To upgrade or not?

[N4KVE]

I have a FPP UHF XTS5000 used for ham repeaters, & a few simplex freq's. Radio works great, & FW is 14.00.01/14.00.00. While the newest FW is 15, would there be any advantage or trade off to upgrade? Sometimes when a new FW comes out, there is good & bad. You might gain something, but you could lose something, or have problems that you didn't have with the older FW. I've had no problem with the 14 FW, & it seems pretty stable. So is there any advantage to going with 15. or just stay with 14? Thanks. GARY N4KVE

[tvsjr]

14.00.00 had a significant issue, but I've not heard of other issues. That said, I'm running 15 in everything with no problems. You do get the PASS filter in R15 if you're in need of that.

[N4KVE]

I'm ashamed to ask, but what is the PASS filter that comes with 15? GARY N4KVE

[Astro Spectra]

PASS = Personal Alert Safety System

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-conta ... _apparatus

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PASS_device

Plays hell with the vocoder.

[tvsjr]

A PASS device is a man-down/temperature alarm worn by firefighters. It emits a very loud, unmistakable alert if a firefighter doesn't move for a certain period. The tones wreak havoc on P25 transmissions, and the filter is an attempt to remove those tones before they hit the vocoder.

[N4KVE]

Thanks for the info. While I certainly don't need the PASS feature, a few people have contacted me to tell me that FW 15 is a stable platform, so it looks like I'll be upgrading. Thanks again. GARY N4KVE

[N4DES]

I haven't seen anything wierd with the 15.00.07, but then again I didn't see anything usual with 14 firmware either.

[escomm]

Try it with a radio with a RAM processor. Although the problem lie with the DSP.

[N4KVE]

Try it with a radio with a RAM processor. Although the problem lie with the DSP.

My radio does have the Ram processor. Will Ram & 15 cause issues? GARY N4KVE

[escomm]

I have seen it happen pretty often. I don't think it will happen to every radio but it's a roll of the dice that you may not want to take. I guess the question to ask is what are you gaining by upgrading? Any important features or bug fixes? Don't be Motorola's guinea pig, the last 2 major releases (14 and 15) had major problems with them as did the release one before these (11).

[bezking]

Not to hijack the thread... But I have a 5k with a RAM22 proc and HOST R06.02.03... Now, this is missing significant functionality as compared to modern units and CPS 15 chokes on writing it occasionally with a Feature Set Mismatch (which makes me nervous)...

Does /\/\ allow you access to the upgrade files for versions less than the current Host/DSP? Or am I stuck with R06 unless I want to take a risk?

[N4KVE]

Not to hijack the thread... But I have a 5k with a RAM22 proc and HOST R06.02.03... Now, this is missing significant functionality as compared to modern units and CPS 15 chokes on writing it occasionally with a Feature Set Mismatch (which makes me nervous)...

Does /\/\ allow you access to the upgrade files for versions less than the current Host/DSP? Or am I stuck with R06 unless I want to take a risk?

My radio was the same as yours. RAM22 & 6.02.03. Was programmed with CPS14. Was then upgraded to FW14 W/O problem. So that's why I asked should I go to FW15, or leave it at FW14. GARY N4KVE

[willbird287]

Out of the few RAM XTS5000's I've seen, I have seen issues when they are loaded with R15. Weird issues occur with audio and tones "stuttering". It usually can be (temporarily) fixed by power cycling the radio, but will occur again at a random time after power up. This goes along with what Jeff said about the issue being in DSP.

If I ever encounter a RAM processor, I'll update it to R12, no further. At least not with what I've seen as of today. Who knows...maybe R16 will address this?

--Will