Motorola DTR700 Portable Digital Radio 900Mhz

[n1das]

I successfully updated the FW in my fleet of DTR700 radios late last night. The FW update process is very straightforward. The time required to do the update was around 7 minutes per radio.

I haven't had a chance to install the R07.01 CPS and play with the new features yet. I may do that tonight....

 

[fireemt55]

I took a look at my CPS cable at home and confirmed it is a PMKN4154A CPS cable, part of the HKKN4027A CPS cable kit. This confirmation is good news because it means no special cable is needed for firmware updates.

Yes, no special cable is needed, however make sure you have the newer version of the cable (one side of the switch says CPS ANALOG and one side says CPS DIGITAL.) The older version I had (one side says CPS the other side says FLASH) for my DLR's wouldn't upload to the DTR700 correctly with the CPS, ordered the new version and no problems since.

 

[fireemt55]

Yes, some MORE good news for today! I may not bother with a stubby antenna for my DTR700s. I like the stock half wave antenna on the DTR 600/700 plus it is already a little shorter than the 1/2 wave antenna on my DTR650s. It depends on how stubby the stubby antenna for the DTR 600/700 is.

Now if they could do a FW update for the DLRs to add AGC to the Tx audio like the DTR 600/700 has. It would really clean up the audio in the DLRs.

Interesting...pictured below is a comparison of the stock DTR700, DTR650 and the TLK100 antenna that I use on our DTR700's. I'm really curious to see what the "new" stubby antenna looks like for the DTR700's!

 

[fireemt55]

I have noticed this too. The older DTR 410/550/650 models and the DLRs don't have any automatic gain control (AGC) in the transmit audio. The DLRs are the worst or all.

I updated all of our DTR650's yesterday to set the Ambient Noise setting to HIGH. In the few transmissions I've heard today from those that are notorious for climbing up on the mic, it has made a huge difference in the received sound quality on the DTR700's. Time will tell...I'm sure someone will find a way to prove me wrong.

 

[n1das]

I updated all of our DTR650's yesterday to set the Ambient Noise setting to HIGH. In the few transmissions I've heard today from those that are notorious for climbing up on the mic, it has made a huge difference in the received sound quality on the DTR700's. Time will tell...I'm sure someone will find a way to prove me wrong.

Setting Ambient Noise to HIGH implies low mic gain setting in the radio in the DTR 410/550/650 models. I have the mic gain in my DTR650 radios set at the default and it works fine provided people talk an inch or two from the radio in a normal voice.

The mic gain in my DTR700 fleet is set at the default (medium). I have experimented with the mic gain settings in the DTR700 and found it makes little difference due to the AGC doing its thing. I like the Medium and High settings for mic gain in the DTR700. With the mic gain set to High, it doesn't matter if you talk 5-6 inches from the radio or climb right up on it. The AGC in the Tx audio takes care of wide variations in audio level. With the Medium (default) setting, talking more than about 3 inches away starts to be too far away from the mic and no problem when you climb up on it. Setting the mic gain to Low drops the mic audio further and you have to practically eat the mic on the radio to drive another DTR radio to full volume. I recommend leaving the mic gain at the default (medium) setting in the DTR 600/700. The default (medium) setting seems to be about right. It should work well for most applications.

I did the FW update on my DTR700 fleet late on Monday night this week. Last night (Tuesday) I installed the R07.01 CPS and read one of my DTR700 radios with it. The new scan list feature appears at the bottom of the ADVANCED page in the CPS. I added the groups I want to scan to a scan list. I wrote to the DTR700 and tested it with another DTR radio and the scan feature works as expected. Then I wrote the CPS file to the rest of my DTR700 fleet.

With the new DTR 600/700 FW, you have the option of scanning only public groups or scanning public groups plus private groups like the older DTRs. The older DTRs always "scan" private groups on a given hopset and the scan list is for scanning public groups on the same hopset. The default in the DTR 600/700 is scan public + private groups like in the older DTRs. Scanning public groups in the DTR 600/700 refers to public groups like the older DTRs and Profile ID groups.

The new firmware is a nice upgrade for the DTR 600/700. I seriously want Motorola to do a firmware update for the DLRs to add AGC to the Tx audio like the DTR 600/700 has.

 

[fireemt55]

...provided people talk an inch or two from the radio in a normal voice.

You haven't met the employees that use our DTR650's. Having them YELL into the radios touching their lips is a common occurrence (they work in a loud environment), and was causing a major issue with our DTR700's trying to blast that across its speaker. Wish I would have remembered the Ambient Noise setting on the DTR650's a long time ago. Now to re-train our very "quiet as a mouse" employees that they'll need to speak up!

 

[n1das]

You haven't met the employees that use our DTR650's. Having them YELL into the radios touching their lips is a common occurrence (they work in a loud environment), and was causing a major issue with our DTR700's trying to blast that across its speaker. Wish I would have remembered the Ambient Noise setting on the DTR650's a long time ago. Now to re-train our very "quiet as a mouse" employees that they'll need to speak up!

The DTR700 doesn't have noise cancellation in the mic audio but should handle this situation better due to AGC in the Tx audio path. Try the default (medium) setting for your DTR700 fleet and see how it does and adjust if needed.

The little DLR radios really need to have AGC added as a FW update to control their Tx audio. They are much worse than the DTR 410/550/650 as far as making other radios want to pop out of their enclosure when someone talks loudly or eats the mic, or talks loudly AND eats the mic. The DLRs would NOT work well for yelling employees eating the mic in a loud environment.

 

[fireemt55]

The DTR700 doesn't have noise cancellation in the mic audio but should handle this situation better due to AGC in the Tx audio path. Try the default (medium) setting for your DTR700 fleet and see how it does and adjust if needed.

Sorry, I think you're misunderstanding...I'm referring to the user transmitting on a DTR650 and me receiving it on a DTR700. The DTR700 tries to mitigate it, but it flat out sounds like it's going to blow out the speaker doing it. Changed the DTR650 Ambient Noise setting (to HIGH in my case) to mitigate the issue (transmitted audio) and so far it has fixed the issue receiving the transmission on the DTR700. Haven't had any audio issues transmitting from the DTR700, works great.

 

[n1das]

Sorry, I think you're misunderstanding...I'm referring to the user transmitting on a DTR650 and me receiving it on a DTR700. The DTR700 tries to mitigate it, but it flat out sounds like it's going to blow out the speaker doing it. Changed the DTR650 Ambient Noise setting (to HIGH in my case) to mitigate the issue (transmitted audio) and so far it has fixed the issue receiving the transmission on the DTR700. Haven't had any audio issues transmitting from the DTR700, works great.

I understand 100%. I may be giving too much information and creating confusion. The DTR650 doesn't have AGC in the DTR650's transmitted audio and creates the effect heard in the DTR700. I've experienced it myself during my audio tests from DTR650 to DTR650, DTR650 to DLR1060, and DTR650 to DTR700.

The DTR700 has AGC in the Tx audio path to maintain control of its Tx audio and is why it works great when heard out of other radios. The DTR700 has little to no AGC in the Rx audio path that I can tell and it gets blown out of the water by the DTR650 audio being all over the place. The DTR650 has no Automatic Gain Control (AGC) in its transmit audio path to keep the transmitted audio under control. The DLRs are even worse with out of control transmitted audio due to no AGC in the DLR's Tx audio path. Motorola solved this in the DTR700 by adding AGC to the transmitted audio and is why they sound great when heard out of other radios.

The problem isn't in the DTR700. It is in the DTR650's transmitted audio due to no AGC and allowing the DTR650's transmitted audio to be all over the place.

 

[fireemt55]

The problem isn't in the DTR700. It is in the DTR650's transmitted audio due to no AGC and allowing the DTR650's transmitted audio to be all over the place.

That's exactly what I've been saying...

 

[n1das]

I emailed the Moto dealer where I bought my DTR700 fleet from and emphasized the need for Motorola to update the firmware in the DLRs to add AGC to the transmit audio to fix the DLR's distorted audio problem. I explained the problem and a quick test people can do to demo the problem.

The DTR 600/700 have the best audio, thanks to Motorola adding AGC to keep the transmitted audio under control. The DLRs sound the worst due to no AGC in the tx audio path. The DTR 410/550/650 also do not have AGC in the transmit audio but sound better than the DLRs.

Motorola solved the audio issue by adding AGC to the DTR 600/700 transmit audio and I'm trying to push Motorola to add it to the DLRs. The DTR 600/700 program similar to the DLRs so I would expect the firmware to be similar and share a common code base. When the DTR 600/700 models were first announced, the CPS (R06.00) had not been updated yet (to R07.00) and an early version of the owner's guide said to first read the radio as a DLR model in the R06.00 CPS and then work from there. That looks like a workaround in the CPS. The CPS was soon updated to R07.00 include the DTR 600/700 models. The latest CPS R07.01 is able to access the new features that were added in the DTR 600/700 firmware update. I would think it should be possible to add the DTR 600/700's AGC to the DLR firmware.

The email reply I received said my email would be forwarded to Motorola.

 

[ecps92]

David, question for you

I have a fleet of 710's, as you know, just took them out of the box from storing them away for 3 mo's and the radios have begun to turn white [Radios Only] not the Speaker Mics, Antenna or other cables [charger, walwart etc]

Has anyone seen this before ?
Wiped them down with a chlorox wipe, waiting to see if the white [almost like mold or what occures to Chocolate left in the heat]

 

[brndnstffrd]

Sounds like the typical Moto rot that occurs on the soft plastics on older Moto gear. Armor-all or 303 are supposed to be good defenses agianst it, but i have not run any trials with either.

 

[n1das]

Sounds like the typical Moto rot that occurs on the soft plastics on older Moto gear. Armor-all or 303 are supposed to be good defenses agianst it, but i have not run any trials with either.

David, question for you

I have a fleet of 710's, as you know, just took them out of the box from storing them away for 3 mo's and the radios have begun to turn white [Radios Only] not the Speaker Mics, Antenna or other cables [charger, walwart etc]

Has anyone seen this before ?
Wiped them down with a chlorox wipe, waiting to see if the white [almost like mold or what occures to Chocolate left in the heat]

It is oxidation occurring on the rubberized surfaces. I've seen some of it on my DTR650 fleet. It cleans right up no problem. I didn't use any cleaner, just some good old elbow grease.

The DTR 600/700 models do not have rubberized surfaces so this shouldn't happen to these.

 

[ecps92]

As I said it did clean up ok, gonna do some more, this week.
Just was odd, it has never occured in the many many many years that I've had them. Maybe the heat and humidity this past month.

It is oxidation occurring on the rubberized surfaces. I've seen some of it on my DTR650 fleet. It cleans right up no problem. I didn't use any cleaner, just some good old elbow grease.

The DTR 600/700 models do not have rubberized surfaces so this shouldn't happen to these.

 

[n1das]

After updating the FW in my DTR700 fleet, I noticed a bug that wasn't there before the FW update. I have had several occasions after a DTR700 has been powered on for a while and I pick it up to transmit with it or do something on the keypad and....nothing. The radio display appears normal but the radio won't transmit or receive and no response from the keypad or other buttons. No chirp upon pressing PTT. The radio appears to be totally brain dead and requires a reset. In one case, I had to pull the battery briefly to reset the radio so it would work normally again. Holding the power button long enough (for several seconds) will also do a reset. After resetting the radio, everything is fine again. I had one radio do this twice to me tonight.

Have any other DTR 600/700 owners noticed this?

 

[fireemt55]

For anyone wanting to see the new Stubby DTR700 Antenna (PMAF4025), here's a photo of the one I just received compared to the other DTR Antennas that I have. Price was about $28.50 from an online retailer after coupon.

 

[n1das]

I've been watching and waiting for the PMAF4025 stubby anntenna to become available. fireemt55 beat me to it. LOL.

Just ordered 6 PMAF4025 antennas for my DTR700 fleet.

 

[n1das]

After updating the FW in my DTR700 fleet, I noticed a bug that wasn't there before the FW update. I have had several occasions after a DTR700 has been powered on for a while and I pick it up to transmit with it or do something on the keypad and....nothing. The radio display appears normal but the radio won't transmit or receive and no response from the keypad or other buttons. No chirp upon pressing PTT. The radio appears to be totally brain dead and requires a reset. In one case, I had to pull the battery briefly to reset the radio so it would work normally again. Holding the power button long enough (for several seconds) will also do a reset. After resetting the radio, everything is fine again. I had one radio do this twice to me tonight.

Have any other DTR 600/700 owners noticed this?

Last night I had another case of a DTR700 mysteriously locking up and playing dead until it finally rebooted itself.

I was outside and weather was very humid as it had just rained so I don't think it was a case of the radio getting zapped by electrostatic discharge (ESD). The radio shows a normal display but is totally unresponsive. No audio, no PTT chirp upon pressing PTT, and no receive. The radio appears to be dead except for a normal screen display. Talking to it with another DTR appears to work as it receives an acknowledgement from the (dead) DTR and allows PTT to continue like normal when in range. There is no reception on the dead DTR other than it appeared to send an acknowledgement to the other DTR to allow it to continue transmitting. After several PTT attempts on the dead DTR, it finally rebooted itself and then worked normally. I suspect the FW has a watchdog timer in it that finally expired and then caused the radio to reset.

Motorola has a few bugs to work out of the DTR 600/700.

 

[n1das]

Motorola has released another firmware update for the DTR 600/700/720 models. The DTR720 is not sold in the USA and I assume it is the Latin America version.

The CPS was also updated to include the new features. The latest CPS rev is R07.02.

DTR700 Digital Two Way Radio - Motorola Solutions

DTR series radios are now more reliable than ever - enabling interference free, private communications to help your team stay focused while keeping communications private. With its slim and rugged design the DTR700 digital two-way radio is IP54 rated and operates at 900 MHz.

www.motorolasolutions.com

I found this while browsing Motorola's site for new stuff.

Motorola DTR600/700/720 series two-way radio Firmware Update info 31-Oct-2019

DTR600/700/720 two-way radios firmware to be updated from:
Firmware Version R01.00.02 or R01.01.00 to R01.02.01
Codeplug Version R01.00.00 or R01.01.00 to R01.02.00
Keypad Version R01.00.01 or R01.00.02 or R01.01.00 to R01.02.00

R01.01.00 provides new features and capabilities listed below:
1. Scan - radio stay on a channel is able to scan for other Public groups channel and Private groups which has the same hopset/profile ID.
2. Group Caller ID - radio receiving screens will display the Caller ID/Name for group calls.
3. Fixed issue with long channel name for home channel.

R01.02.01 provides new features and capabilities listed below:
1. Text Message - radio able to receive text messages and send text messages to other radios with pre-programmed text messages.
2. Remote Monitor (DTR700 & DTR720 only) - radio configured as Manager Mode is able to remotely monitor and listen to the environment of the other radio for 30 seconds provided the target radio is in the range.
3. Remote Disable (DTR700 & DTR720 only) - radio configured as Manager Mode is able to remotely enable or disable other radio provided the target radio is in the range.
4. Call Alert - radio able to pre-alert a specific radio in range to call back.
5. Rental Timer (DTR600 & DTR720 only) - radio rental company able to set rental period to radios and radio will be disabled when rental period expired.
6. Ringer Tone and Volume - radio able to set specific Ringer Tone and configure the loudness of the Ringer Tone that sound while receiving text message or call alert.
7. OTA Contact Cloning - radio able to add or delete contacts to or from another radio wirelessly without connecting the radios by cable.
8. Fixed issue with call failed after back and forth private calls to a radio.

There is no mention of any fixes for the strange lockup behavior I have encountered a few times.

Looks like I will be doing another update to the firmware in my DTR700 fleet tonight.