I believe the TYT 9000 is capable of narrowband, I have the 220 MHz version for amateur radio. The FCC mandated that in order to transmit on the band you want the radio must be narrowband. (simply a way of squeezing more channels into the band.This allows twice as many channels within the band you operate on going forward. They did this because they ran out of assignable frequencies.) The amateur radio bands do not need to adhere to this narrowbanding and TYT wanted to market the 9000 to both commercial and amateur interests giving them a larger market in which to sell the radio. (for this email, consider commercial interests and your public safety interests as one and the same.)
There may be a concern as it applies to the radio being "Intrinsicly Safe". This is a standard required of electronic equipment that may be used in possibly explosive atmospheres. Portable radios that are manufactured specifically for the public safety departments are (or should be) certified to possess this quality. It means the equipment will not be a possible ignition source. The last thing a firefighter needs is to push the xmit button on his portable radio and create a spark while in an explosive atmosphere. Mobile radios such as your 9000 however might not need to comply with this under normal conditions if it is mounted in a vehicle, the vehicle being a larger ignition source by itself. If however, you make a backpack out of it, giving it a portability aspect that would allow it to be transported into a hazardous environment, I would not think it would be acceptable.
As for your PL/DPL settings, just set up a DPL code like the PL code.
It seems to me that if the base is hearing you, but you are not hearing the base, you are transmitting on the repeater's input frequency with the correct DPL code. Everyone is going to hear your radio. However, if you are not hearing the base it's probably because you have not set correctly set up your radio to operated in DUPLEX mode. That's the two frequency setup mentioned in another reply. The radio is most likely set to SIMPLEX mode which means after you finish transmitting, it does NOT listen to the other frequency (output of the repeater frequency) and just stays on the repeater's input frequency. Anyone close to your radio would be heard in the SIMPLEX mode provided they were in DUPLEX mode, but you loose the extended range that the repeater offers.
Bottom line, configure four things in your radio. 1) DUPLEX. 2) enter repeater input and output frequencies. 3) DPL. 4) TONE SQUELCH
Set up your transmit mode to DUPLEX, plug in the two frequencies. The one your scanner hears the FD on is your receive frequency (also known as the repeater output frequency) and the other is the transmit frequency for your 9000. Make sue you have the correct DPL entered and turned on and set it to TONE SQUELCH and you should be good to go.
(The order in which you set up these four items is important. The order in which I listed them may not be correct. The radio manual will have the correct order.)
Hope this helps.
Bill
