EFJ 5300 Firmware update concerns

[skymaster]

I recently acquired one of the remote head E.F Johnson 5300 radios (it is an EFJ 242-5318-AAAB4 to be exact). On startup, the display on the remote control head says that it is an EFJ * 202, with a firmware version of 4.8.9 . I have been told that to be able to use this radio as a CAP radio, that I will need to upgrade to firmware version 4.15.4 . Before proceeding with the firmware upgrade, I was wanting to see if anyone else had had any technical issues with such a difference in firmware upgrade versions. Is it okay to go straight from V4.8.9 to V4.15.4. ,or are there intervening steps in between that are necessary so as to not "brick" the radio?

[Eclipse]

How old is the radio?

Wing just swapped out my pre-2005 era EFJ 5300 because it was a version that can not be firmware-upgraded to support encryption.

[cap235629]

How old is the radio?

Wing just swapped out my pre-2005 era EFJ 5300 because it was a version that can not be firmware-upgraded to support encryption.

But even without encryption, it can be used

[skymaster]

Is there a way to figure out the date of manufacture? I can't find anything on the radio itself that would indicate when it was made. I do have the original box, and other than the serial number string (which has nothing remotely looking like a manufacture date in it), the box says "136-174 MHz, 50W, REMOTE, P25 CONV, DES, DES-OFB, AES".  I would assume that the radio could theoretically handle encryption if CAP ever actually uses it at some future time, although without CAP itself actually using a keyloader to load an encryption key on the radio, encryption capability is a moot point. The closest thing to a manufacture date that I have been able to find anywhere is an "0703" on the lower right corner of the box. If that is the month/year, does that mean July of 2003, or March of 2007?

[Brad]

I will pass this along to my Wing Comms Engineer to see what he says. He used to work for Motorola and helped set up our Wing repeater system, our ham radio statewide linked system, and our statewide public safety linked trunking system. Also what is the serial number on the radio, usually it's like a VIN number where there is information about the year of mfg and such contained in it.

[Brad]

Ok here's what I got back from my inquiry:

I would expect that the radio would work OK with the existing firmware.  While there is a newer firmware I expect that most of our radios still have the older versions.  Some of the upgrades had to do with Over The Air programming and encryption.  I doubt that CAP encryption will ever be used in member owned radios.

Firmware upgrades take about an hour per radio, requires a PC with a true serial port and if interrupted can brick the radio.

I would program the radio as is and then see now it works in the analog and digital modes.

Hope it helps!

[Eclipse]

Is there a way to figure out the date of manufacture? I can't find anything on the radio itself that would indicate when it was made. I do have the original box, and other than the serial number string (which has nothing remotely looking like a manufacture date in it), the box says "136-174 MHz, 50W, REMOTE, P25 CONV, DES, DES-OFB, AES".  I would assume that the radio could theoretically handle encryption if CAP ever actually uses it at some future time, although without CAP itself actually using a keyloader to load an encryption key on the radio, encryption capability is a moot point. The closest thing to a manufacture date that I have been able to find anywhere is an "0703" on the lower right corner of the box. If that is the month/year, does that mean July of 2003, or March of 2007?

Mine would have been that era - I received it in late 2005, but it had been on the shelf for at least a year, if not longer.

My wing recently has emphasized standard channels and programming for all corporate-owned radios, and has been taking these old ones out of service because they won't take the
firmware needed.  It worked fine as far as I could tell, beyond that.

I don't see a way to decode the date from the serial.

[Brad]

I don't see a way to decode the date from the serial.

I did some searching, apparently there's a revision letter in the serial number. This can be associated with a certain release date. It looks to be the first letter you come to. You'd probably have to contact EF Johnson directly for information on what the values mean and such.

Here's an example from a field service bulletin:

5300 SEM or UCM model mobile radios shipped through August 23, 2004
Units can be identified by the serial number revision letter. Affected units are rev G or H.
Example: 53170G164A 12345

Not sure if the actual 5300 ES that we use follows the same logic, but still, the information is in there, you just have to know how to decipher it.

[sardak]

Attached is an EFJ document from 2005 telling how to decode the date in the serial number in 5100 and 5300 series radios.  A change to the date code was made that year.

Mike

[Eclipse]

Attached is an EFJ document from 2005 telling how to decode the date in the serial number in 5100 and 5300 series radios.  A change to the date code was made that year.

Mike

So based on this mine was actually a 2002 vintage unit.

[skymaster]

Attached is an EFJ document from 2005 telling how to decode the date in the serial number in 5100 and 5300 series radios.  A change to the date code was made that year.

Mike

Then, using the info from your (extremely helpful) upload, my radio was manufactured back in the Summer of 2007.