Radioddity DB25-G QuadMonitoring Question

[DanW]

How do you activate this function where you can monitor up to 4 channels at the same time?  I'm missing it somehow in the manual.  (I am not a fan of their manual, btw.)

I just installed this radio in my old Jeep and am trying to figure out how to configure it in different ways that I might like to use it.

Thanks!

 

[wayoverthere]

2 hours ago, DanW said:

How do you activate this function where you can monitor up to 4 channels at the same time?  I'm missing it somehow in the manual.  (I am not a fan of their manual, btw.)

Looks like it's listed as option 0 in the menu, on pg 21 (reading it in pdf from radioddity's site). The menu item is called "TMR", and you tell it which ones you want to monitor (a, b, c, and/or d), and then used the abcd button to cycle through the 4 lines and set each one to the channels/frequencies you want to monitor. If I understand it right, it treats whichever one you have selected as the "Main". I tend to set a channel I might want to transmit on on main.

The setup and functionality seem similar to my btech 50x1, which makes sense because it the db25g looks to be based on the btech 25x2 and 25x4.

[DanW]

1 minute ago, wayoverthere said:

Looks like it's listed as option 0 in the menu, on pg 21 (reading it in pdf from radioddity's site). The menu item is called "TMR", and you tell it which ones you want to monitor (a, b, c, and/or d), and then used the abcd button to cycle through the 4 likes and set each one to the ones you want to monitor. If I understand it right, it treats whichever one you have selected as the "Main". I tend to set a channel I might want to transmit on on main.

The setup and functionality seem similar to my btech 50x1, which makes sense because it the db25g looks to be based on the btech 25x2 and 25x4.

Thank you!

One more quick question, and hopefully the radios are the same or similar in this way, too....When I'm seeing the 4 frequencies on the screen (not quadmonitoring, but just ABCD) when I'm on one channel, sometimes the others, B, C, or D, turn green (factory default settings for color).  What does that mean? Does it mean they are picking up transmissions while they are green?  I haven't seen enough of a pattern to clue me in on what exactly is happenign when they turn green while I'm monitoring another.  I've quickly switched over and heard nothing.

Thanks for the help!

 

[wayoverthere]

1 hour ago, DanW said:

Thank you!

One more quick question, and hopefully the radios are the same or similar in this way, too....When I'm seeing the 4 frequencies on the screen (not quadmonitoring, but just ABCD) when I'm on one channel, sometimes the others, B, C, or D, turn green (factory default settings for color).  What does that mean? Does it mean they are picking up transmissions while they are green?  I haven't seen enough of a pattern to clue me in on what exactly is happenign when they turn green while I'm monitoring another.  I've quickly switched over and heard nothing.

Thanks for the help!

 

That one, I'm not sure on. You may be right that it's getting some kind of signal. On mine, if I'm in dual/triple/quad watch, all 4 have a hollow arrow, and the one receiving a signal goes solid and a signal strength meter comes up at the bottom of the screen...it almost makes me think you might have the quad watch on, but it might just be slightly different firmware. If the multi watch is off, mine pays no attention to the other channels (just tested it, actually)

[Dave805]

On 9/29/2021 at 8:25 PM, DanW said:

Thank you!

One more quick question, and hopefully the radios are the same or similar in this way, too....When I'm seeing the 4 frequencies on the screen (not quadmonitoring, but just ABCD) when I'm on one channel, sometimes the others, B, C, or D, turn green (factory default settings for color).  What does that mean? Does it mean they are picking up transmissions while they are green?  I haven't seen enough of a pattern to clue me in on what exactly is happenign when they turn green while I'm monitoring another.  I've quickly switched over and heard nothing.

Thanks for the help!

 

I own the ham version, btech 25x4, and the colors do mean that the squelch broke on a given line (it did pick up something).  I bought my unit a few years ago, so my firmware likely has bugs as the color of a line does not return to red if the transmission goes away.  

Note, the radio won't go looking at the other channels if you're actively receiving on a given one.  Only when the one that it's tied up on goes away, will it then watch the other channels.

[JimSmitty]

I just picked one up yesterday. The "green" channel looks to be the last channel(s) that were received. Hard to tell as there aren't many people transmitting. 

 

Update 10/25/21: Green means most recent RX on that line (s). I have seen up to 2 lines at a time turning green. 

If you then transmit on that channel and don't get an RX back, it turns to the color you set as default. 

 

Also, if you change the  channel on that line, the characters will also change back to your default color. 

 

I am quad monitoring though. I haven't tried it with monitoring off for all channels. 

[TrikeRadio]

Thanks for this thread. I was unsure where this setting was too. I just got a DB25G and yeah, the manual is less than ideal and a bit cryptic... but this helped point me in the right direction to find those options.

It does seem like some of the listed options in the manual can't be programmed or are listed with different names in CHIRP. Maybe they skipped some of them?

I haven't tried the propitiatory software for it.

[TrikeRadio]

I think I understand the "TMR" setting options... but have found one thing kind of annoying:

(When you have it on ANY of the multi channel monitoring settings other than "OFF")
    -- an example:
   Let's say you have your TMR option set to "A+B+C+D" ... or even "M+B+C+D" ...
   and you have your A channel currently selected on the display...
   you also have a repeater on the B channel slot, let's say it is on .700 with a RX CTCSS and  TX CTCSS tone...

   When activity on that frequency in B which does not match your RX CTCSS tone comes in, it will CORRECTLY NOT OPEN SQUELCH, and you don't hear it (that is good) -- but the annoying part is that it moves the selector to that channel B slot automatically and shows activity there (coming from some OTHER repeater on .700 with a different tone) ... but while that activity that you are not hearing is active, YOU CAN'T MOVE THE SELECTOR UP OR DOWN to another slot to Transmit on A for instance. It will just keep automatically moving the selector back to B until that squelched activity is over.

You also can't easily change the channel in that B slot that is actively selecting because of the squelched activity to another channel/frequency slot (like C,D or A) because between key presses trying to type in another channel... it will re-select the active channel (B in this example) and effectively cancel out what you were trying to enter.

The only way to stop this, and allow you to move the selector back up to A so you can transmit there while B is auto selecting because of the squelched activity... is to hit the menu button, hit zero to go to the TMR settings again, push menu again to edit it, hit zero again to turn it off, and hit menu again to set it... then of course hit Exit (#) to get out of the settings menu and then switch your selector to A...

Not only is that a PITA and a LOT of steps, you just turned off all monitoring of the other channel slots and puts you back to monitoring only the one channel you have selected on A! So, if after you complete transmitting on A, you want to again monitor all the others, you have to go back into the menu and re-enable the TMR settings... and back into the same dilemma if any squelched activity comes on at B!

A few solutions that would be nice...
1. Is there a way to stop the auto-moving of the selector to a channel with activity?
2. Is there a way to make it NOT select or even show activity on a channel slot that is PURPOSELY SQUELCHED OUT so it does not select the activity (maybe just shows it as green when there is squelched activity but don't select it and let you move the selector yourself?

Thanks if anyone has any ides or answers. Maybe I missed something in the settings to do this?