old firmware. Also if it is searching as you indicate then they are programmed for repeater use ,possibly on some sort of trunking system. If that's the case then I would bet the repeater is out of service.
 

Brandonbalke

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Originally these were purchased by the company I work for from sharps communication and sharps installed them in our vans. Since the company decided to no longer be radio dispatched they were going to sell them so I purchased five of them an 2 handheld Motorola 6550. Along with the 60 ft tower and the antenna and all the coaxial to one of the base stations I purchased. One of the guys I work with has a nephew that had one of these back in the day and he said he used it for DMR and ham. And since I've been studying for my license I figured why not if I could get them cheap enough. I ended up purchasing two power supplies five 4550s 2 6550 and everything else for 350. Kind of couldn't pass up the deal figure that the tower was worth that. But if I'm going to have to purchase software just be able to use them I might as well go ahead and purchase a dedicated ham radio after I finish my license
 

alcahuete

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You definitely have to purchase software to use them. It's a couple hundred bucks for a 3 year subscription, directly from Motorola. They are very good radios, especially if you are interested in using DMR on the ham bands, but yes, it might be a better coice to go for something more simple when you are getting started.
 

Skypilot007

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Your radios are most likely configured to work on a DMR trunking system or conventional repeater network that was either owned by sharps communication or one of their affiliates. The radios are basically useless to you in their current configuration. If you do not currently hold an FCC license for anything you should not use the radios. You will need to acquire the CPS programming software and cables for both types of radios you have and reconfigure them for you current needs. Your options for getting FCC licensed are amateur radio, GMRS or you could acquire a commercial license.
 

Brandonbalke

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Already built a programming cable for the 4550s and purchased one for the 6550s. I figured I'd end up having to get the CPS software to reprogram them already. posted that I was working on my amateur radio license. But I appreciate you guys and you're willingness to help me. This group looks like it has a lot of great guys
 

Golay

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Sounds like you got a nice deal Brandonbalke. Hopefully you are earnest about getting a ham ticket. These radios would work fine on DMR machines near you.

Like others have said, the current codeplug is useless to you. And you need to get them re-programmed.

But you shouldn't need to buy the software.

In a previous post, you said "One of the guys I work with has a nephew that had one of these back in the day and he said he used it for DMR and ham". My advice to you is to reach out to this nephew. If the nephew has used them for the ham bands, it's a fair bet that either he can program the radios for you, or he knows someone who can. The nephew can also intro you to area hams also using DMR on the ham bands, let you know what the local DMR repeaters are nearest to you, etc.
 

Brandonbalke

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Yep was talking to him on Friday. He's 78 lol. I asked him if he thought his nephew could help me out with them. Found out he died of a heart attack at 48 five years ago. But he said we have a radio club in Huntsville Alabama. And when I'm ready I can take then test there.

I ended up getting the rest of them. Could not resist cause I got them free.

They said it was not worth their time trying to sell them
 

n3obl

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Hopefully if they were on a rented repeater the radio shop didn't put passwords on the radio codeplug. If so you will need the firmware in the radio to do a recover option.
 

Golay

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Yep was talking to him on Friday. He's 78 lol. I asked him if he thought his nephew could help me out with them. Found out he died of a heart attack at 48 five years ago. But he said we have a radio club in Huntsville Alabama. And when I'm ready I can take then test there.

I ended up getting the rest of them. Could not resist cause I got them free.

They said it was not worth their time trying to sell them

You got a good deal. Good idea to go to the next club meeting. Like I said about the nephew, someone at the club meeting may be able to program them for you, of know someone who can do it. I did a bit of snooping down your way. This link appears to be for Alabama Amateur Radio Digital Mobile Radio information. I have no doubt you email this group asking for some programming help, you will be all set:

 
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KC4YIN

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You got a good deal. Good idea to go to the next club meeting. Like I said about the nephew, someone at the club meeting may be able to program them for you, of know someone who can do it. I did a bit of snooping down your way. This link appears to be for Alabama Amateur Radio Digital Mobile Radio information. I have no doubt you email this group asking for some programming help, you will be all set:


Yes. What Golay said above.
 
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