Dude… THANK YOU for this series? Coming out of the XTS5000 world and now looking at the APX series I’ve been a little confused by terms like “tags/no tags” etc. I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to make these videos.
One benefit of tags and a legit flashcode is that if you really wreck it, you can send the thing back to Motorola for flat rate/depot repair, which really isn't that expensive (~$500). However, as of Jan 1 2024, APX 6000 AN and APX 7000 radios are now out of service (and XTS/XTL ended ~2018) so that's moot for those models.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. There is a serious lack of information out there to assist hobbyists in buying used Motorola radios. I had to spend a ton of time doing research in order to get smart enough to even ask the most basic questions to sellers so this kind of video will be helpful to the community.
@@AdventureCruiserok do they use dmr encryption the one u mentioned that u trust I trust my very own customized radios like dmr onn radios because I’m a cop for my own department and I need something small but still something that will work with older radios too like the ones that u showed and I do alot of research on every walkie talkie that I own so no doubt my radio will fail when I need it my radio is only a 16 mile range dmr radio but went further then 16 mile range because one day I was in woodland area talking on ch 1 and my dispatch responded back to me saying code please and then I neither heard anything else after then but I could tell it was my dispatcher because of her dinctent voice and my radio is designed only for my company so my automatic aes 256 encryption is really strong in it not only that but it is very knowledgeable radio that police use a long time ago like I said onn is a very good police dmr radio using p25 phase 2 encryption which is aes 256 military grade encryption using very good automatic otar feature which not all radios come with that to protect your encryption if someone try’s to decode your encryption but yea any how good explaining video I liked it the only thing I would like to know is if your radios are encrypted since they are public safety radios so yea :)
I'm told that a lot of Motorola dealers won't touch a radio without tags. You might like to cover the fact that one APX VU78 is probably not going to be the same as the next listing for an APX VU78 due to the Flashcode. And this is where that term "Whored out" comes into play. If you're going to get a used APX8000 without tags, check the sellers history and ratings and look for one that's been well and truly whored out because you never know when you're going to need the FDNY Emergency Rx/Tx Tone Set! Enjoying the channel.
Oh lord, this really is going to open the floodgates 🙂 People really get just so upset over tags/no tags. I really want an APX, but there is no reason for me to have P25 at that price point (XTS with FPP is cool though). I own a VHF/UHF pair for 7550es and a 7350 I got for $100. That gets me a rugged radio that is weatherproof and can used on DMR. Let's be honest, HAM P25 is non-existent in most places. An APX 8000 would be really cool for the public service stuff I do, but I don't have $3,500 for a used radio that I can't even use on DMR if I need to.
Though I know this is an older video but as you mentioned stickers don't mean anything, I have seen few threads on reliable forums where someone bought a radio second hand with tags & everything matched or they thought because there is the extra mark up for tagged radios there are people who have made fake tags and unless you know what your looking for or at it could look legit but the font could be off or like the APX though not sure all but the newer ones have QR codes & they can put a QR code though it's not going to work. I work in public safety and I have a XTS 5000&2500 though I did break your rule of buying from eBay like someone else mentioned I bought from someone that had good reviews and both radios though they didn't have tags, short version the guy selling them worked at for a radio shop and to ease my mind because I was putting my life on the radio I made the 2hr drive to pick them up though originally it was just for the XTS5000 radio but it's like going into the cordless freedom hole puncher store(forget what you called it when you mentioned your peltors) for one tool & you leave with 2 but same thing happens at the grocery store though I go there only needing 4 things I leave with a lot more & usually forget one of the things I went there for lol but got a good deal & I work in multiple roles within public safety and my main 2 jobs tech 3, 2 use VHF & the other UHF2 issue I had was mix bag from budgets to not wanting to write grants & everything else, though good with hands on stuff, I have seen what it takes for grant paperwork and not something I felt comfortable with. So with multiple of jobs I took on with permission to program radios and keep them updated and I should mention this was like 10yrs+ ago before APX line came out my fulltime job was mainly Motorola from 750's, 1000's few 1250's though there wasn't enough radios & with my background I personally didn't feel comfortable without a radio besides lack of radios for dept itself the county only issued 2 XTS5000's one was a paperweight so that person could listen to the county (though we offered to buy that person a scanner they had more bugles) so good chance we went m/a though we had mobiles higher probability of not having the county portable & not getting into ics/nims but let's say I felt more comfortable having my own radio with my part-time job though a different role I often wore many hats and in that job being part-time we paid for every except the vehicle and they still had Saber's and hog pog of hand me downs though they kind of worked depending on where you were so you often had multiple radios and few others including the state who handled dispatch had digital channels & like FT job out of personal safety I was comfortable with my own though like a month after buying my own I started doing county based stuff & was issued one of theirs though it was with me I still used my own. But like you mentioned you never know the history of a radio I know of in my little area of the world of handful of guys that either had mix bag of parts(common story at time was they worked where they were made & though functional they didn't pass QC & were supposed to be junked but they fixed them ummm ya not sure I would trust that radio but you do you) the ones I felt really bad for were usually CL purchases and they were stolen or lost radios and didn't have solid contact info for sellers they used burner phones & emails, like I asked one did you get the plate of the vehicle they were driving nope & sellers did their homework most were bought where there was no cctv so they were out. Though it has changed a little bit & even 10-15yrs ago if you wanted to buy your own radio and had proper paperwork if you didn't need digital you could get Kenwood's which I have used and actually liked a feature where you could lock on a channel or stay on a certain channel vs accidentally hitting the knob & switching channels, occasionally depending on dealer some would sell Motorola to an individual but more often they wouldn't no matter if you had paperwork. Though I get wanting to sell more than one or selling to a municipality or big business but I have seen it get them on the back end where members of a dept understood priority of funding and they were happy to buy their own radios or use an older one and that dept ran mainly Kenwood's as the dealer worked for a different dept on call than few yrs later when state wide grants went out dept's had choice of 2 brands that had digital capabilities and that dept went with Kenwood and they explained to M brand why they weren't interested & no matter what they offered the answer was no. Though I am fortunate to know people it & though whole different role of PS even though I have a 8000 I have been looking at BK & L3/Harris as options even though I still have my XTS 5000 (the 2500 is story for different day) though M makes a good radio I like there is more options also though not impossible I do find other brands do sometimes have better features to even easier software like I mentioned it's not impossible but at time its feels like CPS or that brand makes it challenging for an agency to maintain their radios vs paying the dealer or rep to do it & NAS is perfect example. To me and I could be wrong it feels like some watch brands you can't got into an dealer & request a certain watch you want some require you to buy others models before you get the one that you really want or have some hoops to jump through which some will play the game while others go to the grey market (and it has its risks like radios & there are really good fakes out there as well as dealers/sellers that do bad business like one out your way) Sorry for novel got forced in & trying to stay awake (please don't get me wrong I like OT but not forced though I can use money as my commie state just told your commie state here hold my wine we will show you how to be tyrants lol)
Awesome. You saved my radio! Looking forward to the next video in the series. But now i feel like I need to scrub the parts diagram and see what other key seals might be missing. @AdventureCruiser
Oh man! This is great! By the end of the series make sure you address specifically why the hobbyist like you and I need these. I’ll have to show my wife that one. 🤪 In all seriousness I’m looking forward to the series. There isn’t enough Motorola info out there in plain English for simpletons to understand. Thanks!
If you do a lot of public service events or are in a CERT group, etc. if you can make it work, it's worth it. I love being able to just put it on the channel I need and forget about it. Not having to worry about rain or anything, and everything just works. I can't tell you how many times I have been in the field with a whatever ham HT and have accidentally pressed a button or activated a feature that has screwed up me. Or like spending $300-400 on a radio that you have to use a rubberband to make sure your speaker mic stays plugged in and doesn't cause an open mic (I'm looking at you, Yaesu). You have to deal with most commercial radios being single band though, and I'm not gonna lie, that kind of sucks. People in the forums are usually pretty helpful, but you have to put up with a little abuse as a ham. The hardest part is just getting your Motorola acount setup and working.
@@cpreovol so true, and I think it’s because of all the pain I went through to get all this set up that I want to try and help others through the process.
So if you check for the serial number and it’s not ABC1234 but it doesn’t have a sticker on the back is it legit no? I’ve got an APX 8000 so no sticker in the back but serial number looks legit
just want to throw this here.... just because the serial seems to be a simple string of basic numbers and letters in sequence doesn't necessarily mean that its fake. there are many hacked depot softwares out there that will allow you to change the serial in order to unlock features. It looks like they forgot to inject the original serial back to the radio afterwards.
Exactly, you bring up a very good point. Part two addresses this a little bit, but I’m trying not to get too deep into explaining what that software is. I want to make sure that I’m not violating any laws. But yes, typically that means that there was something done without great care.
To bring a sense of reality back into this... Scenario: you paid a couple to a few grand on a Motorola radio.... After doing so, if you "feel" like that radio isn't "good enough", it's time to take a step back and reevaluate what is going on here. When it comes to electronics: they either work or they do not work. A sticker isn't going to change that. Stickers are not magic. A radio is either aligned or it is not. A sticker isn't going to change that. A serial number entered into the software isn't going to change that either. Some of the opinions in this video are very "cork sniffery".
You’re not wrong, but there are risks with a potentially illegitimate radio. After I made this video I sent an APX8000 to a friend without testing it and it turns out that the RF board was only able to receive not transmit. And yes, this was a non tagged radio. So there are some real risks if you’re a professional user of these radios.
@@AdventureCruiser So was it a problem with the internal electronics that need to be repaired or a problem with the stickers in the battery bay? My sense is if you put a sticker on it, the results would not change... At all.
@@zachpeters7096 the point is whether the radio has been physically altered. Guys buy APX6000 BN models, an 8000 RF board, and create an 8000 with pirated software. It is the most common reason for APX8000 radios to not have tags… besides possibly being stolen. If parts are swapped and either it’s damaged in the process or was faulty to begin with, you introduce potential problems. It has NOTHING to do with a tag, but not having a tag is a clue. It’s up to you to ignore clues, I’m simply sharing what I’ve read in forums and seen personally.
Dude… THANK YOU for this series? Coming out of the XTS5000 world and now looking at the APX series I’ve been a little confused by terms like “tags/no tags” etc. I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to make these videos.
One benefit of tags and a legit flashcode is that if you really wreck it, you can send the thing back to Motorola for flat rate/depot repair, which really isn't that expensive (~$500). However, as of Jan 1 2024, APX 6000 AN and APX 7000 radios are now out of service (and XTS/XTL ended ~2018) so that's moot for those models.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. There is a serious lack of information out there to assist hobbyists in buying used Motorola radios. I had to spend a ton of time doing research in order to get smart enough to even ask the most basic questions to sellers so this kind of video will be helpful to the community.
I’m so glad I can help, please let me know if there are any specific questions you have and I’ll do my best to answer them
@@AdventureCruiserok do they use dmr encryption the one u mentioned that u trust I trust my very own customized radios like dmr onn radios because I’m a cop for my own department and I need something small but still something that will work with older radios too like the ones that u showed and I do alot of research on every walkie talkie that I own so no doubt my radio will fail when I need it my radio is only a 16 mile range dmr radio but went further then 16 mile range because one day I was in woodland area talking on ch 1 and my dispatch responded back to me saying code please and then I neither heard anything else after then but I could tell it was my dispatcher because of her dinctent voice and my radio is designed only for my company so my automatic aes 256 encryption is really strong in it not only that but it is very knowledgeable radio that police use a long time ago like I said onn is a very good police dmr radio using p25 phase 2 encryption which is aes 256 military grade encryption using very good automatic otar feature which not all radios come with that to protect your encryption if someone try’s to decode your encryption but yea any how good explaining video I liked it the only thing I would like to know is if your radios are encrypted since they are public safety radios so yea :)
I'm told that a lot of Motorola dealers won't touch a radio without tags. You might like to cover the fact that one APX VU78 is probably not going to be the same as the next listing for an APX VU78 due to the Flashcode. And this is where that term "Whored out" comes into play. If you're going to get a used APX8000 without tags, check the sellers history and ratings and look for one that's been well and truly whored out because you never know when you're going to need the FDNY Emergency Rx/Tx Tone Set! Enjoying the channel.
Oh lord, this really is going to open the floodgates 🙂 People really get just so upset over tags/no tags. I really want an APX, but there is no reason for me to have P25 at that price point (XTS with FPP is cool though). I own a VHF/UHF pair for 7550es and a 7350 I got for $100. That gets me a rugged radio that is weatherproof and can used on DMR. Let's be honest, HAM P25 is non-existent in most places. An APX 8000 would be really cool for the public service stuff I do, but I don't have $3,500 for a used radio that I can't even use on DMR if I need to.
You know what, I respect that you have figured out what works well for you. Don’t fall for the hype, do what actually works, not what looks cool.
What a cool video! As someone who is just getting in to the world of Motorola this was an awesome resource!
Thanks! Do you have any specific questions?
Thank you for this video and for sharing your knowledge on this topic!
Id love to see a video on flashcodes and what they mean. Great video
Ha, I beat you to it. Check out the video I released today.
Great video as a radio hobbyist myself knowing some of this I admitedly didn't know all of this so this was a great education
Awesome! Any other questions you want me to try to answer?
@@AdventureCruiser nothing I can think of at the moment but will reach out if I do. I am enjoying this series.
What radio do you recommend for a paramedic in the public saftey sector
Baofeng? NOOOO! Just kidding!
Do you have any recommendations as far as what vendors to purchase these radios from? I see a bunch of them and would like to narrow down the search.
Though I know this is an older video but as you mentioned stickers don't mean anything, I have seen few threads on reliable forums where someone bought a radio second hand with tags & everything matched or they thought because there is the extra mark up for tagged radios there are people who have made fake tags and unless you know what your looking for or at it could look legit but the font could be off or like the APX though not sure all but the newer ones have QR codes & they can put a QR code though it's not going to work.
I work in public safety and I have a XTS 5000&2500 though I did break your rule of buying from eBay like someone else mentioned I bought from someone that had good reviews and both radios though they didn't have tags, short version the guy selling them worked at for a radio shop and to ease my mind because I was putting my life on the radio I made the 2hr drive to pick them up though originally it was just for the XTS5000 radio but it's like going into the cordless freedom hole puncher store(forget what you called it when you mentioned your peltors) for one tool & you leave with 2 but same thing happens at the grocery store though I go there only needing 4 things I leave with a lot more & usually forget one of the things I went there for lol but got a good deal & I work in multiple roles within public safety and my main 2 jobs tech 3, 2 use VHF & the other UHF2 issue I had was mix bag from budgets to not wanting to write grants & everything else, though good with hands on stuff, I have seen what it takes for grant paperwork and not something I felt comfortable with. So with multiple of jobs I took on with permission to program radios and keep them updated and I should mention this was like 10yrs+ ago before APX line came out my fulltime job was mainly Motorola from 750's, 1000's few 1250's though there wasn't enough radios & with my background I personally didn't feel comfortable without a radio besides lack of radios for dept itself the county only issued 2 XTS5000's one was a paperweight so that person could listen to the county (though we offered to buy that person a scanner they had more bugles) so good chance we went m/a though we had mobiles higher probability of not having the county portable & not getting into ics/nims but let's say I felt more comfortable having my own radio with my part-time job though a different role I often wore many hats and in that job being part-time we paid for every except the vehicle and they still had Saber's and hog pog of hand me downs though they kind of worked depending on where you were so you often had multiple radios and few others including the state who handled dispatch had digital channels & like FT job out of personal safety I was comfortable with my own though like a month after buying my own I started doing county based stuff & was issued one of theirs though it was with me I still used my own.
But like you mentioned you never know the history of a radio I know of in my little area of the world of handful of guys that either had mix bag of parts(common story at time was they worked where they were made & though functional they didn't pass QC & were supposed to be junked but they fixed them ummm ya not sure I would trust that radio but you do you) the ones I felt really bad for were usually CL purchases and they were stolen or lost radios and didn't have solid contact info for sellers they used burner phones & emails, like I asked one did you get the plate of the vehicle they were driving nope & sellers did their homework most were bought where there was no cctv so they were out.
Though it has changed a little bit & even 10-15yrs ago if you wanted to buy your own radio and had proper paperwork if you didn't need digital you could get Kenwood's which I have used and actually liked a feature where you could lock on a channel or stay on a certain channel vs accidentally hitting the knob & switching channels, occasionally depending on dealer some would sell Motorola to an individual but more often they wouldn't no matter if you had paperwork. Though I get wanting to sell more than one or selling to a municipality or big business but I have seen it get them on the back end where members of a dept understood priority of funding and they were happy to buy their own radios or use an older one and that dept ran mainly Kenwood's as the dealer worked for a different dept on call than few yrs later when state wide grants went out dept's had choice of 2 brands that had digital capabilities and that dept went with Kenwood and they explained to M brand why they weren't interested & no matter what they offered the answer was no.
Though I am fortunate to know people it & though whole different role of PS even though I have a 8000 I have been looking at BK & L3/Harris as options even though I still have my XTS 5000 (the 2500 is story for different day) though M makes a good radio I like there is more options also though not impossible I do find other brands do sometimes have better features to even easier software like I mentioned it's not impossible but at time its feels like CPS or that brand makes it challenging for an agency to maintain their radios vs paying the dealer or rep to do it & NAS is perfect example. To me and I could be wrong it feels like some watch brands you can't got into an dealer & request a certain watch you want some require you to buy others models before you get the one that you really want or have some hoops to jump through which some will play the game while others go to the grey market (and it has its risks like radios & there are really good fakes out there as well as dealers/sellers that do bad business like one out your way)
Sorry for novel got forced in & trying to stay awake (please don't get me wrong I like OT but not forced though I can use money as my commie state just told your commie state here hold my wine we will show you how to be tyrants lol)
I would love to have that tri band one
I would love to know how much you paid for the BKR9000, I just got a quote from 49er and it seems kinda high.
@@beaker15tyler39 I paid more than your quote. Sorry, wish I had better news.
What is a good website to buy off of our first responder use?
How much was/is the BKR9000?
Just realized my Ebay APX 8000 is also missing that plug in the battery compartment. Do you happen to have the PN for it?
I'm pretty sure its this part: SL000225A01 32009356002 - Motorola Seal, Vacuum Port shopwiscomm.com/products/5545142
Awesome. You saved my radio! Looking forward to the next video in the series. But now i feel like I need to scrub the parts diagram and see what other key seals might be missing. @AdventureCruiser
Awesome! So glad I could help
Oh man! This is great!
By the end of the series make sure you address specifically why the hobbyist like you and I need these. I’ll have to show my wife that one. 🤪
In all seriousness I’m looking forward to the series. There isn’t enough Motorola info out there in plain English for simpletons to understand. Thanks!
Ha! That’s awesome, absolutely! Thank you.
If you do a lot of public service events or are in a CERT group, etc. if you can make it work, it's worth it. I love being able to just put it on the channel I need and forget about it. Not having to worry about rain or anything, and everything just works. I can't tell you how many times I have been in the field with a whatever ham HT and have accidentally pressed a button or activated a feature that has screwed up me. Or like spending $300-400 on a radio that you have to use a rubberband to make sure your speaker mic stays plugged in and doesn't cause an open mic (I'm looking at you, Yaesu). You have to deal with most commercial radios being single band though, and I'm not gonna lie, that kind of sucks. People in the forums are usually pretty helpful, but you have to put up with a little abuse as a ham. The hardest part is just getting your Motorola acount setup and working.
@@cpreovol so true, and I think it’s because of all the pain I went through to get all this set up that I want to try and help others through the process.
So if you check for the serial number and it’s not ABC1234 but it doesn’t have a sticker on the back is it legit no? I’ve got an APX 8000 so no sticker in the back but serial number looks legit
@@itspede7821 it could be legitimate, but I’m told it’s not hard to alter a serial number.
@@AdventureCruiser gotcha thank you
just want to throw this here.... just because the serial seems to be a simple string of basic numbers and letters in sequence doesn't necessarily mean that its fake. there are many hacked depot softwares out there that will allow you to change the serial in order to unlock features. It looks like they forgot to inject the original serial back to the radio afterwards.
Exactly, you bring up a very good point. Part two addresses this a little bit, but I’m trying not to get too deep into explaining what that software is. I want to make sure that I’m not violating any laws. But yes, typically that means that there was something done without great care.
if anyone is wondering your looking at about 10 k worth of radios lol
The APX8000 alone is worth nearly that much
true, but i have found them on the used market, even seen kits , @@MrJruta
No Tags= Bastard Radio 😂
To bring a sense of reality back into this... Scenario: you paid a couple to a few grand on a Motorola radio....
After doing so, if you "feel" like that radio isn't "good enough", it's time to take a step back and reevaluate what is going on here. When it comes to electronics: they either work or they do not work. A sticker isn't going to change that. Stickers are not magic. A radio is either aligned or it is not. A sticker isn't going to change that. A serial number entered into the software isn't going to change that either. Some of the opinions in this video are very "cork sniffery".
You’re not wrong, but there are risks with a potentially illegitimate radio. After I made this video I sent an APX8000 to a friend without testing it and it turns out that the RF board was only able to receive not transmit. And yes, this was a non tagged radio. So there are some real risks if you’re a professional user of these radios.
@@AdventureCruiser So was it a problem with the internal electronics that need to be repaired or a problem with the stickers in the battery bay? My sense is if you put a sticker on it, the results would not change... At all.
@@zachpeters7096 the point is whether the radio has been physically altered. Guys buy APX6000 BN models, an 8000 RF board, and create an 8000 with pirated software. It is the most common reason for APX8000 radios to not have tags… besides possibly being stolen. If parts are swapped and either it’s damaged in the process or was faulty to begin with, you introduce potential problems. It has NOTHING to do with a tag, but not having a tag is a clue. It’s up to you to ignore clues, I’m simply sharing what I’ve read in forums and seen personally.
@@AdventureCruiser I understand. So optest the radio before shelling out the cash is important. Roger that.
@@zachpeters7096 exactly. I’ve seen some great radios that don’t have tags.
The problem with Motorola IS the fancy software. If it don't chirp it don't pass the test for me.
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