Motorola XTL 5000 VHF
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Motorola XTL 5000 VHF
Any one seen this problem ? I have 2 customers who have the XTL 5000 VHF 50 watt mobils . Programmed to NB, now both have little or no range from truck to truck , per customer. These radios are at 2 different departments, same comnplaint.. Power is 45 watts, on frequency . Customers state other mobils work fine , no radios have been in use for 3 years , no problems until we went to NB .Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
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Re: Motorola XTL 5000 VHF
Been a bench, field and drive up Motorola technician for 26 years..........99% of the time the problem in in the vehicle.
Start with the antenna and a watt meter to make sure it's good with no reflected power. Usually a beat up mini UHF antenna connector or they found an old 800mhz antenna whip in a desk drawer and figured if it fits it must be good.
To be honest your at the point where you have to visit the trucks and radios that are installed in them. Grab your laptop and cables and make a trip.
ALWAYS make sure the larger guage red and black power cable leads are directly to the battery - not at some fuse block or something.
Never mix Narrowband and Wideband !!! My customers would state it's "staticy" ............It would always be a narrowbanded radio and they are not used to the lower TX deviation and call the RF baseband noise " static". They are just used to the louder wideband stuff and when you change just one or two radios they will find it in a heartbeat.
Nothing you can do as its the "law". Explain the "law" to your customer and change everything over. Having a "mix" will drive them up the wall. Give them a few weeks of the lower deviation and they will get used to it.
If "other" mobiles are fine they obviously know the coverage they like and expect, so thats OK.
If "other" mobiles are fine go read one.............Bet it's wideband.
Start with the antenna and a watt meter to make sure it's good with no reflected power. Usually a beat up mini UHF antenna connector or they found an old 800mhz antenna whip in a desk drawer and figured if it fits it must be good.
To be honest your at the point where you have to visit the trucks and radios that are installed in them. Grab your laptop and cables and make a trip.
ALWAYS make sure the larger guage red and black power cable leads are directly to the battery - not at some fuse block or something.
Never mix Narrowband and Wideband !!! My customers would state it's "staticy" ............It would always be a narrowbanded radio and they are not used to the lower TX deviation and call the RF baseband noise " static". They are just used to the louder wideband stuff and when you change just one or two radios they will find it in a heartbeat.
Nothing you can do as its the "law". Explain the "law" to your customer and change everything over. Having a "mix" will drive them up the wall. Give them a few weeks of the lower deviation and they will get used to it.
If "other" mobiles are fine they obviously know the coverage they like and expect, so thats OK.
If "other" mobiles are fine go read one.............Bet it's wideband.
Re: Motorola XTL 5000 VHF
What is the firmware and tuning version?
Had several departments with this issue with early firmware versions with early tuning partitions. Radios worked fine in wideband.
Program radio to narrowband. 100w mobile, I could SEE the other guy a 1/4 mile away and couldn't talk to him....
Firmware upgrade fixed the issue. Radios went from -120dbm to -70dbm or WORSE.
Had several departments with this issue with early firmware versions with early tuning partitions. Radios worked fine in wideband.
Program radio to narrowband. 100w mobile, I could SEE the other guy a 1/4 mile away and couldn't talk to him....
Firmware upgrade fixed the issue. Radios went from -120dbm to -70dbm or WORSE.
Re: Motorola XTL 5000 VHF
Thanks Guys, I am glad to hear someone else has this problem.