Yaesu FT-7800/8800 - Prob Rx 152.005 Mhz

[n9upc]

I have a 7800 mounted in my truck and an 8800 mounted in my wifes SUV.

We are both on the local EMS service and of course can nto hear the pager while drivng in the car sometimes so I thought lets plug the paging freq into our radios.

The county pages on the freq of 152.0075 Mhz with a tone of 186.2. So while driving one day (off duty) I had my pager with me and the radio in scan. While driving with the music on and the window down I hear the faint sound of what I thought was my ambulance tones and then the associated alert tone. As I looked down at the radio I see that it is scanning with no issues, but as I reached down to turn up the pager sure enough the ambulance got toned.

So I adjusted the sql level and made sure that the freq was correct and that the PL tone was correct. Both were (well the the radio will only accept the 152.005 and not 0075 freq).

So a little bit later on that day once again I hear my pager trip but no audio or signs that the radio had stopped scanning on the paging channel. However, by the time I ntoiced it I could not stop scan and turn it to the memory channel. So I figured must be a PL issue and I then reprogrammed the memory to CSQ.

So now same freq but NO PL, set it for scan and went out and about the next day. Well sure enough the tones went off and nothing came across the radio, yet I was able to stop the scan and the channel had the audio coming through nice and clear. (I also did make sure that I had the channel in scan from before.)

well I am totally stumped and could not figure it out. So I put the PL back in and left it sitting on the channel for pager test that night and it came through nice and loud. Then before they tested the other tower I threw it back into scan. Once again everything across pager, nothing through radio when on scan.

I even went so far as to think maybe that I was getting shadowed by the tower as it is only about 1/2 mi from where I live. Went out to eat one night and made sure that when pager test was done I was about 20 miles away. Rechecked tone settings/freq settings, etc.. in radio, had a Pro-96 with PL programmed in and my pager.

Results - Pro96 rcvd great, pager rcvd great, Yaesu = nothing!

Well chalked it up to just having a bad 7800, but I noticed ALL the same things happening on my wife's 8800! Now that is a completely different set-up in a different vehicle, with different antenna, etc.

So has anyone else had this issue with the FT-7800's & ft-8800's???



Think I am going to have to mount either a scanner or another radio in my truck, more difficult with wife's car.

 

[kennyloatman]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16)

My Vx7r letts me go to the basic set up menu
and change the VFO step to put the proper
frequency in.

 

[gewecke]

The frequency you mentioned has a lot of other hospitals across the entire country paging on it also,and most of them are transmitting to digital pagers. Is your service still using analog paging? As mentioned,the proper channel spacing is important too.
N9ZAS.

 

[rfradioconsult]

You're asking the radio(s) to do something they are not designed to do. The radio will only do a minimum of 5 KHz steps that is why it rounds the frequency, so you are receiving is 2.5 KHz off frequency; Yaesu if memory serves me correctly has a feature that detects if the received frequency is off and if it is the radio assumes that the off frequency signal is not a valid frequency and tells the radio when scanning not to stop on it. Your scanner by design has a broader receive passband and will stop on the off channel signal. The problem isn't the radio(s) but you are asking it to do something it wasn't designed to do.

 

[n9upc]

OK, so I did do a step adjustment and it now takes the 152.0075 Mhz without a problem.

Yes we are still on analog tone & voice paging, and has always been.

I understand if the radio does not like the freq and different tolerances for the freqs. But, the question remains how come it will not Rx when scanning but if I place it in manual mode it will Rx.

Just something quirky with the radios???

 

[fire_master_21]

how many channels are you scanning from your radio at one time?

 

[n9upc]

I have tried scanning different amounts of channels in scan. everything from 2 ch + paging, to 12 channels + paging.

Nothing seems to make the radio stop on paging if tones are rcvd without putting it into manual mode ( otu of scan)

 

[62Truck]

I don't have any issues with my 8800, My dept the paging is done on 155.220 and when its in scan mode it stops when a signal is detected.

 

[soncorn]

Make sure that menu item #37 isn't set to "SKIP" for that particular channel.

That is on the 8800, I don't know the menu item for the 7800.

 

[n9upc]

Checked ALL settings in the radio and channel still will not p/u 152.0075Mhz PL 186.2 Hz when scanning.

Picks up all other Public Safety channels without an issue. Just gonna have to chaulk it up to the radio not playing nice with the freq.

Oh well I had an FT-1802 at one time that would not do the odd split repeater pair that some of us local guys would use when doing a special event or an outing. Repeater split was on (for radio) Rx: 145.325 with a Tx: 147.405 Yes a split of 2.08 Mhz, but I programmed it as an odd split memory channel and anytime that I tried to Tx the freq would always reprogram itself to 147.450. Was not a programming error either as I programmed other odd splits and did not have issues except with this one.

Well looks like public safety Yaesu/Vertex models or Icom/Kenwood here I come!

 

[tekshogun]

What is the exact setting of your Squelch Type? Menu# 42?

Do you have it set to ENC DEC or REV TN? I figured one of those two settings should do the trick. If your SQL.TYP is set to something else (DCS which your paging system is not using and ENC which is no good because you are not transmitting on that frequency).

 

[soncorn]

The only other thing I can think of is to make sure that the BANK is set correctly. So make sure that the channel is in the bank being scanned or that you are scanning all banks.

 

[n9upc]

Everything is set correctly!

All the bank, freq, PL's, scanning, everything is set correctly.

I did a test tonight during pager test. I only had two other channels that usually have NO traffic on them at all. Pager was tripped but not the scanner.

So I thought I would try keying up the radio with a portable and see if it stops the radio on scan. Sure enough it did stop the scanner but not when it came off of the tower.

I then took the radio and hooked it up to my service monitor and check Rx sens and PL against 12 dB sinad. Well Rx is great and no issues that way.

I then thought I would listen to the paging channel a little bit more. When I heard other depts paged off of it I noticed that the audio almost sounded over modulated. Therefore, I am thinking it is an over modulation issue with the tower & the county.

But, I do not have enough evidence to prove that but I think it is my answer.

 

[soncorn]

Do you have the channel set as WIDE or NARROW?

 

[w8jjr]

Do you have the channel set as WIDE or NARROW?

Thats my ? too. That freq is a narrow band fm freq not wide band

 

[tekshogun]

Interesting point, 12.5KHz vs 25 KHz?

I believe there is a setting in the menu for NarrowFM and WideFM

 

[doughboy5100]

Try 152.010 I used that in a few old Kenwoods that wouldn't take 152.0075 and it worked great. I was monitoring the same county as you.

 

[n9upc]

I will give the 152.010 Mhz a try.

The more and more I am looking into this I am thinking we have a major modulation issue and dealing with some Rx specs in the radio of an amateur rig vs a commercial rig

 

[n9upc]

The 152.010 Mhz trick worked, it does seem like the tower is a little over modulated. Has happened ever since they went and put a PL on the tower. (Thanks /\/\)

But I thank you for the sugeestion of the freq change, and the more and more I think back on it now I did Rx fine with the radio, but /\/\ techs went to work on it a few motnhs ago and that is when the issues started!

 

[Steve-in-Kentucky-KJ4KKI]

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