My experience
Hi! My name is Ben. I originally got into learning about land mobile radios by one of my coworkers as we both work as dispatchers. I eventually fell in love with understanding the science behind them, the various bands, and the EMF spectrum. Long story short, after learning about trunking systems, I wanted to be able to program them myself into radios. The problem was, you need a system key. I had the opportunity to be hands on with a Motorola system key dongle, which helped enhance my comprehension of P25 trunking systems. However, once I received my EFJohnson VP8000, I needed a different type of system key known as an AKEY, or otherwise known as a .akey file which will allow modification and programming of a trunked system, based on the data that is embedded in the file. I urge all of you, especially if you are just getting into two-way radios, to fully comprehend how trunking systems work, and commit to the radio etiquette which they demand. This is the one aspect of two-way radio programming that is VERY UNFORGIVING. If you DO NOT have a valid radio ID for the trunked system that you are wanting to program into your radio, be very, very careful. If you affiliate with the system, which is indicated by the LED flashing twice on your radio, and you do not have a valid ID for the system, it will send a data burst command known as an INHIBIT command which will essentially turn your expensive radio into a fancy paperweight. It will no longer function for transmitting or receiving purposes. You CAN still program the system in! But you must not actively switch to any talk group on the system as to avoid affiliating. This is otherwise known as NAS, or Non-Affiliate Scanning. EFJohnson’s Armada programming software supports this concept through their implementation of Radio-Wide Scanning which allows you to listen to the trunked talk groups, while not actively being affiliated with the system. Again, please be cautious. You don’t get second chances and it’s expensive to take your radio in and get the inhibit command reversed. However, I digress. If you wish to learn more please, please do your research online. The big takeaway from this article is that this company will provide you with what you’re wanting. It is UP TO YOU to understand what data to provide and which capacity you are needing the product for. In my case, it was the AKEY file. It took approximately 4 business days to be generated and delivered via my e-mail. For anyone wondering if they are scamming you, those are false accusations. They are tasked with a great number of orders and they are a small business, meaning it may take a little longer to complete each order, so please have patience. Overall, make sure to double check what you are buying, that you understand what the product does, what it is for, and the context in which you need it, as well as that you are using it responsibly. I’m not going to sit here and tell you to not experiment around. It is how you learn. However, there is a smart way to go about learning through testing and performing hundreds of “service tests” on the air, and there is a wrong and dumb way to go about it. Choose the smart way, and you’ll be alright. Thank you for reading my extremely lengthy review. I hope you learned something!
By Benjamin L.