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hytera PD-785G vs. motorola XTS 7550

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kk4mei

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what radio would you go with for DMR comunacations and why?

I really like them both and will be between both a hytera repeater at home and a motorola DMR MARC repeater at work....
 
K

kk4mei

Guest
what radio would you go with for DMR comunacations and why?

I really like them both and will be between both a hytera repeater at home and a motorola DMR MARC repeater at work....

sorry I was refering to the motorola XPR 7550
 

Forts

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Both very nice and capable radios. It comes down to what you need it for I guess... If you don't need any of the proprietary features specific to each radio (trunking, privacy, etc) then they are pretty even. I'm not sure what Hytera charges for their CPS (if anything) but the TRBO CPS will run you around $300 for a 3 year subscription. I have a 7550 myself and am very happy with it.
 

W2GLD

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The Motorola XPR7550 portable and XPR5550 mobile are really great radios... At this point in DMR's progression, I'd stay away from any of the generation 1 radios such as the XPR6500 and XPR4500 series or anything from another vendor that is close in spec. A lot of software development has taken place since MOTOTRBO initially released and the generation 2 radios seem to sound and just plain work better; also, I suspect that Motorola will not be releasing too many more firmware updates for the generation 1 radio moving forward; unless of course there is a specific patch/fix to an issue. As far a features, I'd pretty much be sure that 6500's and 4500's are done with development!

The XPR7550's have great sounding TX/RX audio, have a very nice color display and great battery life. My one major complaint, and others have mentioned this as well is Motorola's change from the traditional antenna connector, which now requires a special adapter and holder just to put the radio on a service monitor or use an external antenna. Also, if you do get an XPR7550 or XPR5550; leave the factory defaults for the audio gain and AGC settings. DO NOT LISTEN to those about bad audio on the DMR-MARC/DCI network; gen 1 radios had terrible audio and speakers causing them to continuously play around with audio settings. Motorola has since fixed AGC issues is later firmware; however, many Hams out here just won't update their firmware because they will loose their 25.0 kHz. FM ability without an entitlement key. This audio debate still continues today; however, ALL of the generation 2 radios with the default settings sound perfect. Everyone else on DMR-MARC/DCI has audio that just is too low when compared to a 2.5 kHz. narrowband FM signal; yet, they continue to rely on this "uncalibrated" DCI VU meter that is set low because the user who set it up doesn't wish to hear loud audio because 1% of the users drive into distortion... The audio issue on DMR is a real pain in the a** and it's beginning to get to the point of most don't give a care anymore; myself included. I never, NEVER have these audio issues with D-Star or analog FM, even NXDN; just DMR because there's too many people playing around with audio settings who just do not know how to calibrate things correctly... Anyway, go with a Gen 2 radio and you'll be pretty darn happy overall...
 

sswcmw

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As Jerry (W2GLD) said, the XPR7550 is an excellent radio. And unfortunately, as he said, it does not have the ability to add an external antenna, and your current coverage may be lacking. You will probably only hear crickets on that repeater though, especially since he plans to run it in analog, DMR and D-Star (if he can, I am not convinced that it can be done). And, while the analog or D-Star users are using the machine, you will not have access to it.

So you may want to look at a less expensive radio until you decide if DMR is right for you, or just know that the NC PRN system does plan to improve coverage in the Greensboro area if you decide the other repeater is too quiet. But it will not be a priority, as we are currently working on the Asheville area, the Wilmington area, Elizabeth City/Chesapeake and Franklin/Murphy. It may be possible when we move the Raleigh repeater to the tall tower that it will give you portable coverage in your area, but we can not guarantee it.
 
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kk4mei

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As Jerry (W2GLD) said, the XPR7550 is an excellent radio. And unfortunately, as he said, it does not have the ability to add an external antenna, and your current coverage may be lacking. You will probably only hear crickets on that repeater though, especially since he plans to run it in analog, DMR and D-Star (if he can, I am not convinced that it can be done). And, while the analog or D-Star users are using the machine, you will not have access to it.

So you may want to look at a less expensive radio until you decide if DMR is right for you, or just know that the NC PRN system does plan to improve coverage in the Greensboro area if you decide the other repeater is too quiet. But it will not be a priority, as we are currently working on the Asheville area, the Wilmington area, Elizabeth City/Chesapeake and Franklin/Murphy. It may be possible when we move the Raleigh repeater to the tall tower that it will give you portable coverage in your area, but we can not guarantee it.

don't get me wrong the guy that runs this repeater is very smart we have one of the only repeaters that can run dstar through analog HT's using dtmf tones to access the network. The hytera repeater also is fully open and will run dstar, hytera DMR, and analog. For this reason i'm looking for a DMR radio because I can acess dstar with it also.

question will the new firmwear allow wide band is i own a cps license and software?
 

N4KVE

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On our system here in S. Florida, everyone except 2 guys are using Motorola radios. The other 2 use Hytera's, & 1 of them works for the company. While many 1st generation 6550/4550 radios are available for a good price on the surplus market, there aren't enough used Hytera's coming available. So the choice for most users is a used 6550, or a new 785G. Since most hams are cheap, which do you think they will buy? The owner of our system [7 linked repeaters] wants everyone to turn AGC off, & set the mike gain per the specs on the DMR-MARC site. This way everyone's tx audio will be the same level, & those listening will not have to adjust the volume as different people talk. At the Orlando Hamfest he set all the users radios audio this way. Personally, I have a 6550, & 7550, & I find the rx audio on the 7550 sounds too compressed, or processed. I can't find any adjustments to fix that. As for avoiding f/w upgrades because of lack of an entitlement key, there is a simple fix to allow the use of new fw & CPS, & still have wideband w/o a key. This works perfectky with my 4550, 6550, & 7550,
https://www.p25.ca/threads/3495-MotoTRBO-CPS-25Khz-programming-restriction-removal
 
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kk4mei

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okay I have the money and a motorola active account for the CPS. I'm still going back and forth between radios.

is the hytera FPP?
does either radio allow manual imput of radios call number to call private of does everthing have to be programed?
 
K

kk4mei

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Is the Hytera FPP completely open (can I program everyttting) if not what are the limatations?
last question can I program wide ban on the ham freq?
 

gmt0000

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Yes and Yes. The Hytera is fully FPP on both analog and DMR mode and in the 2 meter band, 25Khz (wide band) is allowed.

Dale
 
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