I'm having a hell of a time building some codeplugs and I hope somebody here can help.
I have a small fleet of radios for a fire department - one APX7500, 4-5 XTL5000s, and a handful of Kenwood NX5400 portables. I have advanced system keys for both the Motorola and Kenwood radios, legitimately issued by the system owner. The APX and the Kenwoods programmed without a hitch. The XTL mobiles are giving me a major headache.
I've read the Moto key with AKA (v9 that came with APX CPS; v5 that came with XTL CPS will not read it) and all seems to make sense, though this is the first time I've used system keys. My previous trunk radios have been programmed by a different organization.
The system I have the keys for, and am authorized to use, is a P25 Phase 1 700MHz system, and has one WACN and two sysids. I have valid radio IDs and my radios are flashed for the right features for the system, as far as I can tell (500008-000480-0) and have the latest XTL firmware.
The system keys are limited in scope of talkgroup, radio ID, system ID, and WACN ID. This is how this system is being run - they are giving each agency that wants to be on the system a key that restricts the programming to their own data.
When I build the trunking system in my codeplug, I have to follow a specific order of steps in order to avoid causing any invalid fields, but I've been led to believe that that's expected behavior. Anyway, I create the system, input the WACN, and check Intra-WACN Roaming. I do not enter a system ID; if I do, I then get into a never-ending cycle of invalid fields - the system ID is invalid if Intra-WACN Roaming is checked, and the WACN is invalid if Intra-WACN Roaming is unchecked. I enter my radio ID, and so far so good.
I then enter the right channel plan (in "ASTRO 25 Channel ID") and the control channels (though this system has 220 CCs and I only can add 128; the odds of me missing ones that are in use in my area are slim, anyway). Again, so far I have no problems.
Now I try to enter a trunking personality, and this is where things fall down.
I create the trunking personality, and on the General tab, "System & ID" is marked invalid because it's blank. I fill in with the system I just created above (system #4 in my case - my codeplug already has 3 personalities for a Type II Smartzone system in it, the one I have had programmed by someone else; and yes I have tried deleting those systems/personalities and no luck), and the field remains invalid. And of course, when the "System & ID" field is invalid, all the talkgroup/emergency/announcement group/etc fields become read-only, so I can't make any changes.
The help file for ASTRO25 CPS reads as follows:
So does it mean that there is no way for me to program the system into my radios because the system administrator issues limited access keys?Only Trunking Systems with Advanced Keys with no field or feature protection (unlimited access) or System Key Files can be selected.
This field’s value is marked invalid if a Trunking system is selected with an Advanced Key that has field or feature protection (limited access), and is also marked invalid when the Trunking System selected has no Advanced Key or no System Key File.
Surely there has to be a way to get this programmed. I spoke with a radio tech for a very large agency in my province, with some XTLs in his fleet. He said his original XTL key (issued by the sys admins, again) worked for the duration of its life - all these keys also have expiration dates programmed in - and the replacement worked for a while, but then all subsequent keys have not worked.
Is it possible that the key is being programmed by the system admins wrong, and need to be re-programmed? Would it help to share what's reported by AKA?
I know there are XTL mobiles (and XTS portables for that matter) programmed on this system, so there has to be a way to get it done. I just can't figure it out on my own.
Any advice will be much appreciated!