Hans
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Posts posted by Hans
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Yeah, I noticed that about the forums link. That's why I deleted my post. Seems to me that I got miffed about that in the past thinking it was a different owner but I CRS these days. lol
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*** Edited ***
Nevermind... I thought something different. lol
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Aaaaand, it lives!
Outstanding! Congrats.
Right now the receive antenna is a homebrew 1/4 wave ground plane above my house and the transmit "antenna" is a dummy load in the house, but it functions and I can hear it in my HTs. Sometime in the next few days both tx and rx will get better antennas.
Ours is similar right now. It's running a near dummy load $32 Browning in the third floor workshop, atop a PVC pipe in a Christmas tree stand. We're planning on an Andrews DB404 (need to keep it light and small for the location) when we get the antenna outside.
I could actually still hear it on my HT a couple hundred yards down the road, with about 12 watts into a dummy load near floor level in a back room of my house.
We were shocked to consistently use the repeater miles away at 10W with the location and cheeeep antenna. It really shouldn't be working this well. Had a crazy buddy hit it from high elevation ~70 miles away. He was very scratchy and not able to open the repeater via PL but I could hear him break squelch and speak. For all I know, he's running kWs (j/k, he's not that crazy). lol
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I can't verify until I have one in my paws but my guess is that it will be possible to program it up; VHF included.
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Although a "dual band" radio, I don't think it supports VHF frequencies...
The original does and I'd bet that the new one does as well. They didn't even bother to repaint the case to some other model name.
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It's a TYT model that has been all over. The original has a WP version (water proof) and a regular version. I've used them and heard them being used (pre-95 certification). They aren't bad little radios, IMHO.
It looks to me like they just submitted it for certification with little, if any, modification.
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Full list of documents, https://fccid.io/POD-GMRS25
Other TYT stuff under POD, https://fccid.io/POD
There is an FRS in that list... 12-4-2018?
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The entire 1225 family (mobile/base, repeater, and portable) are all Part 95 certified.
Thanks for verifying that. It's difficult for me to keep things straight some days.
- pantherpaw9 and SteveC7010
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Oh, and AFAIK, the M1225 is Part 95. It's been a while since I looked but I specifically remember it being so before which is one of the reasons I picked them.
- Elkhunter521 and RCM
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I got unexpectedly busy this afternoon and evening. I have a moment to post.
RE: M1225
The USB cable plugs into the microphone port on the front.
AFAIK, the CPS version depends on the software version of the radio.
I am not sure there is a 64 bit version of the CPS but, again, I believe the CPS version used depends on the firmware/software/last CPS used on the radio. All I've used is a 16/32 bit version.
Our M1225 radios all program up with the BlueMax49ers USB to RJ-45 cable and the CPS we got with our first used M1225.
Our software runs on Windows XP. The machine is not handy at the moment so I cannot find the CPS version yet.
In the past, CPS for the radio was available through Motorola's software system under discontinued radios. The account was free and the software was free.
Of course, there are other sources for the software. (That's far enough to post here, I think.)
- Elkhunter521 and pantherpaw9
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Or we can talk on the telephone. Your choice.
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I'm not sure if rules permit me to discuss it much here. Want me to PM you my email address?
I hear tell that the CPS for the M1225 might be free from Motorola with a signed-up free account.
- RCM and Elkhunter521
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As far as I know, you are spot on. Sorry for throwing "noise floor" in there. Anytime I do that, it is unintentional.
At the rate you are going, I'll be asking you questions in a few weeks. Awesome!
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Get a hold of BlueMax49ers to buy a USB cable and all should become clear.
The highest Windows I used for CPS was XP but some might have used more recent Windows versions.- RCM and Elkhunter521
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Aye. Before we moved from the farm, we had a brand new 100' tower and our elevation was far better than the aforementioned guy running two M1225s. I could sometimes hear a repeater up north by the lake from southern Ohio on a handheld with a rubber duck inside the house on the first floor. 70 mile repeater use was commonplace in my first floor bedroom with the same HT. We had arranged for professional feedline and everything. Our repeater would've been a beast!
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I might miss something but the three *basic* modes of squelch in this application:
Open Squelch = No squelch at all, hears all of the static of the RF noise floor.
Carrier Squelch = A setting or knob adjustment to raise squelch above the RF noise floor. If too high, might miss traffic. If too low, might open up when there is no traffic.
Tone Squelch = A CTCSS/PL tone or a DCS to control when the speaker opens to radio traffic.
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What is carrier squelch? I think I'm confused again...haha. Is carrier squelch the same as "T-Sql"??
Sorry... Carrier squelch is just using the squelch setting (or squelch knob if the radio has one) to silence the static of the RF noise floor. It means running no T-Sql.
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All that sounds fine as long as you can be satisfied with around 14 mile radius (or less) from mobile to the repeater, and about 3 miles (or less) radius for an HT.
I agree with your post but also, YMMV. We have a guy running two Motorola M1225 repeaters with really low cost material and I think his is 30' to 40' AGL. However, he has high elevation so his repeater has outstanding coverage.
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So, if I want to filter any and all other traffic on that frequency, (and only hear signals going through the repeater), then I would have to change my "Tone Mode" from "Tone" to "T Sql".
I caution against tone squelch when using repeaters. There are repeaters out there that use different tones in to access the repeater and they often tend to put out the same tone as was used to access it. That means one with tone squelch will completely miss traffic using different tones. We have our repeater set up to transmit the same one tone regardless of what tone is used to open the repeater. This is for users with radios that can't set carrier squelch on repeaters (*cough* Midland!).
Also, with tone squelch, one cannot hear someone talking on simplex if they don't happen to be using the same tone. I trained my adult children to use the busy light on the radio or use the monitor button before transmitting on our radios with tone squelch enabled. Other than than, busy channel lock out is another option to minimize unintentional interference. We have a fair bit of FRS and GMRS traffic at times in our area.
Overall though, I prefer to run carrier squelch when working with repeaters.
(If I am repeating myself, no pun intended, I'm multi-tasking at the moment on multiple radio services.
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I would've given you a like for that but the board told me I reached my quota! lol
Remember that my radio knowledge level is quite low compared to many of the fine operators on this board. If I put something out there and they correct it; they have it right and I got it wrong. I learn a lot from each of them here.
- RCM, pantherpaw9 and berkinet
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So if two repeaters are close to each other and use the same frequency, you could program each repeater into two separate channel numbers and each channel would be programmed with the different corresponding tones, subsequently allowing the operator to pick which repeater they want to use simply by changing channels?
Yep. There can be some interference from the stronger repeater so it's not 100% perfect.
If the repeaters are too close, however, the interference might be just too much for it to work well or at all. In our situation, the two repeaters are far enough away so that one is always a weaker signal than the other. Think of the two repeaters with big circles around them; one for each. Those circles overlap at some point. Any user in the overlap can use tone to open the desired repeater and T Sql to theoretically hear the repeater they want. However, if both repeaters are transmitting at the same time and their strengths, relative to the user are the same, the interference can cancel out the usable signal. (Think Venn Diagram for the circles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venn_diagram )
Also, this might help for tones in general: http://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_CTCSS.php
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however, I’m still confused as to what scenario would need a “tone” and what scenario would need a “T Sql”.
The tone is the "squelch code" your radio is sending out. T Sql is "squelch code" your radio is listening for. If your radio doesn't send out the correct "squelch code", the receiving radio will not play the audio through the speaker.
Simplex, radio to radio, the transmitting radio would send out a tone while the PTT button is pressed and this would tell the T Sql receiving radio to open the speaker. This is useful in an environment with some considerable radio noise on the frequency where constantly adjusting the squelch knob would be a real pain.
In the case of two repeaters near enough to each other to interfere, a different tone sent out by the respective repeaters means that the user can select which repeater will open their speaker. We have two repeaters here, in two different cities, but they are close enough to be heard between the towers. When we want to use the northern repeater, we use T Sql set to the tone that the northern repeater is putting out. Likewise if we want to use the southern repeater.
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Good guidance, berkinet. I would've jumped onboard with the MTX series for that reason; a user with different background might not want to fiddle about with radio programming. Unfortunately, the CSQ situation makes that series less valuable to some users than the inexpensive, non-type accepted China model it's made from. The thought of someone paying high $$$ for a Midland only to find out they can't use it properly on a lot of repeaters... Yikes!
Unfortunately, no off-the-shelf, preprogrammed, type certified mobiles came to mind as an alternative to the MTX.
Hypothetical question of UHF antenna bandwidth.
in Technical Discussion
Posted
You're probably already aware, but hams use the same dual band antennas all the time for 2m, MURS, 70cm and GMRS. Along the same lines that berkinet posted, when they want one primarily for 70cm, they buy or make one centered more towards that band. Likewise if they want to primarily use GMRS.
*** To those reading... I am not advocating violation of FCC rules on this forum. It is an observation of what has been commonly practiced in my area. That does not make it legally correct. Radio type acceptance must match the service being used to be legal. ***