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Baofeng UV-82 - Need help with understanding ANI-ID, Signal Code, PTT-ID...

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MEMA204

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Joined
Jan 26, 2014
Messages
3
Hi Guys,

First off, thanks in advance for your time and any info you guys can provide.

Second, I've searched this forum and haven't been able to find previous threads on this issue so I apologize if this has already been covered in the past.

I'm the communications officer for a volunteer police department and we just purchased a number of Baofeng UV-82's for our officers. This was not my first choice for radios, however we are operating on an extremely tight budget so the UV-82's will have to do for now.

What I'm trying to figure out is how to get each radio to broadcast the ID/call-sign of the officer each time the officer transmits so that dispatch can identify who is transmitting.

If I understand it correctly, this means changes need to be made to the ANI-ID, Signal Code, and PTT-ID settings via software? (I have CHIRP and the OEM software)

For instance, if I want the set a radio to transmit "00103" as the ID after each transmission, what settings do I need to change in the radio?

Am I correct in assuming that I can only set numeric characters as the ID? Or can I set the ID to be something like "MEMA103"?

Can you guys explain the relationship between ANI-ID, Signal Code, and PTT-ID (and any other setting involved in this)?

I've looked at miklor.com and while it's a great resource it hasn't helped me figure this ID issue out.

Any help/info you guys can give would be much appreciated.

Thanks guys!
 

Comint

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
May 21, 2003
Messages
630
Location
Queensland, Australia
ANI is always 5 digits. If you want alpha tags displayed, then software in Dispatch has to do the conversion.


Signal Code ? ?


PTT-ID - the setting of PTT-ID determines when the ANI is transmitted.

BOT = Beginning Of Transmission
EOT = End Of Transmission
BOTH = At Both Beginning and End Of Transmission.

These settings can only be done via software.

--
Comint
 

MEMA204

Newbie
Joined
Jan 26, 2014
Messages
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Hi Cabletech,

Thank you for adding value to this conversation. We are a volunteer organization and don't have much of a budget. All of the gear and training is paid for out of each officer's own pocket. And we do not get paid for what we do. Our department is made up of current and former military, current and former police, as well as civilians from all backgrounds. We volunteer our time (and money) because we want to help out our communities during special events and emergencies.

As I said in my original post, using $38 radios isn't ideal. But it's a whole lot better than having no radios to use.

Instead of making snide remarks, why don't you drop the sarcasm and be helpful and productive. I'm sure an upstanding citizen like yourself would be happy to donate money to my department? The money would go towards new radios, say, 20 Motorola XTS 2500i's. Oh, you don't have the $10,000 for the radios?

Well, we don't either.



Back on topic...

Hi Comint,

I appreciate the response. Though, according to the user manual, PTT-ID determines when the Signal Code is sent, not the ANI-ID.

I've changed my ANI-ID to what I'd like (a 5 digit code), however, does anyone know if I need to change anything else? Or is the radio already transmitting the ANI-ID after every transmission?

And does anyone know what the Signal Code does and whether or not I need that "on"?

Thanks guys!
 

Comint

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Messages
630
Location
Queensland, Australia
Hi Comint,

I appreciate the response. Though, according to the user manual, PTT-ID determines when the Signal Code is sent, not the ANI-ID.

I've changed my ANI-ID to what I'd like (a 5 digit code), however, does anyone know if I need to change anything else? Or is the radio already transmitting the ANI-ID after every transmission?

And does anyone know what the Signal Code does and whether or not I need that "on"?
It would appear that on that Model radio, ANI-ID is also referred to as "Signal Code".

In the iniitial stages, at least, you might consider having DTMFST (Menu 16) set to "ANI-ST" so you can hear if the Tones (ANI-ID) are being sent.

--
Comint
 
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chrismol1

P25 TruCking!
Joined
Mar 15, 2008
Messages
1,148
opening up to future ideas- The Motorola HT1000 (MT2000 & MTS2000 with displays), a very good choice for simple radio and they're now almost giving them away for surplus, its a well designed professional public safety grade radio with MDC1200 that all the pros use, you can assign ID's and you can even turn off the data squelch so everytime your key the radio you'll get that MDC1200 squawk. Thats the stuff pros use! You dont need all that XTS2500 if your not going to use P25 digital
 

MEMA204

Newbie
Joined
Jan 26, 2014
Messages
3
It would appear that on that Model radio, ANI-ID is also referred to as "Signal Code".

In the iniitial stages, at least, you might consider having DTMFST (Menu 16) set to "ANI-ST" so you can hear if the Tones (ANI-ID) are being sent.

--
Comint

Thanks Comint! I'm going to set the DTMFST to ANI-ST and see what's going on.

opening up to future ideas- The Motorola HT1000 (MT2000 & MTS2000 with displays), a very good choice for simple radio and they're now almost giving them away for surplus, its a well designed professional public safety grade radio with MDC1200 that all the pros use, you can assign ID's and you can even turn off the data squelch so everytime your key the radio you'll get that MDC1200 squawk. Thats the stuff pros use! You dont need all that XTS2500 if your not going to use P25 digital

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have to check the HT and MT series out.
 

nd5y

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
11,225
Location
Wichita Falls, TX
Thanks Comint! I'm going to set the DTMFST to ANI-ST and see what's going on.

You need to actually listen to the transmitted signal with another radio to know what is really going on.

Be aware that on some (maybe all) Baofeng models the microphone is hot when the DTMF tones are being transmitted. If you have DTMFST enabled then the mic can pick up the sidetone from the speaker and cause your transmit tones to be overdriven and distorted.

I don't know if they fixed that problem on the UV-82.
 
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OfficerEven

Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2012
Messages
17
Hello MEMA204 and others,

I am in the same boat as you- volunteer LE organization, using UV-82s, need to have MDC1200. Did you end up figuring it all out? Please let me know what works for you.
 

KC9HI

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 13, 2013
Messages
269
Hi Guys,

First off, thanks in advance for your time and any info you guys can provide.

Second, I've searched this forum and haven't been able to find previous threads on this issue so I apologize if this has already been covered in the past.

I'm the communications officer for a volunteer police department and we just purchased a number of Baofeng UV-82's for our officers. This was not my first choice for radios, however we are operating on an extremely tight budget so the UV-82's will have to do for now.

What I'm trying to figure out is how to get each radio to broadcast the ID/call-sign of the officer each time the officer transmits so that dispatch can identify who is transmitting.

If I understand it correctly, this means changes need to be made to the ANI-ID, Signal Code, and PTT-ID settings via software? (I have CHIRP and the OEM software)

For instance, if I want the set a radio to transmit "00103" as the ID after each transmission, what settings do I need to change in the radio?

Am I correct in assuming that I can only set numeric characters as the ID? Or can I set the ID to be something like "MEMA103"?

Can you guys explain the relationship between ANI-ID, Signal Code, and PTT-ID (and any other setting involved in this)?

I've looked at miklor.com and while it's a great resource it hasn't helped me figure this ID issue out.

Any help/info you guys can give would be much appreciated.

Thanks guys!

The UV-5R and variants (like the UV-82) have and ANI-ID and a multiple PTT-IDs. They both provide a 1- to 5-character signal code containing any of the 16 DTMF signals (0-9, *, #, A, B, C or D).

PTT-ID has 15 slots for PTT-ID signal codes. Any channel can be programmed with any one of these PTT-ID signal codes. The PTT-ID can be sent at BOT (beginning of TX), EOT (end of TX) or both (BOT and EOT).

There is only a single ANI-ID. The ANI-ID is sent when the alarm is activated and menu 32 (AL-MOD) is set to CODE. ANI-ID can also be transmitted at BOT, EOT and both EOT and BOT but it is global and must be programmed so that it will replace/override an existing PTT-ID. Only where a PTT-ID is programmed will an ANI-ID be transmitted. Confusing? It can be!

So what you want for this purpose is to use PTT-ID. It is easier to program than ANI-ID and accomplishes exactly the same thing.

So to use your "00103" as PTT-ID Code 7 to be sent as an ID at the end of every transmission of channel 9, here is what you need to do to program it in CHIRP.

So with you current channels and settings downloaded from the radio and showing in a tab of CHIRP and including a working channel 9, select the Settings->DTMF Settings menu.

Edit PTT-ID Code 7 to have the value "00103". While in this menu you should also set DTMF Sidetone to and appropriate value. OFF or DT-ST are probably the best choices. For more details on this setting (menu 16 (DTMFST) and the UV-82's other 40 menus) take a look at this reference.

http://www.miklor.com/COM/kc9hi/82Menus.pdf

Now switch to the Memories editor menu and click one time in the Loc column of the channel 9 row to highlight. it.

Now right-click the highlighted channel 9 row and select Edit in the dialog box that appears.

Now in the Edit Memory #9 menu that popped up, look down at the bottom for the PTT ID setting and change it to "EOT". Then set the PTT ID Code setting under it to "7". Now click the [OK] button.

That's it. Upload the changes to your radio and every transmission on channel 9 will be followed by the DTMF signal code "00103".

Your dispatch center will need to have a PC or some other device setup to decode and display the transmitted PTT-IDs.

Jim KC9HI
 

W9NAI

Newbie
Joined
Jun 11, 2009
Messages
3
Location
Pekin, Illinois
Had to reply to this one!

Police and fire departments going with $30.00 toy radios to protect me and my family/friends.

Sure glad we all carry guns and band aids so that we do not have to call for help.

Many of these radio's, Are Pro-Type radio's used by Police, Fire, As will as US Army! Yes I said US Army, I'm a retired Lt. Cl. of the US Army. And we used Radio from all over., China had the Best. Also note that most Radio's sold here in the USA are made in China. Wouxun is a maker of Police and Military grade Radio's, Also used by the US Military. For your info. The Baofeng and Yaesu. are the same rig..

When we say they make it using our spec's. Who is to say our spec's is the best!, Don't you think the maker
would know better??
 

Rred

Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2014
Messages
830
The concept of an all-volunteer PD is a new one to me. I thought a PD required some state-certified Peace Officers, and no state granted that status to anyone unless they were an actual employee of a municipal agency?

But whatever your status is, a UV-82 is technically illegal for your departmental use. IF your department or agency has a Part90 Public Safety license, you would need a UV-82C to legally use it under the license. Yes, the radios are the same, only a programming function differs, but from a legal point of view that's still a $10,000 fine per radio. A PD really should set the example and conform to the law, the UV-82C is not that much more expensive.

Not arguing, just FWIW.

I've heard of PD Auxiliaries, but never an all-volunteer PD. Something new under the sun, for me.
 

WA2IEK

Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2009
Messages
15
Location
Telford, PA
RE: understanding transmitter I D

I was brought to this forum discussion thread after using the duckduckgo search engine (a google alternative) to try and quickly grab some info about ANI-ID, PTT-ID, etc, for the UV5R and similar radios. I'm glad I did. Three of my four UV5R sets are older production, and, came with Part 90 tags. My fourth is the "2015" version, not part 90, and happily reserved for HAM only use. Please see my question at the bottom of this post, Thanks!

I work for a very large company in Eastern PA. They have five Motorola analog FM repeaters, five talk-arounds for when those repeaters are down, five auxilliary simplex channels, and, an emergency channel for security staff. The handhelds are mostly old model Motorola HT 750s. Some supervisors hve newer sets, but programmed just like the old ones.

The pool of useable radios is slowly dwindling, especially in the maintenance dept where I work as an electrician. Our shifts overlap, so, sharing the radios is leading to a variety of problems, and, some of the sets have to be reinforced with electrical tape every time you change out the battery, to keep it from beeping all day long while you walk about (worn battery connections). The company, like most nowadays, is loath to spend a dime where it does not have to, so, we are left to deal with the radios as best we can.

I got sick and tired of arguing over a worn out HT750! additionally, as an electrician, I perceived this as a safety issue.
So, about a year ago, I started figuring out the frequencies and DCS info on my own (they actually don't know it! They leave that to the Motorola dealer.) Once I had that, I programmed my oldest, most worn Baofeng, and, started bringing it in.

It worked out OK for me! Better than the damaged Motos. I did have to drop to carrier squelch, probably not a good option for some other sites but is tolerable here. I went on to recommend the "Anytone" and "Woxun" radios to others because of the receive issues but some showed up with the Baofengs, I look for the Part 90 tag, program them, and, they are generally satisfied. I make sure that they understand the limits of such cheap gear as best I can, and, gladly offer what tech support I can. Management is basically supportive, however, they are limited by corporate policy as to what vendors they can buy from, so, don't yet have purchase access to these cheapies.

I do have one question related to the original post: We would like to be able to see the I. D. of the various radios as they transmit, as there is always folk who think even their Motorola is a toy! We know the Motos have transmitter I.D. of some sort, and the Chinese gear can be programmed with one, What would be a decent cheap radio with a display that can show us these various I. D. codes as they transmit? Maybe my Baofeng already does this? have not found it yet... Thanks! ... Robert I. Baker, WA2IEK
 
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Rred

Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2014
Messages
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Robert-
Try looking for the double-sided inch or two inch wide Velcro strips in the hardware store. Often sold as a box about 10" square x 2" wide, with 25' in it. Like giant Velcro cable tie. This stuff can be a useful way to lose the tape wrapping on the batteries.
From the ARRL's field testing results posted in November, I'm not sure I'd want to use the Chinese SDRs, certified or not, without management knowing that they might not be compliant in all sorts of ways. They'd throw you under the bus if that became an issue.
I am really curious to know if any of the FCC certified SDRs have remained in compliance, as opposed to the (shh! you can use this, nudge nudge, wink wink) radios sold to hams and others, so widely, for unspecified purposes.
If anyone has done some testing...please do share.

By the way, there are new radios from the usual Japanese sources that retail around $150, which are a good midground between the SDRs and the thousand+ Moto's. FWIW.
 

WA2IEK

Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2009
Messages
15
Location
Telford, PA
Thanks!

Thanks for the replies, it looks as though I will be pursuing these issues further by using a Software Defined Receiver based on a surplus Windows or Linux PC. Some of the SDRs have some spectrum analysis capability, so, I'm thinking I should be able to weed out any particularly bad transceivers. I also see there are some software packages that have some of the various private land mobile decoding functions, maybe with enough reasearch and testing, I will be able to cobble together an affordable workstation to help my plant cope with their comparativly unsophisticated system. See you on the SDR discussions!
 

Elfnetdesigns

Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2014
Messages
63
This radio IS NOT legal to use on commercial and public safety bands... Unless the FCC has changed more stuff around...

For ANI like MDC1200 you would have to have a radio shop modify the unit with an add in board but good luck on finding any shops that will touch that thing.. The built in ANI on these radios is very poor, its DTMF which no one uses anymore in commercial applications except paging maybe or phone patch activation...MDC1200 is the way to go because it sends a data burst quite fast at pre or post PTT or both and can be assigned for status alerts too.

I use MDC1200 to keep track of customers on my conventional community repeaters so I know if anyone adds rogue radios to the system and I can adjust billing accordingly and it helps the customers dispatcher know who's calling in too as the base radios have MDC1200 decode capabilities.

SDR# is the software you need to use with an SDR dongle if you want the spectrum analyzer features but be warned this is not accurate by any means and has a huge delay. I recommend getting a real spectrum analyzer off ebay or at a ham sale second hand.

You could finagle an o-scope and some other tools together to make a sort of analyzer but that is too complicated for me to explain..
 

WA2IEK

Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2009
Messages
15
Location
Telford, PA
Thanks, and... Hmmm...

... Hmmm...An O-scope with a wide band mixer connected to it, a R.F. signal generator with sweep capability, Some sort of an interface that would allow me to synchronize the horizontal sweep of the scope to the sweep rate of the R.F. generator, Feed a sample from the transmitter under test to one side of the mixer, and the swept R.F. to the other, maybe some input and / or output filters, attenuation, isolation and / or amplification as needed, .... BRILLIANT! :) Lots of development time, but lots of good experience to be gained.
For the immediate time, however, I have the SDR up and running already and seeing VERY interesting things: I've tested the first and oldest of the part 90 tagged Baofengs and it looks better than I hoped it to. At least on the SDR anyway for what ever it's worth. Nice bandwith and an almost undetectable 2nd harmonic. I still have three more to examine, including one that is NOT part 90 tagged. I also have a Motorola CP200 to use as a reference, to compare them to, but, the replacement charger is not here yet so it's not running right now.
Good advice overall! I'll do what I can at the hamfests and use what I am able to afford until then. And, gently keep prodding the employer as to what improvements could be made if they would call their Motorola dealer and drop a bit of cash on them.
Thanks again for your post!
 

nd5y

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Are you sure you will be able to tell if any spurs are actually coming from the radio under test or are being created inside your cheap consumer grade SDR? Sounds like you need real test equipment to do what you want.
 

WA2IEK

Member
Joined
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Messages
15
Location
Telford, PA
DO need pro gear

I am absolutely sure that I DO need pro quality gear to do this right. I am also absolutely sure that short of finding a hamfest bargain or similar situation, I will not have the budget to acquire said pro gear anytime soon. My options in the short time frame are a cheap SDR, and / or a lash-up as described.
I won't be trying to convince anyone that this is some sort of professional or officially approved solution. And, other than my paycheck as already being earned for my regular job, I won't be making any money from this. On the other hand, I'm already comparing various transmitters to one another, and seeing things that I did not have any capabilities to see ever before. For the moment, it's this, or nothing but the radios themselves.
73 DE WA2IEK
 
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