Programing PL tones into Kenwood TK-880

[Flameout]

I just picked up a TK-880, programing cable and KPG-49D (4.21) software. I'm able to read and write to the radio, but none of the PL tones I enter into the software are writing to the radio and I get this message when writing (first photo)

I'm just doing some test files for now, until I can figure this out. The second photo is the few frequencies I have written to the radio. The two GMRS channels work just fine, but the 462.5500 Repeater is not working (not opening up the repeater) (second photo)

Is there a way to factory reset these radios? It was a trunked system with 2 users programed in. I just deleted them, set No.1 under System Information as "Conventional" then went to SYSTEM EDIT in the bottom left of that page. I think the firmware is [OEC8]

 

I really thought I'd be able to find more videos on programing the 880

 

[WRKC440]

Your pic shows you only have a receive tone programmed in.   You’ll need a transmit tone to open the repeater likely. 

[Sshannon]

5 hours ago, WRKC440 said:

Your pic shows you only have a receive tone programmed in.   You’ll need a transmit tone to open the repeater likely. 

It would seem he already understood that. His question was about why he cannot program a tone.

[kipandlee]

try kpg-49d version 4.20 its what i use for my 880,s works great 

[Flameout]

I somehow got it working, but no idea what setting I changed but now rather than a channel name showing up,like it was,  it is just numbers. There sure are lots of different settings in the program! I probably should have been saving the file after each change. Now I have no idea how to get it back into showing the channel name. Is it capable of showing the channel and name and channel number?

[Lscott]

Change this setting.

[WRKC440]

3 hours ago, Sshannon said:

It would seem he already understood that. His question was about why he cannot program a tone.

The picture shows otherwise 

[Lscott]

His last post was asking how to get the channel names to display. He said he wasn't sure what he changed to screw it up.

[Sshannon]

10 hours ago, Flameout said:

I'm able to read and write to the radio, but none of the PL tones I enter into the software are writing to the radio and I get this message when writing (first photo)

 

22 minutes ago, WRKC440 said:

The picture shows otherwise 

 

[Lscott]

This is what he wrote on a follow up post showing the radio's display. It seems he figured out the tone issue but some how mucked up the display settings. That's what I responded too in my reply.

"I somehow got it working, but no idea what setting I changed but now rather than a channel name showing up,like it was,  it is just numbers."

"Now I have no idea how to get it back into showing the channel name. Is it capable of showing the channel and name and channel number?"

[Sshannon]

5 minutes ago, Lscott said:

This is what he wrote on a follow up post showing the radio's display. It seems he figured out the tone issue but some how mucked up the display settings. That's what I responded too in my reply.

"I somehow got it working, but no idea what setting I changed but now rather than a channel name showing up,like it was,  it is just numbers."

"Now I have no idea how to get it back into showing the channel name. Is it capable of showing the channel and name and channel number?"

I agree and nothing in my post was directed at you.  I was responding to the other person who (9 hours earlier) said “you need PL tones” in response to the OP’s post about having difficulty writing PL tones. 

[Lscott]

13 minutes ago, Sshannon said:

I agree and nothing in my post was directed at you.  I was responding to the other person who (9 hours earlier) said “you need PL tones” in response to the OP’s post about having difficulty writing PL tones. 

OK. My misunderstanding.

[Flameout]

1 hour ago, Lscott said:

Change this setting.

I just realized my screens were different and I wasn't showing the same setting. I figured out I need to open as Conventional and not Trunking. I really appreciate everyones help. Only thing I need to get working now is scan. I have it selected/assigned to Scan key, but it does nothing (Even though the channels that I added were included in the scan

[Lscott]

I would recommend the following setting in the SCAN option panel. Make this setting FIRST. If it's set to anything else the radio will only scan the selected channels in the current group. Using the "MULTI" option any channel in any group can be scanned regardless of the current group the radio is set for.

After the above then you need to edit each GROUP to enable scanning the channels in that group as well.

You need to do both of the above.

 

[Flameout]

Maybe I just have a bad scan button? But if I assign something other that 'Scan' to it, it works. I tried those steps and the scan button does nothing. On the display, it is showing which channels are selected to be scanned and I can turn that on or off with the A button. I only have 1 group, using the name GMRS and the number 1. I bet I've written to this radio 50 times today lol. I'm sure I'm probably missing something simple

[Lscott]

If the button was defective then nothing you assign to it would work either so I don't think that's your problem.

At this point I can't think of any other reason why it won't work from a setup stand point. I do know you have to have at least two channels selected to scan otherwise it doesn't do anything.

I would recommend you look through the help file for the options in the SCAN panel and make sure you understand what each option does and if it makes sense for what you want the radio to do.

 

[Flameout]

It is scanning now. Under Edit-Scan Information I had to check Off Hook Scan

[axorlov]

1 hour ago, Flameout said:

But if I assign something other that 'Scan' to it, it works

So, the scan function works, but the SCN button does not? Assign Monitoring to SCN and Scanning to MON to verify.

[Flameout]

2 hours ago, axorlov said:

So, the scan function works, but the SCN button does not? Assign Monitoring to SCN and Scanning to MON to verify.

I ended up getting Scan to work. I just needed to put a check in "Off Hook Scan"

[axorlov]

1 hour ago, Flameout said:

I ended up getting Scan to work. I just needed to put a check in "Off Hook Scan"

Ha! I remember that now. That was years ago, I forgot the details. Glad to hear everything works.

Here is the thread where we discussed 880 and some other Kenwood old iron (and there were more threads here). Might be of interest to you:

 

[KAF6045]

11 hours ago, Flameout said:

Just a comment about your channel naming.

What are considered 1-7 in the current unified channel list were the ORIGINAL GMRS Interstitials, using (W)FM and power levels <5W. They predate the FRS service (which used the same frequencies but in NFM and, originally <0.5W). 15-22 are the original GMRS primary channels, (W)FM, <50W. 23-30 appear to be created for brain-dead radios (and some users in the same condition) that can't easily toggle from repeater to simplex and back using 15-22.

8-14 started life as FRS only, again NFM and <0.5W. Current GMRS rules now allow usage of them but under that same NFM/0.5W criteria. If the radio you are programming has a "Low" power that is more than 0.5W, you can not operate 8-14 legally.

FRS is now allowed up to 2W on 1-7, and 15-22 (no repeater modes), and I'm fairly certain in NFM only. 8-14, as stated above. Oh, and I think FRS still mandates non-removable antenna, so no stuffing a 6dB gain antenna on a 0.5W channel.

 

[Flameout]

11 hours ago, KAF6045 said:

Just a comment about your channel naming.

 

 

I was just kind of experimenting with the different frequencies, to make sure I was doing thing correctly. The only thing I really want to use  the radio for is GMRS repeater. I did enter a 70cm local repeater into it and it does work fine in the 443 MHz range

[WRTJ269]

Im having the same issue, I have a TK-880-1 V2 radio, programming GMRS, when I program the tones in I'm not getting into the repeater, I feel its something in the program im overlooking. I do get an error for "Stun Status Validation" and Firmware doesn't support, but it does take my codeplug. Any Thoughts?

[Sshannon]

1 hour ago, WRTJ269 said:

Im having the same issue, I have a TK-880-1 V2 radio, programming GMRS, when I program the tones in I'm not getting into the repeater, I feel its something in the program im overlooking. I do get an error for "Stun Status Validation" and Firmware doesn't support, but it does take my codeplug. Any Thoughts?

Are you getting into the repeater when you don’t program the tones?

What frequency are you transmitting on to the repeater?

What frequency are you receiving on from the repeater?

 

[WRTJ269]

19 hours ago, Sshannon said:

Are you getting into the repeater when you don’t program the tones?

What frequency are you transmitting on to the repeater?

What frequency are you receiving on from the repeater?

 

Im programming it the same as my other radios, just making sure this Kenwood is programming right. all frequencies and encode and decode are correct. I do get an error for "Stun Status Validation" and Firmware doesn't support, but it does take my codeplug. So just wanted to see if there is a setting in the KPG-49D that I might be overlooking.

[WRXB215]

Many radios have a "Stun" and a "Kill" feature. Sounds like it may be in the "Stunned" state. @Lscott is a Kenwood man, maybe he can shed some light on this.