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Help with Understanding DMR Programming (GD-77)

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Mikey2018

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Jan 7, 2018
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Hello Everyone!

I have just purchased my first DMR radio (Radioddity GD-77) but I'm finding it very confusing getting my head around the programming structure / relationships (Contacts, RX Groups, Channels and Zones).

I've been reading guides and forum posts and watching videos but they are just not comprehensive enough to fully understand what's going on. One video I watched, a guy was adding ID numbers but didn't explain what they were, where they were obtained from or what their importance / relationship was / is to the rest of the information.

So I'm getting bits of information but not a clear picture. A bit like having a hundred jigsaw pieces but no picture on the box lol.

Somehow, I've managed to program two local repeaters into my radio but that was more luck than judgement. One of the repeaters I can hear a single talk group TG9 without monitoring while the other repeater I can hear several groups but only when I use monitor so I've probably not programmed it correctly.

I have searched for local code plugs for my radio but have come up empty handed and I've put out requests on Facebook groups but have come up empty handed there too. What doesn't help is those code plugs I did find are either not for my area or are outdated and don't work with the latest software.


For now, I'd be quite happy if I could just get these two local repeaters programmed in correctly with all their slots / groups but I'm not sure how to best do it / organise everything.


Any help would be greatly received!

Many thanks!!
 
Joined
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Location
Elma, WA
One of the major problems with ham radio DMR is that companies do not provide instruction manuals for using their software -- I guess it is supposed to come to you by divine revelation, which in my case it never did. The other problem is that using someone else's codeplug is like wearing someone else's dirty laundry -- no thanks. There is one company that does provide a programming manual, and that's for the Anytone 868. It won't lead you step by step through programming the GD-77, but it WILL give you an idea of what steps need to be taken, where to get the necessary information, etc. My suggestion is to read through it, as it will help you to understand how to program your own radio (it did for me, at any rate). Grab it here:

"http://wouxun.us/Software/AnyTone-Software/AT-D868UV_Programming_Guide_1.21.pdf"

PS A couple of important points:

1. You will need to program receive groups for each of the GD-77 digital channels; unlike some other radios, the GD-77 won't receive talkgroups unless they are specifically included in the channel's receive group.

2. You will not be able to upload the DMR-MARC contact list into the GD-77, that feature is not available on this radio. The newest firmware, 3.0.6, does allow some limited contact lists, but it seems to have other bugs, so I have stuck with 2.6.9.

Hope this helps.
 
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Mikey2018

Newbie
Joined
Jan 7, 2018
Messages
4
Thank you both!

I will take a look at those links and see how I get on.

Another quick question I have is:

I used to monitor a lot of Digital stuff using my SDR Dongle and DSD+. Does anyone know how I would get the information required to add those frequencies to my radio? E.g. what colour codes, talk groups etc. Is there a way to identify / find that stuff out so I can program it into my radio?


Thanks!!!!
 

Mikey2018

Newbie
Joined
Jan 7, 2018
Messages
4
Hi and thanks for all the help, advice and info.

The Oh My God Txt did help to some degree but I found some places to be ambiguous and difficult to follow precisely but it did give me some ideas.


So just to clarify I've understood everything correctly....Lets say I want to add a single DMR Repeater.....

First thing I do is create a Digital Contact List of all the Talkgroups on that Repeater. For arguments sake, we'll say the repeater is called GB7XX and has TWO talkgroups - TG9 Local and TG235 UK Wide.
So I create a digital contact for each of those Talkgroups. One contact for TG9 and one for TG235.

Next I need to create an RX Group so I can hear these talkgroups.
So I create a single RX Group entry and call it repeaters and to that group I add the TG9 and TG235 from the contacts list.

Next, I create a zone called repeaters to store all the repeaters I add.

Then I need to start adding channels and this is where I get a little unsure....

So I set up a contact called GB7XX and fill in the slot information, the frequency, the colour code etc.
Next I need to select an RX group, so I select the repeater RX group I created earlier and this allows me to listen to all the talkgroups on that repeater that I added to that RX group list?

I also need to select a contact for the Channel and this is where I assume I must create a Channel for each talkgroup on the repeater?

E.g. Channe; GB7XX-LOC where I select TG9 from the contact list and Channel GB7XX-UK where I select TG235 from the contact list?

So I could end up with several channels for GB7XX, one for each talkgroup but labelled uniquely and accordingly as above. E.g. GB7XX-LOC, GB7XX-UK, GB7XX-WW

And then lastly, I can create a Scan Group called repeaters where I can add all these repeater channels so that I can scan through them for activity.


Man, that's confusing to write let alone follow LOL but hopefully I've got a grasp of it now....


I've programmed a couple of repeaters into my radio and I can hear a few talkgroups but sometimes I will see the green light on my radio light up but nothing is heard. Could this be because I've not got all the talkgroups, color codes and timeslots stored for that repeater so I'm only hearing the ones I've got programmed?

Also, I don't suppose anyone knows why the GD-77 needs RX groups at all as opposed to other brands of DMR Radio? Maybe they could create a separate firmware for amateur radio users to make it less complicated?


And lastly, I use DSD+ on my PC to listen to local DMR activity and it decodes the audio automatically.
Is there anyway I can add these frequencies to my GD-77?
By that I mean, how do I work out what slots, color codes etc are being used when I'm listening through DSD+ so I can hear them on my GD-77?



Thanks again!!!!!!
 

Mikey2018

Newbie
Joined
Jan 7, 2018
Messages
4
Just wanted to report back that I've got my head around programming this radio now.
Managed to get a couple of repeaters and talk groups programmed in so I can listen to what's going on.
 
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