TrikeRadio

Yep, that is what I have on my car's roof with my TD-H3 connected and a handset mich plugged in as my tiny makeshift mobile unit. It actually works well.

The only idea I ever thought about for having two live antennas at the same time on one radio... was having a general antenna plus a yagi pointing specifically at a further away repeater that your main antenna cant always hit. But that could just cause a lot of problems too ... I don't even know if that would be practical or a good idea. I will leave it to others with actual understanding of the technical aspects (which I do not have) to comment on this idea.

Not hitting a repeater is not really a Firmware issue like @Socalgmrs mentioned. Even with 240416 it will still work. Your issue is more likely something else not programmed correctly.. or done on a simplex channel instead of the repeater channel of that frequency... or above memory 54 (custom transmitting channel memory slots are only lower than 55 and above 22 in the GMRS mode of the H3. or... you dont have good line of sight or alititude of antenna... or could use a better antenna than the stock one. many variables but firmware is not the problem. if you need to get the firmware updated (not sure exactly why you would) you may haev ot resort to finding a friend with a PC. I understand your pain to a point. Personally I use a macbook, but I do have a windoze PC available as well for such things as this.

Yep... I gave up playing with it now... It was interesting to research it a bit anyway. It is still funny to me that Tidradio has this video about it... and he starts off saying, "Today we are going to be talking about two IMPORTANT FEATURES... " and yet, it does not actually work or do anything!

So here are some things I have found out about menu times 37 (PTT ID) and 39 (ANI-ID): (screenshots and descriptions are in CHIRP) MOST IMPORTANTLY ... Neither setting seems to actually send any ID to other TD-H3 radios... nor does it seem to work sending to other radios like Motorola ones that have this ability. So basically all of this is pointless except for knowing it. Menu item 37 (red circle with number 37) shows in the Memories tab and applies to eahc memory slot / "Channel" individually, so you can turn it to BOT (beginning of transmit) EOF (End of Transmit), BOTH or OFF differently on every memory slot you have saved. Menu Item 39 (red circle with number 39) shows up in the SETTINGS Tab and DTMF subtab . as ID CODE. Seems to apply to whole radio not per memory slot. Menu Item 38 (red circle with number 38) shows in the SETTINGS Tab and DTMF subtab as DTMF SIDE TONES and is a true false checkbox.. on or off. (not really related to the PTT ID.. Separate function that DOES work if you hi the * key, type in a code and hit PTT it will send tones for the characters audibly to the other radio) This turns on or off the sending radio's play back of the audio tones of the code. off it is silent for the sender but comes in on the transmission... on it plays audibly for the sender on clicking the PTT and also transmits the audible tones. - but I know no real use for this in GMRS except maybe of old ol repeaters that use this to be controlled by audible tone codes. There are other settings below in the SETTINGS Tab and DTMF subtab ( in CHIRP) which also seem to apply to the PTT id - but also do not seem to change anything, make anything work, or show up on the radio's own settings menu anywhere. The DTMF DECODE ENABLE can be checked and unchecked in CHIRP.. but will not save to the radio when uploaded... it always is UNCHECKED when you read it back in to chirp. So after all that... it seems to me that 37 and 39 and the other settings that only show in chirp are "vestigial organs" (like the appendix in your body) left over and not used elements which are reserved for future or don't actually do anything useful anymore. I would love to be proven wrong if anyone does know how to make this PTT id thing work universally or even just between two Tidradio units.. but it does not seem liike they really do anything. Like I mentioned above in point number 4.. menu 38 does control if you hear the DTMF codes you can enter using the * key... on it will audibly play them on the sending radio and the receiving... off will make it silent to the sender but transmitted to the receiver.

There is nothing on the screen display examples in the manual about where such a code would even be displayed. I have tried a few things .. on simplex.. via a repeater... to different radios. wil try some different timings of keying I guess. and no, I don't have an amateur license so, yeah won't be trying that yet.

Does anyone know anything about how the menu items 37 (PTT ID), 38 (DTMFST), and 39 (ANI-ID) work? (I am using the GMRS mode BTW) I have: 37 set to BOT (beginning of Transmission), 38 set ON 39 set to a numeric code I want to send. (I'm not absolutely sure that 38 is related to the others but I think it is) When I transmit I don't see that code show on the display of my other TD-H3. I also tried sending to a repeater and to another user with a Motorola radio, and he said my code was not showing on his radio (normally does for others who transmit to him through the repeater). Documentation in the manual is pretty minimal and only tells you how to set the features, but there is no description of how it should actually work or what you might see and where on the screen. TIDRADIO also has a video out about the menus 37 and 39 but in it, they just tell you the same thing the manual does and do not actually demonstrate it on the video. * I'm just wondering if anyone else has used this feature and if so ... what am I missing to make it work? and how does it work exactly? (smart alec responses will be chuckled at and promptly ignored - reasonable and real responses will be greatly appreciated)

I agree, TID should have indicated that above channel slot 54 it is RX only on the GMRS setup. It is not documented anywhere in their information that I can find. The only thing I can figure is that in GMRS mode the idea was it was "restricted" for people who are new... but that still doesn't make much sense since they could still have restricted to GMRS only frequencies but allow all "channel slots" to be RX and TX capable. ** Is there anything about getting it FCC GMRS certified about this restriction that they seem to have imposed for no reason and not documented? I don't know why there would be. But again, there is a way around it for those who know how to properly and accurately set it up in "NORMAL" mode but... yeah, that is not the FCC GMRS "certified" mode. I hope that TIDRADIO does decide at some point to change the Firmare to allow TX above 54 .. but ... I'm not too terribly bothered about it now that I know of it. I just wish like you said that they had DOCUMENTED it and been upfront about it from the start. (and reviewers who did not discover and mention it just means to me that they did not fully test it before their youtube review. (at least not enough to stumble across the problem. But to be fair, I think it took me a month before I noticed that it was a problem)

I agree... My experience with the stock antennas on the TD-H3... they are "Good"... but the Nagoya 771G ... and even Tidradio's GMRS tuned 771 whip are MUCH better. Actually seems like the Tidradio 771 is as good as the Nagoya 771G in my own experience.

Some people can't justify $400 HT radios. Yes, there are a few quirks for every radio. I have had my TD-H3s for about 5 months and find them to be more than I expected. Are there some things I would like to see done differently? Yes, of course. But they have surpassed my expectations – surprising me at times how well they work. So, to each his own.

You were coming in on both west and charlie for me. Not a super strong signal (as expected with an HT) but very understandable on both, with just a bit of static but nothing too bad. I am also using a TD-H3 with a 771G whip antenna and was sitting in my car with the sunroof open... sticking the antenna out the roof when I called you a few minutes ago. Adding a different antenna should help but It seems to be working on both repeaters for you right now.

Ah ok.. yes I heard your radio check and heard that "Coach" responded to you. Yes you came in to the repeater very understandable with a little static but not bad. Im in Garden Grove.. heading out to run some errands... i might try giving you a shout out in hte next hour or less.

Seems to me that you are indeed hitting the repeater, your signal is just not strong enough to get a transmission of your voice thorugh, but the keyup is getting through for them to hear. Try a different location.. .closer too or in visible line of sight to the repeater location... or connect a larger and/or higher up antenna to your radio and try. Is the repeater on a mountain top? is it on a tower or tall building? do you know how high it's antenna is, and are you indoors or with any other obstructions between you and the repeater antenna?

Yeah I tried that too.. my TX frequency is correct in the radio and in chirp.. but when read it into ODmaster... it shows transmit frequencies as 462. instead of 467. Odmaster is buggy and weird. I don't use it and I would not recommend it. have you tried writing what it read back to the radio and does it make it so it will not transmit correctly? (I am 579 on the club repeaters)

Which radio are you trying to use it with? and are you reading it ito Odmaster from a radio where it is already setup properly and working? I can experiment a bit.. I have two H3s but I rarely use ODmaster... usually program from the keyboard or use CHIRP.

While it is possible to program all aspects of a repeater setup in every mobile GMRS unit I can think of... It is not usually easy to do on the fly (or especially while driving) which is why most radios have many more channel slots (as in hundreds of them) that they can program in various repeater setups on the eight repeater channels... with unique PL tones and names of the repeaters. Usually this is much easier and faster using programming tools like CHIRP or software provided by the radio maker. But yes, it is possible if you want to be reprogramming for repeaters every 20 to 50 miles down the road.

I personally have not done it but heard from others that they have. NORMAL mode unlocks all the GMRS or HAM frequency "Safeguards" and rules... which of course makes it non compliant. You just have to be careful and know what you are doing when programming in normal so you don't end up transmitting unintentionally on frequencies that could actually get you in trouble. and know the Wide/Narrow and lower wattage levels allowed on GMRS "channels" as well to stay in compliance. Especially in the GMRS channels 8-14 where the power is half a watt and narrow... otherwise you can potentially send interference to local repeaters on those channels.

It means the channel slots the radios has... (there 199 of them) will not transmit on channel above 54. You can only put in listen only there. So any custom legitimate GMRS frequencies can only be put in below 55. I found this out when I was starting to add a lot more repeaters into my radio. Only way around this... is to unlock it in NORMAL mode and be very careful how you program so you don't set something up that has you transmitting on non permitted frequencies.

radio image means a download of the data from the radio that matches your radio. I don't even see a UV-5RH on the read from radio list in my CHIRP.. maybe i need to update.. but is that you exact radio or did you choose the wrong one? possibly UV-5RH is a new radio for CHIRP and it is not working right yet?

That's like getting a ticket for not wearing your seat belt .... but only because you were speeding and running red lights.

I walked into the Ham Radio Outlet in Anaheim a few months ago. I was (and still am) pretty much a noob as far as radios… and I had my new H3… I just went in to browse since it was all new to me. I asked the sales guy a few questions here and there and he asked what I was using so I pulled my little H3 off my belt and showed him… his response “Yeah well those are not legal”… I showed him the certification under the battery and he says, “sometimes they just re use numbers from something else”. I went home and looked it up on the FCC site. The old sad ham was full of $h1t. Kinda turned me off to that place.

That sounds awesome!

I have had very good performance with my BTech Nagoya UT-72G. and much better than my HT inside the car!

So sad, another one bites the dust! (welcome to the cult)

What (specific) frequencies or GMRS Channels are you hearing them on? They may be using repeaters, and you are on a non-repeater channel and/or not setup with the proper tone to activate the repeater. or they might be using a tone to listen to only their own group and can't hear you because you are not on that tone either. You can check the repeater map on this site to see if there are repeater systems near you... if they are open they might list the tones to activate them... or you might need to join their club to get access to them.