Longtime lurker, first time poster. I'm amateur/GMRS licensed and wanted a better solution to communicate with family and occasional business events. Threads from knowledgable posters in this forum and others pointed me towards the DLR/DTR series and I jumped in. I'm very impressed with these series of radios. I've been playing around with DLR1020s and they are great for the average user, so I went ahead and ordered a DTR700 for myself. I used CPS for the 1020s and it works fine though there were a couple of bugs (particularly any feature with radio names). I turned all the beep volumes to minimum and turned on beginning/end roger beeps. I noticed the beginning/open beeps only occassionaly happen. The ending beeps seem to be consistent. But, overall, great options in CPS to tweak the radio to the user. In my effort to better secure my comms, I have some questions:
- I've already changed my Profile ID to something other than "0000", and using Channel 2 (because I don't like to leave anything on default), but what exactly is a "Channel"? I know it's not a freq like in the traditional sense. Is it just a grouping function? Does it have any effect on the hopset used? Does it matter from an RF traffic perspective if 1000 radios are on Channel 1 and 0 radios are on Channel 2? If I'm understanding things correctly, the last digit in the Profile ID is the hopset used? I'm just trying to understand the value of channels particularly from a traffic and security perspective.
- Is there any way to make a private talk group that only allows radio IDs in my group to hear/talk among themselves? There's a built in feature to do one-on-one direct, but is it possible to set it up as a group? I know these radios are pretty secure through obscurity already, but just thinking if there's a way to increase it more.
You might have read some of my posts in other threads.
Regarding the beginning/open beeps, these beeps indicate the start of an incoming public group call or private call. These calls have a hang time associated with them. The next incoming group or private call beep will not occur until the start of the next incoming group call or private call received after the hang time expires. The default group call hang time is 4 seconds and the default private call hang time is 10 seconds. The public group call hang time affects how much time you have to activate the 1 button Private Reply feature after the last received public group, private group, or Profile ID group transmission ends. The Private call hang time affects how long the radio hangs in 1 to 1 private call mode. In the DLRs, this is marked by a "Private" voice message at the start of a private call and ends with a "Private Over" voice message after the hang time expires. In my DTR700 fleet and previously owned DLR1060 fleet, I lengthened the group call hang time to 10 seconds and left the private call hang time at the default of 10 seconds. This gives me a little more time to hit the private reply button after receiving a transmission. You can also hit the private reply button while hearing a transmission if you want. You don't have to wait until a received group call ends before setting up a private reply.
The start of an incoming call beep on the legacy DTR410/550/650 is an annoying DEE-DEET double beep, consisting of two 90ms bursts of 2300Hz. The group call and private call hang times are 12 seconds long and are not adjustable.
The end of transmission "roger beep" in the DLRs and DTR600/700 is a soft DEE-DOOM sound. With the legacy DTR410/550/650 radios, this is a 40ms beep at 2300Hz and the volume is not adjustable but is linked to the radio's volume setting. The legacy DTR's roger beep can be annoying at times and it cannot be disabled. I've played around with the roger beep feature on and off in my DTR700 fleet and I ended up just leaving it off. I like peace and quiet at the end of a received transmission. The default setting is OFF.
I recommend not using the start of group call beep. This is a soft DOOM-DEE sound, the reverse of the end of transmission roger beep. I've found it causes the receive audio to "stutter" once at the start of an incoming group call. For example, if you press PTT on a DLR or DTR radio and say "Hello" immediately after hearing the PTT chirp, you will get "Hello-ello" coming out of a DLR or DTR600/700 if the start of group call beep is enabled. The rest of the received transmission after about the first second will be normal. This weird behavior I noticed with the start of group call beep enabled. The default setting is OFF and I recommend leaving it off.
Regarding channels, a channel is grouping function. It is not a channel in the traditional sense of a conventional radio. It has no effect on the hopset used. The end user sees channels but they are talkgroups used on a hopset. A channel has multiple modes available: Profile ID group, public group, private group, and private 1 to 1 call. The DLRs can do 1 to 1 private calling like the DTRs but requires the CPS to set up. With the DLRs, it's not worth setting up a 1 to 1 private call because it wastes a channel and there are very few channels available. The DLRs also don't have a display to be able to select a private contact from a list of contacts and have no way to scroll through contacts. With the DLRs you are better off to use the 1-button private reply feature for 1 to 1 private calls and use the channels for public and private groups or Profile ID groups. Initiating a 1 to 1 private call is better done in the DTRs than the DLRs.
Groups (public/private/Profile ID) are set up in the programming and then you map each group to a channel, similar to other Motorola radios where you assign a conventional radio personality to a zone and a channel.
The legacy DTRs showed talkgroups to the end user instead of channels. In the legacy DTRs, channels referred to the 10 hopsets available. Motorola cleaned up the nomenclature in the DLRs and DTR600/700 models to make it easier for the end user. Hopsets are simply called hopsets because that's what they are and these are transparent to the end user. The concept of a channel like in a conventional radio is easier for the end user to grasp than a talkgroup (WTH is a talkgroup?). The DLRs and the DTR600/700 appear more "channelized" to the end user than the legacy DTRs. They are backward compatible with the legacy DTRs but program a little differently.
The 4 digit Profile ID Number (PIN) feature is a new feature that started with the DLRs and was carried forward to the DTR600/700 models. The legacy DTR410/550/650 models don't have any Profile ID features. The PIN modifies the group ID and hopset used for the first 20 public groups. It gives another range of available group IDs to use and is used for making groups more secure than public groups but not quite as secure as a private group. The PIN feature makes it insanely easy for users to take a group of radios right out of the box at the factory default settings and secure them without needing the CPS. Just set the PIN from the keypad in programming mode to match in all radios and you are done. The legacy DTRs required the CPS to set up anything private. The PIN feature also added Page All Available and Call All Available features which are all-call features the legacy DTRs don't have. Profile ID groups are compatible with the legacy DTRs when the PIN is at the 0000 default. Profile ID groups are public groups when the PIN is at 0000 because the PIN feature is OFF.
You are correct in that the last digit of the PIN affects the hopset used by the radio. It also affects the whole radio. On the ADVANCED page in the CPS, you can disable the Profile ID Number Lock setting to change the hopset if you want. The default is ON. The CPS warns that disabling the lock may cause some features to not work and is recommended only for experienced users familiar with the DLR/DTR protocol. If all of your channels will use the same hopset, I recommend leaving the Profile ID Number Lock ON and choose a PIN carefully so that the last digit matches the hopset you want to use. Hopset #1 is the default hopset used and is identical to the legacy DTRs.
Private groups in the DLRs and DTR600/700 models program and function identical to Private groups in the legacy DTRs. The 11-digit private ID of every radio in the group has to be programmed into every radio in the group. The CPS is capable of reading the private ID from individual radios. The legacy DTRs were capable of reading the private ID from another DTR radio over the air with the CPS. These features make it easy to capture the private ID from radios in your fleet.
Public groups in the DLRs and DTR600/700 models program identical to public groups the legacy DTRs but with a small twist to be aware of. The DLR/DTR protocol has a restriction that each group ID can be used only ONCE in the radio. The Profile ID features take up the first 20 public group IDs. Plain old public groups identical to the legacy DTRs are then forced to start at ID=21 instead of ID=1. Note that this is the case only when the 4-digit PIN is at the 0000 default. When the PIN is at the 0000 default, the Profile ID mode for channels is OFF and the first 20 Profile ID groups ARE public groups identical to the legacy DTRs. Group IDs 19 and 20 are reserved for Page All Available and Call All Available features and are labeled as such. More about these features below. When the PIN is set to a non-zero value, Profile ID groups are no longer public groups and IDs for public groups start at ID=1 instead of 21, identical to the legacy DTRs. I recommend setting the PIN to a non-zero value even if you are not going to use any Profile ID features, taking care to choose a PIN carefully such that the last digit matches the hopset you want to use. This is the way to program public groups when you have a mix of public group, private group, and Profile ID mode channels.
The Profile ID features added Page All Available and Call All Available features. These are ALL CALL features to call all of your users even if they may be on different channels, i.e., on different group IDs but all on the same hopset. It saves a caller from having to call a user on each individual channel to find them like they would with a conventional radio. Call All Available calls all users that are not currently in a call and throws them all into a temporary supergroup with a 4 second hang time. All users in the group can chitchat back and forth on this group provided they don't let the 4 second hang time expire. The 1 button private reply button is disabled in this mode, IIRC. After the 4 second hang time expires, all radios revert back to the individual group(s) they were previously on. Page All Available works similar to Call All Available in that it throws all responding radios into a temporary supergroup with a 4 second hang time but PTT is disabled and a user can reply using the 1 button Private Reply feature. Since the Private Reply feature is for 1 to 1 private use, only a single user can respond to a Page All Available call. All other radios revert back to the group(s) they were previously on after the hang time expires. Page All Available is useful for paging a group of users even if they are on different channels (groups) and allows one user to respond privately.
Another reason I recommend setting the PIN to a non-zero value is to prevent your radios from being trolled by others using the Page All Available and Call All Available features. These features requires a matching PIN in order to work. DLRs and DTR600/700 radios will respond to Page and Call All Available from other radios when the PIN is at the 0000 default. It is possible for a group of users with defaulted DLRs or DTR600/700s to get trolled by someone using Page All Available or Call All Available. The group of users then change channels to try to get away from the troll but they still hear the troll. Then they try all channels but to no avail because the troll is using Page All Available or Call All Available. These features can be used to ph*ck with other users. Setting the PIN to a non-zero value will prevent this from happening. The Profile ID features are neat and useful features that were added to the DLR and DTR600/700 models but they expose a vulnerability that users concerned about security should be aware of. I wish the DLRs and the DTR600/700 included an option to disable the Page All and Call All Available features.
The legacy DTRs don't have the Page and Call All Available features but they can trigger the Page and Call All Available features in defaulted DLRs and DTR600/700 radios. Group IDs 19 and 20 are used for Page All and Call All Available in the DLRs and DTR600/700 radios. These IDs are normal public group IDs legacy DTRs. DLRs and DTR600/700 radios interpret these IDs as Page All Available (ID=19) and Call All Available (ID=20) and respond accordingly. Setting the PIN to a non-zero value will prevent your DLRs and DTR600/700 radios from being trolled by legacy DTRs using public group IDs 19 and 20.
These are excellent radios and people keep underestimating them.
