Sshannon Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 1 hour ago, Lscott said: Likely the same way I have to do it for my TK-D340U radios. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/291-tk-d340u-front-and-back-2jpg/?context=new The radio has 32 channels total split 16 between two zones. I printed out a cheat-sheet I created in Excel. It does have voice announcements, but only for changing zones and channels. Not really much help. Thanks! That helps. He and I are always looking for something that would be easier for him to use. WRXB215, Lscott and WRUU653 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRXB215 Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 @Sshannon It's great that you are helping him out like that. Guys like you restore my faith in humanity. WRUU653, Sshannon and Lscott 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRYS709 Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 4 hours ago, Lscott said: Likely the same way I have to do it for my TK-D340U radios. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/291-tk-d340u-front-and-back-2jpg/?context=new The radio has 32 channels total split 16 between two zones. I printed out a cheat-sheet I created in Excel. It does have voice announcements, but only for changing zones and channels. Not really much help. This Cotre C001D also has voice announcements for its 16 channels; I am not sure yet about Zones. The On/Off toggle button is on the right side bottom, below the K-1 jack (which has a common cover over it). When you hold down the On/Off button for at least 2 seconds, the upper LED will blink green and a female voice will tell you which channel it is currently tuned to. Channels are changed by pushing the Menu button on the left side below the push-to-talk button and she says "Channel" and pushing the + or - button below Menu will rotate the channels accordingly and she will tell you the number of the newly selected channel either up or down. You can continue using the + or - button to get to the channel number you desire as she continues to tell you the next channel. You hold down the On/Off button again for about 2 seconds and a quick tone signifies it has turned off the HT. Can you print out your cheat sheet in Braille? I am going to order a sma to double crocodile clip cable so I can remove the HT's antenna and try to connect it to an external antenna. WRUU653 and Sshannon 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lscott Posted January 30 Author Report Share Posted January 30 34 minutes ago, WRYS709 said: Can you print out your cheat sheet in Braille? This might help. https://www.afb.org/blindness-and-low-vision/using-technology/assistive-technology-products/braille-printers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lscott Posted January 30 Author Report Share Posted January 30 I mentioned in a prior post I had a Kenwood TK-370 ratio with a stud type antenna port. The attached photos show the port and the adapter I found and modified to use on it. If you look carefully you'll see the brass outer ring on the port, ground side, is insulated from the center screw stud. The adapter is made the same way. The cheap Chinese radio's port doesn't look like it can use anything like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sshannon Posted January 30 Report Share Posted January 30 37 minutes ago, WRYS709 said: Can you print out your cheat sheet in Braille? He has a braille printer. I put together a list of the channels each time I edit the codeplug. He has his text to speech software read it to him. WRUU653 and Lscott 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRYS709 Posted February 15 Report Share Posted February 15 Seems like the Cotre C001D has now disappeared off of Amazon completely; not even available for $35 anymore! Maybe it was all a dream?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lscott Posted February 15 Author Report Share Posted February 15 6 hours ago, WRYS709 said: Seems like the Cotre C001D has now disappeared off of Amazon completely; not even available for $35 anymore! Maybe it was all a dream?! A buddy got one the other day. He said he still needed to install the software to program the radio. He did comment about the funky stud type antenna port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRYS709 Posted February 15 Report Share Posted February 15 20 minutes ago, Lscott said: A buddy got one the other day. He said he still needed to install the software to program the radio. He did comment about the funky stud type antenna port. Did he say where he got it from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lscott Posted February 15 Author Report Share Posted February 15 1 hour ago, WRYS709 said: Did he say where he got it from? Not specifically, but I think it was Amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRYS709 Posted February 15 Report Share Posted February 15 4 hours ago, Lscott said: Not specifically, but I think it was Amazon. Yeah: Still no there on Amazon. I would love to find the COTRE C006D to play with next! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lscott Posted February 15 Author Report Share Posted February 15 15 minutes ago, WRYS709 said: Yeah: Still no there on Amazon. I would love to find the COTRE C006D to play with next! That was the model I saw being recommended. I have some non display Kenwood radio models in my collection. Nice radios but not very convenient use. With up to 32 channels on some of them trying to remember what channel is programmed for what isn't easy if you don't use it very regularly. That's why my preference are the display models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRYS709 Posted February 16 Report Share Posted February 16 4 hours ago, Lscott said: That was the model I saw being recommended. I have some non display Kenwood radio models in my collection. Nice radios but not very convenient use. With up to 32 channels on some of them trying to remember what channel is programmed for what isn't easy if you don't use it very regularly. That's why my preference are the display models. I taped a printout of each channel onto the display-less Cotre. At $14, you could have picked up some more to program another 16 channels and/or another DMR Repeater. The best low cost DMR HT with a display continues to be the Radioddity RD-5R a/k/a Baofeng DM-5R (Tier II) at about a $70 price point (also the OpenGD77 firmware works on both of these). WRXB215 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lscott Posted February 16 Author Report Share Posted February 16 15 minutes ago, WRYS709 said: I taped a printout of each channel onto the display-less Cotre. At $14, you could have picked up some more to program another 16 channels and/or another DMR Repeater. The best low cost DMR HT with a display continues to be the Radioddity RD-5R a/k/a Baofeng DM-5R (Tier II) at about a $70 price point (also the OpenGD77 firmware works on both of these). The non display models I have are a few Kenwood radios. A sample is here: https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/291-tk-d340u-front-and-back-2jpg/?context=new I have to print out a cheat sheet to remember what each channel is programmed to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRYS709 Posted February 26 Report Share Posted February 26 On 2/15/2024 at 4:32 PM, Lscott said: I have to print out a cheat sheet to remember what each channel is programmed to. Yes, that works best to remember what is programmed to each of the 16 channels. I got this SMA to Alligator Clips adapter and unscrewed the non-standard antenna. I put the red clip inside the non-standard antenna jack and connected the SMA to a rooftop antenna and voilå this little thing is getting great reports through a local DMR repeater and it even works Digital Simplex really well, too! I would like to pick up a couple more if they were available and at the $14 price point, just to program for a couple of different DMR repeaters. And of course finding the C006D with the display would be a bonus! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lscott Posted February 26 Author Report Share Posted February 26 47 minutes ago, WRYS709 said: Yes, that works best to remember what is programmed to each of the 16 channels. I got this SMA to Alligator Clips adapter and unscrewed the non-standard antenna. I put the red clip inside the non-standard antenna jack and connected the SMA to a rooftop antenna and voilå this little thing is getting great reports through a local DMR repeater and it even works Digital Simplex really well, too! I would like to pick up a couple more if they were available and at the $14 price point, just to program for a couple of different DMR repeaters. And of course finding the C006D with the display would be a bonus! The miss match caused by the clips on the leads may eventually damage your radio. I would very seriously look for a good quality adapter for your radio. Unless it’s totally proprietary to the manufacturer you should find one. In the case of this cheap radio you could use it as is, or disassemble it and install the pigtail directly on the circuit board. I’ve seen this done in the past with FRS radios. There are some YouTube videos on the topic. WRYS709 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRYS709 Posted February 26 Report Share Posted February 26 13 hours ago, Lscott said: The miss match caused by the clips on the leads may eventually damage your radio. I would very seriously look for a good quality adapter for your radio. Unless it’s totally proprietary to the manufacturer you should find one. In the case of this cheap radio you could use it as is, or disassemble it and install the pigtail directly on the circuit board. I’ve seen this done in the past with FRS radios. There are some YouTube videos on the topic. Or when I can get another one for $14, use the antenna for parts to make a better matched adapter! But until then this experiment proved that it could propagate very well from a rooftop antenna only connected to the red wire with no ground (apparently the way the mini-whip is connected as well). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lscott Posted February 26 Author Report Share Posted February 26 2 hours ago, WRYS709 said: Or when I can get another one for $14, At that price you can afford to destroy one or two and not feel too bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lscott Posted February 26 Author Report Share Posted February 26 Here is one idea used on an expensive Motorola XPR7550 radio. Allows the use of an external antenna by using a stud type adapter to BNC. The ground is made externally using a strip of sticky back copper foil tape over the back side of the case to the chassis for the ground connection to the adapter. Something like this could be use on the cheap radio. https://youtu.be/O3KEazVQ-RA?si=UV8kiC5HQjQ3gqMG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRYS709 Posted February 26 Report Share Posted February 26 I’ll do some research Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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