11 replies to this topic

[alex911]

I'm trying to program the repeaters near my home in my radio TYT8000E with the computer program, I only put ( mess around) with the RX/TX and DPL and leave everything else along, but I can not reach the repeaters. What I am doing wrong? no feed back from the repeaters ( I have like 8 around south FL). Nothing works? Please Help.

 

If anyone from Broward or Dade Conty that want to be a mentor?

 

 

 

Thank You

 

WQYX519

email: a1solutions911@yahoo.com

[DeoVindice]

Have you tried listening with CSQ as your RX/decode tone to see if there is traffic on the repeater?

Where are you transmitting from, and what antenna are you utilizing? I find that I sometimes have a hard time hitting repeaters while indoors, but after stepping out onto the porch I get great signal reports. Your antenna may not be tuned well for GMRS, and your radio could be sensing high SWR and automatically operating on low power. Unsure if the TYT8000E has that capability, though.

[alex911]

DeoVindice: I am transmitting outside, set high power and I am using the antenna that came with the radio. I'm going to try the CSQ. let you know. If you can think in anything else?...Thanks

[intermod]

Assuming you are referring to trying GMRS repeaters (and not amateur 440-450 MHz), the TYT8000E your radio is only guaranteed for 420-440 MHz amateur, not 462/467 MHz GMRS.  While it may transmit and receive in GMRS, sometimes the radio receiver will perform poorly to the point where you cannot hear the repeater. 

 

Also - verify it is actually transmitting by listening on a second receiver.   Sometimes the radio will indicate it is transmitting but nothing is going out (e.g., VFO out of range; could affect receive as well).

 

It appears the radio is not Part 95 certified so it should not be used in GMRS to be honest.  As a repeater owner, I have received complaints about how my system is not working, when it was users operating amateur radios out of band that was the issue (after several hours of me troubleshooting).   So it can be disrespectful to some repeater owners.  Just don't complain about repeater performance unless you operate Part 95 or Part 90 radios . 

[WRAF213]

It's only Part 15 certified so it should only be used in the ham bands. Since the transmitter doesn't have any type acceptance, it's probably spitting spurs out everywhere (cross-band repeat is particularly notorious). Don't use it on GMRS.

The transceiver is designed [poorly] for the 400-520 MHz range, so it won't be a radio performance issue. It's an RDA1846 based design so there's not a lot of front-end variability to worry about.

Anyways, make sure you have the correct repeater offset of +5 MHz. Some repeaters don't send a CTCSS tone on the tail, so check the busy-channel LED to see if anything is coming back. In frequency display mode, you should see the working frequency change from 462.xxxx to 467.xxxx when keyed up.

Find a different radio for this band. Part 95 certification is ideal but Part 90 is close enough. If it doesn't have either of those, don't spend money on it.

[gman1971]

Yes, I concur, ditch the modified ham gear, man. FYI, the specs on those ham radios are only guaranteed for the ham frequencies, not for out of band frequencies, such as GMRS...  so chances are you have a subpar radio on GMRS.

 

G.

[WRAF213]

FYI, the specs on those ham radios are only guaranteed for the ham frequencies, not for out of band frequencies, such as GMRS... so chances are you have a subpar radio on GMRS.

No, the specs aren't guaranteed anywhere. We'd see at least some kind of transmitter certification in that case (Radioddity says it has an FCC ID of POD-ANG7, but that gies to a completely different radio). These usually end up as business radios in other parts of the world where FCC type acceptance isn't needed (look at all the DTMF signaling features), so they're usually designed for optimim performance in the 440-460 MHz range. 460 MHz is roughly in the middle of its bandsplit too, and 470 MHz is not far off compared to its transmitter's range. I'd expect transmit quality to start to deviate from spec below 425 MHz or above 480 MHz, and only in transmit power level. The majority of the transmitter circuitry and virtually all of the receiver circuitry is on a single IC whose performance is guaranteed (to a fairly low bar) across that range. Once RF comes out of that chip, it just needs to be filtered and amplified. One of those tasks is more expensive than the other, so that critical step is often not to FCC spec on these classes of radios. Filtering is rarely omitted entirely, but also rarely sufficient to exceed the 50-dB-under-carrier spec with enough margin to account for production variability. The cross-band repeat will also intermodulate with the third harmonic of the VHF side, which would guarantee it'd fail FCC testing; but that feature would not even be allowed on a type-accepted radio in the first place.

[gman1971]

You're preaching to the choir WRAF213, , it boils down to the: don't buy cheap radios that aren't even type accepted.  Radioddity radios use TYT cheapie stuff, which is horrible for desensing... so I would avoid anything made by TYT, Retevis and the other clones... they are all pretty much radios with zero front end filtering. 

 

With that said, what I meant to say in my previous post is that, for example, my MARS/CAP modded Kenwood TM-V71a radio (not a cheapie), the advertised receiver specs are only guaranteed on the ham frequency ranges, once you go out of that range, then you have to look at the service manual to realize that the specs are a lot worse than what you thought you were getting.

 

G.

 

 

 

No, the specs aren't guaranteed anywhere. We'd see at least some kind of transmitter certification in that case (Radioddity says it has an FCC ID of POD-ANG7, but that gies to a completely different radio). These usually end up as business radios in other parts of the world where FCC type acceptance isn't needed (look at all the DTMF signaling features), so they're usually designed for optimim performance in the 440-460 MHz range. 460 MHz is roughly in the middle of its bandsplit too, and 470 MHz is not far off compared to its transmitter's range. I'd expect transmit quality to start to deviate from spec below 425 MHz or above 480 MHz, and only in transmit power level. The majority of the transmitter circuitry and virtually all of the receiver circuitry is on a single IC whose performance is guaranteed (to a fairly low bar) across that range. Once RF comes out of that chip, it just needs to be filtered and amplified. One of those tasks is more expensive than the other, so that critical step is often not to FCC spec on these classes of radios. Filtering is rarely omitted entirely, but also rarely sufficient to exceed the 50-dB-under-carrier spec with enough margin to account for production variability. The cross-band repeat will also intermodulate with the third harmonic of the VHF side, which would guarantee it'd fail FCC testing; but that feature would not even be allowed on a type-accepted radio in the first place.

[marcspaz]

What software are you using?  If it is CHIRP, go to the link below. I posted a bit in there that should help.

 

https://forums.mygmr...-into-handheld/

 

Do yourself a favor.  Unless the radio isn't critical and is being used in a rough/dirty environment that will likely break radios due to contaminant exposure, don't by any of the following brands...

 

TYT

QYT

BTech

BaoFeng

LEIXEN

Retevis

Zastone

EasyTalk (EZTalk)

Rivins

HYS

TALKCOOP

Radioddity

SAMCOMM

BACKCOUNTRY

ANSOKO

TIDRADIO

BOCOTRAN

ANYSECU

Stryker

TWAYRDIO

Ailunce

 

 

There are more to stay away from... but I think you get were I am going with this.  And if you are tight on cash... that is an even better reason to stay away from them.  CCR's are cheap for a reason.  And its not because they are reliable or good performers.  Don't waste your money.

[gman1971]

Marc pretty much nailed it on the head.

 

I would also add

 

Anytone

While its certainly better in terms of front end filtering, these still use direct conversion stuff which suffers quite a bit when the RF space gets crowded. 

 

Hytera

Yep, they are supposed to be competition to Motorola, they are supposed to be "good", but its fairly clear that they had some shenanigans with Motorola, including stealing Motorola patents, which they were forced to remove by court, and (my personal opinion) most likely they stole Motorola technology too. I simply won't support a company that steals, or is suspicious of stealing, tech from another company, then cutting prices b/c of the free hitchhike in tech they got from the technology theft. 

 

 

To reiterate, I would only consider purchasing any of the ones in Marc's list for non mission critical roles.

 

Again, buy these radios with the knowledge of what you're buying. I own a bunch of BF-888s for house intercom, range is about 1/5th of a mile before you can barely understand the other person.

 

For high power application, make sure you get FCC type certified equipment... nowadays there is plenty of surplus commercial gear that will work wonderfully, Motorola, Kenwood, iCom, Vertex, etc.  Why? b/c if your neighbor TV starts to develop glitches, and he (or she) traces it back to you b/c your cheapie is spewing 50 watts of all kinds of dirty harmonics and messing with his Superbowl game, etc, he/she could easily file an online FCC complain now, and while 1 complain might not spark FCC wrath right away, two or three in quick succession certainly will, and then, when the FCC comes down on you it probably won't be pretty. Again, in radios the motto of "you buy cheap, you buy twice" also applies. If these BTechs were that great, police and firefighters will use them, but they don't.

 

As a final note, considering the amount of money you will end up spending on a decent GMRS setup, saving 50 bucks on your first radio is nothing. A decent GMRS setup (with radio range measured in miles, rather than in inches), with radios, feedline, connectors, filters, duplexers, antennas, etc, will end up costing you almost a thousand dollars.

 

G.

[n4gix]

With the recent uncertainty surrounding the FCC and import radios, TYT has made a decision to ship all of their radios locked down to the 150-160 MHz VHF and 450-460 MHz UHF ranges.

They actually made these changes a few months ago, and at first "unlocking" the radios to allow use outside of these limited ranges required special unlock software. With the most recent firmware release, however, TYT has made the unlock process much more simple. All of their models can now be unlocked by holding down a key combination while powering on the radios.

 
Unfortunately I haven't found a source for the specific buttons to hold down while powering the radio on. The above information was found at this site:
https://www.buytwowa...dmr-radios.html

[gman1971]

TYT radios, IMO, are some of the worst at desensing in crowded RF enviroments, so they are making it easier to look elsewhere. 

 

The Vertex VX-5500 is a phenomal radio, can be found dirt cheap on eBay, and it has a super selective (and sensitive) receiver that will draw rings around anything TYT will make for the next two decades...

 

G.