Strange XTL5000 Label

[d119]

Anyone ever see this on an XTL5000? Check out the flashcode field of the label.

_APPL5_? What's that about?

This was a brick-only radio I found on Craigslist. Friend picked it up for me, so I don't have it in my hands yet. But man, that's strange...

 

[kc8onr]

never seen that before. Apple version 5 ?

 

[cyrus]

I would guess a large order from a customer with a specific possibly non-traditional flashcode.

 

[TESTMODE]

I've seen this before on XTL5k's that were ordered specifically for station alerting on a type II system and interfaced to a Zetron station controller. We had ~300 VHF Spectra's that were used for the original attempt at AVL / traffic preemption that had a unique tag also.

I suspect cyrus is right on the money.

 

[Notarola]

When you get the radio. It would be interesting to see what the actual flash is.

 

[duggerd]

I have a XTL5000 consolette with that same label. The flash on the XTL was normal.

A thought that I had was that it might be an error in the label printing process. The string "_APPL5_" looks like a placeholder to me, like it wasn't replaced with the flashcode when the label was generated. The number 5 makes sense as a placeholder as it's the 5th dynamic field (1st - series, 2nd - model number, 3rd - FCC ID, 4th - IC ID, 5th - flashcode, 6th - serial number).

 

[d119]

Interesting. Well good to know there probably isn't anything scary about it.

Once I get a moment to get into it, I'll post the actual FC here.

It's very possible this was used in a station alerting configuration, as there was no head or other accessories with it. Granted, that doesn't mean much, but I would think in a station alerting configuration, this thing would probably be jumpered on and mounted away in some RTU somewhere.

Not all station alerting is set up that way, I get it, but it's possible.

Thanks all!

 

[Notarola]

Thanks duggerd it is good that there is nothing that was unknown about the flash options. I would hate to find out now that there were unknown options that may have been useful in the past.

 

[Radiospencer]

Were you ever able to read/write to radio? And was there anything unusual about the flash? Thanks!

 

[Radiospencer]

An added comment, I purchased a high power XTL2500 that had the same flashcode. It will not communicate with a control head. -S

 

[Number 6]

An added comment, I purchased a high power XTL2500 that had the same flashcode. It will not communicate with a control head. -

And you tried both serial and USB cables at the head?

 

[Radiospencer]

Sorry if I wasn't clear here. Radio and control head not talking. Fail 01/90.

Tried direct connect to radio (serial connection to Toughbook), no joy. My question is are these radios normally functioning or something a bit odd.

If they function normally despite the weird flash, then I need to troubleshoot the radio (head, cable, power are all known to be good). If the flash is some sort of oddity designed to talk to something other than an XTL2500 or O5 control head (say like some transit control head or used for station alerting or?...), I probably won't waste any more time on it.

Anyone out there who can confirm if these radios are otherwise 'normal' XTL2500 radios?

 

[steinberg]

Sorry if I wasn't clear here. Radio and control head not talking. Fail 01/90.

Tried direct connect to radio (serial connection to Toughbook), no joy. My question is are these radios normally functioning or something a bit odd.

If they function normally despite the weird flash, then I need to troubleshoot the radio (head, cable, power are all known to be good). If the flash is some sort of oddity designed to talk to something other than an XTL2500 or O5 control head (say like some transit control head or used for station alerting or?...), I probably won't waste any more time on it.

Anyone out there who can confirm if these radios are otherwise 'normal' XTL2500 radios?

Is the radio in dash or remote mount?

From my understanding the FL01-90 can be caused by mismatched firmware on the radio and head or a dead brick in remote mount. If I'm reading the earlier posts in this thread correctly, then there shouldn't be anything necessarily special with the flash code in you radio (granted it matches the tags).

Have you tried putting the radio into Flashzap mode and reading it? Once the radio goes into maintenance mode, CPS won't read or write to it.

 

[xpr8300]

Have you tried a W head and TIB? If its expecting a W but gets an O head, FL 01/90 will be the result.

 

[Number 6]

Sorry if I wasn't clear here. Radio and control head not talking. Fail 01/90.

Tried direct connect to radio (serial connection to Toughbook), no joy. My question is are these radios normally functioning or something a bit odd.

If they function normally despite the weird flash, then I need to troubleshoot the radio (head, cable, power are all known to be good). If the flash is some sort of oddity designed to talk to something other than an XTL2500 or O5 control head (say like some transit control head or used for station alerting or?...), I probably won't waste any more time on it.

Anyone out there who can confirm if these radios are otherwise 'normal' XTL2500 radios?

I just recovered 2 XTL2500s that were FL01/90. The only way that I could was from the head in FlashZap mode. It required blowing in firmware.

 

[Colt45ws]

Ive recovered many radios, probably close to a dozen now, that were 01/90. I used the special menu to create a blank codeplug with the correct Model, Serial and Flashcode per the radio label. Then I used the same special menu to write said codeplug into the radio. Now this may not be your problem, but I know for a fact the radios I fixed, had been crashed by a failure during a codeplug write previously from the normal CPS.
The radio is alive in there, but the codeplug was corrupt, so it wouldn't boot. Additionally, during a normal write operation, it tries to verify the codeplug is valid for the radio. As the codeplug is corrupt, it cant read it, so the CPS will not write the radio. Writing from the special menu, causes CPS to not validate it for the radio. It just writes the radio. And then it will boot up, no problemo.
All of 5 minutes.

 

[Notarola]

I have a 5000 suffering from the 01/90 issue. I never was able to resurect it. Ill be trying the method you outlined as I never tried that before. Are you using the front control head or rear J2 connector. also USB or serial cable.

 

[Colt45ws]

I have a 5000 suffering from the 01/90 issue. I never was able to resurect it. Ill be trying the method you outlined as I never tried that before. Are you using the front control head or rear J2 connector. also USB or serial cable.

All the ones I fixed were VHF HPs, mostly W9s. I have used the serial GCAI mostly, but a few I used a Serial to the accessory DB25. With a dash mount, I would probably give serial GCAI a shot if you have the cable, and if that doesnt work, or you dont have the cable, move onto serial via the J2. I never could get USB to work, it doesnt show up in Device Manager when its in this failure mode.

 

[Notarola]

Thanks ill dig out my cables and give it a shot.

 

[orangekitty56]

Ive recovered many radios, probably close to a dozen now, that were 01/90.

Darn it! - I just trashed a VHF XTL5000 with a FL01/90 that I was never able to revive either. I would have gladly paid for your services....