TD-H3 transmitting but not showing up on SWR meter

[hxpx]

Hello! I'm new to mobile radios so I want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong before I send my radio in.

I've got four TIDRadio H3s, two GMRS units and two ham units that were unlocked and changed to GMRS mode. I've been trying to hit a local repeater unsuccessfully so I picked up a Surecom SW33 to make sure my radios/antennas are actually working correctly. Three of the four are showing a VSWR around 1.4 and an output wattage around 5W with the same antenna so I think I'm just too far out from the repeater to hit it.

The problem is the fourth radio (one of the ham units) doesn't show anything on the SW33 when transmitting. Other radios can hear it transmit short range - I've tested it on simplex channels across the house and through some walls but nothing long distance - but the SW33 is acting like it's not doing anything.

(Edit: Should note I also tried it with the 50 ohm dummy load that came with the meter and still got no output reading.)

Are there other things I can check or change in my test setup or was this radio DOA and needs to be replaced?

 

(Side question: regarding forum etiquette, should I have piggybacked off GrouserPad's similar thread for this or was starting a new thread appropriate?)

Edited May 9 by hxpx
Added test note

[SteveShannon]

4 minutes ago, hxpx said:

Hello! I'm new to mobile radios so I want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong before I send my radio in.

I've got four TIDRadio H3s, two GMRS units and two ham units that were unlocked and changed to GMRS mode. I've been trying to hit a local repeater unsuccessfully so I picked up a Surecom SW33 to make sure my radios/antennas are actually working correctly. Three of the four are showing a VSWR around 1.4 and an output wattage around 5W with the same antenna so I think I'm just too far out from the repeater to hit it.

The problem is the fourth radio (one of the ham units) doesn't show anything on the SW33 when transmitting. Other radios can hear it transmit short range - I've tested it on simplex channels across the house and through some walls but nothing long distance - but the SW33 is acting like it's not doing anything.

Are there other things I can check or change in my test setup or was this radio DOA and needs to be replaced?

 

(Side question: regarding forum etiquette, should I have piggybacked off GrouserPad's similar thread for this or was starting a new thread appropriate?)

Based on GrouserPad’s experience that’s not uncommon, unfortunately.  There’s no reason to doubt your (or his) experience.  TD H3s apparently arrive dead or die shortly after.  Don’t waste time double checking yourself. Send it back, preferably for a different radio.

You’re fine starting another thread but you would have been okay piggybacking on GrouserPad’s thread.

Welcome to the forum!

[hxpx]

@SteveShannon Ah, beans. That's what I figured but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something simple. Thanks for your help!

@Socalgmrs Interesting, I'll have to read up on that. What's not accurate about the SWR on a handheld and would they typically read high or low on an HT? I got the meter just make sure I didn't have anything Obviously Wrong (like low/no wattage or abnormally high SWR) even if it wasn't particularly accurate. 

Regarding the repeater, I'm about 25 miles out from it. Listening with a second radio, the repeater acts like like someone kerchunked it (I think that's the term). I'm not sure I have clear line of sight to the tower so I figured there's just too many obstructions for a 5W handheld to deal with. A little disappointing but I'm not too concerned. Gives me an excuse to build a base station sometime down the road.

[GrouserPad]

6 hours ago, hxpx said:

Hello! I'm new to mobile radios so I want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong before I send my radio in.

I've got four TIDRadio H3s, two GMRS units and two ham units that were unlocked and changed to GMRS mode. I've been trying to hit a local repeater unsuccessfully so I picked up a Surecom SW33 to make sure my radios/antennas are actually working correctly. Three of the four are showing a VSWR around 1.4 and an output wattage around 5W with the same antenna so I think I'm just too far out from the repeater to hit it.

The problem is the fourth radio (one of the ham units) doesn't show anything on the SW33 when transmitting. Other radios can hear it transmit short range - I've tested it on simplex channels across the house and through some walls but nothing long distance - but the SW33 is acting like it's not doing anything.

(Edit: Should note I also tried it with the 50 ohm dummy load that came with the meter and still got no output reading.)

Are there other things I can check or change in my test setup or was this radio DOA and needs to be replaced?

 

(Side question: regarding forum etiquette, should I have piggybacked off GrouserPad's similar thread for this or was starting a new thread appropriate?)

I have tried everything from firmware, to reset, to ptt+Star+power on reset, to using cps, and chirp, and copying the files from my only working tdh3. Nothing fixed my transmit issue. The dead or no output radios will work a few hundred feet apart but they all register no wattage on my meter. Learn from me!!! Don’t waste your time on trying to get them to work. You won’t. I’ve wasted HOURS messing with mine and still no joy. 

[LeoG]

46 minutes ago, GrouserPad said:

I have tried everything from firmware, to reset, to ptt+Star+power on reset, to using cps, and chirp, and copying the files from my only working tdh3. Nothing fixed my transmit issue. The dead or no output radios will work a few hundred feet apart but they all register no wattage on my meter. Learn from me!!! Don’t waste your time on trying to get them to work. You won’t. I’ve wasted HOURS messing with mine and still no joy. 

The radios are sensitive enough to hear the local oscillator or using the wire to the antenna as an antenna.  I'm betting all these units showing up like this have a wire not connected to the center pin of the antenna.  I have a couple and eventually I will take one apart to see if it's as simple as a bad solder joint.  Which is what I expect.

[GrouserPad]

4 minutes ago, LeoG said:

The radios are sensitive enough to hear the local oscillator or using the wire to the antenna as an antenna.  I'm betting all these units showing up like this have a wire not connected to the center pin of the antenna.  I have a couple and eventually I will take one apart to see if it's as simple as a bad solder joint.  Which is what I expect.

My 4 non transmitting tdh3’s all receive exceptionally well. They work great on receive. FWIW. 

[hxpx]

Just as a quick update: I contacted TIDRadio about it and they sent me a new unit. Confirmed the new one outputs 5W with a dummy load and a 771 antenna. If nothing else, their customer support was pretty responsive and got this handled in a reasonable timeframe.

[LeoG]

12 minutes ago, hxpx said:

Just as a quick update: I contacted TIDRadio about it and they sent me a new unit. Confirmed the new one outputs 5W with a dummy load and a 771 antenna. If nothing else, their customer support was pretty responsive and got this handled in a reasonable timeframe.

I think they know they have this problem and really don't care because it's easy sending out a new radio that costs them a dollar or two to make than it is to have QC testing these things.  With the advantage that people will just shrug it off and either not report it or just buy a new one without complaining.

If you plan on being cheap (like me) and buying these inexpensive radios you are going to have to expect a couple of duds here and there.  But with a responsive company like this it's just a bit inconvenient and somewhat frustrating to have to go through the process of swapping them out.  And it's not even a swap out, they just send you a new one and don't care what you do with the old one.  Usually they receive just fine so set them up as scanners.

[GrouserPad]

1 hour ago, LeoG said:

I think they know they have this problem and really don't care because it's easy sending out a new radio that costs them a dollar or two to make than it is to have QC testing these things.  With the advantage that people will just shrug it off and either not report it or just buy a new one without complaining.

If you plan on being cheap (like me) and buying these inexpensive radios you are going to have to expect a couple of duds here and there.  But with a responsive company like this it's just a bit inconvenient and somewhat frustrating to have to go through the process of swapping them out.  And it's not even a swap out, they just send you a new one and don't care what you do with the old one.  Usually they receive just fine so set them up as scanners.

A couple!?! Bruh I’m 4 out of 5 failure on these pos.

[LeoG]

21 minutes ago, GrouserPad said:

A couple!?! Bruh I’m 4 out of 5 failure on these pos.

I think you found the motherlode of the bad batch.  This is what happens with mass produced stuff.  If you get a problem it's not one or two, it's hundreds or thousands if they don't catch it.  Apparently I've been luckier than you with 2 out of 14 being non transmit.

[SteveShannon]

24 minutes ago, GrouserPad said:

A couple!?! Bruh I’m 4 out of 5 failure on these pos.

How many were DOA and how many died after being programmed?  I’m not saying you made a mistake; I’m simply mildly curious about the sequence of events. 

[GrouserPad]

55 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

How many were DOA and how many died after being programmed?  I’m not saying you made a mistake; I’m simply mildly curious about the sequence of events. 

I’m not sure. It’s not my problem. I did nothing to them that should have made them fail.  The very first tdh3 I bought still works today and it was programmed abd used identically as the other 4. And none of these were DOA. All worked out of the box. Then approx 2 to 3 weeks later I noticed issues hitting repeaters and at that point realize no output. So not sure when these failed after charging or after programming. 

[hxpx]

14 minutes ago, GrouserPad said:

I’m not sure. It’s not my problem. I did nothing to them that should have made them fail.  The very first tdh3 I bought still works today and it was programmed abd used identically as the other 4. And none of these were DOA. All worked out of the box. Then approx 2 to 3 weeks later I noticed issues hitting repeaters and at that point realize no output. So not sure when these failed after charging or after programming. 

Same issue here - I programmed one radio, did a wireless copy to the rest, and at least two batteries were charged in the charging stand while attached to a radio. So all four have the same setup, two were charged while attached and turned on, and no idea which one the dead one was because they all look the same and I wasn't smart enough to number them beforehand.

They do seem to be aware of the battery charging issue - at the bottom of the "we're shipping you a new radio" email, they added this at the bottom:

Quote

When charging the battery, please separate the walkie-talkie from the battery and charge the battery individually.
By this way can the machine and the battery be protected!

[LeoG]

1 minute ago, hxpx said:

Same issue here - I programmed one radio, did a wireless copy to the rest, and at least two batteries were charged in the charging stand while attached to a radio. So all four have the same setup, two were charged while attached and turned on, and no idea which one the dead one was because they all look the same and I wasn't smart enough to number them beforehand.

They do seem to be aware of the battery charging issue - at the bottom of the "we're shipping you a new radio" email, they added this at the bottom:

Gotta be the battery BMS because you use standard USB wall wart chargers.  The battery itself shouldn't allow the charger to cause it harm.

[GrouserPad]

16 hours ago, LeoG said:

Gotta be the battery BMS because you use standard USB wall wart chargers.  The battery itself shouldn't allow the charger to cause it harm.

Battery BMS? 

[LeoG]

46 minutes ago, GrouserPad said:

Battery BMS? 

Ya, lithium ion and other lithium derivative batteries have an onboard Battery Maintenance System to make sure the cells stay balanced and don't go over any specs.  Prevents over charging and bad events such as fires and explosions.  It's what turns the charging off when the battery is full.

[GrouserPad]

5 hours ago, LeoG said:

Ya, lithium ion and other lithium derivative batteries have an onboard Battery Maintenance System to make sure the cells stay balanced and don't go over any specs.  Prevents over charging and bad events such as fires and explosions.  It's what turns the charging off when the battery is full.

Ok. BMS = battery maintenance system. Hard to keep up with acronyms sometimes thanks. 

[hxpx]

One of my H3 GMRS units is now showing no power to the antenna with an SWR meter. This one's been literally sitting in a bin since I tested them all on May 9, so... this is disappointing. If I can't rely on them to work after sitting untouched for a month, I might have to pony up for different units.

On the other hand, the cheap Retevis 628 FRS walkie talkies I bought for my oldest kid have been thrown, dunked in the dog's water bowl, chewed on by my toddlers, and gone down the slide, and they still work just fine.

[WSIA835]

Yeah, one of three of my TD-H3's doesn't register any power on the SW-33+

I've debated contacting their customer support, but with my luck I'd pay an import tariff and get another lemon.

[TrikeRadio]

I have had two H3's for a year now. Never had any problems with transmit power on either. 
But I have also NEVER charged them using the cradle charger... and always charge the batteries while they are disconnected from the radios. (I bought an extra battery for each radio and charge them off radio and swap in the fully charged battery. )

[GrouserPad]

5 hours ago, WSIA835 said:

Yeah, one of three of my TD-H3's doesn't register any power on the SW-33+

I've debated contacting their customer support, but with my luck I'd pay an import tariff and get another lemon.

Try doing a reset and booting the radio in unlocked mode. Use chirp to program a paste and copy gmrs channel list, and modify as you need. Then see if your radio registers on the meter. If not, download new firmware, inside the firmware file is another folder called tdh3 boost or power boost or something to that affect. Turn all values to 255. See if you are good. If so, go back and set channels 8 through 14 to a value of 20 which seems to be around .5/.8 watts on my radio. Good luck. These TidRaidos imo are piles of steaming dog poo. Don’t forget to turn the duplex off in programming if you put any frequencies in that you are not privileged to operate on!  But in the end if you don’t enjoy pulling your hair out return the TID RADIOS for anything I mean anything else!!

[GrouserPad]

4 hours ago, WSIA835 said:

Yeah, one of three of my TD-H3's doesn't register any power on the SW-33+

I've debated contacting their customer support, but with my luck I'd pay an import tariff and get another lemon.

Did you buy the PLUS tdh3? Wondering if they’ve fixed this no wattage on the new version 

[SteveShannon]

6 hours ago, WSIA835 said:

Yeah, one of three of my TD-H3's doesn't register any power on the SW-33+

I've debated contacting their customer support, but with my luck I'd pay an import tariff and get another lemon.

Why would you have to pay the tariff on a warranty replacement?  Contact customer support. If they want money tell them no. 

[LeoG]

All my contacts with customer support for Tidradio have been positive. They've never told me no we won't replace it.  And they've never asked for the old one to be returned.

[WSIA835]

On 6/20/2025 at 9:31 PM, GrouserPad said:

Try doing a reset and booting the radio in unlocked mode. Use chirp to program a paste and copy gmrs channel list, and modify as you need. Then see if your radio registers on the meter. If not, download new firmware, inside the firmware file is another folder called tdh3 boost or power boost or something to that affect. Turn all values to 255. See if you are good. If so, go back and set channels 8 through 14 to a value of 20 which seems to be around .5/.8 watts on my radio. Good luck. These TidRaidos imo are piles of steaming dog poo. Don’t forget to turn the duplex off in programming if you put any frequencies in that you are not privileged to operate on!  But in the end if you don’t enjoy pulling your hair out return the TID RADIOS for anything I mean anything else!!

I tried a full Nicsure EEPROM wipe, booting up the radio, and then flashing the current TID firmware back on it.  No dice.  I'll give the Power Tune app a try, but I'm not holding out much hope.

On 6/20/2025 at 9:35 PM, GrouserPad said:

Did you buy the PLUS tdh3? Wondering if they’ve fixed this no wattage on the new version 

No, I haven't bought a TD-H3 Plus.  The extra BT features sound nice, but I can live without them too.

On 6/20/2025 at 11:25 PM, SteveShannon said:

Why would you have to pay the tariff on a warranty replacement?  Contact customer support. If they want money tell them no. 

I've got a tariff bill like a decade ago.  If I remember correctly it was from the government, not the product company.  I could be wrong though.

[hxpx]

On 6/20/2025 at 11:25 PM, SteveShannon said:

Why would you have to pay the tariff on a warranty replacement?  Contact customer support. If they want money tell them no. 

@WSIA835 They did not charge money when they sent me warranty replacements. First warranty radio came from a warehouse up in NY or NJ, second radio came from Amazon (ha).