Automatic Station Identifier

nokones · January 29, 2023

Does anyone know of a source to obtain an automatic station identifier that I can connect to my radio or transmit on my repeater input frequency to identify my station every half-hour?

SteveShannon · January 29, 2023

1 minute ago, nokones said:

Does anyone know of a source to obtain an automatic station identifier that I can connect to my radio or transmit on my repeater input frequency to identify my station every half-hour?

http://www.hamgadgets.com/ID-O-MATIC-IV

but for GMRS it’s every 15 minutes while in use.

nokones · January 29, 2023

Thanks. My mistake on the intervals, I was use to every half-hour on Part 90 station and I am aware of the 15 minute intervals on GMRS..

MichaelLAX · January 29, 2023

@nokones: I just noticed that your repeater is set for narrowband operation.

Just curious why, as most on this Forum recommend Wide Band FM for repeater usage.

nokones · January 30, 2023

I support narrowband and some of the newer radios that people are using on GMRS will not support or operate on wideband.

MichaelLAX · January 30, 2023

OK, thank you; and which of the "newer" radios do not support WideBand?

nokones · January 30, 2023

When I was looking into buying mobile radios I came across both Part 90 and Part 95 mobile radios that would not accommodate wide band because they were manufactured after the refarming mandate. I believe Kenwood and Midland to name a couple were the ones that would not do wideband. I would need to retrace my steps on what I did several months ago to completely answer your question.

wrci350 · January 30, 2023

Part 95 radios were not affected by the narrowbanding mandate. For whatever reason, Midland *was* selling radios that would only do narrow band, but there wasn't any regulatory reason for them to be doing so. I believe they have changed the firmware on all or most of them now so you can use either wide or narrow band.

Part 90 radios WERE affected by narrowbanding, and the programming software sold by the big Part 90 radio companies will only allow narrow band out of the box. For Motorola, one can get a free entitlement that enables wideband by taking an online class and signing a pledge that states that wideband will only be allowed where it is permitted (i.e. amateur radio frequencies). I think the other vendors have something similar. I don't have any personal experience with Kenwood radios.

Lscott · January 31, 2023

On 1/30/2023 at 7:28 AM, wrci350 said:

I don't have any personal experience with Kenwood radios.

Kenwood radios can be setup for wide or narrow band. That is based on which version of the software is used to program a particular radio.

The older radios had software that allowed one to select either wide or narrow band. Nothing special was required other than a valid installation key. Newer radios it's more complicated.

There are so-called "Engineer's" keys used to install the software that allows, among other things like password removal, to select wide or narrow band. Newer version of the software Kenwood has disabled the use of the Engineer's keys. For those if you search around there are "wide band" keys used during software installation that allows wide and narrow band. You can likely order, buy, the key from a Kenwood dealer along with the software.

For some of the radios there are cracked or "Lab" versions that allow even more features than even the Engineer's keys allowed. Anything preceded by an asterisk is a special cracked feature that was enabled. For example in the sample photos I show what one can do. I even used it to recover the trunking system info from a used NX-200 VHF NXDN digital radio I purchased from eBay using the service function. This is something you should NOT be able to do without getting a "System Key File" from the owner of the trunking system! On another site forum a repeater owner said it wasn't possible when somebody asked. I posted the same photo there too.