Icom F30GT programing questions.

[ScannerDude244]

I just got a F30GT and what to know what are the best settings for the comm section.

First what level should I have the SQL level at? I have it set at 150 right now is that to high or low?

I left the AF min level at 0. Should I turn it up?

Auido filter I left that alone also.

VOX gain also left that alone.

And my last question is on the 2 tone is their a way to set the radio to monitor more then just one set of tones? In the software it will only let me select one set at a time.

 

[bezking]

I have my squelch level set to 155.

AF Min Level is the minimum volume the radio will operate at. Even if the switch is almost all the way off, it will only go as low as the AF Min Level. Mine is at 0.

You don't really need to touch the other stuff unless something is broken.

 

[ScannerDude244]

I have my squelch level set to 155.

AF Min Level is the minimum volume the radio will operate at. Even if the switch is almost all the way off, it will only go as low as the AF Min Level. Mine is at 0.

You don't really need to touch the other stuff unless something is broken.

Thanks! you know anything on 2tone?

 

[Avery93]

Thanks! you know anything on 2tone?

Don't know if CS-F30 is any different, but on all of the Icom software I've used you double click the "RX C.No" box, and then double click the tone channels you want to receive. Its works like adding a channel to scan lists.

 

[jeatock]

F30G Settings

Notes in red.

I just got a F30GT and what to know what are the best settings for the comm section.

First what level should I have the SQL level at? I have it set at 150 right now is that to high or low? Depends, as every radio and frequency set are different- if you have CTCSS enabled, run it lower. If it frequently falses, turn it up. I have users running 80's, others at 175. Program one of the buttons to "USER SETUP" so you can easily adjust it on the fly.

I left the AF min level at 0. Should I turn it up? The "Wife setting" is the lowest the knob can turn the volume down. I like 10 for portables and cars, and 25-30 (or higher) for fire apparatus and tractors. It's entirely up to you.

Auido filter I left that alone also.Enabled will filter out CTCSS tones below 300Hz. Disabled gets noisy.

VOX gain also left that alone.Unless you have a VOX mic we don't care.

And my last question is on the 2 tone is their a way to set the radio to monitor more then just one set of tones? In the software it will only let me select one set at a time.On the F30's its one tone set per channel. Most LM radios in 2-tone select mode HAVE to be signaled before they'll go audible. Icom is no different.

You can scan across banks. Disable 2-tone in the first bank. Set up the 2-tone channels in a 2nd bank with the same data excepting 2-tone set, or...

Go to your 1st bank and click on NEW, and press enter to add channel 17 (yes, 17). Copy the 2-tone line into CH17. Add a new line for each 2-tone set. Remove the 2-tone from the original channel so you can listen to all traffic (and Tx if you're authorized). Set up 2 scan lists, one with 17-etc enabled (_2________) and the other disabled (**________) {*=don't care} and disable "SCAN LIST - INCL" for the 2-tone channels so you don't accidentally turn them off and have to go to software to re-enable. In scan list 2, disable all other channels. Change scan lists to turn them on and off. Remember that scanning 2-tone signaling is NOT reliable in any situation, so either rely on single channel signaling out of scan or LISTEN!

 

[ScannerDude244]

Thanks jeatock and others for the help. I figured the radio and software all out these last few days, real easy once you get the hang of it! But I do have one last question I was testing the 2tone last night I notice after a while the radio unmutes and goes audible without the tones going off? Is there some setting i'm missing?

 

[stmills]

I am a new owner of a GS, and first of thanks for the talk on the squelch, I had missed that setting and just thought my radio was not that sensitive- the setting was @300, now have it at 105 and it is performing much better. A couple questions I have from this discussion- does the "User setup" function work on the limited key pad model or is the full keypad required? How do I get my radio to scan any list other than the first list?

Thanks
Steve

 

[jeatock]

I am a new owner of a GS, and first of thanks for the talk on the squelch, I had missed that setting and just thought my radio was not that sensitive- the setting was @300, now have it at 105 and it is performing much better. A couple questions I have from this discussion- does the "User setup" function work on the limited key pad model or is the full keypad required? How do I get my radio to scan any list other than the first list?

Thanks
Steve

The F30GS and GT are the same. The numeric pad is not used for Set Mode.

From the O/M:
-----------------
[USER SET MODE] USER SET MODE KEY
Push for 1 sec. to enter user set mode.
During user set mode, push this key to (scroll to and) select an item, then push [CH UP]/[CH DN] to change the value or condition. (Press [USER SET MODE] quickly to scroll to the next item.
-----------------
Push [USER SET MODE] again for 1 sec. to exit, or do nothing for several seconds.

And another O/M:
-----------------
[SCAN A] SCAN START/STOP KEYS
[SCAN B] Start/stop scan A or scan B.
Push and hold this key to indicate the scan group, then push [CH UP] or [CH DN] to select the desired group.

[SCAN ADD] SCAN TAG KEY
Adds or deletes the selected channel to the scan group.

[PRIO A] PRIORITY CHANNEL KEYS
[PRIO A] [PRIO B] (Quick Press) Select priority A or priority B channel.
[PRIO A] (Rewrite) When you change from A to B, push and hold the key.
Push and hold [PRIO A] (Rewrite) key for 1 sec. to rewrite the Prio A channel.
-----------------
SCAN ADD is tied to the current scan group. If you add/delete while in group 2, groups 1, 3-9 are not affected and so forth.

By the way, use SCAN B instead of SCAN A- "A" does not restart scanning automatically, "B" does. PRIO B is a future item that was never implemented into this radio except for agile fast channel access. You can pretty much ignore it.

Also, go into SCAN SET and SCAN MODE. When scanning Mode 1 has no scan priority and talks on either PRIO A or Rotary Select Knob position, depending on which you pick. . Mode 2 talks out on the last active channel regardless of knob position with either PRIO A or Rot Sel as scan priority. Mode 3 PRIO A talks on the PRIO A channel (as set above) regardless of knob position. Mode 3 Rot Sel talks on the knob position channel in the current bank. In single bank radios I always use M3Rot.

 

[jeatock]

Thanks jeatock and others for the help. I figured the radio and software all out these last few days, real easy once you get the hang of it! But I do have one last question I was testing the 2tone last night I notice after a while the radio unmutes and goes audible without the tones going off? Is there some setting i'm missing?

Welcome to Mother's QC-II 2-tone world. There just aren't that many 2-tone freq sets, dealers tend to use the first few common groups when setting up a system, and it just happens. I had to change one system because the same 2-tone set started being used by another department 50 miles away on the same frequency. One of their pages would turn on the lights in my customer's firehouse and occasionally false off pagers. We've switched to EIA 5-tone (100,000 options) for signaling and the problems have disappeared. Cal. Forestry has done the same because its so bullet-proof..

One possible setting glitch- Are you sure the timer for that channel is returning the radio to inaudible after a local page? If it goes into alert, something external is setting it off. But if it just opens, its probably never closing after a signal. TimerB is the default. "0" = don't reset. What's it set at?

I usually use the TimerA+I setting for signaling channels and set TimerA=5 and Inaudible=60. That way it waits 5 seconds plus 60 seconds after traffic ends to auto-mute.

The F30 is a good radio, but is no longer the top of Icom's line and was discontinued a while back. I don't remember about the F30 but in most radios I normally inhibit Tx and use PTT/Audible to manually open the channel for the TimerA+I time. If the agency is following NFPA 1561 / 1221 guidelines, the initial paging channel is never used for fireground OPS/Safety communications anyway to keep the dispatcher 10 miles away from blindly toning out a new incident and possibly cover a fireground Mayday or Urgent message.

 

[ScannerDude244]

Welcome to Mother's QC-II 2-tone world. There just aren't that many 2-tone freq sets, dealers tend to use the first few common groups when setting up a system, and it just happens. I had to change one system because the same 2-tone set started being used by another department 50 miles away on the same frequency. One of their pages would turn on the lights in my customer's firehouse and occasionally false off pagers. We've switched to EIA 5-tone (100,000 options) for signaling and the problems have disappeared. Cal. Forestry has done the same because its so bullet-proof..

One possible setting glitch- Are you sure the timer for that channel is returning the radio to inaudible after a local page? If it goes into alert, something external is setting it off. But if it just opens, its probably never closing after a signal. TimerB is the default. What's it set at?

It goes audible after the page goes out, so it's working. I was thinking maybe I was in a deep sleep didn't hear that little bell go off lol. Is their a way to make that bell louder? or their anyother tones besides that bell?

 

[jeatock]

It goes audible after the page goes out, so it's working. I was thinking maybe I was in a deep sleep didn't hear that little bell go off lol. Is their a way to make that bell louder? or their anyother tones besides that bell?

Signaling and sleep mode do not play well together in QC-II. Scan (especially where the priority is a different channel) and QC-II have serious issues as well.

The PiRo beep is weak in that age of radios- set it to level 5 and not follow the volume knob. PiRo/R will continue to sound at the specified interval until the timer runs out or any button/knob is played with. The Home Company software engineers improved that issue in later models, but still don't have it quite right. We can't get it across to them that their signaling reaction should behave just like Mother's products. They raise hell for the duration of the B-tone after the signal is qualified and for as long as it continues being transmitted. Total Alert tone duration is controlled by the transmitter, not the receiver.

 

[methusaleh]

Wow thanks to ALL for what has been the most informative discussion of programming these radios!

jeatock thanks especially for your contributions!

I own some F30s and F40s and have a couple questions.

I have a NOS speaker mic, however it does not have any RX audio when I tested it with my F30. It was from a shop and is expected to be trouble-free. It TXs just fine. Is there a setting in the radio that I need to do in order to allow use of the mic? It is an Icom EM-80. I admit I have not tested it with an F40 yet.

Also, is there any way to program what I've heard a friend in the Motorola business refer to as "nuisance delete"? That is, the ability to temporarily delete a channel from a scan list, re-enabling scanning for that channel (or channels) once the radio was turned off and back on again.

 

[methusaleh]

Disregard...dug up my F40GS, speaker/mic works fine with it. Played around a little more and the F30's connection is intermittent, that was the problem.

 

[jeatock]

The current Icom offerings have nuisance delete, but alas, the F30 doesn't.

The 9-pin pass-through connector can be removed (use a No. 0 screwdriver and don't loose the screws!). A little gentle rubbing with your finger may help. If you open the case, remove the 9-pin connector first or you'll be buying a new one (Voice of experience here).

By the way, finger oil is a pretty good anti-oxidant, and works quite nicely with PC memory sims and PCI edge connectors as well.

And for those of you just watching this thread, there is no difference between the VHF F30G, F30GT, F40G and F40GT except for frequency range, and 12-key numeric pad on the "T" models. All programming software and setup is the same.

 

[mhagerty]

Notes in red.

Would these settings and functions be the same for an F33? If there different could you post the settings to get a F33 to alert on 2tone paging?
Thanks