APX7000 Programming

[Troyfire801]

Our public safety Communications support team just received several APX7000 VHF/700/800 portables through a grant. We ordered the software (v9.0) and the cable and have been getting familiar with the programming. We intend on building the conventional templates VHF, 700 MHz, and limited 800 MHz (8-TAC) and then have our state system techs do the template for the statewide 800 trunked system. During the process several questioons have arisen that we haven't found the answers to in the help files.

1) after we do the conventional template and the state adds the P-25 trunked template, can we modify the conventional channels without affecting the trunking template or from that point on does the radioi have to go to the state for any changes?
2) Can we scan across bands in the conventional mode?
3) once the trunking template is installed can we scan across conventional and trunked in one list?

thanks for the groups help- this version of SW is a totally different look and feel from any Moto SW we have had in the past- (not to mention a more sophisticated nradio!)

[Bigfella237]

1) It depends if they use an Advanced System Key (ASK) and if they write-protect the radio with that ASK, chances are they will and then the answer is no, you won't be able to reprogram your own radios at a later date unless you go back to the state techs or they issue you with a child-key.

2) Yes, as far as the end-user is concerned dual-band APX radios appear to transition seamlessly between bands, you can mix 'n match modes in different bands within the same zones etc. and the user won't even know he/she is switching from 700/800 to VHF or vice versa.

3) AFAIK you cannot mix conventional and trunking modes within the same scanlist, it takes too long to affiliate with the trunk site only to leave it again milliseconds later in order to check a conventional mode.

Good luck navigating around the APX CPS, I saw a great quote a while ago that said "APX CPS looks like a website threw-up on it"...

Andrew

[sjxts3000]

Good luck navigating around the APX CPS, I saw a great quote a while ago that said "APX CPS looks like a website threw-up on it"...

It's actually not as bad as it looks.

[Jim202]

Good luck navigating around the APX CPS, I saw a great quote a while ago that said "APX CPS looks like a website threw-up on it"...

It's actually not as bad as it looks.

You really must be a Motorola employee that is worried about making a negative comment.

Spending a great number of years programming radios from Motorola and different vendors, the APX software looks like it was wrote by a 2 year old. All the standard ways and locations for the different functions and inputs most are no longer where you would expect them to be based on past software. We shouldn't have to go spend a month in school trying to learn the crap software that was put out for the APX radios.

Motorola's problem is that they go out and hire some low bid company to write software with little or no guidance on what has been done in the past. The result is total confusion and no common sense applied.

Give us poor techs a break. Maybe they should require the software geeks to spend some time out in the field for 6 months before letting them loose writing software. Maybe then these geeks could have a better understanding just how much time is wasted having to shuttle from one section of the software to another just to make simple channel changes or additions.

Jim

[sjxts3000]

Good luck navigating around the APX CPS, I saw a great quote a while ago that said "APX CPS looks like a website threw-up on it"...

It's actually not as bad as it looks.

You really must be a Motorola employee that is worried about making a negative comment.

No, I'm not.

Spending a great number of years programming radios from Motorola and different vendors, the APX software looks like it was wrote by a 2 year old. All the standard ways and locations for the different functions and inputs most are no longer where you would expect them to be based on past software. We shouldn't have to go spend a month in school trying to learn the crap software that was put out for the APX radios.

I'm relatively new to APX radios (have owned and programmed XTS3000's for several years now). Once I launched APX CPS for the first time, other than being distracted by the heavily distorted background image, the rest fell in to place relatively easy. I didn't have to go to school for a month to learn it. Even without any codeplug conversion of any kind, I was able to program a 7000 relatively quickly.

Motorola's problem is that they go out and hire some low bid company to write software with little or no guidance on what has been done in the past. The result is total confusion and no common sense applied.

This I agree with, but it's not limited to Motorola. Just about every software vendor/shop does this to some extent.

Give us poor techs a break. Maybe they should require the software geeks to spend some time out in the field for 6 months before letting them loose writing software. Maybe then these geeks could have a better understanding just how much time is wasted having to shuttle from one section of the software to another just to make simple channel changes or additions.
Jim

Look at it from a different perspective...if the software is that hard to work with and you've been schooled for a month on it, then you should consider yourself "skilled labor". There's a business opportunity there. Maybe this is what they were thinking... make the software so difficult to use that they make $$ with training classes and then trainees end up being so skilled that they are an elite breed of programmers like no other.

Or maybe I'm just off in the weeds with conspiracy theories and the software really isn't that hard to work with. I think it was *written* rather well.

[Bigfella237]

~ I'm relatively new to APX radios (have owned and programmed XTS3000's for several years now). ~

This is not a personal comment so please don't take it as such but, this explains somewhat why your transition to APX CPS was a little easier than most other people's experience.

At least in my opinion, Motorola were making their programming software progressively easier to use as they released new radio models; I personally thought ASTRO25 was a vast improvement over ASTRO CPS, consolidating the information into common screens was the biggest leap forward for me.

For example with ASTRO25, being able to create new conventional modes entirely from within the zone/channel assignment screen; whereas in the older ASTRO CPS you had to flip back and forth between the personality and the zone assignment windows and try to keep track of what frequency was entered into which personality etc., yuck!

And so I (dare I say 'we') were expecting these 'lessons learned' to be carried forward into APX CPS but no... it's the bad old days all over again!

So in summary, if you went from ASTRO straight to APX then yes, you probably wouldn't know any better?

Andrew

[RESCUEMAN433]

Actually, you can scan between bands with the APX7000, it is under the multisystem scan option. You will need to duplicate the channels you want to the multisystem scan profile. I assume you are in NC and using viper by reading your post. Give me an email if you have any more questions. I manage several of these and don't mind helping you out. I do need to mention that there is no priority using the multi system scan and it can lag and calls can be missed.