P25 RX vs TX

As I have posted in another section, I have been trying to buy a person radio for use with my department. While I have radios to sign in and out during each shift, you are stuck with a luck of the draw on the condition of the radio. Some have clips that do not work right, or missing knobs, etc. They all work, but I would rather have a personal one.

I bought a cheap baofeng UV-6R. I do not need more than a mile range, and if it gets damaged, oh well, buy another.

I have put in my frequency, my T-CTCSS and my R-CTCSS and I was able to receive. I was able to transmit only static for a few times, and then after that no radio or repeater registers an incoming signal. I thought that I had broken something when I reset the radio earlier.

So, I bought a baofeng UV-82HP. I got it today, and both radios work just fine. They can receive and transmit to one another.

It has been suggested that my system is a P25 system. My department IT/Maintenance Manager said it was a P25 system, but only in that it needed a 2.5hz step. I don't think he really knows much about the radios, and he even admitted some ignorance on them, so I do not think it is a P25 system. For example, we have a few Kenwood TK-2312 radios that we use, and, as far as I know, they are not P25 radios, yety they work just fine.


I have little understanding of radios. I have high experience in a great deal of electronics and computers, but radios are not something I got much into until recently.

Given that we have non-P25 radios in use (I believe), and given that I can receive the transmission but just not transmit to them, can I safely assume that the system is not a p25 system?

It sounds like your company is using a conventional frequency which is not P25. The cheap Baofeng radios will not decode P25 transmissions.

Possibly they are using a different T-CTCSS tone than you entered so you cannot transmit to them? I've seen some companies even use different T-CTCSS tones for each department even though all users are operating on the same frequency.

Shawn

ScannerSK said:

It sounds like your company is using a conventional frequency which is not P25. The cheap Baofeng radios will not decode P25 transmissions.

Possibly they are using a different T-CTCSS tone than you entered so you cannot transmit to them? I've seen some companies even use different T-CTCSS tones for each department even though all users are operating on the same frequency.

Shawn

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I got the information for the ctcss and the frequencies from my IT/Maintenance manager. However, he may have been a bit off on them.

I was told that our CTCSS was 100hz for tx and rx. i was told our frequency was 159.4725 for the repeater output and 159.7000 (i think) for handheld output, although he might have said 159.47000. he was unsure which.

What I did was try to tune my baofeng into both of these frequencies and check to ctcss. if the ctcss is set to off or to 100hz i can receive from the other handheld or the repeater. if it is set to anything else, i cannot. It says I am transmitting, but they cannot hear.

So, I know that the ctcss is correct for what I can receive.

However, I need to figure out what else I am missing.

Heres my confusion

If the repeater is set to output 159.4725 with ctcss 100hz
and i set my hendheld to output the same, and i go somewhere that we are out of range of other radios.
shouldn't my tx from my radio be able to be heard on other handhelds?

is there another setting, other than p25, ctcss, or freq, that would prevent another radio from even recognize the transmission incoming?

I dont think its even the ctcss, has the other radios do not even register an incoming tansmission at all.

If that is your repeater pair you must have some awesome filtering.

You really need to get the correct programming info, no one can properly assist you without that. Any answer without that is just a guess at best.

You are asking the same questions in your other posting, so far you haven't provided the correct frequency information. If you could provide your FCC call sign it would be a great help. If you have a ctcss tone frequency your system IS NOT P25. Guessing a frequency is not like playing horse shoes or hand garnades, you need the correct frequencies both transmit and receive.

... I am also confused at whether you are trying to program your portable's output to the repeater output frequency??

The right repeater input frequency and CTCSS should open the repeater from your portable if we are talking conventional non-digital system.

If you want to talk directly to other portables, then you would program the repeater output frequency in the portable. You can't talk over the repeater and directly to other portable radios on the same output frequency.

I also agree that the frequencies you mention are almost certainly wrong as simplex and repeater as it would require some world class filtering at the least. Even world class filtering would not work on conventional frequencies that close.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

I was wondering if it's programmed TX and RX for the input frequency...

Or maybe programmed to RX on the input and TX on the output (which is backwards from how it should be programmed).

If you have a CTCSS (100.0 Hz), then that is analog, not P25, and your portable should work if properly programmed.

Start with the RX frequency. Make sure you are hearing the repeater with the correct CTCSS. Then move on to the TX, but make sure you have the frequencies right first - no guessing.

This thread did turn into a bit of a duplicate of my other one, but that was not really my intention. I wanted to understand P25 better. Without it getting muddled, but that didnt happen.

Here is what I posted on my other thread about the same issue:



What is weird here is that I got the Baofeng UV-82HP to work just fine.

SAME EXACT SETTINGS in both radios. Even make the irrelevant settings the same, and I could hear the radios between one another, but the repeater still could not hear the UV-6R, but it could hear the UV-82HP just fine.

No big settings issue. Just one frequency, simplex, analog, with the same ctcss for rx and tx. Nothing else.

Beforehand, when I first got the 6R, I was able to trigger static on the radio. BEFORE I was told about the CTCSS. I reset the radio from the radio menu, and after that I could not use it or trigger even static.
I think the reset messed something up. Strange how the handhelds can talk to one another but the 6R cannot trigger the repeater.

Yet, using exactly the same settings, the UV-82HP works just fine.

I will be returning the 6R, obviously

I have a kenwood showing up today, and may test that out for durability over he baofeng, but for now its working, and its coming through crystal clear on tx and rx.


Thank you for the help everyone.

Sounds like you may have the wrong input freq if you can give the call sign maybe it can be looked up .....

PhoenixBennu said:

Yet, using exactly the same settings, the UV-82HP works just fine.

I will be returning the 6R, obviously

I have a kenwood showing up today, and may test that out for durability over he baofeng, but for now its working, and its coming through crystal clear on tx and rx.


Thank you for the help everyone.

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When comparing $35 Chinese radios, it's not uncommon for a few to be bad out of the box. One of the reasons these things are so inexpensive is the low level of quality control. Add in low grade components, poor construction, lack of proper alignment, and you end up with exactly what you are seeing.

The fact that you were able to generate "static" in the other radios doesn't really mean anything. Any nearby RF signal can cause that in a radio. Doesn't even need to be on the same frequency. This isn't an indication that the 6R ever worked properly.

You've been very sparse on specifics since you started this thread. Several people have asked for some additional details so they can try to assist you, but you haven't seemed to notice those requests. There are many settings that need to be correct for these radios to work properly. Trying to wing it and make them work without fully understanding the variables is going to lead to frustration. While I suspect your 6R may have issues, clarifying the exact set up of your systems might have allowed others to assist you in determining the exact issue.

I am a little concerned with the lack of a callsign and the frequencies in use by the OP. 159.4725MHz is VTAC35, a public safety allocated frequency, and 159.700 & 159.4700 bring up 0 results nationwide for a license according to the FCC.

PhoenixBennu said:

(snip) It has been suggested that my system is a P25 system. My department IT/Maintenance Manager said it was a P25 system, but only in that it needed a 2.5hz step. I don't think he really knows much about the radios, and he even admitted some ignorance on them, so I do not think it is a P25 system. For example, we have a few Kenwood TK-2312 radios that we use, and, as far as I know, they are not P25 radios, yety they work just fine.


I have little understanding of radios. I have high experience in a great deal of electronics and computers, but radios are not something I got much into until recently.

Given that we have non-P25 radios in use (I believe), and given that I can receive the transmission but just not transmit to them, can I safely assume that the system is not a p25 system?

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Well...

Most private sector "companies" with an IT department don't play with P25. I don't recall any commercial enterprise that voluntarily selected P25 for itself.

Since your radios are analog-only, I'm with you on deducing that you're on an analog-only system.

"IT" folks should not be playing with radios for exactly the reason stated. It's like giving a monkey a machine gun. Bad things happen that can be somewhat amusing if observed from a distance. They might be fine playing "help desk" and plugging in an RJ-45, but I would say most should be kept well away from radio equipment.

The other commenters in the thread are on to some good leads, and you've got some fact-finding to do. If you don't get that BooFong (or whatever it is) working, I had a similar situation with MX radios. You never knew what you were getting and my co-workers would think 10 minutes of charge during line-up was enough to go out for 8 hours (yeah, right!). Radios were very expensive back then, and they weren't synthesized. What I did do was go out and buy my own MX batteries, my own MX charger, my own radio holster, and my own speaker-mic. I went to work with two known-quantity charged batteries and at least could try to make whatever they gave me work. After a while, quite a few of my co-workers started doing the same. It worked out pretty well.

Good luck!

ERICEMT said:

I am a little concerned with the lack of a callsign and the frequencies in use by the OP. 159.4725MHz is VTAC35, a public safety allocated frequency, and 159.700 & 159.4700 bring up 0 results nationwide for a license according to the FCC.

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You nailed it. Anytime a thread like these surface its the same end result. Some people will never learn. JingTongs and Baefongs? LOL These threads are fishing expeditions.

Continue discussion here...

http://forums.radioreference.com/ne...rum/332247-baofeng-uv-6r-wont-transmit-3.html