VX-7R allowing audio through 2 PL tones

[radioaustralia]

Got a VX-7R months ago and have come to like the unit, however I have encountered one small issue that I can hopefully rectify with your assistance! When on a frequency and trying to "search" for the PL tone, the unit occasionally allows audio to pass through two tones next to each other. Example below:

450.000 - 162.2 & 165.5 = In this instance we will assume 162.2 is correct
451.000 - 203.5 & 206.5 = In this instance we will assume 206.5 is correct

Audio is passing through on both tones, when in actual fact frequency is only emitting one tone. The only workaround I have been using is to "decode" the tone on other units such as the Icom & Uniden, which do not have the problem that the VX-7R does.

Is there anyone out there with a bit more skill than mine with this unit be able to help me find the correct tone, and explain why this is happening! Cheers

[ac7xc]

Originally Posted by radioaustralia

Got a VX-7R months ago and have come to like the unit, however I have encountered one small issue that I can hopefully rectify with your assistance! When on a frequency and trying to "search" for the PL tone, the unit occasionally allows audio to pass through two tones next to each other. Example below:

450.000 - 162.2 & 165.5 = In this instance we will assume 162.2 is correct
451.000 - 203.5 & 206.5 = In this instance we will assume 206.5 is correct

Audio is passing through on both tones, when in actual fact frequency is only emitting one tone. The only workaround I have been using is to "decode" the tone on other units such as the Icom & Uniden, which do not have the problem that the VX-7R does.

Is there anyone out there with a bit more skill than mine with this unit be able to help me find the correct tone, and explain why this is happening! Cheers

This is a design flaw in the radio. It could be the hardware or the firmware of the radio. Since you can repeat it that would prove there is a problem. Go ahead and email Yaesu and see what they say about it.

[eorange]

Now that's interesting.

I did notice your example uses tones that are around ~3 Hz apart. I wonder if that would happen between, say, 127.3 and 131.8 which is 4.5 Hz apart.

I have a VX-8R only, but may try the same test when I get a chance.

[rankin39]

"Leaky squelch" seems to be characteristic of Yaesu radios, although this is a slightly different problem from the one you have. I have an FT-3000M two meter radio with a frequency my wife (also a ham) and I use. We use CTCSS but when others occasionally use the channel there is a loud burst of a syllable or two at the beginning of each transmission before the PL kicks in and silences the radio. I'll be interested to see if they admit it occurs and is a problem; apparently it affects more than one of their radios.

Bob, WoNXN

[N1BHH]

Leaky squelch is a new one on me. It sounds more like what is called falsing, in that it falsely reads the PL, which is what you describe. A PL or the radio's PL detection can sometimes be off frequency a bit, causing the adjacent PL to register as what the radio conceives is the real tone, when it is not. This happens more often on PL detection than with DPL. It's not a design flaw of Yaesu, all PL equipped radios can exhibit this issue. Try using tone search with some scanners and you get the same result.

[radioaustralia]

Yaesu response is:

"you are getting TONE mixing! Please do not have both receivers going at the same time this should stop this condition."

My response is:

"This is happening regardless of other receivers being on/off, I have also tried in other locations due to possible interference ect however it doesn't seem to change anything, if you could assist further it would be appreciated."


Now awaiting further information...

[mcscanner]

Reading over all the posts and your last post I am not clear on the meaning of what is being said by Yaesu or yourself.

My take on it is:

Yaesu – You are using dual receive mode to listen to two frequencies (450 & 451) and the radio is not effectively separating the tone decoding between the two frequencies. Use single mode receive and you will not have a problem.

You – Receivers other than the VX7 whether on or off and there location do not effect/change how the VX7 is working.

[eorange]

I think what the OP is saying is, given this:

450.000 - 162.2 & 165.5 = In this instance we will assume 162.2 is correct

A signal, from somewhere, is transmitted on 450 MHz with a PL of 162.2. The VX-8R thinks the signal has a PL of both 162.2 and 165.5.

The OP never explicity said (to us) if they're using dual receive; I assumed no.

[radioaustralia]

Originally Posted by eorange

I think what the OP is saying is, given this:
The OP never explicity said (to us) if they're using dual receive; I assumed no.

That's precisely what I was trying to explain.

The latest reply is from Yaesu reads along the lines of; "I think you are getting intermod in the front end of the receiver. If you think you have a problem with your radio you can send it in so that we can take a look at it!"

[eorange]

Well, I could not reproduce this with my VX-8R, at least on 2m.

I set my VX-8R to do a tone search on 145.535, and used my Icom V-8000 to transmit on the same freq with 3 different PL tones. The gap between the PL tones was about 3 Hz avg:

Tx w/ PL 97.4 (VX-8R did not detect 94.8, but did detect 97.4)
Tx w/ PL 165.5 (VX-8R did not detect 162.2, but did detect 165.5)
Tx w/ PL 206.5 (VX-8R did not detect 203.5, but did detect 206.5)

This was with the FAST tone search, which is default.

Not sure what to make of the VX-7R's behavior, but I'd say that's definitely a design flaw, i.e. the PL circuit is improperly decoding the tones!

Hope this helps. Maybe someone on here with a VX-7R can run the same test.