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XTL/XTS
- Thread starter Mboy00
- Start date
N4KVE
Member
XTS, & XTL take different CPS. It‘s called Astro 25 Portable CPS, & Astro 25 Mobile CPS. APX CPS is the same for portables, or mobiles.
Project25_MASTR
Something about Vikings, Raiders and 1923...
Astro 25 is Motorola's trade name for P25 but the CPS is often named after the series.
Astro series - Astro Spectra (mobile), Astro Saber (portable), XTS3000 (portable). Named for the "Astro" VSELP based protocol the radios originally used prior to P25's CAI becoming a standard.
Astro 25 series - PM1500 (mobile), PR1500 (portable), XTS 1500/2500 (portable), XTS4000 (portable), XTS5000 (portable), XTL 1500/2500/5000 (mobile), Astro Spectra Plus (mobile). For all intents and purposes Px1500's are just analog conventional XTx1500's, all XTL bricks are the same for the band/power, and an Astro Spectra Plus is an Astro Spectra with an XTL5000 control board (and vocoder). Named for the fact that the line was the first fully P25 complaint line.
Astro series - Astro Spectra (mobile), Astro Saber (portable), XTS3000 (portable). Named for the "Astro" VSELP based protocol the radios originally used prior to P25's CAI becoming a standard.
Astro 25 series - PM1500 (mobile), PR1500 (portable), XTS 1500/2500 (portable), XTS4000 (portable), XTS5000 (portable), XTL 1500/2500/5000 (mobile), Astro Spectra Plus (mobile). For all intents and purposes Px1500's are just analog conventional XTx1500's, all XTL bricks are the same for the band/power, and an Astro Spectra Plus is an Astro Spectra with an XTL5000 control board (and vocoder). Named for the fact that the line was the first fully P25 complaint line.
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You can always be pretty sure that two Motorola radios that don't even share the same series name will require different software.
While Harris has a unified software architecture across their whole radio product line, allowing one or two software titles to cover every radio in current or recent production, Motorola doesn't do that. Their software almost always covers only a small number of closely related radios and none that have a different series name, with the exception of those that are mobile and portable series equivalents. (XTL, and XTS, or Astro Saber and Astro Spectra, to name a couple examples.)
Even a CP185 and CP200 will require different software.
While Harris has a unified software architecture across their whole radio product line, allowing one or two software titles to cover every radio in current or recent production, Motorola doesn't do that. Their software almost always covers only a small number of closely related radios and none that have a different series name, with the exception of those that are mobile and portable series equivalents. (XTL, and XTS, or Astro Saber and Astro Spectra, to name a couple examples.)
Even a CP185 and CP200 will require different software.
Project25_MASTR
Something about Vikings, Raiders and 1923...
Motorola does have two primary software lines to cover 90% of their current (and recent) supported products though, APX CPS and TRBO CPS. I think many tend to forget just how old many (still highly praised) radio lines actually are. The Astro 25 line was introduced almost 20 years ago in 2004 to succeed the Astro line that was introduced in 1996. The APX line was introduced in 2012 while the TRBO line was introduced in 2008 and for the most part as long as you've stayed mostly on top of firmware for either line, the latest version software will function with the first revision hardware still today.
I wouldn't expect the newest version of RPM 2.0 to function with the old Orion I have sitting in the shed (I've used Programmer on it but never RPM).
Well before that, actually. Aug 2009 is when the APX 7000 was released. The 7500 followed in Oct 2009, the 6000AN in Dec 2010, the 6500AN in Dec 2011, the 4000 in Jan 2012, the 4500AN in Dec 2012, the 8000 in Aug 2015, the 8500 in Dec 2016.
Project25_MASTR
Something about Vikings, Raiders and 1923...
I seem to remember 2012 for some reason.
The date for the 4500 seems off to me though (but I will yield to your better memory). I specifically remember a state agency throwing a fit in 2014 because sales on the XTL1500 ended and for whatever reason the APX model they could obtain was the 6500. I don't remember even working with a 4500 until July of 2016. December of 2016 does sound right for the 8500 though...I remember having seen one or two before I had to work on an entire(ly unneeded) fleet migration to 8500's in February of 2018.
Point remains (further reinforced by provided info) that Motorola does indeed offer software that covers a fairly large production span of solutions unlike the old days when it was strictly one line (i.e. CDMS, 1225s, SM's, Maxtracs, etc).
And on top of that, with Motorola you must have a unique codeplug file for every little feature variation. You can have half a dozen XTS5000 portables which are all physically identical, but if the internal feature set varies just a tiny bit on each radio, you need half a dozen separate codeplug files.
Harris software will generally dump a single codeplug file into many different radio models without a hitch; just tell the software what model you're programming. Enormous time-saver.
Even being identical other than A and B and C hardware revisions requires different codeplugs! Your AN radio and BN radio are not the same to the CPS.
