Midland STP-105B Syntech III P25 Portable

[brushfire21]

Have been doing some research on the radio and coming up blank as far as user comments or feedback is concerned. Anybody use them and if so what are your thoughts, and how does it compare to some of the other P25 portables on the market.

I really like the channels, user functions and other items it has compared to other units.

 

[tc792]

I would say I'm pretty familiar with this radio. I have about 20 out in service. It is lightweight, small and durable. Audio quality is great, no problems to mention. It has the ability to change from analog to digital transmission with the press of one button and the user can set up their own zone of channels. Both, of these features are not common, if available at all on other brands.

 

[brushfire21]

Thank you for the feedback. Pricey little suckers (compared to less expensive units) but they seem to have more options than most other P25 portables on the shelf.

 

[fealand]

Brushfire, I sent you a pvt message

 

[mass-man]

Thanks for pointing out this little beauty...just the thing for what I want in an HT/scanner combo...could do my local P25 stuff as well as ham repeaters including the couple of P25 machines and the weather service transmitters.

 

[pickles37]

I just got hold of an STP-105B, and so far like it a lot, not least because of its amazingly compact size compared to the XTS5000, EFJ5100, etc. I do have a few questions though if we have any experts!

1. The FPP works really well, except I can't for the life of me find any way to set a DCS tone (as opposed to the CTCSS codes) in the menu. Any ideas?

2. What is the command zone? I can add channels to it with the * key but can't seem to get to it anywhere

3. Does anyone know what the programming software is for the radio, or how to get hold of it? I can't seem to find anything. The FPP is nice but I'd like to be able to program from a PC

Thanks in advance!

David

 

[fealand]

The DCS codes are at the very bottom of the ctcss codes. scroll all the way down the list. Also they are listed as the code slash the inverted. The command zone is zone 0.

The PC software is available along with the cables.

 

[fealand]

I should have meationed, the command zone allows you to add channels from any zone to it and they go in in the order you add them. You delete them from the comand zone same as you add them. It allows a user on an incedent to build a zone on the fly from what is in the radio without haveing to program every ch.

All buttons other than the menu button are programable for many funtions but care should be given to make them only do one thing or you can cunfuse the users.

 

[pickles37]

Many thanks for the help! I now am able to use the command zone, which is surprisingly useful

For some reason my radio just doesn't seem to have the DCS codes in at all - not sure if they were turned off in software or something. Very odd...

David

 

[fealand]

Can you user program the radio? If so go to ch programing, rx or tx tone type and select edit then dcs. If you can and can't figure it out, PM me and I will provide a phone number for you to call me and I will walk you through it.

 

[pickles37]

Yes, I can go into channel parameters -> channels -> (password) -> channel select and everything works fine. It's just that under the RX and TX tones it just says, e.g. "RX Tone (CCS)" and only lives a list of CTCSS codes, not DCS codes

Thanks!

 

[fealand]

When you get past the ch select paramater, scroll to TX tone type and change it from ccs to dcs then do the same to rx tone type and save them. Then scroll through the tone selections. It is easier with the pc software though but can be done by user programing.

Frank

 

[pickles37]

Got in touch with Midland support (who incidentally are really helpful), and apparently I have an older version of the firmware which did not include DCS (oddly!). I'm sending it in for a firmware flash which should solve the problem. Thanks for the replies!

 

[honestspider]

Video

Anyone with some experience on this radio willing to post a short video online on how to program the radio from the keypad? I'm going to be setting it up for some local amature repeaters and some local LE freq's. I am located in Clay County Minnesota, can someone please use the county P25 freqs as an example so I have an idea on how to program these please.

Thanks in advance,
KD0KAH