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Motorola DMR Interoperable with Kenwood DMR?

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radiogurl93

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Hopefully I placed this in the right forum. I have a Motorola xpr3500e that I am trying to make work with Kenwood TK-D340 U. I have read the Kenwood and have found that they are running dual slot direct mode on all channels. Even the repeated channels. The repeater is an XPR8400. Why they paired that with Kenwood I don’t know.
I can make my trbos talk to the Kenwood on a simplex channel in dual direct mode however when I put the repeated channel into my trbo radio and check this, it completely grays out my transmit frequency. When I uncheck it, my trbo has a led light come on showing it’s receiving data, but no audio. The thing I’m stuck on is why does the Kenwood allow you to put a repeated freq. in dual direct mode but my Motorola will not? I need to get these two systems to work together.
The only other thing I can think of is that there is a privacy key of some sort on the repeated channels in the Kenwoods.
 

radiogurl93

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Too basic, perhaps, but are all radios on the same frequency / talk group / color code / timeslot?
I've checked all of that! The Kenwoods have color code 1 on every single channel. Both repeated channel are channel 1 and 2 with channel 1 on slot 1 and channel 2 on slot 2. Here I will attach some screenshots. I am VERY good at programming Mototrbo, however I did not program the Kenwoods so it's throwing me for a loop.
 

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mmckenna

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The Kenwood radios follow the DMR standard, so they will work. Where issues usually arise is from the Motorola gear being set up with proprietary features.

As for the TX frequency, I haven't worked with those radios, but it could be set up for an automatic 5MHz offset like used on UHF. Not sure where that setting would be in the CPS.

There are people with way better DMR chops than I have. KD4EFM might be able to provide some more detailed info on the Kenwood side.
 

radiogurl93

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The Kenwood radios follow the DMR standard, so they will work. Where issues usually arise is from the Motorola gear being set up with proprietary features.

As for the TX frequency, I haven't worked with those radios, but it could be set up for an automatic 5MHz offset like used on UHF. Not sure where that setting would be in the CPS.

There are people with way better DMR chops than I have. KD4EFM might be able to provide some more detailed info on the Kenwood side.
You're right, it did have a 5MHz offset. The frequency was 451.65 and 456.65. The odd thing is, in the Kenwood he has this channel set for dual direct mode which is not possible with a repeater, since you already have two slots. So when I copy this exact same thing on my trbo, it wants to basically set it as if it's a simplex channel, and greys out my transmit area. I can get the Kenwoods and Motorolas to operate on a simplex channel using dual direct mode, but I cannot get them to hear audio from each other through the repeater.
 

KevinC

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I would suspect the Kenwoods have a separate direct or simplex button. Did you program the Motorola without Dual Capacity Direct Mode checked and see if it works?
 

chief21

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I agree that dual direct mode (DCDM) is intended for simplex use and should not be compatible with repeater use. If I'm understanding you correctly, it seems as if you should be following the lead of the Motorola radios and set the Kenwoods similarly... assuming the Motorolas are working through the repeater properly.
 

radiogurl93

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I agree that dual direct mode (DCDM) is intended for simplex use and should not be compatible with repeater use. If I'm understanding you correctly, it seems as if you should be following the lead of the Motorola radios and set the Kenwoods similarly... assuming the Motorolas are working through the repeater properly.
We wanted to do that but didn’t want to mess up the programming. So i programmers two Motorola’s with the repeater and it worked fine. However when I try to talk on the repeated with the Motorola and Kenwood the light lights up like it’s seeing data but no audio.
 

chief21

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This is a bit like navigating in the fog, but it seems like you should program the Kenwoods to operate on the repeater and forget the dual direct settings. Once you get them communicating with the Motorolas, thorough the repeater, you can experiment with the simplex / talkaround features.
 

EWC_BDN

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Without Sel call on PTT the Kenwood uses ALL Call on PTT. You made a group call, you just have to assign it. Like contact name in Motorola. Change sel call on ptt to group and then list #1.
That said, try All call contact from the Motorola's to the Kenwoods. if your trying to talk on Call ID 1. The Kenwood isn't listening for that based on the programming you've shown.
 

chief21

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The thing I’m stuck on is why does the Kenwood allow you to put a repeated freq. in dual direct mode but my Motorola will not? I need to get these two systems to work together.

Try this...

Make sure that the Kenwood radios have the same GroupID/Talkgroup number as the Motorola radios (I see only GroupID #1 in the image that you posted. Does that match the repeater group ID in the Motorola radios?)

Similarly, the time slot for the repeater channel in the Kenwood radios must match whichever time slot is assigned to the repeater/groupID used by the Motorola radios.

On the Kenwood channel edit screen, I don't see any GroupID selected. This might be preempted by the dual slot direct mode selection, but I suspect that it should appear in the ID List box, to the right.

I'm pretty sure that once you uncheck the dual slot direct mode box, things will start to work as you might expect. Just to prevent any confusion, I would also uncheck the GroupID scan box as well.

Again - To communicate through the repeater, the Kenwood channel settings need to match the Motorola settings, being aware that the terminologies might not be exactly the same. Frequencies, GroupID (or talkgroup), color code and timeslot settings must all match.
 
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