MODEL STRING DECODE REQUESTS ONLY

[flat4turbo]

Wow. I guess I am out of job.

Good work F4T.

I.S.

Never!! You are a fountain of wisdom where I am a babbling leak. (Did that come out wrong?)

-f4t

[n3obl]

242-5326-265 SAAC

and

242-5326-265 SBAD


Frank

[Intrinsically Safe]

242-5326-265 SAAC
5300 (Not SL/Ascend)
VHF
100W Remote Mount
P25 Conv/Analog
Des/Des-XL/Des-OFB
HHC
Siren Cable
Conv/P25T OTAR

242-5326-265 SBAD
VHF
100W Remote Mount
P25 Conv/Analog
Des/Des-XL/Des-OFB
P25 Conv, SN/SZ Analog and Digital, P25Trunking
Conv/P25T OTAR

I.S.

[n1oty]

Regarding the 242-5326-265 SAAC, there are quite a few floating around on Ebay (and elsewhere) as NIB. Are these radios still supported by EFJ? The listing states that the controller version is 1.16.1, the hardware revision is 0.1.2, the DSP is 0.1.33 and the handheld controller version is 3.1x (this number varies per radio in the lot). That controller version number seems old, but I'm no EFJ expert. I just don't want to pay this guys asking price if the radio is unsupported and I cannot get it upgraded.

Thanks,
John

242-5326-265 SAAC
5300 (Not SL/Ascend)
VHF
100W Remote Mount
P25 Conv/Analog
Des/Des-XL/Des-OFB
HHC
Siren Cable
Conv/P25T OTAR

242-5326-265 SBAD
VHF
100W Remote Mount
P25 Conv/Analog
Des/Des-XL/Des-OFB
P25 Conv, SN/SZ Analog and Digital, P25Trunking
Conv/P25T OTAR

I.S.

[Intrinsically Safe]

It's possible they are gov't surplus.
In total gov't fashion they buy in large bulk (think of Sam's club on steroids) then the stuff sits on a shelf (sometimes for years) before it is deployed. In some cases the stuff never does get deployed.
So it is possible to get a NIB radio with really old firmware in it.
The radios you are looking at the series one (2nd version of the series) and are no longer supported. You can still get the latest firmware for the radio.
The HHC can still be upgraded to latest code but they would need to be sent back to the factory to have that done.

I.S.

[n1oty]

Thanks IS. I suspected that the firmware was old, based on reading other posts here, but I was thrown a bit by the NIB status. Apparently, he is trying to get $650 or more per radio. When he occasionally starts a bid with a low price, it is typically going for around $400. I did a little bidding before the price got ridiculous, but did not go higher because of the nagging feeling I had about the firmware.

One final question if I may. I've seen posts indicating that these 5300's may have ARM processors and are best avoided. Can you confirm if these particular 5300's are likely to have these processors and whether, in your opinion, they should or should not be avoided.

Thanks,
John

[Intrinsically Safe]

These radio definitely DO have the ARM processors.
As for recommendations, it depends on what the use would be. These radios are not as rugged (IMO) as the newer ones, nor do they have the extensive feature sets you can get currently.
If you are just wanting a radio to use as a scanner or for local events they would be fine. Anything with public safety I would be cautious just because they are unsupported units due to their age and difficulty getting parts to repair.

I.S.

[n1oty]

Thanks again, IS. I'd be using these for ham radio and nothing to do with public safety. However, I know from my experience with Motorola UHF P25 radios that the digital audio in those shows a definite improvement in the newer radios with newer firmware. At the risk of sounding foolish, I would suspect that these EFJ 5300 radios exhibit the same characteristic improvement when using newer radios with newer firmware. The P25 digital audio on older radios with older firmware sounds awful compared to the newer stuff, so I suspect that the same issue would be noted with these. That's my concern.

Can the ARM processors in these radios work fast enough for decent digital audio? If so, can the firmware in these radios be bumped up to reasonably new versions? Or is it best to just walk away from these and find something newer?

Thanks,
John

[Intrinsically Safe]

The vocoder in these radio was a homemade one written by an EFJ engineer (I am guessing it was done in house here). It did not use the now standard AMBE and AMBE+2 vocoder. And as such the audio isn't quite as good, especially in noisy conditions. The later firmware on these radios cleaned up the audio quite a bit than the first run out of the gate though.
My feeling is that for your ham club you'll be fine with these radios.

As for moving on to other radios, as usual it is a price vs performance/feature set question.
These radios have a lot of features in them that are expensive, but if you are not going to use them then they don't mean much to you.
These radios would have listed for ~$2.5K+ when they were new.

I.S.

[n1oty]

Thanks again.

John

[thomas9246]

Request decode of 242-5326-201-ABAB.
Please include frequency range if known.
Thanks,
Tom

[m33kr0b]

242-5113-310-GF

[Intrinsically Safe]

Request decode of 242-5326-201-ABAB.
Please include frequency range if known.
Thanks,
Tom

5300 (NOT SL/Ascend)
VHF 146-174
100W Remote Mount
Digital/Analog Conv
No encryption
P25 Trunking ana/dig SN/SZ
No data
No OTAR

No longer supported by EFJ

[Intrinsically Safe]

242-5113-310-GF

5100 (Not SL/Ascend)
VHF 136-174
Model II (Limited keypad)
162-174 Antenna
Non IS Battery
Black Housing
Ana/Dig Conv
Ana SN/SZ
STAR (Omnilink)
Dig SN/SZ
DES-OFB
512 TG

Series 1
No longer supported by EFJ

[m33kr0b]

IS if you can decode this for me you would be awesome 242-5122-410JG4