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. 

[HT600]

WRUU653 mentioned factory reset.  Did you save the original programing file from the manufacturer? 

Or, read  the working radio, save that file and clone the troublesome radio with that file.

[LeoG]

On 4/3/2025 at 9:22 AM, 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?    

Why are you here?  You don't seem to like any radios anyone has, only have negative things to say.  Do you come here to bish at people because your life is so sad?

[OffRoaderX]

33 minutes ago, LeoG said:

Why are you here?  You don't seem to like any radios anyone has, only have negative things to say.  Do you come here to bish at people because your life is so sad?

It's the only way he can get attention.. He clearly has no friends and i'm sure his family all ignores him, and he obviously never had any genuine respect at his job.  But here, he has figured out how to get people to notice him.

It is horribly sad, but, he's retarded, soo.....

[WRYZ926]

37 minutes ago, LeoG said:

Why are you here?  You don't seem to like any radios anyone has, only have negative things to say.  Do you come here to bish at people because your life is so sad?

 

4 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

It's the only way he can get attention.. He clearly has no friends and i'm sure his family all ignores him, and he obviously never had any genuine respect at his job.  But here, he has figured out how to get people to notice him.

It is horribly sad, but, he's retarded, soo.....

He is that weird cousin that everyone shuns at all family reunions. I'm seriously thinking he was dropped on his head too many times as a baby. And if that isn't the case then when brains were being passed out, he thought they were passing out trains and said no thanks he would take the bus.

And he is the poster child for the type of people that would most definitely get multiple blanket parties in the military.

[OffRoaderX]

7 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

He is that weird cousin that everyone shuns at all family reunions.

I bet his family calls him "Gail the Snail" ...

[WRUU653]

4 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

He is that weird cousin that everyone shuns at all family reunions

Oh yeah, okay. Yeah, you know… he shouldn’t drink.

[jsneezy]

22 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

And he is the poster child for the type of people that would most definitely get multiple blanket parties in the military.

We had a few PFCs that went 5150 or 86 because of repeated blanket parties. The worst offenders would receive 3 or 4 parties in one night, depending on who was on fire watch, and how bad the offender was. 

[WSHH887]

I'm pretty new here and probably shouldn't write this. But I've been around online information sharing sine before the WWW. Back when online literally meant on the telephone line to one other computer. Back before bulletin boards. So I have learned a bit about the folks that haunt the anonymous electronic world.  But here goes. 
 

This guy is what is colloquially called a troll. The folks make outrageous statements, often pure fantasy, in order to incite responses. They feed off of the responses. It doesn't matter whether it a good or bad response. As long as they can stir the pot the will. 
 

The ways you kill a troll are simple. First they can be banned by the forum owner. Unfortunately they sometimes pop back up under a new "identity".

The second way is to stave the troll. Again, two methods. Best is to put him on your ignore list. You won't see his comments unless someone else quotes him. The other method is to never respond to his comments. 

It took a bit for me to convince myself this guy was a troll. I'm ignoring him. If he irritates do the same. 
 

 

[CaptainSarcastic]

2 hours ago, WSHH887 said:

I'm pretty new here and probably shouldn't write this. But I've been around online information sharing sine before the WWW. Back when online literally meant on the telephone line to one other computer. Back before bulletin boards. So I have learned a bit about the folks that haunt the anonymous electronic world.  But here goes. 
 

This guy is what is colloquially called a troll. The folks make outrageous statements, often pure fantasy, in order to incite responses. They feed off of the responses. It doesn't matter whether it a good or bad response. As long as they can stir the pot the will. 
 

The ways you kill a troll are simple. First they can be banned by the forum owner. Unfortunately they sometimes pop back up under a new "identity".

The second way is to stave the troll. Again, two methods. Best is to put him on your ignore list. You won't see his comments unless someone else quotes him. The other method is to never respond to his comments. 

It took a bit for me to convince myself this guy was a troll. I'm ignoring him. If he irritates do the same. 
 

 

Unfortunately, some people just wake up in a foul mood - every day. And they feel it's their duty to spread their misery to as many people as they can (misery loves company). What better way to spread their misery to a large audience very quickly, than on an internet forum?

 

Sad

[WSAM454]

Any chance you have the wrong CTCSS tone set on one of the radios, or its power level is set to Low?

Also, an inexpensive SWR meter should be available to see if the radio is really transmitting.   It may be, but with VERY low output, so you may hear it in a nearby radio, but it is not developing the power it should.   SWR meter and VOM are pretty much "standard equipment" for simple troubleshooting.

 

[LeoG]

22 minutes ago, WSAM454 said:

Any chance you have the wrong CTCSS tone set on one of the radios, or its power level is set to Low?

Also, an inexpensive SWR meter should be available to see if the radio is really transmitting.   It may be, but with VERY low output, so you may hear it in a nearby radio, but it is not developing the power it should.   SWR meter and VOM are pretty much "standard equipment" for simple troubleshooting.

 

My non output H3 would transmit for about 1/3 mile to my other H3.  But it wouldn't connect to a repeater.  So very likely there is output even if it's just from the oscillator in the front end and not the main power output.  The radios are sensitive enough to pick up very weak signals.  Just not throw them far enough for a repeater to pick them up.

But ya, check your tones.  With the H3 you can wirelessly clone one radio to the other. So if one works and the cloned one doesn't there is an output issue.

[SteveShannon]

18 minutes ago, LeoG said:

With the H3 you can wirelessly clone one radio to the other. So if one works and the cloned one doesn't there is an output issue.

This!  Anybody who has multiple copies of the same radio can very easily test whether the problem is with their programming or with the radio by cloning a working radio of the same model.