25 replies to this topic

[marcspaz]

LMAO, Marc, less polite? not really, still pretty nice response.... and the 5 cent version? What about the nickel version? is a nickel 10 cents?

 

G.

 

HAHA... got to love the nickel tour. 

[WRAF213]

I have never seen a bubble pack radio programed to use a tone out of the box by default. All I have seen have carrier squelch by default, and are "preprogrammed" with tones that can be selected if desired. 

Motorola's used 67.0 Hz by default, while Midland's are CSQ by default. Motorola also had an optional Quiet-Talk feature, which requires an additional tone (52 Hz) before transmissions; this went away when they introduced their current Txxx series radios because it didn't work well.

 

FRS isn't about communicating with everyone else on FRS, it's about selling a set of radios that work together and don't unmute on interfering signals. Look at Midland's "extra channels".

[PRadio]

Motorola's used 67.0 Hz by default, while Midland's are CSQ by default. Motorola also had an optional Quiet-Talk feature, which requires an additional tone (52 Hz) before transmissions; this went away when they introduced their current Txxx series radios because it didn't work well.

 

FRS isn't about communicating with everyone else on FRS, it's about selling a set of radios that work together and don't unmute on interfering signals. Look at Midland's "extra channels".

 

Thanks. The Motorolas I bought used CSQ, I thought. I didn't keep them long, I returned them since they had horrible volume issues. I bough Midlands and they outperformed the Motorolas. Before I returned them, I was able to communicate with the Midlands with no changing of any settings. I still use the Midlands from time to time, though I have bought better radios since. 

 

I will say that having a radio preprogrammed to use a tone by default is not necessarily bad, and possibly a good thing for someone who simply wants to talk to family. They don't deal with hearing others without having to select a tone, unless of course there are others using the same radio nearby. None of it is much of an issue since tones are easy to select, and the radios come with instructions. 

[mire]

I acquired a pair of Motorola MR-355R blister pack radios in 2009. It has an admixture of 121 CTSS and DCS tones, and they synch up with the Midland MXT-325s I have, plus I can program any number of radios (whether BaoFengs or Commercial) with the corresponding tones or octals listed in the user manual, and they’ll communicate with each other.

https://www.motorola..._user_guide.pdf

Page 4 of 5 in the .pdf file. My Midland MXT-325s match what’s shown in that user manual, as well.

But, these may be later models than what was being referred to?

I also had a pair of Motorola MJ270s which matched the MR-355R, except those were not repeater capable. I have them to my shop lead, after he said he needed a couple two-way radios.

The MXTs are from a box of 24 that someone I know who bid on and won a storage unit acquired, and the two MJ-270s were in that one also. I gave the rest away, mostly to parents who wanted them for their kids to play with. I won’t give out the MR-355Rs. Even though FRGMRS uses split tones on their repeaters, there’s a couple non-network ones using single tone CTCSS or non split standardized octals, and I don’t want the kiddos inadvertently getting on those. If you scan with the Motorolas and it hits an active frequency, it automatically identifies the CTCSS tone or DCS octal in use, if it’s from that standardized list… it seems to default to Tone 1 (67 hz) when it encounters an octal that isn’t programmed to that radio. Haven’t tried it with the MXTs, but I’m assuming they do the same.

[WRAF213]

I know the CTCSS-capable Motorolas will automatically pick up on the CTCSS/DCS in use on a channel while scanning, but I went through a bunch of user manuals for Midlands and didn't see that functionality. A scan talkback feature is described, so I don't know if the functionality is present but not discussed.

[marcspaz]

You have to select a channel and then manually engage the code/tone scanning feature.