Icom r-20 users please help me!!

[Clulay21]

Ok guys I hope all this makes sense, I'm pretty green at this. I have a r20 and a directional yagi antenna that will pick up 216-221.999 I want to use this setup to track my hunting dogs. They have telemetry collars. There frequencys are as follows 217.230,217.470,217.525. My problems are I'm only able to pick these collars up to about 200 yards distance then it loses everything. I'm using CW mode which I've been directed is th right setting. I've used telemetry before and I know this antenna I'm using and collars with a regular tracking box can easily pickup past 2-3 miles. People have been saying that when inputting the frequency I need to enter 4 digits past te decimal. And put a zero in the 4th digits place ( example 217.2300) I cannot for the life of me get this figured out. I've been messing with it for awhile with no real results. Also the ATT is not on. Thanks guys.

 

[trap5858]

Do you know what mode the collars are transmitting on? CW is typically a high frequency mode. Try AM and FM. Change the step size to expand the decimal places. Do you program by hand or with software?

 

[Clulay21]

O man in sure I'm gonna look like an idiot when I say this. But it beeps they told me to use CW because that is typically for morse code. Which is kinda what these collars do I guess. I'm at a total loss about this topic honestly. I'm Definately not a radio expert. You guys need to spell things out for me lol. I do not know how to change the step size.

 

[trap5858]

Go on YouTube and search Icom r-20. There are several excellent videos about using the basic functions of is radio. The frequency you indicated is in the UHF range not the typical HF CW range. That may be one of the issues. I know this radio is often used for tracking. There is a pretty steep learning curve here.

 

[JStemann]

I'm pretty sure selecting CW mode just changes the standard bandwidth and maybe some filtering. For what your listening to, you could probably use CW or FM, I don't think it would matter much. It's been several years since I played with an r20, though. You don't need to worry about the extra 0's at the end of the frequency, whether you enter them or not it doesn't matter to the radio.

My only suggestion for the reception problem would be to make sure of the frequency your collars are transmitting on. You could put the radio in VFO mode and vary the receive frequency up and down slightly from the advertised transmit frequency and see if the signal gets stronger or weaker.

Jeff.

 

[mancow]

I would put it in USB and drop the tuning steps down to a small value then tune until peak level is found. Also make sure the RF gain is up to max.

USB will provide good sensitivity while not as narrow as CW. The R20 likely won't be dead on so you will have to tune around a bit.

 

[Clulay21]

I'm not sure what USB mode is as I can't seem to find that mode. I just went and checked te radio and I've found that the gain was set at MIN. I set it to MAX. It's dark out now so I will mess with it tomorrow. I've also tuned the freq the best I know how. For example the 217.225 collar actually gets stronger signal on the meter and a louder beep at 217.230 do you think that possibly an inline booster would fix all this. Surely it should be able to pick up past a couple hundred yards being "stock". Also I have my squelch set to its lowest setting



This is currently how it is setup. If anyone sees anything that's obviously out of the ordinary please let me know. ( hopefully the pic works). Thanks guys a bunch

 

[trap5858]

USB is upper side band. If you push the mode button a few times it will come up to USB. Could you provide us with the specs for the dog collar, it might make it easier to assist you.