XTS2500 "AN" vs."BN" Radios

[d119]

*sigh* here's the unofficial-but-reliable story on these radios.

There was a fire in a Motorola facility and *A LOT* of equipment received damage as a result of the fire, not just portables. Some more than others. Rather than sift through it and figure out what works and what doesn't, Motorola hired a recycler to come in and destroy the equipment and recycle the remains (chopped up radios).

All of this was done under Motorola's supervision. Apparently the recycler had rigged up some sort of hidden contraption such that a lot of the larger stuff got through to the crusher, but the radios would fall through to a bin as they went through the crusher, and survived as planned (by the recycler). To the supervisor, it looked like everything was getting destroyed whilst in fact some of it (smaller items) was getting diverted.

That's all I know about it. My theory is that the recycler then sold the surviving radios to who knows who and the end result is what you have on eBay.

Thats all I know, don't quote me on this, it's just what I heard through the grapevine, and I have the utmost of faith in my particular grapevine.

 

[gatekeep]

Mine is a 407CGHB***.
VHF model.

DSP ver 12.00.04
Host ver 12.00.13
Proc Bravo122

Purchased from Panter88 late last year.

So far...no issues.
Digital RX is nice and clear.
TX is fine also on 2m ham band.

Very reluctant to pull it apart unless there is a reason to have to do it.

Commscanaus.

I have one with that series S/N, the shielding is banged up. Other then that the radios are fine (some even w/o tuning on a service monitor).

 

[chrismol1]

All of this was done under Motorola's supervision. Apparently the recycler had rigged up some sort of hidden contraption such that a lot of the larger stuff got through to the crusher, but the radios would fall through to a bin as they went through the crusher, and survived as planned (by the recycler). To the supervisor, it looked like everything was getting destroyed whilst in fact some of it (smaller items) was getting diverted.
.

very good story

 

[d119]

very good story

Thats just it though - as much as it sounds like a "story", that's the reality of what happened as I was told from someone who would know. This particular person is very straight and to the point, and I believe as gospel what I was told.

 

[PeterGV]

I have no doubt the story is true.

The questions are (a) do you know if these radio made it to Panter88, and (b) that was YEARS ago... he can't STILL be selling those radios can he? He's got to have sold HUNDREDS of 2500s in that time.

Peter
K1PGV

 

[chrismol1]

Warehouses are massive. If its like the story goes I think were talking a lot more than a few hundred. I don't think Motorola would have cared enough to file a claim on a few hundred radios.

 

[gatekeep]

The story is interesting because I do remember about that time Motorola having panter's listings removed for unknown reasons (perhaps because they thought he was selling those radios, but, that is just hearsay).

I do believe that he said something about clearing up the issue and he resumed selling radios.

 

[KG1ADP]

xts2500 housing

Will the 8mg full keypad housing work on a xts2500 4meg radio?

 

[MTS2000des]

Will the 8mg full keypad housing work on a xts2500 4meg radio?

Yes, but you must modify the housing so the chassis tabs line up correctly.

 

[XTS3000]

All I'm going to say on this subject is to look at the "read me" file and PDF that comes with each version of Astro25 firmware packages.

This fully explains AN vs BN XTS2500's. Please read these, it will explain everything. It's so apparent almost no ones has ever read these info files.

Happy reading

 

[stantech]

I picked up a Panter radio too about 2 years ago. A model XTS-2500 FPP in UHF Range 1. Took a. big chance. It was expensive & didn't include anything but the radio itself. No battery, antenna etc. but it did appear to have have a new case. So far so good & it has been working fine & works well with various Motorola XTS accessories. After hearing some comments about Panter's radios I'm hoping my $499.00 investment stays working as it should.

 

[stantech]

Thank you FFPM571. So I'd guess if I want the real deal in terms of quality & compatability with most radio systems in a modern P-25 capable FPP VHF I ought to stick with the XTS-5000 rather than the EF Johnson 5100 ES. I also heard the early 5100's had better hardware. Need to thin out my Motorola HT herd. I have at least 20 HT's including an XTS-3000 UHF, XTS-2500 FPP UHF, HT-1000 UHF, & more HT-1250's in various bands that somehow got accumilated to beyond belief. I need to sell at least a dozen HT-1250's & only keep the 5 or 6 HT's that I really need !!!