Does anyone have the latest version of the ASTRO Spectra CPS?

yep

lol

I ended up finding I had after all the latest version!

lol

I know, ANCIENT thread revivial...

How many of us are still playing with P25, versus DMR these days?

I've got an old VHF Astro Saber III, but don't use it because my CPS software was old & buggy &I have to use the damn interface box between my computer & radio to program it. I've got a couple EF Johnson 5100s (cheap equivalent of XTS-5000), but don't use them either & want to sell off the old stuff.

Like everyone, I'd love to get a VHF/UHF handheld & mobile that does FM/P25 & DMR but it seems like if someone was going to do that, it would have happened by now.


For DMR, I've got a Motorola XPR7550e -- nice, but unless you use it a lot CPS is just a nuisance.

I'm saving up my pennies for this:
https://www.amazon...KJLB3LY/ref=sr_1_1

One great feature is that you can put it into Discovery mode, and it'll give you ANY DMR voice traffic on the frequency, plus give you the Color Code, Time Slot & Talk Group info. That's especially handy for those of us that like to monitor commercial DMR systems.


/-/ooligan

I still use P25 on ham bands with an oddball NAC. Security through obscurity.

The State of Iowa is migrating to a 700 MHz trunked, P25 system with OTAR. Listening to the state police was never that interesting, so I'm not planning on doing any monitoring. For those that are, it's going to be relatively easy to monitor. So far, they have no plans to go live with OTAR and are use the default 293 NAC throughout the entire system.

Posted by /-/ooligan One great feature is that you can put it into Discovery mode, and it'll give you ANY DMR voice traffic on the frequency, plus give you the Color Code, Time Slot & Talk Group info. That's especially handy for those of us that like to monitor commercial DMR systems. /-/ooligan

There's supposedly a promiscuous mode firmware mod for the MD-380 that does basically the same thing. I've never tried it, I'm told it does work and is good for figuring out who is tying up repeaters.

I still use P25 on ham bands with an oddball NAC. Security through obscurity.

I don't see how an oddball NAC gives you any security -- any local P25-capable scanner is going to decode your comms, and immediately show the NAC. Using a P25 transceiver, even if I didn't know the NAC, I'd just program-in NAC F7E as the receive NAC & be able to hear you just fine.

I knew there had to be one of these threads!

Posted by /-/ooligan How many of us are still playing with P25, versus DMR these days? ... Like everyone, I'd love to get a VHF/UHF handheld & mobile that does FM/P25 & DMR but it seems like if someone was going to do that, it would have happened by now.

There are a few mobiles that will do DMR, P25, and FM (ex. NX-5800 series), though the license fees are a tad high. Not aware of any portables though.
Not seen a dual band option, though most mobiles I know of will run just fine with a single head for multiple radios.

Personally using a XTS 5000 as my daily driver. P25 is far more active in the areas I spend most of my time in and I've yet to find a portable as bulletproof as the 5k. FPP is also a really nice feature to have, though potentially expensive to enable.

Posted by Radio2600 There's supposedly a promiscuous mode firmware mod for the MD-380 that does basically the same thing. I've never tried it, I'm told it does work and is good for figuring out who is tying up repeaters.

I have used it - it works quite well. Might take a bit of tinkering to get running depending on your firmware version though.

Edit: clarification