Radioddity DB20-G

[UncleYoda]

Yea, we already solved this over in the Anytone thread even though mine is the DB20-G.

[WRYS709]

19 minutes ago, UncleYoda said:

Yea, we already solved this over in the Anytone thread even though mine is the DB20-G.

Did you see my further comment over there about using v2.02 of the Radioddity CPS software to be able to program Channel 39 as a DIY repeater channel?  I thought you had an Anytone, but the same solution should apply to your DB20-G.

[WRXB215]

@WRYS709 As far as I can tell, the latest Anytone version is 2.00. Let us know if you see a later version somewhere.

Thanks

[WRYS709]

3 minutes ago, WRXB215 said:

@WRYS709 As far as I can tell, the latest Anytone version is 2.00. Let us know if you see a later version somewhere.

Thanks

I have a version 2.01 of the Anytone CPS software (dated 4/27/2021) in my software library, but IMHO, the Radioddity v2.02 CPS software works best, as of today's date, for both radios.

[UncleYoda]

22 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

Did you see my further comment over there about using v2.02 of the Radioddity CPS software to be able to program Channel 39 as a DIY repeater channel?  I thought you had an Anytone, but the same solution should apply to your DB20-G.

Yes, I saw that.  But I have v2.02.  It may just be a quirk with mine that was preventing entry.  I had previously programmed that channel manually with a simplex channel with tones.   So now I just deleted that channel entry and added a new one.  This time it gives me the repeater offset for transmit and TX off is check-able again.  But now I can't enter simplex there in the software like I did from the radio.  A bit quirky but not a big deal.

[WRYS709]

5 minutes ago, UncleYoda said:

This time it gives me the repeater offsetfor transmit and TX off is check-able again.  But now I can't enter simplex there in the software like I did from the radio.  A bit quirky but not a big deal.

I'll check the next time I have the CPS up and running, but I believe that one current criticism of the CPS software for this radio, is that the DIY Channels (31-39) are for repeaters only and not for Simplex with tones.

I expect Radioddity to address that in a future update and perhaps even more DIY repeater channels, as this model continues to be a popular seller.

[UncleYoda]

22 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

I'll check the next time I have the CPS up and running, but I believe that one current criticism of the CPS software for this radio, is that the DIY Channels (31-39) are for repeaters only and not for Simplex with tones.

I expect Radioddity to address that in a future update and perhaps even more DIY repeater channels, as this model continues to be a popular seller.

It's different programming from the radio.  There is no offset or TX frequency setting available (menu options related to repeaters are disabled/missing).  So from the radio I could only do simplex for ch 39.  And from the software it's only with the repeater offset when entered from scratch.  I actually like having that one simplex channel with tones for my base station.

When I was dealing with Radioddity support, that was my suggestion, that they add more channels or preferably limit by frequency and not by channel number.  Most of these vendors seem to think they have to limit us to a few channels to get GMRS certification.  But there's nothing in the regs that say we can't have a bunch of channels using the same frequency.  I may not be able to transmit to many from home but having them programmed in is good for travel.

[WRYS709]

4 minutes ago, UncleYoda said:

I may not be able to transmit to any from home but having them programmed in is good for travel.

Programming this radio by hand is a PITA, as are most radios; hence CPS software.

When I travel, I bring my laptop and the programming cable, as well.

[WRXB215]

24 minutes ago, UncleYoda said:

Most of these vendors seem to think they have to limit us to a few channels to get GMRS certification.  But there's nothing in the regs that say we can't have a bunch of channels using the same frequency.

This is one thing they got right with the UV-5R GMRS. I have lots of repeaters programmed in for travel. I also have some ham repeaters programmed in as well as the NOAA frequencies. It rightly doesn't let me transmit on anything but the GMRS frequencies.

[jsneezy]

I hate to revive a thread like this, but I got the radio set up in my truck. I ended up finding out that some of the repeater channels that I had programmed are set to low power, and I want to try medium and high to see if there's any change. I tried hitting FUN on the mic, then the 0 key, which also says PWR in smaller lettering, but there was no change in the power setting. Do I need to switch to VFO mode, or is there something in the menu that I'm missing?

[SteveShannon]

17 minutes ago, jsneezy said:

I hate to revive a thread like this, but I got the radio set up in my truck. I ended up finding out that some of the repeater channels that I had programmed are set to low power, and I want to try medium and high to see if there's any change. I tried hitting FUN on the mic, then the 0 key, which also says PWR in smaller lettering, but there was no change in the power setting. Do I need to switch to VFO mode, or is there something in the menu that I'm missing?

I had to go try it on mine. It doesn’t work for me either. 

[jsneezy]

11 minutes ago, Sshannon said:

I had to go try it on mine. It doesn’t work for me either. 

I wonder if it would work by switching to VFO? That seems like the next logical step to me, but I may be wrong. The only other thing I can think of would be bringing it back in the house, grabbing the power supply and programming cable, and changing it with the CPS. I'm hoping there's a way to do it without bringing it in.

[SteveShannon]

1 minute ago, jsneezy said:

I wonder if it would work by switching to VFO? That seems like the next logical step to me, but I may be wrong. The only other thing I can think of would be bringing it back in the house, grabbing the power supply and programming cable, and changing it with the CPS. I'm hoping there's a way to do it without bringing it in.

I did that (switched from memory to VFO) too. No difference. 
I guess you could take the computer outside.

[jsneezy]

44 minutes ago, Sshannon said:

I did that (switched from memory to VFO) too. No difference. 
I guess you could take the computer outside.

If I had a laptop running windows, I would consider that an option, but the only laptop I run is Linux. It's a lot easier to take a radio to a desktop PC than the other way around. 

[wayoverthere]

3 hours ago, jsneezy said:

If I had a laptop running windows, I would consider that an option, but the only laptop I run is Linux. It's a lot easier to take a radio to a desktop PC than the other way around. 

i haven't tried with the radioddity software, but i've had success running other radio programming software in Wine (if you have that available).

[WRYS709]

8 hours ago, jsneezy said:

I hate to revive a thread like this, but I got the radio set up in my truck. I ended up finding out that some of the repeater channels that I had programmed are set to low power, and I want to try medium and high to see if there's any change. I tried hitting FUN on the mic, then the 0 key, which also says PWR in smaller lettering, but there was no change in the power setting. Do I need to switch to VFO mode, or is there something in the menu that I'm missing?

If you are in GMRS Mode, you cannot change the Power setting with either the front panel buttons or the microphone buttons; they are locked down.  You must use the Programming software.

If you "open" the Radioddity DB20-G (or Anytone AT-779UV) to MODE: (136-174)(400-470)...

You can change many of these settings on the fly, so that you would not be required to remove the radio from your truck and bring home to keep programming.

I have attached the "GMRS generic" code plug that will work with this MODE for GMRS and you can build it out to your localized repeaters, etc. from there, if that would be helpful to you.

Although it is named "Anytone" it works with either the Anytone version 2.01 or Radioddity version 2.02 CPS software.

Let me know if you have any questions. 

NOTE: Even though this Codeplug is programmed to be consistent with Part 95E rules for GMRS, some people believe that its use on GMRS in the “open mode” is inconsistent with the radios Part 95E certification and hence, use at your own risk.

Anytone AT-779UV GMRS 202310130140.dat

[SteveShannon]

3 hours ago, WRYS709 said:

If you are in GMRS Mode, you cannot change the Power setting with either the front panel buttons or the microphone buttons; they are locked down.  You must use the Programming software.

If you "open" the Radioddity DB20-G (or Anytone AT-779UV) to MODE: (136-174)(400-470)...

You can change many of these settings on the fly, so that you would not be required to remove the radio from your truck and bring home to keep programming.

I have attached the "GMRS generic" code plug that will work with this MODE for GMRS and you can build it out to your localized repeaters, etc. from there, if that would be helpful to you.

Although it is named "Anytone" it works with either the Anytone version 2.01 or Radioddity version 2.02 CPS software.

Let me know if you have any questions. 

NOTE: Even though this Codeplug is programmed to be consistent with Part 95E rules for GMRS, some people believe that its use on GMRS in the “open mode” is inconsistent with the radios Part 95E certification and hence, use at your own risk.

Anytone AT-779UV GMRS 202310130140.dat 13.95 kB · 1 download

In my post above, my radio was opened up.  I use it strictly as a ham radio (no GMRS), but it still doesn’t allow changing the power using the Fun button and the 0/Pow button sequence.  Pressing the Fun button puts it into Fun mode.  Pressing the 0/Pow button takes it right back out.

[WRYS709]

 

[jsneezy]

I ended up bringing the radio in and using the CPS. I might try out changing the mode and adding the GMRS code plug to it later. For now, I'm just getting used to having a radio in the truck with me. Next step is going to be the permanent antenna, but that can wait for another day.

[SteveShannon]

On 10/13/2023 at 11:26 AM, WRYS709 said:

 

 

You deserve to hear this: you were right and I was wrong. The power indicator rotates through H, M, and L, with no other indication and I completely missed it. 

[WRYS709]

Try out the GMRS codeplug as well, as it opens up pretty much all of the microphone shortcuts (and manual programming steps) for use there, too.

[cowboypilot]

Here's an intermediate step that will hopefully help. It's for the RA25, unsure if it will work on the other models.

It requires two files to be in the directory it is run in, settings.dat and channels.csv

settings.dat is a file you generate from the stock RA-25 software. You should set up the radio settings how you want them like the start up message, memory channels that open by default, etc. Basically everything on the left side except for the CH menu. Those settings are all saved into the header of the data file.

channels.csv is a chirp CSV. It should trim the channel names to 8 characters and the total channels to 500 (As well as ignoring any channels over 500) but that hasn't been tested extensively.

The script counts how many channels are in the file, then searches the header for a flag that indicates where the total channel number is stored and updates that. After that it skips to the beginning of the channel section and truncates there. The CSV is ingested to translate chirp data to the correct byte sequence for the radio (everything I've doped out so far is included at the bottom of the script in a CSV blob) and then added to the header and saved as an RA25 Data file called RA25-Import.dat

I've tried it with a few of the different model options and it seems to be working across models too so I'm thinking that must also live in the header and not really change how the radio interprets channels, just limits what you can do.

I'm not a python programmer, I'm sure the code is ugly as can be. Feel free to make it better/less-sucky.

Oh also, if you haven't already noticed the stock software has a bug where after you open a data file it will not write any radio settings that you haven't opened a dialog for. In other words, if you open a data file you need to click on the "Function Setup" and "Information of Scanning" to actually get that stuff to load into memory before sending to your radio or it doesn't send. That's how mine has always worked, this software is terrible.

ChirpImport v1.0.py

[WRYS709]

I will take a look at this when I have some time, so thank you!

In my personal experience the Codeplug software for the Retevis Ra-25 seems to be specific to that radio and I have never been able to get the codeplugs generated from its software to load into the Raddioddity or Anytone CPS software.

That is the main reason I never recommend that radio in favor of the Radioddity DB20-G or the Anytone AT-779UV.

[WRYS709]

On 12/6/2023 at 2:06 PM, cowboypilot said:

I've tried it with a few of the different model options and it seems to be working across models too so I'm thinking that must also live in the header and not really change how the radio interprets channels, just limits what you can do.

Questions:

1) I am not experienced with Python, but I want to try your suggestion. I do have the Retevis version (Ra-25) CPS software from previous work.  I also created a csv file from Chirp and put them all in the same subdirectory.  How do I execute the Python file?

2) What do you mean by "working across models?" You say: "I've tried it with a few of the different model options and it seems to be working across models too"

3) I will look for the "bug" you mentioned when I try this out.

Thank you!