Xts3000

[unodonut]

Can anyone tell em how to program a Motorola XTS3000 to receive only on the Waukesha Trunked Radio System? I am only looking to monitor County fire and Waukesha City Fire. Lots have told me to buy a digital trunked scanner but the XTS3000 was purchased at half the price, so if you can help me, that would be greatly appreciated.

 

[WQJQ863]

xts3000

send me a pm I may be able to help you

 

[4006]

It is illegal to do such a thing, and KC9IQO has already been caught with a rogue radio on the radio system mentioned.

Do so at your own risk.

Waukesha Man Charged After Disrupting Police Radio Communication - Waukesha, WI Patch

 

[FFPM571]

Busted...

 

[unodonut]

It is not illegal to scan these frequencies but it is illegal to transmit if you are not authorized to. I am just looking to program this radio to receive only so I can't transmit. I am a free lance videographer and a fire buff (a.k.a. firechaser, ambulance chaser, whatever) and I have made a hobby of this. This would just allow me to keep up with the local departments. If it means anything different, I want nothing to do with any area police departments. I only want Waukesha Fire Departments.

 

[W2NJS]

Easy, guys. The OP asked about monitoring the FD. The perp cited was busted for interfering with police communications. The correct answer is that for a layman it is nearly impossible to intelligently monitor a trunked radio system with a Motorola portable, but it can be easily and legally done by using a scanner.

 

[R8000]

Don't do it.

When your radio tries to affiliate to the system without you knowing it, you can really hose things up.

There is no way to make a modern Motorola smartnet trunked radio be "receive only" unless you totally remove the PA section from the radio.

Regardless from what others tell you, I am telling you this as a Motorola Systems Technician.....don't do it.

I know it's cool to use a commercial radio to monitor, but with that XTS, your asking for trouble.

Use a scanner

There is a whole section in the archives here on RR that explains why it's a bad idea to do this.

 

[kb0uxv]

What you seek to do is very dangerous, and should not be done unless you know CPS and trunking systems like the back of your hand. All the legal issues aside, you put the safety of field users in jeopardy if you screw up your programming. If you duplicate an ID you can take control of the real radio and cause problems when that user needs to make a critical call.

With that said, someone will reply here soon, or to you by PM, with methods to do what you seek. They like to show that they know more than the admins and system techs, and in most cases have too much confidence in the scanner enthusiast's CPS ability and too little concern for user safety.

 

[XTS3000]

Can anyone tell em how to program a Motorola XTS3000 to receive only on the Waukesha Trunked Radio System? I am only looking to monitor County fire and Waukesha City Fire. Lots have told me to buy a digital trunked scanner but the XTS3000 was purchased at half the price, so if you can help me, that would be greatly appreciated.

This is a scanner info site, not a motorola info site. You can easly program an Astro radio to passive monitor a trunking system - 3600 or 9600. The radio will NEVER transmit if programmed properly. It's been proven by 1000's of people programming their radios properly to passively monitor any TRS with a motorola, and you do NOT have to remove the PA - that's just stupid.

There is a nice write up on p25.ca on how to program your radio. So called "radio police" here honestly have no clue what they are talking about - especially when it comes to motorola.

 

[XTS3000]

What you seek to do is very dangerous, and should not be done unless you know CPS and trunking systems like the back of your hand. All the legal issues aside, you put the safety of field users in jeopardy if you screw up your programming. If you duplicate an ID you can take control of the real radio and cause problems when that user needs to make a critical call.

With that said, someone will reply here soon, or to you by PM, with methods to do what you seek. They like to show that they know more than the admins and system techs, and in most cases have too much confidence in the scanner enthusiast's CPS ability and too little concern for user safety.

With the radio programmed properly and even if a duplicate ID is used, the radio will never transmit - period. So how can a duplicate ID that never talks to the control channel interfer with the legit radio?

Many people a sick and tired of all the junk scanners being marketed these days, and want a real receiver that can lock onto the control channel from over twice the distant a scanner can. If scanners were as good as a Motorola, then no one would want or need to use a Motorola. Scanner manufactures are jamming more and more useless features, while skimping on the most important part of a scanner - the RF circuitry.

 

[canav844]

This maybe a worthwhile read:
Batboard • View topic - Why we tell people to buy a scanner...

Understand that even if you can do it, should you get it wrong, the penalty is quite severe.

 

[PJH]

To put it more into perspective (along with the Batboard thread)

On a 3600 system, the radio does not need to affliate to hear the conversations. However, you still need the system key (a software file or hardware dongle) to program in the trunked system information. Motorola has considered the Software Key as IP property/copyrighted (if someone really wanted to push the issue - how far it would go, I dunno).

If not programmed correctly, the radio will attempt to affliate to the system. In most states, this alone is considered a computer crime as the radio is accessing a computer system (which the controller is) without authorization, along with any other related charges. You don't need to press the PTT for this to happen.

Another danger is if the system manager is proactive in monitoring ID's that are not authorized, or runs reports that shows ID's affilating to multiple sites or talkgroups. Even if your radio at the moment is not setup to transmit, if the system manager (or automated software that is available) sends a kill command to that ID, your radio will go dark and you have yourself a nice door stop.

9600 systems are a bit more tricky as the P25 standard REQUIRES affilation in order to receive the talkgroup audio. There are certain radios out there that do not require this, but the Motorola ones do. There are the hidden talkgroup modes and some other tricks that requries some thought processes, but generally not worth the aggravation.

One of them is here:
Scanning a trunking network with a ASTRO25 Radio V2 - YouTube

In addtion, your still only limited to a few talkgroups at a time. Current scanners are just as cheap and do not require $70 batteries and chargers for consumables.

 

[R8000]

- that's just stupid.

There is a nice write up on p25.ca on how to program your radio. So called "radio police" here honestly have no clue what they are talking about - especially when it comes to motorola.

Do you know what's stupid ?

Several people on here, who don't know each other telling you the same thing. They all say to not do it. There's an entire thread/***** session on RR saying the same thing...don't do it. I work with this stuff, and I am saying "don't do it". Yet you see the need to argue.

To the OP :

Seriously, don't do it. Let it go. The Motorola Systems tech assigned to Milwaukee County watches RR. Your just asking to get into trouble. You asked how to do it, however your question crosses the line into asking someone how to break the law. I don't think it's your intention to cause trouble, but the issue is what if the radio malfunctioned ? What if you left it behind at the county fair and some kid go ahold of it ? Nobody thinks about that.

I am not being a prick to you, I am just being stern in saying that you should reconsider this idea. Some folks on here, such as Xts3000, apparently don't care about system stability, system performance, and the jobs the public safety servants have to do. They just care to look cool carrying around a commercial trunked radio listening to police traffic.

To Xts3000 :

You should re-read my post again. You missed a part there bud. Radio police ? LoL, sorry...I just work on public safety Motorola radio systems/dispatch consoles for a living. My bad !

The OP's question has been answered by a few people. Time for admin to lock this one down, as it's going nowhere now.

 

[kb0uxv]

This same back and fourth goes on nearly every time this topic comes up, but normally it is in the Motorola forum. No sense arguing with the other side, neither will budge on this. All we can do is present our opinions and observations to original poster Unodonut - You can decide who's advice to take on this topic - radio administrators, technicians, Motorola system techs, and real cops - not just radio ones! Or, you can side with the hobbyists.

 

[WayneH]

I never understand why people have to flip their lid when defending the whole passive monitoring is possible !!111. Let me explain why people are told not to do it: it's because they do not have the skill or respect to program their radio!

So, yeah, the debate is tired and beat to death (just like encryption threads). When people have to ask they need to be told not to try. If someone has to ask then they don't need to be told. Use the damn search or go somewhere else.

 

[unodonut]

These are the steps for scanning a 3600 baud trunked system. They have been tested and confirmed to work on VHF, UHF and 800 meg systems using XTS3000, XTS2500 and ASTRO Spectras.

here are the steps for a 3600 baud radio

NOTE: it is highly recommended that you align the radio to the lowest softpot settings for Low tx power.

1: create the trunked system personality and talkgroups desired.
2: set up the trunked system into a zone with the talkgroups set up as you desire
3: set the trunked personality to low power tx
4: create a conventional channel ( preferable one with no activty on it) you can use PL/DPL to ensure this.
5: create a zone for this channel and put it in the zone
6: set the convention channel up for scan (remember what scan list you choose)
7: go to the scan list chosen in step 4 and make the first member the conventional channel in step 4
8: add in the trunked zone talk groups you want to scan.
9: program the radio
10: go to the zone containing the conventional channel and select scan enjoy.


additional info below:
No affiliate trunked scan

 

[a1emt]

Stick with a scanner!!!

To the OP:

In addition to all the legal issues, did you know the scan-list on XTS series of portables is limited to only 10 talkgroups in 'non-priority' mode and 15 in 'priority mode'!!!!...? A BIG limitation on the large, regional trunked systems.

Even though I carry a legitimate, departmental radio for the system, the mainstay for scanning work is my Uniden BCD-396XT. It can scan hundreds of talkgroups on multiple systems and can be programmed on the fly.

STICK WITH A GOOD SCANNER AND YOU'LL BE MUCH HAPPIER AND NOT END UP IN JAIL!

 

[kb0uxv]

You forgot to include the directions on how to make the system key

 

[PJH]

Open up keygen and insert key

 

[kb0uxv]

Yay, as this info gets out we can worry about more fools like the guy in post #2 on our systems, not to mention the people who follow the directions above (and on p25.ca, where there are no "radio police" because admins and users have not begun to hang out there yet). I acknowledge most here don't have that evil intent, but they can still cause harm when they screw up, and affiliate by accident - and cause above saftey issues in addition to extra loading as they bring in foreign talkgroups.