Radioguy7268

SMR's were the original business band analog trunking systems in the 1980's. You probably need to do a deep dive if you plan to try to build out something using 800/900 MHz freq's. Most of those original SMR's were bought out by Nextel (which implemented a digital cellular-like technology known as iDEN, and operated under an FCC waiver as an eSMR - enhanced SMR). Almost all of those old SMR freq's now belong to Tmobile. There's some limited Licensing opportunities in 800 MHz for smaller businesses, but it's a pretty steep learning curve to figure out what's available in your area, and what it might cost you to get up and running.

Nothing stops an individual from being in the 'wireless' business, and renting repeater airtime (or even airtime without a repeater!) to Part 90 eligibles (which is pretty much anybody except the Federal Government). You don't need to open your books, you don't need to claim a profit, and you don't need to prove much of anything to anyone, other than proving you can pay the Licensing and Coordination fees up front. Although, you would need to file a Construction Notice and certify that you're up and operating on the frequency(s) within a year of the License grant.

I was coming into this & expecting to tell you to use the LS version software, but seems you've already got that. Makes me wonder if the radios are actually standard M1225's with an LS housing snapped on ? Can you compare the model number to the radio that does read/write? I've also heard of some folks snipping the mic jack leads to keep people from messing around with 'their' programming. Take a minute or two and check that out if you bought the setup already programmed by someone else. You should also check the mic jack connection to make sure they are clean and not corroded. If the repeater was sitting without a palm mic plugged in the jack, it's possible that it's just dirty and not making a good connection.

I should also mention that if you have really old XPR8300 firmware, setting up your channel in Dynamic Mixed Mode will NOT allow for CWID to go out at all via the repeater. Set up a single channel as analog only - remove/delete any DMM channel, and CWID should work. If you plan to use it for GMRS, you probably shouldn't be using mixed mode. If you truly want to use DMM, you shouldn't be using a first generation XPR8300. Those had limited feature sets and limited memory. The later XPR8400 was the improved version.

Those settings will work, but you need to have the unit set as a repeater. If you use an external controller, you're probably setting it up as a Base, and allowing for external control of the repeat function. I'd strip PL for CWID transmit.

Motorola also makes the DLR version of 900 MHz license free radios. You may find some newer ones sold under the 'curve' designation. DTR's are expensive for what they are. Even the older DTR650 radios still carry a price tag when sold as used, working units. What's your budget? There are also some folks using older Nextel units on just the "direct talk" feature - and they're usually cheap since they no longer work with any cellular providers. Look for something like an i355, but realize there is zero support and zero cross-communication with anything outside of another Nextel unit.

The transmit light should come on. That's normal operation for a repeater that's being keyed with a hand mic. If you have a receiver (portable) listening on the 462.675 - then put it in Monitor (disable the PL tone). If your repeater is transmitting on that frequency, you will hear it. Even if the repeater has a bad amplifier, or the duplexer is totally hooked up wrong, you'll still hear the output if you're in the same room with a portable listening on 462.675 If you can't get that - then you are NOT transmitting on 462.675. There's a limit to the amount of help you're going to get online. At some point, you need to be able to troubleshoot step by step & figure out what you have, and what you don't have. Throwing darts at a virtual dartboard for tech help is not the answer.

According to that picture - your repeater is set to 467.675 Receive - but with a tone of 77.0 Hz. I believe you said your portable had a tone of 127.3 ?? The repeater needs to have the same PL tones as the portables. Your transmit appears to be set to CSQ (no tone at all) with a frequency of 462.675. If the portable radio you are using is set up with a PL on the receive, you would not hear the repeater. (You should still see a 'busy' LED when the carrier comes up on channel). It appears your frequencies are correct - but you need to match your tones on your portables and your repeater. If you can key the repeater with a local mic plugged in - the repeater will just be transmitting on the base of 462.675

If you have the programming software & can read the repeater, then you have pulled the codeplug already. If the information programmed into the repeater is what you requested at purchase - and your portables are programmed in the reverse (Portable transmits on 467.675 & receives on 462.675 with a matching tone of 127.3) then the programming would appear to be correct. Double check frequencies in the portable. I will assume that your two portables will communicate with each other on a common simplex channel (ie: 462.675 for both transmit & receive). If that's all true, then I'll say it once more - call the seller & see what they advise.

I would be asking the seller for some help. It sure sounds as though the repeater has not been programmed to your frequencies. If you key up on a base mic attached to the repeater, you should definitely hear it on a nearby portable set to CSQ (Carrier squelch) - even if the antenna/duplexer is totally wrong. Even if PL tones are incorrect, you should still be seeing carrier activity on the LED's. Pulling a codeplug is probably the easiest way to figure out what's going on, and less trouble than boxing it up & shipping it back & forth. Ask the seller for assistance.

What is the EXACT frequency for the repeater's receive?

What frequencies are the portables programmed to? Even if the tones are incorrect, a transmission on the repeater's receive frequency should show as an active 'RX' light on the repeater when keying the portable. If you're not even getting that, then something is drastically wrong. The VXR7000 is fairly straight forward, and I'll assume the repeater (and duplexer) were tuned to the frequencies you specified at time of sale. Do you have the ability to pull a codeplug for the repeater?

You're not going to be able to buy the software for that from Motorola. That radio is about 30 years outside the Factory support window. There's a few different places online where you can find Radius mobile RSS available for free download, but you'll need to run something like DosBox to emulate a really slow old 386 PC processor. Hamfiles is where I'd probably start looking for the software. You should probably also get familiar with the Repeater-builder.com Radius and Maxtrac Mobile page

You are correct - and this specific problem is probably worse with GMRS than 'coordinated' Part 90 systems. However, the Linking issue can make the problem much worse over a much larger area. This exact issue would be part of the reason why people should read the "You just got your license, now you want to put up a repeater?" sticky - and then understand why overlapping coverage is usually less than ideal, and should be avoided. Still, there's a difference between me putting up a machine that I know might be lacking in coverage and still making best attempts to monitor before transmitting (up to and including monitoring the output freq. at my repeater site, in order to disable my repeater when a co-channel user is on the air), and me putting up a linked machine that by default says I don't care about your conversation, mine is somehow more important. If there are linked networks that are monitoring somehow, I'd still be interested to hear about it.