More VX-2200 woes

[Boatiac]

Being such a noob, I'm really wishing I hadn't gotten such a complicated radio. It is what it is now. Owners of the repeater system I use now require a DTMF tone to wakeup the repeaters. The manual for the Motorola VX-2200 says that I can program the tone into it and assign to a key button on the front panel. Then just hit the  button, key the mic, and wake the repeater. In the program I've gone to Signalling>DTMF Code> slot 1 and entered the correct code. Saved, exited, then over to Common>Key Function> P2 Long press> set it to Speed Dial.

Exit out of programming, load the new settings onto the radio. Go to P2, long press, "SPD Dial" appears, key the mic, hear it transmit, but nothing happens.

All the CTCSS/DSC codes are done right. Nothing there has changed. If someone else wakes the repeaters, I can talk, no problems with access. I just can't wake it up with my radio.

I feel like there is a step I'm missing. A setting I need to change, maybe? I go into Signalling> DTMF and there are a few different settings in there but I have no clue what they do or if I should even mess with them. One setting I did change was Signalling>DTMF>DTMF Speed from 50msec to 100msec. It was suggested that maybe the tone was being transmitted too fast? In my tiny little brain that doesn't make sense, seems to me going from 50 to 100 is faster. The suggestion was to put it on 150. That option isn't available, only 50msec or 100 msec.

The mic I'm using is a standard mic, no keypad. It was suggested just to get a mic with the keypad. Could be what I'll do. But, my brain keeps saying "NO" the radio is "supposed" to be able to do this code. I've attached an image of the program settings available in Signalling>DTMF and what settings currently are. Should something be changed?

As always, thank you for any help. Maybe one day I'll know enough to give help instead of always asking.

WRUJ869

 

[Boatiac]

Wow! Nothing?

[SteveShannon]

20 minutes ago, Boatiac said:

Wow! Nothing?

Not from me. Sorry. 

[wayoverthere]

1 hour ago, Sshannon said:

Not from me. Sorry. 

Ditto...while I've messed with vertex gear a bit (I have a couple 4200's as my 2m &70cm radios, and the 4207 will be taking over gmrs duty at some point, I haven't dug into the DTMF settings at all, and unfortunately have nothing to test them against.

[SteveShannon]

One thing I might suggest is to practice sending DTMF using one of your BTech mobiles or your Midland mxt500. Then make the 2200 sound like that. 

[Boatiac]

Thank you guys. Will keep digging. One thing I'm curious about is what each of those setting are and mean. Maybe if I even knew what they were and their purpose I could figure it out. One thing that was suggested was the timing. That's why I set the DTMF speed to 100msec. It doesn't go any higher. Maybe if someone can point me to site online that does a better job of explaining the settings, I can figure it out. I have the owners manual and the programmers guide, but nothing in those or the "help menu" in the programming software. I guess Motorola just expects all their techs to know these things. 

Again, thank you for your replies! And a very Happy New Year.

[Radioguy7268]

The Vertex Help file will clear up some of your questions (but probably still leave you with half, and also add another 10 questions.)

The 100 msec is the duration of the individual tones. Setting it to a shorter duration will allow your radio to spit out a longer DTMF string more quickly. I've never found machines to have much of a problem with decoding tones - as long as the radio was sending a tone on frequency and had decent deviation - and the receiver had a matching bandwidth & deviation expectations.

Usually when I've seen an issue with DTMF going through a repeater, it was that the DTMF tone was being spit out too soon, and a pause prior to the DTMF being sent would help. 

I have not ever messed around with using DTMF codes on a repeater for user control. My use was for Interconnect dialing and also irrigation control. When everything went narrowband, we definitely had some setup issues related to deviation and bandwidth, but once those waters calmed down and everyone was using 100% narrowband, the stuff became pretty much plug and play.

I'm assuming that you do hear the tones going out from your radio when you ket the PTT? I see you have the DTMF sidetone set to monitor. Does there appear to be any pause when you press the PTT before the DTMF is going out? How many digits long is the DTMF sequence? 

[Boatiac]

45 minutes ago, Radioguy7268 said:

The Vertex Help file will clear up some of your questions (but probably still leave you with half, and also add another 10 questions.)

The 100 msec is the duration of the individual tones. Setting it to a shorter duration will allow your radio to spit out a longer DTMF string more quickly. I've never found machines to have much of a problem with decoding tones - as long as the radio was sending a tone on frequency and had decent deviation - and the receiver had a matching bandwidth & deviation expectations.

Usually when I've seen an issue with DTMF going through a repeater, it was that the DTMF tone was being spit out too soon, and a pause prior to the DTMF being sent would help. 

I have not ever messed around with using DTMF codes on a repeater for user control. My use was for Interconnect dialing and also irrigation control. When everything went narrowband, we definitely had some setup issues related to deviation and bandwidth, but once those waters calmed down and everyone was using 100% narrowband, the stuff became pretty much plug and play.

I'm assuming that you do hear the tones going out from your radio when you ket the PTT? I see you have the DTMF sidetone set to monitor. Does there appear to be any pause when you press the PTT before the DTMF is going out? How many digits long is the DTMF sequence? 

"a pause prior to the DTMF being sent would help" Radioguy7268, that is one thing particularly I've wondered about. Would any of those settings create a pause? No, there is no pause, I hit the assigned short cut key, speed dial comes on the screen, hit the PTT and it immediately goes out, yes I hear the tone dial. It is 3 digits.

Thank you

[Radioguy7268]

You can usually set up a pause to happen by setting up a prefix of "#" or "*" in front of the digits.  Then you simply insert it into the desired "dial code" string like:  #123   - which will create a pause prior to spitting out 123.  If you don't have enough of a pause, you can try: ##123 

If you look in the Help file, it will give you some settings to get into for assigning a pause character, and the timing.  Trial and error is how I usually figure this stuff out. 

 

 

[SteveShannon]

Just now, Radioguy7268 said:

You can usually set up a pause to happen by setting up a prefix of "#" or "*" in front of the digits.  Then you simply insert it into the desired "dial code" string like:  #123   - which will create a pause prior to spitting out 123.  If you don't have enough of a pause, you can try: ##123 

If you look in the Help file, it will give you some settings to get into for assigning a pause character, and the timing.  Trial and error is how I usually figure this stuff out. 

 

 

 

19 minutes ago, Boatiac said:

"a pause prior to the DTMF being sent would help" Radioguy7268, that is one thing particularly I've wondered about. Would any of those settings create a pause? No, there is no pause, I hit the assigned short cut key, speed dial comes on the screen, hit the PTT and it immediately goes out, yes I hear the tone dial. It is 3 digits.

Thank you

At the very top of the screen shot at the top of this thread, you pasted a screenshot of the configuration software. 
The first two values are “DTMF PAUSE CODE” and “(DTMF) PAUSE TIME”

Pause time is set to 2 seconds but the code is set to 0. 
Try putting a character in there. The hints at the bottom of the screenshot show what characters are acceptable. 
 

Then, I assume, put that same character into your DTMF string. 

[Radioguy7268]

You would think that's where the pause code would go - but it's not. That's really like a "pause code table" setting.  You need to go into another DTMF tab to assign the pause code to that table. I don't have the VX2200 software in front of me, or have a codeplug with the DTMF tables already set up to share, but the built in software Help files will get him where he needs to be.

 

[Boatiac]

Update. I did get it to work finally. Another user recommended adding another * to the string. That got it. 

Will take another look and re-read the help file. Maybe if I read it enough, a light will start to flicker. Thank you guys again for the help.