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XTS5000 vs Scanner

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SCPD

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I'd like to share my experiences in using an XTS5000 to monitor local digital trunking. And my opinions. For me, I am a Motorola buff. Love em (when you can get past the awful RSS/CPS). Once I learned the right way to program this radio via the hidden channel method, I have never had anything but fun with it. Far exceeds the scanner's capabilities of decoding digital. They're more durable, better built, and more cost effective than a fancy digital scanner if you play your cards right. I like well built vs cheap. Hence a Harley over a Suzuki or a Cadillac over a Civic. If you don't know what you're doing, you can easily mess up what you have. Makes sense to monitor a Motorola system with a MOTOROLA. The process of learning the software, programming and trial and error is fun for me. Once it's done, and you've achieved success, it's a great feeling. I love learning. So for me, an XTS5000 was a better route for me over the scanner. I'm ready for the Moto PoPo to chime in, too. I wanna hear what everyone has to say. I am a hobbyist, not a terrorist. Don't treat me like one.
 

SCPD

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Yea you learn by watching others there videos online if you look it starts with coventional

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SCPD

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Yup, videos, forums, and lots of reading of manuals. Didn't think it was possible. But after many hours of it and customizing it it worked out good.
 

SCPD

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Wish on a 5000 you could get the signal meter to work but you have to affiliate for that?

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SCPD

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Unfortunately for that to work you need to affiliate. If you are trying to program for listen only, and you see the signal meter, you have a problem. Need to go back and fix it. Always start off with antenna off the radio once you load code plug.
 

SCPD

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Yeah exactly I use the one conventional channel in each Zone and scan off of that there's a guy on YouTube I think he's from South Wales and he uses conventional frequencies from the site on p25 and uses the Astro talk group from the drop-down box on the left side I tried that but I could never get it to work the conventional way and slaving off of that works the best to try to see if it would work out of curiosity

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SCPD

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I've been curious about those unication pagers but I hear there so many bugs with them I don't know if it's even worth it

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ElroyJetson

I AM NOT YOUR TECH SUPPPORT.
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DO NOT ASK ME FOR HELP PROGRAMMING YOUR RADIO. NO.
I'm the guy who developed the hidden talkgroups method of scanning a Motorola system with a Motorola radio.

You're welcome.

It was fun to do it. Basically I just tried to think of every way imaginable to make the radio able to listen while being unable to transmit. How many things can you intentionally screw up and still have a radio that hears OK?

Ironically I'm now using a Harris P7300 to monitor three different Motorola P25 trunking systems,
when I'm within range of them.

I just haven't gotten around to setting up the files for them for my XTS5K, that's all.
 

Motoballa

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Yep. I abandoned the idea of getting a scanner when I heard the comparison of my 3000 verses a.. I think it was a BCT15X. The big breaking point is that it was cutting out in the middle of the city that operates on it, but my 3000 I could go a complete county over and still receive and understand it.

I've never owned a scanner in my life.. May have to now since I can't afford a APX and my city is moving to a Phase II system in about a week..
 

SCPD

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Hey Elroy, you're the best for doing that, thanks!

Motoballa, I'm in the process of selling my inferior scanners now. Lol
 

SCPD

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How do you program just conventional frequencies if your site has for example 12 frequencies how would you use that and the talk groups to scan a system I tried it that way and it wouldn't work I was hearing everything and I didn't want to hear all that just wondering out of curiosity

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ElroyJetson

I AM NOT YOUR TECH SUPPPORT.
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DO NOT ASK ME FOR HELP PROGRAMMING YOUR RADIO. NO.
No, to the best of my knowledge, I'm the guy who developed that method. It was way back in the days when the Astro Saber was the only game in town and depot software was still neither common nor well understood.

If anybody had put a trunking scan list on channel 17 in a single zone before, I had certainly never heard
of it being done at that time.

For all these years nobody has ever previously claimed that they'd done it before I publicized the method, which I publicized the very day I figured it out and tested it. (Successfully.)

Lacking any evidence to the contrary, I will continue to believe that I was the first one to develop the methodology of the hidden talkgroups scanning method.

Was I the first to assign a trunked talkgroup scan list to a conventional channel? No. I never claimed that. That's a standard feature anyway.

My claim is that I originated the method of using it to hide the presence of scannable trunked talkgroups
within a radio that, when not in scan, appears to only have conventional channels in it, for security reasons.
 

SCPD

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And you sir are a f***ing genius and I'm thankful you helped the community out by sharing. I can't stand scanners. I'm so happy with my radio (turned scanner) now and feel accomplished doing it. It helped me learn a LOT about Astro CPS that was confusing before. I already mastered JEDI RSS and was ready to step up. On to APX's next. Whenever we switch to Phase 2 that is.
 

SCPD

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Who has the big bucks for a apx those radios are ugly maybe the apx1000 dont look bad

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