XTS500 Channel Announcement trunked channels?

[Radioprogram12]

Hey Everyone,

Heard from someone that channel announcement only works on non trunked channels?

Anyone have it setup on trunked channels?

Thanks

 

[krokus]

Hey Everyone,

Heard from someone that channel announcement only works on non trunked channels?

Anyone have it setup on trunked channels?

Thanks

Some of ours are. You have to provide the voice clips.

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[Jay911]

I don't have any announcements configured on my XTL and APX mobiles, but I know two neighboring departments who have XTL/XTS/APX radios and have both trunked and conventional announcements on all their channels.

 

[RKG]

Assuming one has done the necessary prep work (create the voice files, convert them to Motorola format, and load them into the radio), attaching a voice file to a channel slot is done on the Zone/Channel screen. Radio doesn't know or care if the channel is trunked or conventional.

 

[K4RMN]

Assuming one has done the necessary prep work (create the voice files, convert them to Motorola format, and load them into the radio), attaching a voice file to a channel slot is done on the Zone/Channel screen. Radio doesn't know or care if the channel is trunked or conventional.

Agreed. My XTS5000 is a VHF conventional that I put channel announce on, and the XTS5000's that the agency I work for uses are trunked 800 MHz and they channel announce as well, I've handled our spares in person.

If you need help setting up channel announce, let me know!

 

[chief21]

I'm familiar with these voice announcements but have never programmed them. Is a certain option or CPS required to do so? I have some older XTS3K and XTS5K radios.

John

 

[KE4ZNR]

I'm familiar with these voice announcements but have never programmed them. Is a certain option or CPS required to do so? I have some older XTS3K and XTS5K radios.

John

I don't believe XTS 3Ks can do Channel Announcements.
XTS 5000s need to have option Q446 in the flashcode to be able to do CA:

Once you make sure you have Q446 you then have to jump through a lot of hurdles to make the CA feature work:
1) Make sure you go to Radio Wide->General->then select Channel Announcement.
2) Create the CA file and convert it to Wav format.
3) Make sure it fits the following requirements:

Wav files MUST BE less than or equal to 58 Kilobytes (in size) and saved as 8.0 kHz and 16 Bit Mono, and file names MUST BE limited to 32 characters including the .wav file extension. In 8.0 Khz and 16 Bit Mono, 58K is equivalent to a two to four second sound file.

4) Once the wav file fits the above requirements then hook a fully charged XTS 5000 up to your computer and Go to Tools->Voice Files->Voice Files Compression and let CPS convert the wav files to Motorola XTS "mvf" format then select a folder where to save them.
5) Now you still have to go to File->import->Voice file and import the mvf CA files into CPS.
6) Do note that the more CA Voice Files you load into your XTS radio the slower the radio will operate when changing channels, zones, etc. You try to load CA files into every zone your radio will quickly become an unusable brick.
Be conservative about where you use CA files and how many you assign.
My suspicion has always been that Motorola made it extremely difficult to create & load CA files on purpose because they hate them.
Marshall KE4ZNR

 

[mikewazowski]

I don't believe XTS 3Ks can do Channel Announcements.

Marshall KE4ZNR

Correct. Channel Announcement didn't become a feature until the ASTRO25 series.

 

[SCPD]

I don't believe XTS 3Ks can do Channel Announcements.
XTS 5000s need to have option Q446 in the flashcode to be able to do CA:

Once you make sure you have Q446 you then have to jump through a lot of hurdles to make the CA feature work:
1) Make sure you go to Radio Wide->General->then select Channel Announcement.
2) Create the CA file and convert it to Wav format.
3) Make sure it fits the following requirements:

4) Once the wav file fits the above requirements then hook a fully charged XTS 5000 up to your computer and Go to Tools->Voice Files->Voice Files Compression and let CPS convert the wav files to Motorola XTS "mvf" format then select a folder where to save them.
5) Now you still have to go to File->import->Voice file and import the mvf CA files into CPS.
6) Do note that the more CA Voice Files you load into your XTS radio the slower the radio will operate when changing channels, zones, etc. You try to load CA files into every zone your radio will quickly become an unusable brick.
Be conservative about where you use CA files and how many you assign.
My suspicion has always been that Motorola made it extremely difficult to create & load CA files on purpose because they hate them.
Marshall KE4ZNR

Your right about the CA slowing down the radio. It takes for ever to upload them once into the radio, it's a nice feature if you need it but it's a PITA to create them like KE4ZNR stated. I don't know if this would help you find talkgroups/conventional channels I program the main one we are supposed to be on to channel 1 and ch.16 so if I get lost I just turn the knob to ch.16 and count the clicks going the other way. I know turning the knob clockwise until it stops or counterclockwise until it stops and count again. This is not ideal in some situations but it keeps the radio on the belt. It would be nice if Motorola made this an easier process or have them included as a basic voice so it may not be necessary to create them. Motorola makes great radios but programming them can sometimes can give you a headache. My CCR does CA announcement pretty well, but Motorola makes it of course very difficult. As a joke I had our radio service folks program a talkgroup that is never really used but this person always seemed to select it, so they programmed a voice saying "wrong channel idiot". After a short time it was no longer a problem and that voice announcement was removed.

 

[ElroyJetson]

CA is such a pain that I only ever created about five CA voice files and after just a few weeks, discontinued using them entirely. Nice idea, but in the real world it's more of a gimmick to MOST users. I can imagine a firefighter in bunker gear being happy to have it, though.

 

[N1XDS]

When I bought my XTS 5000 it already had some channel announcements in the radio from the previous owner he had setup when he was on duty. I had to go through and delete them and add my own. It is handy to have channel announcements if you're in a noisy environment such as Military/Flight deck, On duty/call and on the road doing whatever.

I don't believe XTS 3Ks can do Channel Announcements.
XTS 5000s need to have option Q446 in the flashcode to be able to do CA:

Once you make sure you have Q446 you then have to jump through a lot of hurdles to make the CA feature work:
1) Make sure you go to Radio Wide->General->then select Channel Announcement.
2) Create the CA file and convert it to Wav format.
3) Make sure it fits the following requirements:

4) Once the wav file fits the above requirements then hook a fully charged XTS 5000 up to your computer and Go to Tools->Voice Files->Voice Files Compression and let CPS convert the wav files to Motorola XTS "mvf" format then select a folder where to save them.
5) Now you still have to go to File->import->Voice file and import the mvf CA files into CPS.
6) Do note that the more CA Voice Files you load into your XTS radio the slower the radio will operate when changing channels, zones, etc. You try to load CA files into every zone your radio will quickly become an unusable brick.
Be conservative about where you use CA files and how many you assign.
My suspicion has always been that Motorola made it extremely difficult to create & load CA files on purpose because they hate them.
Marshall KE4ZNR

Your right about the CA slowing down the radio. It takes for ever to upload them once into the radio, it's a nice feature if you need it but it's a PITA to create them like KE4ZNR stated. I don't know if this would help you find talkgroups/conventional channels I program the main one we are supposed to be on to channel 1 and ch.16 so if I get lost I just turn the knob to ch.16 and count the clicks going the other way. I know turning the knob clockwise until it stops or counterclockwise until it stops and count again. This is not ideal in some situations but it keeps the radio on the belt. It would be nice if Motorola made this an easier process or have them included as a basic voice so it may not be necessary to create them. Motorola makes great radios but programming them can sometimes can give you a headache. My CCR does CA announcement pretty well, but Motorola makes it of course very difficult. As a joke I had our radio service folks program a talkgroup that is never really used but this person always seemed to select it, so they programmed a voice saying "wrong channel idiot". After a short time it was no longer a problem and that voice announcement was removed.

 

[krokus]

CA is such a pain that I only ever created about five CA voice files and after just a few weeks, discontinued using them entirely. Nice idea, but in the real world it's more of a gimmick to MOST users. I can imagine a firefighter in bunker gear being happy to have it, though.

Yes. I have had my selector knob changed, while crawling around, and did not know.

Even out of the bunker gear. I have had the selector get changed, and wondered why no one was answering me.

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[Radioprogram12]

Thanks for all the replies guys! I guess its time to get to work on getting the files created!

 

[evfd1625]

Didn't all XTS5000 models get voice channel announcement after a certain firmware version?


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[Drachen_Fire]

Alright, guys. Got an odd one here. I have an XTS1500 with no screen.

It has the Q446 option.

I have loaded all of my files and such, and imported/compressed them.

Go to click Channel Announcement in the radio wide tab, and........sunglasses.

Help.

 

[wa8pyr]

CA is such a pain that I only ever created about five CA voice files and after just a few weeks, discontinued using them entirely. Nice idea, but in the real world it's more of a gimmick to MOST users. I can imagine a firefighter in bunker gear being happy to have it, though.

A few other issues. . . .

1. CA blocks received audio until the announcement is complete, so if you're in a tactical situation you will miss an ongoing transmission until CA shuts up.

2. The audio files are not stored in the codeplug, and you have to have all of the audio files on any computer which programs each radio, or the next time a radio is touched by a different computer the announcements go away. This makes administration a headache since you now have to copy the files to every computer along with the codeplug. Plus, they dramatically increase the time it takes to program a radio.

3. Agencies which jammed the radio full of channel announcements found pretty quickly that CA never shuts up as long as the channel knob is being turned.

Most agencies around here fiddled with it but the drawbacks outweighed the benefits, so hardly anyone uses it. Those who do only use it to announce the Zone and Channel on the top channel of each zone.

I'm with Elroy, I played with it for a while but pretty quickly came to the conclusion that it was a gimmick and got rid of it. I think I still have one radio set up to announce zone/channel when I select the first channel in the zone.

 

[Drachen_Fire]

Alright, guys. Got an odd one here. I have an XTS1500 with no screen.

It has the Q446 option.

I have loaded all of my files and such, and imported/compressed them.

Go to click Channel Announcement in the radio wide tab, and........sunglasses.

Help.

Got it.

Some setting up in Tools. Basically, you have to turn on the ability to turn on the checkbox.

Motorola must have really not liked this feature.

 

[jparks29]

A few other issues. . . .

1. CA blocks received audio until the announcement is complete, so if you're in a tactical situation you will miss an ongoing transmission until CA shuts up.

NOT true, you can set either high or low priority for voice announcement. When low priority is selected, existing radio traffic has priority over the channel announcement.

2. The audio files are not stored in the codeplug, and you have to have all of the audio files on any computer which programs each radio, or the next time a radio is touched by a different computer the announcements go away. This makes administration a headache since you now have to copy the files to every computer along with the codeplug. Plus, they dramatically increase the time it takes to program a radio.

Also NOT true, when you have 'read/write audio files' selected, it will pull the files from the radio, you'll notice read/write times are extended.

3. Agencies which jammed the radio full of channel announcements found pretty quickly that CA never shuts up as long as the channel knob is being turned.

See #1

Most agencies around here fiddled with it but the drawbacks outweighed the benefits, so hardly anyone uses it. Those who do only use it to announce the Zone and Channel on the top channel of each zone.

I'm with Elroy, I played with it for a while but pretty quickly came to the conclusion that it was a gimmick and got rid of it. I think I still have one radio set up to announce zone/channel when I select the first channel in the zone.

To each their own....

I have a Commander II mic, with channel selector on top, and side buttons programmed as zone up/zone down. I can cycle through every channel programmed into my radio, and know exactly where I am, without looking at the display, as it's in a case either on my belt or on my back (plate carrier)...

Now, this isn't an issue for small departments that might only have 2 or 3 zones and use a handful of channels/talkgroups, but when you have 40+ zones in a radio, it's better to have a meaningful way of QUICKLY determining the zone/channel you're on. The XTS platform does not allow channel announcement on every channel due to space limitations, but you can use voice announcement on a LOT of channels, the important ones are all labeled, most of the interop channels are only identified by zone, as you can use the same voice as much as you want...