D878+openSPOT3 no sound in DMR

[jazzboypro]

Hello all,

Hope someone can help me. I have the anytone D878UV and the openSPOT3. The hotspot is connected to my wifi network and configured to use Brandmeister. I have configured the following channel:





The frequency is simplex and it is the frequency used between the radio and the hotspot. The channel is configured to use a talk group for parrot. The channel as been added to a zone. The info as been transferred into the radio.

When making a call to this talk group, i can see in the hot spot that the transmission is sent to the talkgroup and that the talkgroup is answering me but i have no sound. As a matter of fact so far i did not ear anything on DMR yet. Any ideas or suggestion ?




Thanks
73
VA2FCS

 

[popnokick]

Have you set the Parrot contact / talkgroup to be Group call (NOT Private call)?

 

[jazzboypro]

It was set to private call, i changed it to group call. Now the call is going out but i have no answer at all as shown in the hotspot status page.

 

[popnokick]

Just now had a chance to view your screenshots on my computer rather than my phone, so I can see everything better. Some suggestions - the first one is prob most significant -
1 - I notice that you have no Receive Group List assigned to Parrot. Is that because you have not created any Receive Group(s)? Some DMR radios don't care whether you assign a receive group to a talkgroup or not... but I believe the AnyTone radios do require at least one. In the AnyTone CPS when you select the "Receive Group Call List" in the "Digital" submenus some contextual help appears at the bottom of the screen. They say you can leave it blank but my experience is that you need to create at least one Receive Group and assign it to one or more talkgroups.
2 - You may want to change every channel / talkgroup that is using your hotspot to Slot 2. It will still work in Slot 1, but if you read the Pi-Star documentation you will read that hotspots operate on Slot 2.
3 - You may want to drop your Transmit Power to "Low" for every channel that uses your hotspot. Some hotspots are sensitive to RF de-sensing / receiver overload... and the times I've seen it happen it was fixed one of two ways: a) moving the hotspot far from the radio, or b) reduce the Tx power on the radio. Even on the lowest power setting it is more than enough to cover the distance your 10mw hotspot will cover when it transmits. Cutting down the power helps ensure you're not causing undesirable things to happen in the little computer / radio miracles we call hotspots.
I'm going to go back and see if I can find your message re: repeaters because I couldn't read those screenshots until now, either. (Dealing with a bit of snow here... not a big deal up your way, but 22" in PA gets kinda gnarly.)

 

[popnokick]

Ooops... just noticed you had openSPOT3. However, they still operate on slot 2. And they still can be affected by high RF nearby.

 

[jazzboypro]

Things a just not working loll. I did a reset of the radio. i have created a single channel for the Parrot 9990 talk group, i created a received group liste that is configured in the channel.



The channel is in the only zone configured



The talk group is defined



On the hot spot side, i see calls from other users to the Parrot 9990 talk group and calls also appear on the radio's display.



However, when i make a call on that talk group, it goes out but i get no reply



As for your suggestion and after reading the openSPOT3 doccumentation, the time slot is of no importance since i'm working simplex. Also using the lowest power level is not changing anything

 

[alcahuete]

For one, the Parrot should be a private call, not a group call.

Secondly, the time slot absolutely matters on most hotspots. I have not used an OpenSpot3, but with every other hotspot (including OpenSpot2), you need to use the timeslot that is defined by the hotspot. Also, the DMR mode should potentially be Repeater, not Simplex.

 

[popnokick]

There are several other items in this SharkRF thread regarding Parrot... but read down in the thread and ensure you have "Private Call Acknowledged" DISabled (not turned on).

Parrot not working - SharkRF community forums

forum.sharkrf.com

 

[jazzboypro]

Thanks popnokick, i saw that thread yesterday. If by "Private Call Acknowledged" you mean the highlighted parameter in the channel configuration page, i've tried both (checked and unchecked) and it does not change anything. Other than that i don't see a parameter called "Private Call Acknowledged" on the radio or programming software.




I have also tried to use slot 2 (should not have any importance in simplex mode) and i've tried to use a receive group list but it does not change anything.

As shown in the picture, calls made by other users to 9990 appear on the radio's display, so i can assume that communication between the hotspot and BM network is ok and communication between the hotspot and the radio is also ok.



i have reset the radio to factory setting and reprogrammed the radio many times but i always end up with the same problem. i am out of ideas at this point

 

[KE5MC]

...snip...

I have also tried to use slot 2 (should not have any importance in simplex mode) and i've tried to use a receive group list but it does not change anything.

...snip...

i have reset the radio to factory setting and reprogrammed the radio many times but i always end up with the same problem. i am out of ideas at this point

My experience is with a Zumspot and AT 868/878 and I don't think that matters.

Don't confuse discussion with time slot and simplex/duplex with regard to HT to HT or repeater. Make sure TS2 is selected on hotspot and HT. Use simplex on hotspot and HT. Reseting doesn't change anything, but gets you back to a known starting point so to input the same setup as before...

I see your power is set to turbo. Hotspots have a marginal front end and overload easily. Set to lowest power until you get it working and then only up it when you go 'walk-about'.

I'm not sure what configured for Brandmeister means for your setup. Recently BM has required password to be used and set on you BM online account and hotspot and they most be the same PW.

Frankly I find using DMR via hotspot to be more difficult than DStar or Fusion. Talk groups with local repeater straight forward, but hotspots add complexity requiring different numbers added to the front of the typical TG.

Good Luck!

 

[jazzboypro]

Ok found out 2 things:

1- I thought i had tried it but maybe not, i switched the channel from group call to private call. After doing that i was receiving ans answer from the talk group but still no sound.

2- I thought that maybe the radio was possibly to close to the hotspot so i went further away and tried again and it worked and i could here the reply. I came back to my original position, tried again and it still works. I then made a modification in the programming software and loaded it on the radio. Tried the parrot talkgroup again and what do you know, no sound again. I unplug the programming cable from the radio and tried again and it worked. So it looks that if the radio is connected to the computer with the programming cable it disables the sound and possibly other things.

I'll tried to find if it's documented, but make sure the radio is not connected to the computer unless of course you need to program it, but unplug the cable for testing your config.

73
VA2FCS

 

[KE5MC]

Yes!
The upper jack on the side is external ear phone. Plugging something into that jack with disconnect the front panel speaker. I'm not sure you will find it in the manual as that is typical of just about any HT. Possible there might be an HT that has a programmable feature to allow front panel speakers and ear phone to be active together. Can't say I have ever see that option.

 

[popnokick]

Indeed... if you look at the icons on the rubber cover that is on the side of the radio, you will see that those icons represent a headset and a microphone. Very common practice for any make of DMR HT (and some others) to perform their programming via the two-pin plug that goes into the headset / mike jack. And of course when it is inserted, the speaker on the radio is muted. FYI - BrandMeister had some sort of burp this morning... I could not get a Parrot reply or see that my hotspot was listed in my "Selfcare" portion of my BM personal page. But all seems OK now.... and I didn't change anything.

 

[jazzboypro]

Yep, my mistake lollll. Now i just need to find some busy talkgroups so i can actually hear real conversation. I have programmed the TAC310 talkgroup but it's not busy at all

 

[bharvey2]

Yep, my mistake lollll. Now i just need to find some busy talkgroups so i can actually hear real conversation. I have programmed the TAC310 talkgroup but it's not busy at all

Try talkgroup 3100 (Nationwide) It gets a fair amount of traffic.

 

[jazzboypro]

Try talkgroup 3100 (Nationwide) It gets a fair amount of traffic.

Thanks, just starting to hear conversation on that TG

 

[alcahuete]

3100 or 91. TAC310 used to be busy, but not so anymore, following some changes Brandmeister made. Everyone from TAC310 pretty spilled over to 3100.

 

[jazzboypro]

3100 or 91. TAC310 used to be busy, but not so anymore, following some changes Brandmeister made. Everyone from TAC310 pretty spilled over to 3100.

Thanks, just add 91, TAC310 was not so bad this afternoon.