UV-5G Pro and UV-5R GMRS receives from FRS but will not transmit

[Guest WSFW950]

Good evening all,

Radio newbie here. I have a pair of UV-5R GMRS and a pair of UV-5G Pro. I also just recently acquired a TID Radio TD-H3 GMRS.

I can communicate between all 4 UV-5's and with the TD-H3 without an issue. For some reason, I cannot communicate with FRS radios. I can receive no problem, but I cannot transmit. The FRS radio is a Retevis RB48. When I press the transmit key on any of my Baofengs, I can see on the RB48 that something is trying to come through... an arrow moving downward on the right side of the screen, but the screen itself does not light up and no sound. When transmitting from the TID, the RB48 doesn't detect anything at all. Conversely, when transmitting from the RB48 I can hear the transmission on my other radios. 

The Fengs and the TID are all set to channel mode. I'm thinking that its something to do with tones in the GMRS units. I'm pretty sure that I have them set to OFF, but still have the same problem. Here's what I have set in the menu (UV-5G Pro): R-DCS - off, R-CTCS - off, T-DCS - off, T-CTCS - off. The radio is set to UHF, I'm on wide bandwidth, GMRS/FRS channel 02 (or any other channel). 

What am I missing? Thanks for any help, guys n gals

 

[WRXB215]

Make sure the FRS radio doesn't have a tone set on the RX 

[Guest wsfw950]

9 hours ago, WRXB215 said:

Make sure the FRS radio doesn't have a tone set on the RX 

Bingo. the CTC code was 17.  Thank you. 

 

[Guest WSWF950]

Just a follow up in case any other newbies run into this issue. 

Following WRXB215's advise, I determined which CTC code the RB48 has... 17. The RB48's screen displays the current GMRS channel in large text on the left of the screen, and the CTC code in smaller font on the right side of the screen.  There is no "17" to choose in any of my radios to match up to the RB48. So, I set my TD-H3 to search for tones, and transmitted on the RB-48. The scan stopped on 118.8 so I set that in my TD-H3. I then checked DCS and the the code (I don't remember the exact code) stopped on what I think was 118n3. There is nothing in the RB-48 that matches that. I entered the same CTCC and DCS in my Baofengs to no avail... no two way comm.

I could be missing something else here as I am as green as grass in the radio world but I'm leaning towards the fact that the Retevis RB-48 (FRS radio) just isn't compatible with all radios, even though I'm using GMRS radios to try and communicate with it. 

 

 

 

[WRHS218]

Can you set the code to OFF on the FRS radio? If all radios have no codes (ctcss or DCS) then they should all communicate if they are on the same channel/frequency. You need some distance between the radios when testing.

[WRUU653]

I first recommend following @WRHS218's advice and turn the tones off on all the radios. Another thing to keep in mind if you are trying to match tones is find out what the frequency of the tone is rather than the number. Some radios have more so the numbers may not line up. 

[Guest WSWF950]

WRHS218, WRUU653, WRXB215

Thank you for your replies. 

After not finding a 2-digit number to correspond with the RB-48's "17", I used my TD-H3 to scan for a code while transmitting with the RB-48. The H3's scan stopped on the code but I still couldn't get it to talk to the Retevis. I tried again after my post earlier today. More on that in a second.

Today, I set the Retevis code to "00" and all units chatted happily. I reset the Retevis back the way it was because its a work radio. We have 8 of them. To be honest, I just wanted to use my own radio and since the powers that be here are ok with it, I've been trying to sync these radios. 

I also went back into the H3 today, scanned for the code, code saved, hit transmit, and Nada. Then it happened.... as I was holding the H3 in my hand with yet another failed attempt, I squeezed the radio in frustration and whattaya know. A successful transmission. The H3 is dual PTT and the channel I was trying to transmit on was in the lower area/field. I was pushing the top PTT button. I'll chalk that up to the newbie don't know his radio yet.

Feeling hopeful, I tried to scan with the UV-5R GMRS and it won't even scan. Since I know what the CTC is (thank you, H3), I entered the code manually on the radio. Still won't save the code. Consulted the owner's manual and its states that the code can only be saved in VFO mode. I tried that and sure enough, the "CT" icon displayed to the left of the frequency (462.587). While I'm glad it I can save the CTC, I cannot transmit to GMRS CH2 while in frequency mode. I don't know if I got a defective unit or if the only way to save a code is with a programming cable, or if my newbieness still has the wool over my eyes. I have one other UV-5R GMRS, and 2 UV-5G Pros. I haven't tried on those yet.