Just one comment on the Wide Band license key. All motorola DMR radios, require the key, including the xpr4550, when you use CPS ver 10 or higher. It was part of the mandate. Also the issue you have with accessing that repeater, to enable monitoring, must be a local repeater owner preference.. I'm in colorado, and we do not have that issue.
Take a look at the Hytera Md782G, it has some features that make it the best choice. Bluetooth and GPS to name two. It comes with CPS for free from Hytera, and the radio is top grade. I paid $489 from Gigaparts, after $150 discount offered. I knew about Motorola from my job, and I will never forget how difficult and expensive it was to deal with Motorola and their radios. Then there was all the extra fee's to unlock features. I took the course for narrow band programming. They don't trust you to know what you are doing.
Martin, Be very careful using PL-259 connectors at UHF, especially when using splices (PL-259 to double SO-239 to PL-259). The PL/SO connectors are not 50 Ohm. If operating at HF the non-50 Ohm impedance bump is a tiny fraction of a wavelength. Once you get to UHF, the PL/SO connector splice starts approaching a quarter wavelength and will cause a matching problem. Use type N connectors instead. As well, 9913 or LMR400 coax is much better than the R/G-58, you get what you pay for. 73, Paul, W1SEX
+Paul Topolski Thanks for your post Paul. Part of this exercise is to investigate what you have noted here. Test R/G-58 vs LMR400 (which I have arriving tomorrow). See what effect higher frequencies have on SO-239 and PL-259 vs type N connectors. Cheers, Martin.
I bought an XPR 6550 HT (not the 7550, the 6550 has a standard SMA antenna connector not a bizarre proprietary one with no ground terminal) recently and my experiences with the "Big M" were similar. They are definitely a bureaucratic organization. Thankfully the 25 kHz entitlement key is a no-cost option. Their radios are top-notch quality, though. FYI, you can save half the cost of the CPS by ordering the download-only version (i.e. with no CD).
Martin, I recently went through the same process of setting up my MotoTRBO XPR 5550 with Motorola. They are definitely geared to handle corporate accounts through reseller channels. Though, to be fair, understanding that, it seems they have been accomodating whenever I call and seem to be trying to be friendlier to the HAM community. I think you may have missed the Motorola SKU for the "download only" option for CPS which is $169 USD. Still expensive, but cheaper than ~300 just to have a DVD (that you could burn for yourself). I now have all the correct Narrowbanding courses/licenses to run wideband analog in addition to DMR. It was a pain, but I'm hoping the high quality of the Motorola radios and the engineering built into them make this investment worthwhile. Thanks for the excellent video! Everyone who gets the word out allows the next enthusiast to make better informed decisions and may save them some head scratching.
+qbin1976 Thanks very much for you input. The information on the download option for CPS is something I did not know about so I will highlight that in another video. I had further headaches trying to get the key to enable the wideband analog after I did the course. They said my account was an "end-user" account and not entitled to have the key. They only provide the key to "dealer" accounts....eventually after some stern words and chatting to a supervisor I got that resolved. But my experience has been a pain...and doing some reading on forums shows that other HAMS have had similar experiences to me. It's a pity because the Motorola radios are really well built. Cheers, Martin.
+mjlorton Here are the SKU's from my notes... I hope they save people some hassle: CPS Hardcopy + Download = RVN5115AH ($299 USD) CPS Just Download = HKVN4362A ($169 USD) CPS Wideband Entitlement Key = HKVN4046A ($0 USD once the narrowbanding course is taken in the account is authorized for the wideband entitlement). I ordered quantity 5 of the wideband entitlement key since the license process "phones home" and is tied to the PC it is used on. I recommend ordering more than one key so you have extras in case you anticipate installing CPS on more than one computer.
Very interesting Martin, can tie in nicely with TDR as SWR is based on how well the ariel is matched to the transmission line and the transmitter, TDR measuring the reflected pulse and amplitude basic analysis. AKA do I have a well matched system You have enough good gear in the lab to compare how a TDR type measurement relates or compares to the SWR readings, the TDR may even show where bad connectors are affecting the system too... Either way, I like it, learning plenty, Thanks
oh man I hear you on the motorolla site. We had Helicopters go on the border for missions, they got loaded with a newer codeplug. When we get them back we cant load them because our astro version is older. Then I had some hand helds where the previous manager loaded them I noted there were 10 versions of a codeplug. I was wondering why? turns out on these handhelds we had some had slight differences in programing...even tho the end result was the same we have to have a different code plug for some radios. they said we had to purchase that flashkey so we can make them all the same.
Nice overview Martin, look forward to part 2. I wonder why companies like Motorola make it so difficult to navigate the requirements for their products? BTW, does the software you purchased from them entitle you to only a single application (i.e. radio)? Or would you be able to program multiple radios in your "fleet"? Happy New Year! 73 - Dino KL0S
+Dino Papas I've seen this pattern with Motorola (Actually Symbol Technologies) before. I think Motorola uses it to filter out customers which don't give them large amounts of business. (Hams included). I suspect that if you are a large customer, you'll be assigned a personal sales rep who will pull the strings for you.
+Steve Rodgers I think you're giving Motorola too much credit here. Us hams aren't even really on their radar screen. Motorola is geared to selling to organizations via authorized resellers. If you're such an organization, you're not even in the market for the CPS; your authorized dealer will program your radios (and deal with Motorola) for you.
Very well done. On a side note, DMR does not have "talk groups". Talk groups don't exist at all in the DMR system. They are actually considered CallIDs. Talk groups come from the P25 infrastructure and for some reason have worked their way into the amateur DMR world.
I WISH I would have seen this before I purchased two of the 7550e portables and two 7580e portables. I signed up for my online access to Motorola Online (MOL) over 19 days ago and STILL have not been approved to login. I have emailed them three times and called twice and they told me the people who can generate the account are in Poland. a week ago they told me they would "expedite" my request and still NOTHING. Is Motorola for real with this. And I still now know I have to wait and accept the license agreement...by that time this will be OVER A MONTH....I am so sorry I chose to invest in Motorola radios. Did you ever get your rig online?
Or you can avoid all this hassle and get a D-STAR radio. I have DMR and D-STAR radios and strongly prefer D-STAR for its ham friendly design. DMR is popular, but there is no major audio difference, DMR radios are all over the map in terms of audio (some super loud, some super quiet), and DMR is just not meant to be used by the amateur community. If you're looking for a digital mode to get started with, try D-STAR first.
Thanks for posting this video. I was considering getting a DMR unit, but the travails you had to go through (and the money you had to spend) make it seem like a tremendous amount of BS to go through just to get on the air.
Or you could get a 90$ TYT DMR HT and be on the air in an hour. Neat thing about radio its kind of tough for people to figure out what logo is on your radio.
Morton, wish you would list an method to contact you on the RU-vid videos or end page (perhaps list a email address, or a text/voice number, or anything other than Ham, as I cannot reach you from here).
Ouch. Are you trying to encourage people to try DMR or just put people off?!? Hytera and TYT (or Tytera as they are also known) are quite popular over here in the UK. A lot of hams are using the Hytera MD-785 mobile and the TYT MD-380 hand held. The MD-380 can be picked up for about £100 ($125?) which includes a programming cable and software. Of course, we don't have such wide open expanses of land as you guys do. So most of our repeaters are pretty close by, especially in cities and towns. It's hand held heaven over here! :) How well is DMR competing against D-Star and Fusion where you are?
You don’t have to buy the CPS software, I bought my 5550 for 500.00 dollars abd they program the radio for me no extra charge they program the 5550 and HT 7550 for free just let them know what frecuencies you want
I would have returned the radio and gone on to something else before I ever considered paying for the software - should come with it as should the cable.
A non related question, I have been running FireFox for years but a few months ago when I upgraded to win 10 FireFox keeps locking up on RU-vid and other internet videos. I uninstalled reinstalled and still the same, any ideas?
+jpalm32 Motorola is still very big in public safety/government sales. That market segment won't be going to cellular anytime soon, as they want to own their own network hardware.
you paid 300$ for a tiny software and a radio thats a piece of otter shit. This is why some people pirate and use alternative units. just hearing you talk about that motorola makes me feel so bad for you. rule #1 I learned - dont buy motorola crapware. stay as far as possible from motorola if you value your happiness and life.
lol another video about basics, asif there are not enough already on YT, no wonder your channels failing, seriously cover stuff people are interested in , not basic 10yr old stuff
