XPR 6580 onto 900 mhz ham band

This forum is for the discussions targeted at converting various models of Motorola equipment to operate in the 900MHz Amateur Band.

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screa34
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XPR 6580 onto 900 mhz ham band

Post by screa34 »

Hello,

Does anyone out there have any experience getting the portable XPR 6580 onto the ham bands? I'm probably just going to be doing analog, but might do DMR too in the future.

Any help is appreciated. I do have normal CPS, but won't allow direct programming to those frequencies.

thx,
josh
N4KVE
Posts: 1647
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2003 10:35 am
What radios do you own?: APX XTS XTL TRBO 900MHZ

Re: XPR 6580 onto 900 mhz ham band

Post by N4KVE »

It works there just fine. But if it's flashed for trunking, it will not do 902/927. But if it is analog only, or Trbo, it will do 902/927. Just need to hex edit the CPS. Plenty of articles on that. I still have a 6380 that does 902/927 just fine, in Analog, or Trbo. No VCO adjust, or anything. GARY
dfb8085
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Re: XPR 6580 onto 900 mhz ham band

Post by dfb8085 »

Hey guys, I know this is a old post but hey I'm in the same boat with this xpr6580. I have cs versions 16 and 10 and have tried downloading anything I coud fine in the motorola resource center. Currently has 1.10.23 and codeplug ver 2.06.00. Also in 3600 trunking and analog . I want to make it DMR and analog. . Got the hex eiting and into 900 mhz band and working on analog. This conversion thing is kicking my brain.
You got any links or helpful hints that will point me the right direction I sure would appreciate it.
N4KVE
Posts: 1647
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2003 10:35 am
What radios do you own?: APX XTS XTL TRBO 900MHZ

Re: XPR 6580 onto 900 mhz ham band

Post by N4KVE »

Since your radio is still 3600 trunking, & not yet DMR, that’s the missing step. You have to enable DMR which also enables the radio to do 902/927, but you lose the 3600 trunking. There’s a conversion step that doesn’t require anything “funny”. Once that step is done, the CPS is hex edited to allow programming for 902/927. Remember to save the codeplug, as you can never read the radio, or you will lose 902/927. To make changes to you radio will now require reading the saved code plug, making changes to it, program it to the radio, & save the new code plug. I just picked up 2 6580’s at the ORLANDO ham fest. Funny, only one radio would “convert” to DMR. The second one is stuck on trunking. First time that’s happened. GARY.
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Astro Spectra
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Re: XPR 6580 onto 900 mhz ham band

Post by Astro Spectra »

Gary, when you say one radio would convert to DMR do you mean with the MOL trunking conversion package with associated specific firmware builds or do you mean you used the CPS convert function and regular update firmware?
N4KVE
Posts: 1647
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2003 10:35 am
What radios do you own?: APX XTS XTL TRBO 900MHZ

Re: XPR 6580 onto 900 mhz ham band

Post by N4KVE »

Can’t answer that. Sat next to my friend who did it on my laptop. I do believe he did the CPS convert, & then updated the FW to 1.12.17. That worked for the first radio, but not the second one. Then he tried with the trunking conversion package which included the 1.12.17 FW. Neither method worked with the second radio. Both radios were the same with identical code plugs. Like I said though, it’s the first time this happened. My friend has done this conversion many times. GARY.
dfb8085
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Re: XPR 6580 onto 900 mhz ham band

Post by dfb8085 »

using hex editor it cannot find any freq that i enter . I made a mistake and reread the radio instead of making the change within the codeplug which i already had converted to ham band. Now no matter what freq I ask the hex editor to find and replace it cannot find it. The CPS will allow me to Clone a code plug from a different 6580 into the radio but the funny thing about it is that the hex editor will not find any freq in that code plug either. So basically I am stuck at current programming with no way to change it because neither of the 3 codeplugs that i had for 3 different radio will allow the hex editor to find the necessary freq thats needs to be changed. Before discovering that I had attempted to redo the radio in various ways but none made any difference. I beginning to think that somehow my PC or hex editor has had something different happen to it. Anybody ever experience this or anything close?
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Astro Spectra
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Re: XPR 6580 onto 900 mhz ham band

Post by Astro Spectra »

In your hex editing you have probably forgotten to either change the search criteria data type to Unicode string or you didn't save the change to Mototrbocps.exe
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