New MotoTRBO Ion

[gMan1971]

Motorola has said that they consulted with firefighters and rode with fire departments when developing the APX NEXT XE. They have to be lying through their teeth. There's no way in hell any actual firefighter looked at that NEXT XE and said "yes, I think it would be great to carry a massive Android phone and trust my life to it on the fireground". There is no reason they couldn't have made improvements to the 8000XE. It's a great radio in terms of physical layout and ergonomics. Fix all the stupid crap like the halve-assed features and firmware bugs. Make the CPS so it doesn't require a computer who's price parallels that of the radio to program it. These are things that are not hard. The hardware of the APX is a solid foundation. Just need to make those tweaks. But it's clear they want to push the industry in a certain way. Instead of paying 150 mil up front for the system, let's charge the customer out the ass on a per-subscriber monthly basis to use the subscribers they own, and to program them too. It's just absurd.

About the fire service. One of my favorite things at the FDNY museum (highly recommend a visit) is the exhibit about steam pumpers. The guys at the time wanted to stick with the bucket brigades - not because they were better (obviously they weren't), but instead because the department was a "traditions-bound organization". 150 years later and the parallels are still there. It is neat to see the sentiments start to change some and new technology make it's way in. UAV systems, augmented reality, iPads/tablets/etc, miniaturizing TICs, etc. are just some of the things that are really exciting to see.

That being said, I still have a bunch of these on my various laptops/tablets/bottles...

View attachment 15272

So? Good for you!!

And why the foxtrot did you have to make it personal by posting such picture claiming that I hate change, I hate things the same... etc... What the foxtrot do you know?

G.

 

[sarguy1941]

Well I tried to change zones Saturday on a fire call with my gloves on and couldn't.....

 

[PSEhub]

Well I tried to change zones Saturday on a fire call with my gloves on and couldn't.....

You're supposed to use ViQi for everything

 

[adorsett]

You're supposed to use ViQi for everything

Ok this might be unpopular, but I actually like the idea of ViQi. I really wish that it would activate on voice recognition and not just a button press. I've learned to love being able to shout "Hey Siri!" while in my truck and add calendar reminders, send messages, call people, all hands free without touching my phone. I use it most to add myself reminders as I think about the random crap on my todo list. And the wife and kids love shouting "Alexa Pause the Television" as they get up and run to the bathroom.

Imagine an officer who's been shot being able to shout "ViQi HELP!" and it activate the emergency man-down function. (Yes, Help is a bad choice of word, but that could be some other word or phrase like "Blueberry Muffins" or it could prompt back "Activating Emergency say Cancel to stop")

Andrew

 

[Mars]

No offense or anything, but I'm sure ViQi will work great when someone needs to do a silent activation, such as when dealing with an aggravated/armed psych patient or hostage scenario. This is a public safety radio, not some Amazon or iPhone toy.

 

[38258]

Has anyone gotten the chance to mess around with an Ion yet?

 

[com501]

Do we really want to? I still live in analog land and hundreds of miles of areas with no network coverage of ANY kind......

 

[dk5ras]

Got a pair of IONs yesterday, but still no access to the programming system. It is in fact a crippled client of the Radio Manager, called Radio Central, and connecting to some cloud server. I hope Motorola gets its stuff together and creates this account ASAP.

The radio is bulky and heavy, well made, leaves a good impression so far, and I love the it can be switched on and off like any radio, with the volume knob. Nice carrying holster, this is what I was missing all the time with my DP4801e (EMEA version of the XPR7550e radio). Flashcode is the same 500008-000488-2 like other DMR radios.

Over all a nice device, well made, nice design, a real Motorola. But I wonder why the head has these two shiny silver Torx screws. Did they forgot covering them? Or the black screws were just out? Oh, and again the already mentioned f*#*ing bolt antenna, no SMA They really smoke the wrong things there.

No phone application availyble yet, so in fact it is just a DMR radio with an Android tablet

And it is way too expensive!

For the next months a locally usable CPS/RM is announced. Let's see.

By the way, I also have a Hytera PDC760, and in some aspects the Hytera is more elegant, sleeker design - and it connects to BrandMeister via IP, what I do not expect for the ION in the nearer future. However the BoxChip S900A+ that I also own can't be compared, it is a typical China radio - but also it connects via IP to BrandMeister

Ralph.

 

[Mars]

I spoke with someone who has one of these (for dealer demo) a couple of days ago, and they brought up two things:

- As dk5ras just pointed out, it's HEAVY. My friend said it really weighs down on the belt. If a person was wearing loose clothing without a belt, this thing sags. Not a critical issue, but he said "Much heavier than the XPR7550".

- The LTE chip in the device does NOT support the cellular network. (Bands 2/4/5/7/12/13/17/29/66 in North America). My friend said he actually spoke with someone high up about this, and they told him it is because access to those bands (licensing) is expensive. So what, exactly, bands does this LTE chip support? This is confusing, because the Ion spec sheet shows support for LTE bands: B2, B4, B5, B7, B12, B13, B14, B17, B30, B48 (Private Band). Does this mean "future support" is possible?

For those who aren't up on the LTE band designations:

B2: 1800/1900 MHz (PCS)
B4: 1700/2100 MHz (AWS-1)
B5: 850 MHz (824-849, 869-894 MHz) (CLR)
B7: 2620-2690/2500-2570 MHz (IMT-E)
B12: 729-746/699-716 MHz (Lower SMH)
B13: 746-756/777-787 MHz (Upper SMH)
B14: 758-768/788-798 MHz (Upper SMH)
B17: 734-746/704-716 MHz (Lower SMH)
B30: 2350-2360/2305-2315 MHz (WCS)
B48: 3550-3700 MHz (CBRS) - Private Band

Of note, it does show support for B14, which is reserved for public safety LTE use. But it's not enabled?

Perhaps there's someone on the forum who can confirm/elaborate on the LTE functionality. Personally, I find this radio useless for many reasons (namely a SmartPhone with WAVE access can already do a majority/all of what this thing can). The target market is still yet-to-be-defined.

 

[dk5ras]

In EMEA all relevant bands are covered, mainly 1, 3, 7, 8, 20 and 28 are important here, and these are included in our version of the ION. I see the use case in utility usage, energy and transportation, and larger industrial plants. Two-way radio has a revival in these, and an integration with public networks absolutely makes sense. I do not consider this beast being a smart phone replacement, it is just a radio with camera and broadband connection, and so the features strictly reflect this. Strange that 3700 MHz should be missing here, but maybe it is just not activated yet, or not mentioned. We get more and more private 3.7 GHz networks, and logging the radio into these would be a big plus. Also Motorola had showcases with 3.7 GHz LTE stuff at last PMRExpo in cologne.

But now I need this MyView account to continue *grrr*

 

[MTS2000DES]

I'm working in a large 2 billion dollar facility that has an on site Cap Max system with hundreds of subscribers. We're here for the next few weeks as part of a FEMA gig. I asked my contact about iON and was told they are turning off escalators and lights to save costs and are operating on a skeleton crew. Again, I'll ask, what exactly does a $2000 subscriber with a hundred buck or two a year add on give a place like this, other than debt and laying off even more employees? Oh we have a fleet of smartphone radios that can't even eliminate the company cellphones....a solution in search of a problem.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

According to the FCC-ID search, it is certified for 11K0F3E from 400-512 MHz (4.8 Watts).
Crazy that it does LTE on 3.5 GHz. I guess thats if someone sets up a private network.

It shows LTE FDD on LTE 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, 20. 28 and TDD on 38,39,40,41. It also apparently is WCDMA and HSDPA compatible. I find that odd.

FCC ID AZ489FT7133 Body worn 2-way portable radio by Motorola Solutions, Inc.

FCC ID application submitted by Motorola Solutions, Inc. for Body worn 2-way portable radio for FCC ID AZ489FT7133. Approved Frequencies, User Manuals, Photos, and Wireless Reports.

fccid.io

MOTOTRBO ION

www.globalcertificationforum.org

It has 16K0F3E as well so perhaps a wide band EID will be available.

 

[phonebuff]

I'm working in a large 2 billion dollar facility that has an on site Cap Max system with hundreds of subscribers. We're here for the next few weeks as part of a FEMA gig. I asked my contact about iON and was told they are turning off escalators and lights to save costs and are operating on a skeleton crew. Again, I'll ask, what exactly does a $2000 subscriber with a hundred buck or two a year add on give a place like this, other than debt and laying off even more employees? Oh we have a fleet of smartphone radios that can't even eliminate the company cellphones....a solution in search of a problem.

Sounds like a fun project ? Any impact on public safety communications in GA from last nights weather ??

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Do we really want to? I still live in analog land and hundreds of miles of areas with no network coverage of ANY kind......

Well. I am a big Luddite and still using my Motorola Razr V3M on Verizon because it works where the 4G does not.

For past 3 years I have been told that it will soon be no longer be compatible with the network. So I have been shopping for a rugged smart phone with PTT apps, though really an integrated UHF radio is more suitable to my needs.

If this handset has capability for WB EID for Ham/GMRS I may very well buy one.

Love to hear users reports on these devices in Verizon and analog UHF applications.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Well now in reading about this product it seems that Motorola has crippled it from any phone operation. Not only are the speaker and mike in wrong places, the so called "Verizon Certification" seems to be for data services only.

 

[MTS2000DES]

Sounds like a fun project ? Any impact on public safety communications in GA from last nights weather ??

Coweta county forwarded their calls to us for 30 minutes while they sheltered in place. Heavy damage in downtown Newnan, 1 death (heart attack). The WARRS system was in site trunking and had some trouble but no downed sites. We did have to go out and touch some of our subscribers that had non-provisioned IDs on that system as the state activated an IMT and our user agencies were called into assist.

 

[38258]

No issues with radio central yet. Glad to see it accepts normal CPS2 EID's.

 

[MaxK98]

No issues with radio central yet. Glad to see it accepts normal CPS2 EID's.

How did you get access to Radio central? Can't get access to it over MyView