Kenwood TM-V71A Crossbanding

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codblackops2

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I just purchased a Kenwood TM-V71A radio a couple months ago and I was trying to play with the cross band repeat. I have watched several videos of other people doing it but I am unable to get my Baofeng UV5-R Plus HT to control it by the DTMF tone. When I key the mic to send the DTMF tone to the kenwood I can here the tones coming across the speaker of my kenwood but not happens. I am using a UHF simplex to transmit into the kenwood and having it crossband into a VHF local repeater. Any help with this would be great.

I was just wondering if anyone has had any luck with a Baofeng controlling the kenwood via remote access. And if there is something that I might be doing wrong. I dont know any local hams that have a kenwood that has actually done it. I am just trying to figure it out before hurricane season so we have a mobile repeater for S&R Operations out in county if we need it.

Thanks for any help with this problem
 

robertmac

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I will apologize first as I may be way off base on this one. It is my understanding that both the HT and mobile must be Kenwoods to make use of the Sky Command functionality. While one with the proper PL can transmit into the crossband, the HT must have the Sky Command functions to change parameters. I have never used this feature [never had a Kenwood mobile] but have used HTs and they all have a menu item to select Sky Command. The manual for the TM-V71A should make mention of this Sky Command.
 

kayn1n32008

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Sky command is to remotly control HF rigs. The V71a and other kenwood radios can be remotely controlled via DTMF. Although I own the V71a, I have never tried to remotle control it. All I can suggest is that you have set the remote access code and that the correct remote access code is being sent from the portable.
 

nd5y

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The UV-5R has a bug where the microphone isn't muted while sending DTMF tones.
If the volume is too high then the mic pics up the DTMF sidetone from the speaker and transmits an overdriven and/or distorted tone. Setting Menu 16 DTMFST to OFF may help. I don't know much about the TM-V71A It could be picky about only decoding clean tones.

Some UV-5R firmware versions are not cabable of sending the DTMF D tone. Does the TM-V71A require a D?

Do you have another radio that you can use to send tones?
 

codblackops2

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I have my Yaesu FT-7900 that is capable of sending DTMF tones and I hadnt tryed using it yet to see what happens. And yes it does have a D tone for repeater shut off. I had to get the manual back out to look it over and see which tones it uses while in the crossband. I am pretty sure that the firmware on my baofeng uv-5 was the newer version unless they have another version out.

I will also try shutting off the DTMF tone to where it doesnt come back thru the mic on my HT and see if that works. I might just have to pick up another HT this coming weekend since our local hamfest is coming up if I cant get this thing to work right.
 

nd5y

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Baofeng UV-5R firmware version BFS311 was the latest version in Nov 2013 when I bought mine.
In that version the radio sends a 0 when you press D (EXIT key).
Earlier versions made a sidetone 0 in the speaker but sent a D over the air.
Baofeng tried to fix the problem but only made it worse.
I don't know if other versions or clones from other manufacturers have the same problem.
 

codblackops2

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Baofeng UV-5R firmware version BFS311 was the latest version in Nov 2013 when I bought mine.
In that version the radio sends a 0 when you press D (EXIT key).
Earlier versions made a sidetone 0 in the speaker but sent a D over the air.
Baofeng tried to fix the problem but only made it worse.
I don't know if other versions or clones from other manufacturers have the same problem.



Ok thanks. I know I have had mine since Summer of 2013. I had did some looking around to see about upgrading the firmware but from what I was seeing that the UV-5R and the UV-5R Plus which is what I have uses diffrent firmware so I dont know whats going on there
 

WB4CS

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I have used the DTMF control feature of the TM-V71A for crossband repeat using a Yaesu FT-60 handheld. It works great, the only issue I found was one misprint in the manual for one of the controls (don't have the manual with me to say what the issue was, sorry.)

Looks like as others have pointed out, the issue is with the Baofang radio. Just to be sure, when you want to remote control the radio, there's a different key combination to use when powering on than the key combination you use to turn on cross band repeat. Again, I don't have the manual in front of me, but I remember getting stumped on that until I found the section in the manual that states the key combination used to put the radio in remote control mode. If you've verified that you're in remote control mode instead of crossband repeat mode, then I would look at the Baofang as the issue.
 

WINNSBORO1

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tmv 71a crossband

You have to be sure the Kenwood is in remote control mode then you can control it with any ht with DTMF by using the commands in the manual. I use one as my remote base and it works wonderfully. If I can help, email or PM me. Ht does not have to be a Kenwood.
 

KR7CQ

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Your best bet is to get a good HT as soon as you can, if you want to cross band. When using a Baofeng with the TM-V71a the HT's rather long and annoying squelch tail (stream of white noise) goes, then you get the Kenwood's squelch tail, and you end up with a pretty ugly mess at the end of each transmission. The UV-3R+ that I tried was even worse, MUCH worse in fact. My FT60R gives the cross band a very clean break after transmissions, and most don't even notice that I am cross banding, same for the FT7900R in my truck which I also cross band with. Both control the V71a just fine. I know you may have reasons for wanting to use this thing for now, but ultimately the V71a is a great rig and deserves much better than a $25 HT for use in cross banding. You don't need the pricey Kenwood HT either, just a decent HT.
 

codblackops2

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I got it to work last night with my ht just as a test to check in on our weekly net. I disabled the dtmf tone on the ht to to try it out. I plan on this weekend on picking up a new ht since our hamfest is coming up. The biggest reason im trying to figure out my crossband now is for the upcoming hurricane season since I am a team chief for our county cert team in my district.

Sent from my SGH-T599 using Tapatalk
 

WB4CS

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Can you email or pm me the misprint in the manual?

It's not so much a misprint as it is unclear instructions. Per the owners manual from Kenwood's website, on page 86 where it lists the remote control codes it lists the commands "C" and "D" to turn the crossband repeat on/off remotely.

Any of the other codes (that I've tested) **as long as you have not sent the A# command to end access** you can just key up and enter the command you want. For example, if you've NOT sent A# you can key up and press * or # to move the memory channels up or down remotely. If you've sent the A# command, you have to first enter the access command of A(PIN)# before you can send remote commands.

Back to the "C" and "D" commands for crossband repeat, what's missing in the manual is, no matter if you've sent the A# command or not, you MUST send the access command A(PIN)# along with "C" or "D" to turn on/off crossband repeat. So, if your access PIN is 123 and you want to turn cross band repeat on remotely, you would key up and send A123#C to enable repeat. I can't remember, but you may also have to add the A# command at the end of that string as well (been a while since I've used the remote control feature.)

Also, just as an FYI, the key combination to enable remote control mode is (powered off) REV + Power On. Then enable crossband repeat via DTMF commands. To enter ONLY crossband repeat mode (without remote control capability) the key combination is (powered off) TONE + Power On.
 

codblackops2

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That is very intresting. I am glad you said which button to hold when powering on or powering off. I guess I have been doing it the wrong way all this time. I think I have been holding the tone button and it hasnt been where I could control remotely. Now that I know how to do it the right way I will right that down on my cheat sheet that will be in my gear bag with me. I cant wait till the weekend so I can see if I can find some good deals on a new HT. Has anyone tryed a wouxun with it? I hear they are alot better then the baofeng's but didnt know. I think I am going to try and get a Yaesu but was just curious. I know alot of our local hams have the wouxuns and they seem to like them alot
 
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