Toy to play with Harris XG-100P

[Lscott]

3 minutes ago, kidphc said:

NIce.

At least you can do that. Can't even do that with the XTL5k. You need to hook up to at least one radio to read the serial before you can even open a file.

What version RPM is that?

This one is the Kenwood KPG-95DGN V8.30. I think this one was modified, or I used a wide band install key forget which, to allow wide and narrow band FM since I can freely enter either one.

[kidphc]

3 minutes ago, tweiss3 said:

That is Kenwood's stuff. All the kenwood softwares allow you to program a codeplug without the radio first.

 

BTW, RPM14 from Harris is very interesting. Take what you know about motorola and kenwood combined, and toss it out the window.

Wonderful.. just what I wanted to hear.

[kidphc]

** deleted duplicate post.

[Lscott]

9 minutes ago, tweiss3 said:

That is Kenwood's stuff. All the kenwood softwares allow you to program a codeplug without the radio first.

That is unbelievably convenient. If I'm on lunch at work I can putz around building a code plug or making changes to an existing one, then upload it to my home FTP server. 

[kidphc]

Full sunlight pictures as requested.

I think the black background helps. Motorola does the inverse with a white background.

Keep in mind the screen is filthy and so is the camera.

Lower picture the radio is at full horizontal.

[Lscott]

Looks very readable.

[kidphc]

Some Dimension pics.

No scale to measure with or w/o the lipo battery.

The antenna is the high gain long antenna.

[kidphc]

4 minutes ago, Lscott said:

Looks very readable.

I agree. Better then some of my other radios. Even my 878uvii plus washes out sometimes due to glare. 

Screen doesn't look to be polarized with about 160-170 degrees of viewing. Didn't really disappear till the bezel was starting to obscure the screen.

Completely viewable with my polarized prescription clip on sunglasses. Which I can't say the same about with most of my other radios.

[kidphc]

Should note this.

The radio when off the screen is white. I was concerned that it was damaged due to what looked like was streaking. In stand by mode, when the screen times out it is black.

Powering on the radio it showed it was fine.

Most of the XG-100P i saw when off were pretty similar, in one degree or another.

Btw: screen photos in sunlight was with the back light setting set to 4 out of 10. So less then 1/2 of the available backlighting.

Top screen is a white/black background, configurable in settings. *** top screen is not broken. That is a number 1 to identify current channel.

*** Top screen has its own setting to reverse orientation and change backlight settings. No other customizations that I can see.

 

[tweiss3]

Making me jealous

[kidphc]

Making me jealous

Rightfully so. If it was an apx8k series down right heart attack territory both in sticker shock and joy.

Update. Spoke to the owner, will not let me borrow the cable, he uses on the xl series (newer line) as well as th3 xg series part of the reason they are expensive. He said he is very protective about his harris cables.

But we will meet up to enable bluetooth programming. Configuration on the radio has to be enabled, so it needs the serial programming cable.

I like this radio more and more. Till I can afford an Apx. Which should be in about 20 years.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[Lscott]

1 hour ago, kidphc said:

I like this radio more and more. Till I can afford an Apx. Which should be in about 20 years.

Or keep buying those lotto tickets.

If you wait 20 years the APX model you want today might be a bit more affordable when you find it on eBay.

[kidphc]

Waiting on the charger, currently. As well as waiting to meet up with my friend to enable bluetooth programming. Can't play with it much since there is a password set on the current mission plan. So can't edit the channels, not even the power levels.

 

So apparently, there are three (3) banks to each zone. So 16 "personalities" per zone with 3 different banks to choose from. Essentially, 48 "personality" choices per zone.

 

[Lscott]

About how much do you have invested in the radio and accessories so far if you don't mind my asking?

[kidphc]

About how much do you have invested in the radio and accessories so far if you don't mind my asking?

Not at all. Since it's not my radio but "long/short term loan". Nothing really. My friend handed it to me with the hi gain antenna and lithium battery.

Only thing so far would be a charger (about $80 with shipping for a used harris multi Chem from ebay). Maybe a programming cable ($100, used to about $400 new in bag). Software I am hunting for (probably about $750 if I need to order from harris).

I have found new/old stock for about $1200 (no bat or charger) to about $1300 for a complete used set. You can find used ones without battery for about $600, normally $800.

So if I'd go out and buy one I figure close to $2k. Still cheaper then an Apx. Do I like it more then the apx, no but it's 1/2 to a 1/3 of the cost. Big if would be finding one that was widebanded on uhf.



Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[Lscott]

1 hour ago, kidphc said:

Not at all. Since it's not my radio but "long/short term loan". Nothing really. My friend handed it to me with the hi gain antenna and lithium battery.

Only thing so far would be a charger (about $80 with shipping for a used harris multi Chem from ebay). Maybe a programming cable ($100, used to about $400 new in bag). Software I am hunting for (probably about $750 if I need to order from harris).

I have found new/old stock for about $1200 (no bat or charger) to about $1300 for a complete used set. You can find used ones without battery for about $600, normally $800.

So if I'd go out and buy one I figure close to $2k. Still cheaper then an Apx. Do I like it more then the apx, no but it's 1/2 to a 1/3 of the cost. Big if would be finding one that was widebanded on uhf.



Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
 

Thanks.

That's why more expensive than I'm willing to pay even used for a hobby. If I needed one for personally owned professional use that would change the economics. None of my radios falls into the later category. 

[kidphc]

27 minutes ago, Lscott said:

Thanks.

That's why more expensive than I'm willing to pay even used for a hobby. If I needed one for personally owned professional use that would change the economics. None of my radios falls into the later category. 

Most definitely.  Too bad there aren't many options for APCO p25 in the amateur world. Mostly old commercial gear. Just depends on what you are doing and the quality level of gear you are willing to pay for.

[kidphc]

So good news. As long as bluetooth is enabled on the radio it will pair fine with a computer. With two exceptions.

Exception one the computer couldn't see the radio. A whole bunch of "unknown" showed up on the computer when scanning for bluetooth. Could be the computer. On the radio it saw the computer fine. So I paired from the radio, acknowledging from the computer. Done.

Exception two, this is RPM 14. some of the pop-up dialog isn't scaled quite right. Cutting off some buttons. No biggie, worked in QA for years. Use to this kinda thing. Just hit "tab" till it looks like the left button is lit, then hit enter. That is if you have this problem.

 

 

[tweiss3]

So you did or didn't get it programmed over BT?

[kidphc]

So you did or didn't get it programmed over BT?

Programming now over bluetooth.

Slow and tedious because I don't know the software.

But it programs fine over bluetooth. So no need for the expensive cable, as long as blue tooth feature is enabled.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[tweiss3]

I have learned on RPM14, you have to be careful when setting up their tables. At times, they want the TX input first, and if you put RX like any other software, it throws "out of band" errors, because you didn't calc the proper offset for the TX. Very different software, can't tell if I am doing anything correctly as I don't have any hardware to test. 

[kidphc]

Bunch of little things. This radio was set to use system vs zones.

Took me a bit to figure out I needed to create a conventional set first then I could add it the system.

Bunch of little quirks like every piece of software.

Like you can have banks. You don't program it like banka, then bank b.

It just goes to channel #16 (bank a) #17 it's bank b.

Not really sure why the gmrs frequencies were programmed into p25 conv frequency set and not to the conv freq set. I will have to ask the guru tonight at dinner.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[PACNWComms]

Great thread. I have dealt with Motorola, Thales, and Harris for a long while, and ended up working with Harris for field testing both the military AN/PRC-152 series and the XG-100P Unity radio for various agencies (my personal collection shown in the attached picture). Harris brought a multi-band radio with GPS to the table first, but then did not support it well when the sales did not take off (who could afford the XG-100P). 

In preparation for the 2009 Police and Fire Games, and Later the 2010 Olympic Games in Canada, many fire and police elements in northern Washington State were provided grant money for XG-100P/M radios. 

I bought a demo unit while working for the oil industry, being an intrinsically safe radio that allowed me to carry one radio instead of three (VHF,UHF and 7/800 MHz). However, I only have RPM12, so know I am missing out on some newer features. Compared to the military Motorola APX7000 (dual band I was issued), the Unity was a great radio. It still is for me now, but is heavy and lacks some refinement of newer Harris radio. They still come up on auction sites and used radio vendor sites for $800-1200 often though. There are people I know that use them for bragging rights as well, for those that want to flex on their radio geek friends. 

As mentioned by others the "mission plans" on the XG-100P are much like those on the true military AN/PRC-152 as well. Harris makes a great radio, but the price also reflects that. Now, if I could only buy AN/PRC-152's without dealing with export models (type of encryption or lack thereof) as having AM and FM (satcom, HPW and other military specific waveforms) in the same radio in very convenient, but comes at a huge cost many hobbyist can't afford. But, I see that like Motorola making Trbo DMR and P25 TDMA in the same radio, only a wish that may never happen, or will only happen a huge cost. 

[Lscott]

2 hours ago, PACNWComms said:

Great thread. I have dealt with Motorola, Thales, and Harris for a long while, and ended up working with Harris for field testing both the military AN/PRC-152 series and the XG-100P Unity radio for various agencies (my personal collection shown in the attached picture). Harris brought a multi-band radio with GPS to the table first, but then did not support it well when the sales did not take off (who could afford the XG-100P). 

In preparation for the 2009 Police and Fire Games, and Later the 2010 Olympic Games in Canada, many fire and police elements in northern Washington State were provided grant money for XG-100P/M radios. 

I bought a demo unit while working for the oil industry, being an intrinsically safe radio that allowed me to carry one radio instead of three (VHF,UHF and 7/800 MHz). However, I only have RPM12, so know I am missing out on some newer features. Compared to the military Motorola APX7000 (dual band I was issued), the Unity was a great radio. It still is for me now, but is heavy and lacks some refinement of newer Harris radio. They still come up on auction sites and used radio vendor sites for $800-1200 often though. There are people I know that use them for bragging rights as well, for those that want to flex on their radio geek friends. 

As mentioned by others the "mission plans" on the XG-100P are much like those on the true military AN/PRC-152 as well. Harris makes a great radio, but the price also reflects that. Now, if I could only buy AN/PRC-152's without dealing with export models (type of encryption or lack thereof) as having AM and FM (satcom, HPW and other military specific waveforms) in the same radio in very convenient, but comes at a huge cost many hobbyist can't afford. But, I see that like Motorola making Trbo DMR and P25 TDMA in the same radio, only a wish that may never happen, or will only happen a huge cost. 

Lots of money laying on the grass there.

[PACNWComms]

2 hours ago, Lscott said:

Lots of money laying on the grass there.

Yes, although the Thales AN/PRC-148 and Harris AN/PRC-152 are the very early models. The Harris lacks the GPS module while the Thales lacks the dual RF module. My cost was just under $6k for those four radios total, while retail it should have been closer to about $24k.

The Harris XG-100P was only $1200 as an IWCE pre-release sample. That included RPM12 and programming cable as well. Great deal I could not pass up. I still use the radio for amateur use mostly, and on corporate P25 Phase I for testing.