Motorola XTL2500 Upgrade Failed.

[Luish19779]

I try to upgrade the XTL2500, the radio got the version R17.01.01 and my Astro cps is R20.01.01.

When i try to upgrade the radio, i have to located the file, but was the version R3 etc.

maybe i have to download something else to upgrade the radio sussesfully.

i got computer knowledge, but not on the Astro 25 mobile cps ver R20.01.01

Happy New Year everyone.

[Luish19779]

[Luish19779]

That was the upgrade I found on the cps.

[Luish19779]

[Luish19779]

[Sshannon]

Alt-Printscreen will allow you to capture screenshots without having to take pictures with your phone.

[WRKC935]

So, first question is why upgrade?  This is not a Windows upgrade.  Have you read through the release notes of the 20.01.01 firmware to see if ANY of the changes effect conventional analog and P25 operations of the radio.

Second is you have to possess a flash key in order to apply the firmware upgrade in order for it to happen.  The XTS / XTL family of radios were different in this regard from the APX radios that are now the standard.  APX radios will directly upgrade without a flash key.

The threat to doing irreversible damage to your radio is a VERY REAL possibility.  You are rewriting the software that operates the radio.  And while a failure of a cable getting kicked loose or a power failure with a computer would mean that you just boot from the media and attempt to reinstall the latest version of Windows or whatever having a similar failure with your radio during a copy operation will leave the radio in a state that by anyone outside of Motorola, unrecoverable.  And in case you somehow feel I don't know what I am talking about, we sent a significant number of radios to Motorola during rebanding (probably 200 of the 15000 we upgraded).  And since that was a supported platform at the time, they would fix them.  You can't send that radio to Motorola any more,   they will simply drop a letter in the box saying the model is no longer supported and charge you a fee to do so plus return shipping.  Again, I work for a Motorola shop,  Been through this a number of times.

Lastly, I am not 100% sure you can go from 17 to 20 directly.  At least not safely.  You may need to goto 18 first before making that jump to 20.

 

Also, you need to understand that a firmware upgrade will NOT add functionality to the radio.  The flashcode of the radio sets the functionality and options in the radio, not the firmware version.  Changing the options requires a different type of flash key that is also NLA from Motorola.

 

 

[OffRoaderX]

this may be a first, but I agree with Mr WRKC935 - Unless you really know what you are doing and more importantly WHY you are doing it, I would recommend not taking the risk of upgrading the radio.

Source: I own several XTL5000s, XTS5000s and XTS2500s - i've never put any through an upgrade because its too risky and I have too many friends that ended up with very expensive bricks - and they dont even know why they did it.

[WRKC935]

Another quick note.  Having a later version of CPS and programming an earlier firmware is NOT going to cause any issues. 

I do it all the time and have never had issue unless the firmware is REALLY old, like version 5 and before using CPS20.05.01 which I believe is the latest version that was available. 

 

[gortex2]

I told you yesterday in another post to leave the firmware at 17. There is no functional reason to move it to 20 unless your dealing with P25 simulcast with Geo-Primes. I have seen MSI shops brick a XTL pretty quickly when done wrong. Is there a specific reason you think you need to upgrade the radio ? 

[Luish19779]

Thank You everyone for yours Opinion about this matter. Right now I got another issue, I got cheap coax cable and j-pole antenna. I want buy BETTER coax so I don’t lost power and a better Antenna to use like a repeater too, in near future. I read about LRM-400 , Wilson  for coax and for Antenna Laird Antennas. I just want to have a GOOD equipment. What you guys Opinion?  Thanks everyone 

[KAF6045]

6 hours ago, Luish19779 said:

Thank You everyone for yours Opinion about this matter. Right now I got another issue, I got cheap coax cable and j-pole antenna. I want buy BETTER coax so I don’t lost power and a better Antenna to use like a repeater too, in near future. I read about LRM-400 , Wilson  for coax and for Antenna Laird Antennas. I just want to have a GOOD equipment. What you guys Opinion?  Thanks everyone 

How long a run, and how much loss at the desired frequency are you willing to live with.

100 feet of common RG-8 (Belden 9913) will lose half your power at 465MHz; LMR 400 is nearly as lossy. Cheap RG-58 loses 90%! (12W left from 100W). LMR-900 only loses 25%.

[WRKC935]

9 hours ago, Luish19779 said:

Thank You everyone for yours Opinion about this matter. Right now I got another issue, I got cheap coax cable and j-pole antenna. I want buy BETTER coax so I don’t lost power and a better Antenna to use like a repeater too, in near future. I read about LRM-400 , Wilson  for coax and for Antenna Laird Antennas. I just want to have a GOOD equipment. What you guys Opinion?  Thanks everyone 

Is this for a base or a mobile?  IF it's a mobile, you are gonna be restricted to RG-58 or possibly LMR240 due to the size and flexibility of the cable.  For a base you certainly have other options, but again the length of the run is going to determine whats needed and your budget is gonna be the other determining factor.

Running the NEEDED cable length and not going overboard and having a big coil of cable someplace is the best way to limit losses.  So figure that out and get what's needed and not some fixed length of cable.

The reason I mentioned budget.  If youget 100 feet of LMR-900 cable.  The cable will cost more than the radio did.  Average price on that cable is 8.50 a FOOT.  So, 850 bucks for 100 feet PLUS 100 bucks average for ONE connector.... you will need two.  So the cable run would be a grand.  Guessing that you aren't ready to drop a grand on a cable run for a GMRS base station.  But maybe you are. 

Here's the rub with cable loss and the CB radio mentality when it comes to wattage.  Professionals in the two way industry all use dB for figuring the stuff out.  ANd the really important part is receiver sensitivity.  Depending in the radio, you need between -118 and -116 dBm to open a receiver.  Typically -112 to -110dBm to reach 12dB sinad and -105dBm for a full quieting signal.  SO to go from a noisy signal to a strong signal you will need 6dB of change.  In watts, that's going from 25 watts to 100 watts.  But there are other factors like antenna gain that play into that.  And an antenna with 6 dB of gain over an antenna that has zero gain is going to be a LOT less expensive than 100 feet of that LMR900 cable that was mentioned and have the same perceived effect.  Sure you can put that sort of antenna up on top of the 1000 dollars in cable, and have a really good setup.  But again, that's a TON of money to spend for GMRS radio base stations. 

I have a repeater running 50 watts into a combiner network that has 6dB of loss.  With the cables and such in the building I get 18 watts going out of the building to the antenna.  Antenna is 8dBi of gain, and is 180 feet in the air.  Cable loss is 3dB due to the length.  The repeater in certain directions talks 50 miles.  So, does cable loss have an effect, sure.  But it's NOT as much as you would think.  But antenna height is obviously more important than cable loss.  And I am running LDF5-50 hardline which has similar loss figured to the LMR900 that was mentioned.  But my run is over 300 feet due to the routing of the cable from the building to the tower.