Did I fry my radio

[WRTS503]

I bought the two pack tidradio h-3 on Amazon along with the midland ghost antenna on a mag mount for usin in my truck. The radio I had hooked up to it in the truck will not hit the repeaters anymore, while the other, exact same radio, with its normal antenna will hit the same repeater. Did I fry the radio connected to the ghost antenna or something? I can still hear the repeaters and talk on simplex frequencies, it just won’t him repeaters. 

[OffRoaderX]

IF you 'fried' your radio, it was not because it was connected to a Ghost antenna, unless that antenna or your wiring is defective/shorted.

My guess is you've messed up a setting, which is statistically far, FAR more likely than any damage to the radio.

[OffRoaderX]

Contact their support and see what they say - if they give you the run-around, or dont help, just send it back and tell them to send you one that works or give you back your money.  Amazon makes this VERY easy to do.

[WRTS503]

19 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

IF you 'fried' your radio, it was not because it was connected to a Ghost antenna, unless that antenna or your wiring is defective/shorted.

My guess is you've messed up a setting, which is statistically far, FAR more likely than any damage to the radio.

Iv gone through the settings on both radios and everything is identical. One hits the repeater and one doesn’t. The radio I had in my tuck will receive but will not transmit. Again, all the settings, frequencies and tones are identical on the two radios. I do not have an swr meter to test. There’s no way to tune a ghost antenna anyway. 

[TrikeRadio]

1 hour ago, WRTS503 said:

Iv gone through the settings on both radios and everything is identical. One hits the repeater and one doesn’t. The radio I had in my tuck will receive but will not transmit. Again, all the settings, frequencies and tones are identical on the two radios. I do not have an swr meter to test. There’s no way to tune a ghost antenna anyway. 

Did you by chance charge it on the cradle or via the direct battery plug with the battery still attached to the radio while charging?

[WRTS503]

15 minutes ago, TrikeRadio said:

Did you by chance charge it on the cradle or via the direct battery plug with the battery still attached to the radio while charging?

I did charge it via the battery plug with the battery still attached. But Iv done that with the other h-3, as well as the h-5 I have and both work fine. 

[TrikeRadio]

19 minutes ago, WRTS503 said:

I did charge it via the battery plug with the battery still attached. But Iv done that with the other h-3, as well as the h-5 I have and both work fine. 

Ok, my not mean anything but I have seen some people who are trying to figure out what has cause some TD-H3s to fail and one theory is that when the battery is fully charged it might start outputting high voltage before the charger cable is unplugged. They are thinking that surge might be affecting the radio if it is attached at the time.

[CaptainSarcastic]

Is there a way to factory reset those and then reload your channels? Seems silly, but I've had similar things happen and a factory reset is what needed to happen in order to bring the radio back to life.

[WRUU653]

I also was going to ask if you did a factory reset, that and have you tried swapping the antenna back?

[TDM827]

Plenty of threads here about a budget radio not working out of the box, or quickly failing. My impression is it kind of goes with the territory in sub $40 value models.

As others noted, if you have everything set correct I would just send it back for a replacement and not waste anymore time with it.

[WRTS503]

7 hours ago, Socalgmrs said:

Can they talk to each other (simplex) 100yards away with stock antennas? 200yards? 1/4 mile?   Did you put the stock antenna back on it and see if it works like the other one?  If they work simplex they work for the repeater. The h3 seams to be one of the worst radios made and the ghost salt shaker isn’t much better.  Also  where is the antenna mounted?  As high as possible in the center of the roof? Or down on a fender with the cab obstructing  it?    

I can talk to eachother via simplex and I can listen to the repeater, it just won’t transmit to the repeater. Iv tried the original antenna that came with it and also did the factory reset multiple times. Iv contacted tidradio and will try to return it. This is a new hobby, notaribicon had positive things to say about this radio as well as the ghost antenna, not sure why all the hate towards them lol. Defects happen, not the end of the world. Appreciate all the feedback!

[WRTS503]

7 hours ago, Socalgmrs said:

Can they talk to each other (simplex) 100yards away with stock antennas? 200yards? 1/4 mile?   Did you put the stock antenna back on it and see if it works like the other one?  If they work simplex they work for the repeater. The h3 seams to be one of the worst radios made and the ghost salt shaker isn’t much better.  Also  where is the antenna mounted?  As high as possible in the center of the roof? Or down on a fender with the cab obstructing  it?    

And the antenna is mounted on the roof of the vehicle toward the center but not dead center. 

[OffRoaderX]

11 minutes ago, WRTS503 said:

the antenna is mounted on the roof of the vehicle toward the center but not dead center

That doesn't matter.  as long as you have 2-inches or so of metal on all sides around the bottom, and no metal is blocking the signal (ie; like if was mounted in the bed of a truck), you're fine.

[TerriKennedy]

11 hours ago, Socalgmrs said:

Can they talk to each other (simplex) 100yards away with stock antennas? 200yards? 1/4 mile?

That is the important part. I changed the Tx power calibrations on my radio by accident using the factory debug software (sorry, I can't share, please don't ask). A Surecom SW-102 hooked directly up to the radio didn't register any power or even the frequency I was "transmitting" on. However, another radio next to it could hear it and we could carry on a conversation in the same room, but not at any greater distance.

If the OP can talk to the other radio at 1/4 mile in simplex, then I'd look to see that the Tx / Rx (if used) tones for accessing the repeater didn't get clobbered somehow. 

[Socalgmrs]

Can they talk to each other (simplex) 100yards away with stock antennas? 200yards? 1/4 mile?   Did you put the stock antenna back on it and see if it works like the other one?  If they work simplex they work for the repeater. The h3 seams to be one of the worst radios made and the ghost salt shaker isn’t much better.  Also  where is the antenna mounted?  As high as possible in the center of the roof? Or down on a fender with the cab obstructing  it?