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jdoolin

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Everything posted by jdoolin

  1. I own 2 MXT575 units I installed about a year ago. We have been using simplex channel 17 with various PL or DCS tones for our car to car comms. What I have been noticing is that after a few times of transmitting back and forth we would occasionally miss each others communication. We decided to switch channels and the problem went away. We go back to 17 and when she would key up it may or may not open the channel on my radio and vice versa. I just purchased a handheld with frequency and code scanning capability and decided to scan the transmission from 17 and compare to other channels. All of channels were spot on and with the PL or DCS tone as well except for 17. 17 about 50% of the time would show up as 462.6000 with the correct tone and the other times it would show 462.5975 with no tone. When it transmits the latter it will not open up the channel on the other radio including the handhelds I have. That channel seems to be unstable as all the others are dead on. When I scan the transmitting from both radios I get the same results. I'm not sure if its faulty factory programming or something else. Thought I would post this in case if someone else has experienced this and what I found. I assume there's not a fix for it unless it could be a firmware fix. We just avoid simplex 17. We also use the the repeater 17 for my repeater and that channel seems fine. Just the simplex channel seems unstable.
  2. My radio guy did mention about code causing harmonic issues. He was getting over my head with the deep technical aspects of it. I think in a nutshell he was just saying maybe that code just doesn't play well with that particular radio. They are both midland MTX575 radios. Not the biggest fan of midland but it they work well for my application. (lack of mounting locations) I do like how easy it is to change codes on the fly but I'm limited to fixed channel list. My previous radio was an Icom 1721 I used and worked great for years until the display went out. Loved that radio.
  3. I agree with you but his suggestion corrected the problem. He wasn’t 100% sure himself. I did go back to the previous code and the problem returned. I called him back and told him what happened. His suggestion avoid that code pick another you have plenty. Lol He said it didn’t make sense to him either. He just said he’s had a few friends that have have issues with dcs and just conveyed what experience they have had but can’t explain why and they too changed codes and problem resolved.
  4. Well I spoke with a radio guy that programs radios for emergency services and he suggested to try a different DCS code. He is not real versed in gmrs but he did say he thought there were a few codes on the upper part of the chart that could cause some problems. He went into technical details about how Motorola started the whole DCS thing and other manufacturers have added codes to expand on what Motorola implemented but the Motorola ones were tested and verified and the additional codes were not or at least by Motorola. In a nutshell I changed DCS codes to a lower one on the chart and no more issues whatsoever.
  5. I did think of that too so I made sure I maintained the same distance. I have caught myself doing that before. This one just has me perplexed. I know it will work fine using analog but now its just a challenge to figure it out.
  6. She was explaining to me as I was talking to her the conversation would start with a strong voice then quickly quiet down to maybe less that half volume and at the time we are just a few miles apart. I have no clue as to how DCS would affect that but I remembered the issues I had with a couple handhelds. All I know is after switching to CTCSS its been perfect. I'm familiar with the different types of tones and I used to program our radios for the police department but our channels didn't use any with DCS. I've been programming my radios for a long time and I did have a couple of Wouxun handheld radios I couldn't trust to open up every time if I used DCS. I live in a rural area anyway and don't see having any problem using CTCSS anyway so I'll stick with that. When we were on vacation in Galveston, several times we had to change channels and CTCSS at times to find a quiet channel.
  7. Has anyone encountered periodic low or lower volume of incoming voice while using DCS instead of CTCSS. My girlfriend and I have the same radio a Midland MXT575 and I programmed a simplex channel using a DCS squelch and she said about every other transmission my audio was really low but readable. We were about 7 miles away when we started talking and the dropouts occurred as close as a mile away so signal shouldn't have been an issue. I remember having a similar issue using DCS between 2 cheap handhelds whereas sometimes it would open the squelch and sometime it wouldn't. I changed the channel on the midlands to a CTCSS and the problem disappeared. No dropouts whatsoever and voice loud and clear on every transmission. I kind of preferred using DCS on some of my channels just to reduce the possibility having the same code as someone else. If anyone has any suggestions I would appreciated it.
  8. I just recently purchased 2 MXT575 units. They are wide and narrow capable on repeater channels. At first I was using the included antenna and was pleasantly surprised at the distance but the girlfriend didn't like the look of it on her car. I didn't care for it either. I installed Larsen thru glass mount antennas on both vehicles and they work great. I noticed improvement on the transmit side and receive was much better than the included antenna. The Larsens weren't cheap by any means but I've used them in the past with good results. I know some have had bad luck with thru glass antennas. I used to run Icom radios but I have to admit I do like the simplicity of the Midland and finding a place to mount a full size radio in a 21 Durango is almost impossible so this fits the bill. I just keep a list of repeaters and tones on my phone if I need to program one on the fly when I get out of my area. I was able to get the SWR down to about 1.3:1 and one unit is putting out exactly 50W and the other is about 48W. I have to say I'm pretty impressed.
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