XTL5000 high power UHF ?

[merlin]

Why is it that the accessories for a high power UHF radio would be so expensive. I mean like 3 times the cost of high power VHF.
The radio, $30 the control head $150 control cable $65
Absurd asking me.
Sorry if this is rant, but any logical reasoning here ?
Cheers

 

[K2NEC]

People can charge whatever price they want. And if one person sees that a head is going for $100 then they are going to put $100 even if they think it's worth $35. That's just how business works and until the radios completely get phased out, you are gonna see high prices.

As for the control heads, I think you are forgetting that the O5 head can be used on the APX mobiles as well so $150 for an O5 head is a pretty reasonable price IMHO.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

The radio accessories get torn up by use and removal. The drawer units survive hidden away in the trunk looking spiffy. They then get stacked on pallets, go to auction without the "messy" cables and control heads that get pitched out as "junk". Been that way for decades, sadly.

 

[merlin]

The radio accessories get torn up by use and removal. The drawer units survive hidden away in the trunk looking spiffy. They then get stacked on pallets, go to auction without the "messy" cables and control heads that get pitched out as "junk". Been that way for decades, sadly.

3 decades back you could buy this stuff by the pallet for the cost of a tank of gas. Today it is competiton with everybody out to make 300% profits.
Talking APX, I missed (outbid) 4 pallets of APX-6000 portables (64 count) "Complete" Radios, antennas, batteries, chargers + vehicle, Mic's, holsters, the works. My $1200 bid was wining to 10 seconds to close, then a 'vulture' got the sale with $1700 too late for me to up my bid.
Sombody made 64 X their investment.
Problem here is people think their "JUNK" is more valuable than gold, asking more than the cost NEW.
Well, I got my cable, decent, been sitting on a warehous shelf collecting dust. Ordered the head for lack of option.
Yea, a scruffy pullout from a PD, now if the damned thing works.
Cheers

 

[merlin]

What a mess. I've been 26 hours troubleshooting that nasty 01/90 error.
I have concluded the control head and CHIB check good, the CAN cable is good, so now down to the TIB.
It seems to check but can't confirm the Altera Cyclone.
The FLEX is good, but the probable bad radio, How can one isolate that for troubleshooting.
Power and regulators turn on, test points check, but nothing but this 01/90 error.
Only this high power is Motorola's Frankenstein of over complicated clusterf&%k. I am amazed some even work.
Wouldn't complain had it not cost $300 just for 8 pounds of scrap aluminum.
Maybe I should stay with Harris for the UHF stuff.

 

[Twlighting]

Might be case case of firmware mismatch between the radio/CH. Had a bunch of XTL2500, of which one was on R06.00.00. Took a minute to find a CH which was running old enough firmware to connect to it and clear the FL 01/90 which was appearing with the other control heads in the lot.

 

[merlin]

A nice catch 22 there, the 01/90 has to be clear to change any firmware or codeplug.
No idea what is in the radio or the head at this point.
If I could get that far, there would be no issues.
I have a 700/800 Mhz setup, thought of changing to that head and TIB, but riddle me this: how would I supply ignition to this ? Back feed the unused accessory plug ? or would that let too much smoke out of the works.

 

[merlin]

Well, the swap idea is out without a certain flex ribbon for that application.

 

[iowajm780]

I have an XTL5000 that also suffered the dreaded fail code 01/90 while I was on the road for heavens sake. This radio also has the remote head. I tried everything, pulling the cables from the head and radio and reseating them. Nothing worked so I left it alone and was going take everything out of the car and put the control head right to radio bypassing the remote head. The next day I fired up the radio in the car and it came back to life on its own. I have no idea what caused it to come back to life. It’s been fine ever since.

 

[merlin]

I have an XTL5000 that also suffered the dreaded fail code 01/90 while I was on the road for heavens sake. This radio also has the remote head. I tried everything, pulling the cables from the head and radio and reseating them. Nothing worked so I left it alone and was going take everything out of the car and put the control head right to radio bypassing the remote head. The next day I fired up the radio in the car and it came back to life on its own. I have no idea what caused it to come back to life. It’s been fine ever since.

The UHF is remote mount only. Reading the tons of stuff RE this, usually completely disconecting from the battery fixes this. Not so in my case.
Down to checking for the right programming cable and the CH synch. If I can just get the radio to communicate, I can use 'terminal' to do upgrading, then CPS should work.

 

[merlin]

Might be case case of firmware mismatch between the radio/CH. Had a bunch of XTL2500, of which one was on R06.00.00. Took a minute to find a CH which was running old enough firmware to connect to it and clear the FL 01/90 which was appearing with the other control heads in the lot.

I am thinking that is some of my problem. I need the latest firmware, the most recent CH synch and the right programming cable, then I will know for certain.

 

[rescue161]

01/90 will happen when the radio brick does not have power, but the control head does.

Make sure that the brick has power before the control head does. If the control head sees power first, it can display the 01/90 error. This is one of the reasons why the install manuals say to run constant power to the brick, not switched power.

 

[merlin]

01/90 will happen when the radio brick does not have power, but the control head does.

Make sure that the brick has power before the control head does. If the control head sees power first, it can display the 01/90 error. This is one of the reasons why the install manuals say to run constant power to the brick, not switched power.

Already way past that. Without radio power the head still shows the error but maintenance mode is local.
With radio power it shows remote.
ALL of the power distribution checks good, in fact, everything checks good except GCAI RS232 signals.
It simply doesn't talk to a PC. The error looks to be version conflict between head and radio and can't change it.

 

[merlin]

Well, My progress is down to looking like some tech wanabe has bricked the firmware.
I made a makeshift test cable for the RS232 and that works using terminal. CPS still shows an error.
Looking at the versions, I get some odd response back to terminal, the information turns to gibberish.
Looks like it is changing from 9600 to 15400 and clocks are all wrong.

I know,, I will load APX firmware and make this an APX !!! Ha Ha Ha Ha.