Radioddity GM 20-G

[WSBZ915]

Assistance needed on my Db 20-g. The instruction manual is not good at all. What is the difference between manual option 1 T-CDC 2 R CDC and 3 RT CDC. 
 

I watched Notarubicon channel about tones so I have some understanding. 1 is transmit cdc which is also cdcss tone…. 2 is receive which I leave off. But 3 has me lost.  And how the heck do I input digital tones?

I love this site!!  Thanks

WSBZ915

 

 

 

 

 

[WRYS709]

2 hours ago, WSBZ915 said:

Assistance needed on my Db 20-g. The instruction manual is not good at all. What is the difference between manual option 1 T-CDC 2 R CDC and 3 RT CDC. 

Yes, unfortunately, the manual is too brief, but there is a large user base of these radios given the large feature set and the relatively low price.  Many of us have two. And as you note, many here are willing to share their knowledge with others, especially newbies.

So you have already discovered that if you hit the FUN button, it opens up the MENU at the bottom of the screen.  There are 1 through 30 MENU items available here, but as you scroll through them, some are missing due to the Part 95E certification for this GMRS radio (and are only available if the radio is "opened up" from its GMRS restrictions).

You can scroll up or down through these MENU items by using the V/M key as UP and MAIN key as DOWN.

As you discovered, MENU Items 1 through 3 set Tones, either Analog CTCSC or Digital DCS; and Item 1 sets the Transmit Tone; Item 2 sets the Receive Tone and Item 3 sets both the Transmit Tone and Receive Tone to the same value at the same time (sort of a shortcut from having to use Item 1 and then Item 2).

I recommend that new users only set the Item 1 Transmit Tones required to access Repeaters and leave the Receive Tone set to OFF.  So yes, you may hear stations or repeaters off in the distance that you may like to avoid, but, if a mistake is make with setting a Receive Tone, you will hear NOTHING!  So better to hear too much for now.

Here is how Menu Item 1 works:   The Default state is OFF; no tone is sent.  If you hit the MON button once, it turns on the ability to set an Analog CTCSS Tone, starting with 62.5 and using the UP Arrow Key and Down Arrow Key to scroll through all the available Analog Tones up through 254.1.

If you hit the MON key a second time, it opens up a non-standard ability to create your own CTCSS Analog Tone, which I recommend that you do not use.

If you hit the MON key a third time, it opens up the ability to set a DCS Digital Tone. There are two types of DCS Digital Tones: N (Normal) and I (Inverse) and most repeaters that use DCS Digital Tones use the Normal Tones.  Using the UP Arrow and DOWN Arrow Keys to scroll from 000 to 777 in the "N" Mode and if you hit the MON Key a fourth time, it allows you to scroll DCS Digital Tones from 000 to 777 in the "I" Inverse Mode.

Hitting the MON key a fifth time will circle around back to the default Tones Off again.

Once programmed, push the FUN button again to exit the Menu.

NOTE: Once you program a channel, either manually or with the CPS programming software, you can change the Tone for a specifically programmed channel using this method, but once you change channels or power the unit Off and then back On, it will default back to the programmed Tone.

Good luck and enjoy a great little radio!

[ben5446]

Thanks for that thorough explanation as I was having the same confusion. 

One follow up question: If I program in a CTCSS tone on item 1 T-CDC then program in a different CTCSS tone on item 2 R-CDC then item 3 RT-CDC automatically populates with the same CTCSS frequency as item 2.  When this happens is the T-CDC value no longer used? In other words is this radio incapable of joining a repeater with different TX and RX CTCSS tones? 

[WRYS709]

I don’t know: try it and come back and post the answer!

[ben5446]

It works.

[WRYS709]

Good to know! Thank you

[WSFY419]

Awesome post, thank you for making that so clear!  I think I just connected to my first repeater with my DB20-G, although I only received a squelch tail back.  (admitted newbie)

[WRYS709]

1 hour ago, WSFY419 said:

Awesome post, thank you for making that so clear!  I think I just connected to my first repeater with my DB20-G, although I only received a squelch tail back.  (admitted newbie)

Good to see that these cost effective little units are still selling and getting a larger fan base!