I hope this helps for those hams considering buying one and feel free to ask questions if you want and I'll try to post additional videos to answer your questions. I rambled a bit but there are so many features for a radio.
Because of you I decided to get one! 👍🏻 and you're right nobody ever did a thorough video on this radio the way that I wanted to see it! I work in a EMS/Fire environment so it's just fantastic on the job and for my personal hobbies at home such as HAM. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Good I'm glad I could help, if you have any questions please feel free to ask, I'll try my best to answer them, it's a bit of a process to program it, but loosely based on the XTS5000 where you build personalities for channels or zones. Also check out the noise cancelling demo if you haven't already. And if you get the APX7000 not the XE, you have to order the Xtreme one sided noise cancelling, however it comes standard on the XE model. Thank you for watching!
+Bmwryder As I stated recently / above, I'm stumped by the APX CPS (as are many Motorola shops BTW)! I thought that using the Migration Tool would help, where I migrated a code plug from an XTS to the APX CPS, and though that worked, I'm still not able to figure out how to fetch a channel from a Personality to a Zone in the software. I believe just figuring that out will set me free to build the code plug I have planned for this baby. 73's de N2VU
+FamousTVvoice I will not be available for a phone call soon but can you send me a personal message of what the problem is, I am not experienced with the migration tool. I'm guessing you are having trouble with assigning the channel and personality to the zone. If you would like I can try to send you a copy of my code plug and you can view how I have it setup in your cps, you are right, the software for the apx is quite different.
+Bmwryder I want to thank you for responding. I've finally got the gist of the programming. As you acknowledged, its a different animal from all other Motorola CPS. Are you using the MDC? If so, I'd be interested in seeing how you've programmed that! I don't see any way of contacting you privately through your youtube channel. Could you please go to mine (where you'll see ways to connect) and send me an email address or phone number? I'd appreciate it. I don't have any other questions, I'd merely like to see how you programmed MDC - if you did. Thanks, Donald
Thanks for posting the video. I am a ham in the Denver,Colo area and in the middle of deciding to get the 7000 or not (vhf/uhf r1 split). Not many 2m or 440 stations to listen to here now that everyone has a smart phone. A year ago I got a Mototrbo xpr7550 uhf r1 with analogue, digital, plus LTR trunking all in one, so I got the most out of my radio and a bang for my bucks$. The 7000 will be worth the money after watching all these You Tube videos, all I can think of is to program 30 channels for a large radio, sadly, 90% of the public service band is trunked. With all the nice features it has in it, $3,000 will be just for the looks.
With all the features I ordered, plus with this expensive of a radio I ordered the 3 year 'comprehensive warranty' which covers any damage to the radio. Along with the CPS subscription and the programming cable and extra battery I was about $6750 for the whole package brand new ordered to my spec. I hope that helps.
That is a bad ass radio !!! I'm a huge scanner buff. I'm really thinking of getting this. I own a XTS3000 already but after holding one that one of our local FIRE fighter Let me check out his radio. I fell in love 👍
I was wondering if you might be available for a phone call, I'd like to ask you a programming question about the APX CPS. I've just promoted myself to the APX7000 and as I suspect you know, the APX CPS is nothing like the XTS CPS. Thanks again for your response the FM W question I had a couple of weeks ago. Donald
Sorry for the late reply I am usually not available for phone calls, is there any way you can PM me your email address? If so I could shoot you over the code plug in an email in the next couple of days and you can see how I have it setup or clone it if you like it and maybe you can use it as an example for setting up your own.
Brian Look thank you for the question. I’m not sure if you mean like license to operate or like license keys from Motorola to get the software. 1. Software License for programming: I purchased my software directly from Motorola’s website, it took a little bit of time going through the process but there was no classes or testing. 2. License to transmit: I have my technician class amateur radio license for use on the allocated frequencies. When I was using this as a work radio before we went to Mototrbo dmr we have a commercial license through the FCC and this radio meets the type and emission requirements. Which leads me to the government use, I think it’s like an ITAR or EAR export controlled device that shouldn’t be shipped overseas or something but as far as government use only, no, I don’t believe so, it’s a radio, it’s use is mostly regulated the moment you transmit, and as long as you are correctly licensed and are operating within the parameters of that license you should be good, some of the Motorola dealers I contacted to try to order my radio didn’t want to sell it to me unless I was a business or police type, but it’s a radio that’s publicly obtainable if a dealer wants to take on the one on one business and support, there I don’t believe is any law preventing the proper use or ownership of this radio. I hope that helps! If you have time, I’m trying to hit the 1000 subscriber mark, please hit that subscribe button.
@@alexsystems2001 cheers for the reply!! I understand now so i really appreciate it, now i guess the hardest problem would be on how to get one hahaha, but other than that cheers ill chuck you a subscribe
Brian Look thank you very much! if you are looking to get one second hand eBay is usually stocked with them. I would suggest getting one from a reputable seller, if they are a used radio dealer they can often times flash them with the options you want. For example if you want to be able to program them manually, you want the FPP option flashed into it, if you want it to have P25 and any security or encryption services again they can usually do that as well. If you buy a new one you’ll be looking at paying for all of those options. Also I’m not sure what your use would be, but they aren’t all the same bands, they had I believe 4 or more bands, vhf, uhf range 1 and range 2 and I think 800-900mhz. Make sure to look at the spec sheet and see what’s available so you get what you need these radios had a lot of options. They have the apx8000 now which has I think all three bands available in one radio.
Thank you for asking! I think it was a bit over $300 but as you can tell by the age of the video it was a few years ago. For that $300 they send you updates regularly too.
@@alexsystems2001 Thanks for the reply, that's actually not too bad for what you're paying for the radio. That is good that it isn't much considering then when I get an apx the software isn't insanely expensive.
@@KJ7BZC cool, I hope you get one and it lives up to your expectations. Since the APX8000 has been out a bit, have you looked into that? It appears to be a more normal sized radio with supposedly a louder speaker and just newer features. Also if you do get one from someone who regularly sells Motorola radios ask them for some help with figuring out how to get the CPS because originally when I submitted for mine, like 2 weeks went by and I was waiting for the approval from Motorola to open my account and I didn’t get that, something got hung up and I tried contacting Motorola and they were just as touchy as the dealers who won’t sell the public these radios. So my dealer had to call Motorola to push them to approve my account. You might not have any problems but these radios I think are an ITAR/EAR regulated thing which means they are restricted from exporting the technology to certain countries so sometimes it can be a little hard.
@@alexsystems2001 Yeah I haven't looked into it much yet as I am way far from getting one, gotta start working first, but I will most likely get it through a dealer. Indeed they have more features, but are also all band radios, vhf, uhf both ranges, and 700/800. I have seen them in person and are quite small, I couldn't really give something to compare to as it was a long time ago that I saw it, but it was smaller than what I am working with for sure. I have Jedi series radios and an XTS and it was certainly smaller than those.
They're pretty cool, but for the price, I'd rather have a Rolex haha I wish the XTS came in dual band because you can get them in very nice shape now for about $250-$600
Alive n Well and Happy this radio has been quite the companion with me since I bought it, it’s spent thousands of miles on my motorcycle using the Bluetooth, been on hikes, been to another country etc etc and it just keeps going! I agree the dual band is really nice to have on long trips it opens up the number of repeaters so much more, and the weather band plus FPP make it truly an anywhere radio. Rain or shine it isn’t bothered.
Also, just my two cents if Motorola is listening, I would love to see motorola come out with a firmware flash to add mototrbo capabilities to this handheld or the 8000 on top of the ASTRO 25. True interoperability. I would buy one!
The Shoe Shine Apprentice I have not had any problems with the Bluetooth mic. I’ve had problems with it pairing correctly to Bluetooth headsets that are non Motorola from time to time but the mic no.
What is the battery life on it? Will it last long enough for a 10 hour shift? I know it depends on the usage. Have you had any problems loosing the blue tooth connection ?
The Shoe Shine Apprentice oh also, battery, I have two batteries, the standard one and the extended one as you can see. The extended one I’ve left it on from 5:00am until around 10:00pm and still had like visually 30% left. The standard battery if I’m scanning, and and it’s a heavy traffic day I’ve still seen 10 hours out of it and it wasn’t chirping when I finally shut it down.
Bmwryder I apologize for not being clear regarding my question. I was referring to the Bluetooth mic. I’m thinking about purchasing the Bluetooth mic. I already own the radio. Have you had any problems dropping signal from your mic to your radio? That’s my main concern. The reliability of the Bluetooth connection. In your opinion is purchasing the mic worth it?
Need a little help. You said you can lock your radio in case it get lost. I have the APX8000. There is a screen in the CPS called "Radio Lock" that is "greyed out", meaning can not edit password. How to enable this screen so I can change the password to unlock my radio??
It’s been a while since I had to FPP anything on my radio but from what I remember it’s definitely not FPP the way you might think of it on a consumer ham radio. It’s more so a feature that allows you to edit or modify existing channels basically you can’t setup the whole radio from the front panel. I keep a zone that is just filler channels with profiles I like for ham use and if I want to “add” something I can add it on the fly but I would go back home and read the radio in then tweak the channel names or move them into an actual zone and clear back out my filler zone. I hope that makes sense.
To be more specific, I personally wouldn’t own the radio without CPS and the cable I think you’d be very limited but the FPP is good for if you are on the go and want to add a repeater or something.
Sorry for some reason I don’t get notified when new comments get posted. I am thinking about putting a new video up, but I am also thinking of buying an 8000 series radio. So I am on the fence.
How do you like them? I had the option of yellow since I ordered and spec’d mine out, but I figured for toying around with ham service a black one would blend in better for every day carry. What do you think of that audio? It’s quite a difference from the XTS and Sabers huh? If you though anything cool of the video, please help my channel by liking and subscribing. It really helps.
Jon Frost good question, at my work we have multiple two way radio systems and rather than carry a multi band ham handheld which I ruined a THF6A at my work and a commercial single band radio I figured this would be a good middle ground. I also ride a motorcycle and this radio has spent now about 50,000 miles riding with me exposed to all sorts of weather plus I bought the 3 year comprehensive warranty that will replace the radio if any damage is sustained so it's just more durable, robust and commercial compliant
I like the tech but certainly not the price point! Motorola prices for older or new tech, especially for the program CPS, cable(s) and such and the runaround to get set up and programmed to personal taste can take weeks to complete. Back in the day, I had a Motorola CB radio which I enjoyed for many years.
sorryociffer I had to look up what a D74A was, I think most of the cost is that it’s a public safety grade P25 dual band radio. Kenwood makes a great radio, I have a couple TH-F6’s that are great, but it’s not the same. I’m pulling this out of the air and maybe someone can explain it better, it’s my best explanation. Most P25 radios are quite expensive I think because of some sort of licensing or a push from APCO to keep them priced out of the general public I’m not sure. The D74A isn’t P25. The APX7000 is type accepted for narrowband commercial use, as you may know pretty much even the lowest feature single band analog commercial radios are usually over $150 this is dual band. I believe all Kenwood ham radios are blocked to transmit on the commercial band and operating those out of band would violate the FCC rules. There are other things, fit and finish, IP and rugged ratings, mil spec ratings, some of the tuning aspects such as rejection. Things like the screens are glass not polycarbonate so they don’t scratch and become cloudy under normal use. The list could go on but my biggest draw was the audio. I have yet to hear another radio as clear and loud as this one. Apples and oranges, these radios are Day and day useable, people get tackled to the ground wearing these, they get snagged on fences, people run into burning buildings with these, are deployed from helicopters etc and are expected to last. You can even literally go swimming with this radio. I take this on long motorcycle rides, hikes, or trips in general, I know whatever I encounter it’ll work. I hope that helps.
sorryociffer Also, it wasn’t a selling point, but it is something that is meaningful to some folks, under the battery is says ‘Assembled in USA’ while most radios Malaysia or China, having USA workforce doesn’t help keep the costs down any.
