Batboard

I've got some MTS2000s to be checked out, and part of my checkouts is to program in a standard test frequency.

Some of these radios don't accept my standard test frequency of 866.5125. They don't allow anything above 866.0000 on the TX side.

Might these be rebanded?


What's the minimum firmware revision for a rebanded MTS2000?


Elroy

I believe the minimum firmware version needed for rebanding was the absolute latest, as there hadn't been a firmware update before rebanding in quite some time. I just don't recall exactly what that was...6.8x or thereabouts? What version(s) are you having trouble with?

I'm doing rebanding on mcs and mts now. Put it in test mode and listen to the beep, if its rebanding capable you get a different beep, not the standard constant tone.

MTS firmware 8.x includes rebanding capability. However, Elroy it sounds like your problem is that they aren't really MTS's, perhaps modded MTXs. You can still program all the NPSPAC freqs (above 865) in an MTS with rebanding firmware.

Too bad the Knowledge Base is gone, I had the rebanding firmware releases for most radios in my Rebanding post.

I would tend to doubt that these are recased MTX radios. Several reasons: I know where they came from. They were under maintenance agreement with
the regional Motorola shop for their entire service life. (A large PD.) Their serial numbers all match their dataplates. My test codeplugs are going into every
radio via the clone menu. I've found just four distinctly different kinds of radio so far and all of them match their data plates exactly. There are no
reasons to think any of them are rebadged MTX radios.

I HAVE found a couple that have different service beep tones. I'll take a closer look at them.


Elroy

pre Flashport MTS2000's (made before Feb 1995) or having 256K controllers are not reband upgradeable unless the controllers are replaced.

Victor Xray wrote:Too bad the Knowledge Base is gone, I had the rebanding firmware releases for most radios in my Rebanding post.

'Tis not gone, merely hidden...though I don't remember the reason why. Something to do with the upgrade to phpBB v3. Anyways, here's a snippit from it:

Rebanding Firmware Upgrades aka Reprogram Subscriber
The following firmware releases support the new NPSPAC channel plan and are considered "rebanding" compatible. If your radio has this version or greater, then it should be capable of operating on the new rebanding channels.

ASTRO25 (XTL/XTS5000, 2500, 1500): Host R07.02.xx
XTS3000 / Astro Saber: Host R07.70.xx
Astro Spectra: Host R11.70.xx
MTS2000 / MCS2000: R08.xx

Elroy, if you have some very old MTS radios, pre '95 or thereabouts, I believe they won't accept frequencies above 866. Check the firmware versions of those units which aren't accepting them...they are likely down in the 1.xx range.

Todd

No, these are all newer radios. I haven't found one yet that's any older than about a 2000 model.


I think it's rebanding-related. Rebanding moves the public safety band down 15 MHz, you know.


Elroy

Elroy Jetson wrote: I think it's rebanding-related. Rebanding moves the public safety band down 15 MHz, you know.

No, I don't know...no rebanding here in Canada. It's pretty simple, if the firmware is 8.xx, then they've been rebanded.

Elroy Jetson wrote:I think it's rebanding-related. Rebanding moves the public safety band down 15 MHz, you know.

True but just because a radio has been flashed for rebanding capability doesn't mean it can no longer operate on the 866+ NPSPAC channels. A system that gets rebanded is slowly migrated from the old channels to the new one (typically department by department). Thus, all radios on the system must be able to operate on both the old NPSPAC and the new rebanded channels during the transition. Therefore, the surefire way to tell if an 800 Smartnet radio is capable of rebanding or not is to create a new or modify an existing system, set it to type II, and see if you can add up to 8 control channels instead of only 4.

You can also add rebanded failsoft frequencies into the trunking personality.

Are you trying to add this to the conventional list or trunking control channel list? I've just been looking at an older 1.13 windows version archive that I've got and it has full capabilities up to 869Mhz including your 866.5125. Firmware should not have much to do with what CPS will allow you to program, just what will actually work. (however I never tested that part) Let me know if you want me to look at the codeplug for you.

wavetar wrote:

Victor Xray wrote:Too bad the Knowledge Base is gone, I had the rebanding firmware releases for most radios in my Rebanding post.

'Tis not gone, merely hidden...though I don't remember the reason why. Something to do with the upgrade to phpBB v3. Anyways, here's a snippit from it:

How do I find / gain access to this hidden section, right now I am seaching for articles I know were posted but arn't findable.
Sure would speed up looking as I have another eighty-eight pages of results to go through

related:
http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.p ... 9&p=422350