kidphc
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Posts posted by kidphc
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9 minutes ago, tweiss3 said:
Yes, I have been looking for a 100P for my collection. I have figured out how to program, but haven't found one to buy yet (for reasonable prices). The problem I see is half of them have Wideband Disabled on the entitlement list, which is a deal killer. Programming is very very interesting, as is having multiple mission plans (having a rotation of codeplugs to swap out on the go without a computer as far as I understand it).
Yup that is exactly what the mission plan is. Hence, why I wish it was a feature on all radios. After loading it performs a soft reboot.
What is your idea of a reasonable price? Problem is buying used could be a problem since you are not sure what you are getting. So the seller is almost critical.
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Not so bad... But it has been overcasted a bit lately. I will try to snap a pic with it in full noon sunlight.
Definitely, overkill for ham usage. Well unless you do a lot of public service work that has integration to PD, FD, SARS or public services. But usually they will hand you a Motorola pre-programmed for what you need.
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2 more gripes
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Jockey pad is a bit small.
- Looks like they tried to rectify it in the next series, the XL
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Ptt button bit low
- Wish the PTT was up higher where one of the programmable button is located
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Would be easier to grip and activate PTT.
- could just use to Motorola ergonomics
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Jockey pad is a bit small.
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2 minutes ago, Lscott said:
See attached brochure.
Much obliged thank you.
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So I have a ham friend, whom kinda gets bored with radios quickly. Heavily into LMR/Public safety gear. I refer to him to our "local Motorola crack dealer". To give you an idea of the type of guy he is, he's about to hand out 5 XTS2500s to friends of ours to use as GMRS radios.
****Long back story, skip if you like. Now real info on the XG-100P in the intro.
Last week I picked up a seldom used Unification G5 Pager from him. Pre-programmed with the good stuff, simply to mess around with. His ears kinda perked up when I said it was for my wife mainly. He has known for sometime I was looking for a EDC 2m/70cm rig with p25 capabilities. Which really is unfortunately only available in the newer APX series, well outside of my budget. I will refer to said friend as the "Racoon".
At a dinner, all his friends, many months ago I was playing with one of XG-100p radios. He kinda looks up from his meal and ask "wait you don't have one" casually. I of course respond nope. 1k buys a lot of clothes and meals for my 3 little ones.
Well our little group has always tried to help each other out. Really, a great group of people. He has hit a rough spot, being out of work and funds drying up. He was looking at lack luster jobs to try to get caught back up. Really, I hope he can get into a government radio shop, crap the guys he knows in shops routinely buy him lunches to figure crap out. He has forgot more than most will ever know. Politics be politics and getting hired in said shop is all about the politics. He was selling about 4-6 APX mobiles/hts a month. As his his supply ran dry, the financial pinch began.
So I try the usual, trying to perk him up. Dinners, and drinks out, he has been there for me just trying to return the favors he has given me in the past. Printed a human skull on the 3d printer and spent the better part of 2 weeks painting it up for one of his online D&D groups, etc.
During our meet up last week, he has a broken XG-100p with him. Talking about dismantling it in the coffee shop sometime soon with me to fix it. Volume button was springy so it was interment usability. That if we can get working is mine as a semi-permanent loaner.
Yesterday, in comes a message "what time you heading home"? We meet up, originally I thought it was for an Impress charger, so I can use the damn battery display on y XTS5k. Remember, those XTS2.5ks, I of course asked if he had a spare charger, saves me about $50-60 bucks. 2 seconds after handing me the charger he hands me the Harris Unity XG-100p. I ask when we fixing her? His reply "all ready done". Curious to see how he likes the mobile version the XG-100m, which he sold his APX 7k mobile for. He made the cables for it, and said he would never do it again. Came out to the cost of just buying them on ebay.
***** The XG-100p
So the XG-100p was Harris' entry into the Public Service domain to compete with Motorola offerings at the time. Harris has a long standing history with military radios and it shows. This radio is essentially a military radio (there expertise) crammed into a commercial body. So I don't think it is a rugged as an APX. The screen isn't set as deep into the body as an APX. Seen a lot of photos with shattered screens.
Some features for those that don't know.
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Full Spectrum
- VHF 136-174 MHz (1-6 watts), UHF -380-520 MHz (1-5 watts), UHF 762-870 Mhz (1-5 watts.
- APCO/Conventional P25
- MDC 1200
- Analog wide/narrow
- GPS/Bluetooth
- Meets MIL-STD-810F military standards
- Color (non touch screen
Positives I like in the first 24 hours.
- Banks selection
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Mission planning
- Military background starting to show
- this one rocks and wish every radio had it
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You can have multiple Mission plans saved and load it up on the fly.
- For instance you have a Canada mission plan, California, Maryland, Virginia, Florida each having all their different zone information. You can swap the mission plan according to your location or needs. This can all be copied between radios with a special cable, I believe also OTA, not sure. Much like the APX series ability to send programming information to a fleet of radios.
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FPP programming
- More like channel editing
- Still better then nothing
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Pretty color screen
- Not a touchscreen, ever tried to use a touchscreen with gloves?
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Noise cancellation
- has 2 mics, one on the front and one on the back
- Bluetooth
- Much cheaper then its APX series (closest to feature set) $1200 vs $2500-9000.
Cons Thus Far first 25 hours
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Fricking brick
- don't drop it, it might go through the floor
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Sound quality
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Not as loud and clear as the APX, much less even compared to the XTS 5k, or even the Unification G5
- Sharper sound, it's hard to explain the other radios do a better job with the mids and so it will sound clearer and less tiny
- with the volume all the way up it can hurt your ears.
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Not as loud and clear as the APX, much less even compared to the XTS 5k, or even the Unification G5
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The form factor
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Its a slippery radio that is shaped like a box.
- It would of been nice to have some texture on the side of radio to grip it better when wet or periods
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The ears are more pronounced on the APX and the XTS is just comfortable ergonomically speaking for me
- with more pronounced ears it is easier to catch/grip the radio from a downward vertical slip
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Its a slippery radio that is shaped like a box.
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Support sucks, it is EOL'ed
- No schematics, no parts, no really any help if things go awry... BEFORE WARNED.
- L3Harris basically, has everything for this radio marked as internal and will not give it to you
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OMG.... THE COST
- Chargers are not cheap used avg is $60-100
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Programming cable
- avg cost $100, used cheapest I found, $400 or so for a new one
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Legit RPM14 Programming software pricey
- We are talking about averaging $750 vs Motrolas usal $380 or so.
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Full Spectrum
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Well I should some DCS/DPL tones are not supported by some radios. Yet another reason they could not be used as much as good old sub audio tones.
Even sub audio tones, I was reading somewhere 100hz and below tones are often not used due to harmonic issues and. Tones above 200Hz some where weren't used often due to being audible to some users.
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35 minutes ago, Sshannon said:
Welcome! If I have correctly parsed your message, it sounds like maybe you would also like to get your ham license. It’s as easy as it ever has been. If you need any help with that I can recommend a good teaching tool.
Not sure if we want to pull him to the dark side yet. He has a chance to lead a normal life, he will be more apt to get adopted that way.
WRWQ761, before you make your choice. We hams generally come in two shapes. The round plump variety (think Santa Claus) or thin wiry type (give them a hamburger). I think it has to do with the active geeky/nerdy kind or the sedimentary(in the shack a lot) geeky/nerdy kind .
Me personally, I have adopted the plumper body type. I love how hamfest sometimes look like a wannabe eccentric Santa Claus flea market. Especially, since radio attract more of the older crowd.
73, WRDD287, W3HRD
- wayoverthere, WRUU653, marcspaz and 2 others
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5
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The theoretical/hypothetical is fine.. A little more info on the application and usage intent. Legal or illegal could help narrow down things and get you on the right track. I am a hypothetical purchaser, my wallet is thinner then me or my ambitions. So all the sites I visit have tons of things in my wish list.
BUt a Yaesu ftdx101d is going to be wasted a bit unless you contest on the HF bands. Really what it was designed for.
For instance, to be used mobile (in a car) 20w usually is enough and 50w is nice to have when you are the fringes. But trying to talk to Cali on Phone (voice) over HF 100w base station and a nice antenna setup is very helpful. With UHF/VHF yeah, you are going to be using digital over the internet.
So if you mind can you expand on the hypothetical. There is no radio that does it all, but some radios are better then others for some purposes.
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11 hours ago, marcspaz said:
There are some very, very smart people here with tons of experience and willing to help.
Lol... he said smart... jk...
This is one of the more helpful sites. Regardless, of the topic.
Being in the radio world you kinda get the whole know one understands you and this again look often. Sometimes I think I need to choose my hobbies better. The otherside of the coin. I have met some incredible life long friends that I wouldn't have if I didn't choose some of the hobbies I have.
Now you have us.. be as radio weird as you want to, we all understand to an extent. As I stare at my scrap brake line 1/2 wave antenna outside the shop.
You should be able to reach, Ellicott city, Towson maybe Cumberland as well. Mt. Holly relatively close to you is a strong repeater as well as the ones up in Winchester. Get that antenna up high and start scanning.
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So another update.
Di-electric grease and fixing the center conductor on the coax/pl259 connection. Drastically improved the scratchiness.
Signal reports are slightly better then 1/4 wave. Still get you are scratchy, barely above noise floor but readable in the low spots where the 1/4 was unreadable.
Think at this point it maybe a keeper. Due to the survivability outweighing the advantages of the 5/8th over 5/8th for my normal usage.
Slightly better then 1/4 slightly worse then 5/8th over 5/8ths. Might be a different story when the xtl5k is finally installed with 70cm repeaters. The gmrs repeater is in Wheaton, md and just an absolutely incredible repeater. That puts 80% of ham repeaters to shame.
Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk -
Going to play with it a bit more. Dielectric grease and wire wheeled the paint off the antenna where the second set screw is located.
Already knew a 3/4 was not the way to go.
Also found on the coax. Center conductor strands were bent. So, soldered it back up and cleaned up.
Hopefully, signal reports get better.
If not any better I am looking at a 5/8 or 1/2 laird nmo where I will replace the whip. Past experience with tuning with a coil and a different whip was not a good experience for me or the outcome.
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Yeah. When I look at pictures or around the nmo it looks like I already have some roof damage to the sheet metal.
I 100% understand that. I am pretty sure you and I have discussed that I use a Comet SBB-1 when I am going offroad or in a known limited clearance area. A slight performance tradeoff for survivability is definitely a smart choice. A high performance antenna that is broken because of a tree or i-beam doesn't help at all.
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***Initial signal reports.
Usual route i take home. So a fair comparisons, since I know where the holes are for spotty or weak coverage.
With the Signal Stalk, most reports were scratchy and having background noise on transmit. I was also getting hashing on receive. The dip around the Morman temple was reported as really really bad copy.
As a comparision,the usual reports when using the Laird B4505 CNS were like sitting in the room next to me, clean as a base station. The dip around the Morman temple usually reported with this antenna as scratchy with sometimes a drop out.
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I thought the sti flexi was more flexible. Well I thought by some of the pictures.Not much different than the Sti Co Super flex whips.
Is it about the same?
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Yeah mine had a glow in the dark tip. But 3d printed base.Theyve moved over to an injection molded base on the signal sticks within the last couple of batches (bought a sma male one in black around black Friday last year), it's a nicer finish now. They also appear to be using glow in the dark tips on all of them, irrespective of color, which is a nice touch.
Nice to know they are making changes. Especially, with the warranty if something happens you get a replacement.
Lifetime warranty doesn't apply to the stalk antenna. But he sells replacement parts.
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Agreed. Been happy with mine. Part of the reason I was willing to try a signal stalk.Two thumbs up from me for the Signal Stick. Best HT antenna I've had, if you don't mind the length.
Of course, little things like signal stick (3d printed antenna connection) not being finished (layer lines from 3d printing) let you know it is a small operation. On the signal stalk the ferrule to the nmo doesn't match the colors of the nmo base.
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Well minus the price. For $40 vs the usual 80-100Not much different than the Sti Co Super flex whips.
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No. Signal reports as of today, just got it installed.
Btw. Don't run out and buy one just yet. It is a 2m 1/4 wave and 3/4 wave 70cm antenna.
3/4 have a weird radiation pattern and a take off angle of about 60‐70 degrees.
So who knows, how this will work in the real world.
I should of have taken 2m sweeps but failed to. I really wanted an antenna taller than the 1/4 for 70cm p25 and gmrs, i was also hitting the 1/4 wave in some garages. 2m was not a consideration, so I didn't even bother.
Because of the garage/tree thing I started searching for nintinol antennas. 2 came up signal stalk and sti flexi ( about 2x the price).
The sti was ruled out for the first round due to the cost and the cut chart would of had it back at 1/4 wave for gmrs/70cm. Might still try it in the future. Going to look at my buddy Seth's sti antenna to see if it is more flexible.
** the signal stalk is flexible. But no where near a signal stick. You will not be able to loop a signal stalk like a signal stick. I think you can loop the Sti (will check when I get the chance).
*** DO NOT try to trim with cutters. I recommend a bolt cutter or cut off wheel. Even my pneumatic cutting off wheel at the shop took some time to cut through it. On the order of 5-10 seconds. Usually, it will go through a steel whip in 2 seconds.
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Cut off a hair more than an inch (1") whip measurement 19"..
446 Mhz (national 70cm calling Swr was at 1:1.4 swr.
472.7250 Mhz ch22 repeater input the Swr was at 1:1.49 swr.
450 Mhz swr (target mid band) was at 1.08 Swr.
Note: weird curly q in the Smith chart. Never seen that before.
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Initial swep of the uncut signal stalk measures 20".
About 2.5 swr at 467.725 Mhz. 1.75 swr down at 440Mhz.
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Toy to play with Harris XG-100P
in Amateur Radio (Ham)
Posted
A lot of these CPS even in the same line have a steep learning curve. Take a XTS5000 versus its mobile version the XTL5000, the code plugs aren't really any where near the same. Even require 2 different CPS software. I think the APX series they were trying to unify the mobile and portable CPS.
I hear horror stories of trying to get software for the Kenwood NX series if you don't have a dealer that is Ham friendly. Much less assistance on programming. Guess that is why a lot of Hams stick to Motorolas.