YES! Am I less of a ham for now preferring these over even my trusty analog and DMR HTs!? It may be the ‘newness’ novelty, but I enjoy the privacy, not that ‘I caught a fish‘ is that sensitive.
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Motorola DTR700 Portable Digital Radio 900Mhz
- Thread starter JASII
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Following up to say I’m satisfied with the battery-save-off runtimes on the DTR700. So is the gf, for her potential work application. We got a solid 18 hours before low battery beep on the first radio. . duty cycle wasn’t scientific or timed, just a few short exchanges an hour, typical expected use-pattern. The other radio made it to 19.5 hours. New DTR700s, and one of them has a battery with noticeably better battery life than the other . . but I’m sure within specs and normal tolerances. . obviously the duty cycle isn’t necessarily exact for ea. radio during its uptime, but one radio/battery consistently lasts ~10% longer than the other. . even when doing nothing but idle RX. Next I will try swapping the batteries to see if it follows the battery.. I suspect it will. Neither battery has been subjected to over-discharge or over-charge. Perhaps things will normalize more after some additional charge discharge cycles.
I like how easy it is to do a battery swap on the DTRs. Seems like even my (admittedly used) DLRs don’t last as long on a full charge even though they are using battery save. I know the battery capacity is less, but obviously the current draw is too, sans display. Good grief the battery swap on a DLR is next to impossible, is there a secret!? Perhaps it’s better discussed in another thread, but the battery-door-catch gets malformed too easily IMO. I’ve figured out how to insert the bottom tabs first of course, then torque the door a little so you seat the top right catch first (from back-of-radio view), then the left, and then proceed with the lock-slide, and that seems to work best from my trial and error.
I like how easy it is to do a battery swap on the DTRs. Seems like even my (admittedly used) DLRs don’t last as long on a full charge even though they are using battery save. I know the battery capacity is less, but obviously the current draw is too, sans display. Good grief the battery swap on a DLR is next to impossible, is there a secret!? Perhaps it’s better discussed in another thread, but the battery-door-catch gets malformed too easily IMO. I’ve figured out how to insert the bottom tabs first of course, then torque the door a little so you seat the top right catch first (from back-of-radio view), then the left, and then proceed with the lock-slide, and that seems to work best from my trial and error.
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I have early September 2019 build dates with the latest firmware. I agree and have contacted my dealer and their response was that they were going to pass along my complaints about the lockups.
The only differences that I've noticed with my DLR1060s are that the batteries are a little tighter of a fit, and the cover latch is a little more stubborn and notchy. A little longer of a strong fingernail should do the trick for the cover latch. A finger or thumb resting on the bottom corner edge of the case and used as a pivot while the plastic tab coming up around the battery is firmly grasped and pulled up and around the said finger/thumb makes for a controlled extraction of the battery rather easy. Be careful not to pull too much of the plastic out as its range of motion is limited.
The DTR700s do seem to be better designed or spec'ed out as all the component parts fit together rather nicely, with just the right amount of force necessary to satisfy normal human expectations.
n1das
Member
sdwaves & county,
It's been a while since posting in this thread. Have you experienced any more DTR700 lockups since disabling the battery save feature? I am happy to report no more lockups have occurred in my DTR700s since disabling the battery save feature in the CPS a few months ago.
My fleet of 6 DTR700s are coming up on 2 years old as they are among the first build of DTR700s in November, 2018. The firmware is up to date in all of them. It may be getting close to time to re-battery all of them. The Li-ion batteries have a life span similar to cell phone batteries. They start getting stale after about 2 years of use.
It's been a while since posting in this thread. Have you experienced any more DTR700 lockups since disabling the battery save feature? I am happy to report no more lockups have occurred in my DTR700s since disabling the battery save feature in the CPS a few months ago.
My fleet of 6 DTR700s are coming up on 2 years old as they are among the first build of DTR700s in November, 2018. The firmware is up to date in all of them. It may be getting close to time to re-battery all of them. The Li-ion batteries have a life span similar to cell phone batteries. They start getting stale after about 2 years of use.
So far no lockups at all. Though I will admit to not using the radios as often as I did initially.
I will definitely post back here if I experience another one.
Due to this Covid thing, I really haven't ventured out enough to be able to exercise the radios. I went so far as to topping off the batteries once this time around. That being said, I never experienced any lockups while power save was disabled on these radios. I'll also report back with any lockups, but I have a feeling the disabling of the power save feature is a solid fix.
n1das
Member
Same here! LOL! My trusty analog and DMR HTs have also seen a lot less use, especially for local on-site simplex type operations. I have some FRS radios too but they only get used when my young nephews come to visit. They DO NOT get to play with the DTR radios and I keep them out of reach.
It's getting time to re-battery my DTR700 fleet as they are now a month away from being 2 years old. I am noticing the battery life on a charge getting shorter in them like a 2 year old cell phone battery. It's no surprise since they have seen a LOT of use.
n1das let us know if you find any deals on batteries. The DTR batteries I’ve noticed seem to be devoid of deals unlike the DLR batteries which can be found cheap. . from what I’ve seen anyway.
BTW I’ve been impressed with the Cane Wireless DB-100 ‘base station’. I keep it on 24x7 in the kitchen and am surprised how handy it is to hail family members in the kitchen, from upstairs, basement, down the block, etc. It’s overpriced for what it is, and RX audio is a little tinny, but have found RF performance to be better than expected . . especially with an internal antenna. . slightly better than the 1020s actually in my testing.
BTW I’ve been impressed with the Cane Wireless DB-100 ‘base station’. I keep it on 24x7 in the kitchen and am surprised how handy it is to hail family members in the kitchen, from upstairs, basement, down the block, etc. It’s overpriced for what it is, and RX audio is a little tinny, but have found RF performance to be better than expected . . especially with an internal antenna. . slightly better than the 1020s actually in my testing.
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WISCOMM
Member
FWIW, The "PMNN4578A" battery for the DTR700 is under MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) program from Motorola for $52.00. Any dealer/retailer who sells for less is not an authorized (or soon will not be) Motorola BR dealer.
The "HKNN4013" battery for the DLR is MAP at $31.00
Hope this helps!
n1das
Member
Thanks. This information helps a lot.
The cost to re-battery my fleet of 6 DTR700 radios will be close to the cost of another DTR700 radio. I also have the Multi-Unit Charger (MUC) for them. I'm not ready to pull the trigger yet but I suspect the original batteries may be starting to get "stale" like a 2+ year old smartphone battery that's seen a lot of daily use.
n1das
Member
I was unaware of the Cane Wireless DB-100 base station / desktop radios. I'm curious to see inside one of those, probably a DLR radio inside w/speakermic and external power connections to the DLR radio. Then add an external keypad for the buttons. I wonder if it is made from a custom main board with a DLR radio module w/fixed antenna plopped onto the main board. I agree the DB-100 is overpriced for what it is but it would be convenient for some business users. For my use cases, the portables are the most convenient since I'm not office or house bound when using them. I'll pass on the DB-100. Same with Motorola's DLR based Call Box.
I was aware of the the Cane Wireless repeaters, the old one based on a pair of legacy DTRs and the new one based on a pair of DLRs. I kinda wish the new repeater was based on a pair of DTR600/700 radios so the antenna is replaceable and can use either the stock 1/2 wave or the optional stubby antenna. In my testing I have found it VERY hard to tell any difference between the DTR700 stock 1/2 wave antenna (PMAF4024) vs. stubby antenna (PMAF4025) when right on the fringes of coverage. The average user shouldn't notice any differences between antennas.
Yes the DB-100 (1020 variant in my case) is most likely a DLR1020 with a shroud around it! Though I‘ve not opened it up. It programs and operates exactly like a 1020, down to the sound effects. I got lucky and found a smokin’ used deal, and they do still surface from time to time on ebay. My local Costco has one in use at their service desk. It uses the same battery as the DLRs (for AC failure backup), and it came with the same Moto branded power supply that ships with the DLRs. I didn’t think it would be something I’d use much, but it has surprised me how handy it is to have a set and forget always-on radio.
Back to the DTR700 batteries. . am surprised there aren‘t any economical after-market options.. that I’ve found anyway.
Back to the DTR700 batteries. . am surprised there aren‘t any economical after-market options.. that I’ve found anyway.
Anyone know if it is possible to clone the contact list from the 600/700 to a legacy dtr (410/550/650)? It would definitely be cheaper than having to buy a legacy cable and a serial adapter to go along with it.
n1das
Member
As for cloning the contact list with the CPS from a legacy DTR410/550/650 to a DTR600/700, I don't think there is a way to do it.
The legacy DTRs and the DTR600/700 models have some OTA capabilities to wirelessly update the contact list in a fleet of radios. I don't have many contacts in my DTRs so I've never tried it and IIRC I disabled these features in the CPS for my DTR700 fleet. It might be possible to send a contact list from a legacy DTR to a DTR600/700 using the OTA features in each model but I have never tried it.
I can confirm that the Manager Mode features in the DTR600/700 are compatible with Manager Mode in the legacy DTR410/550/650 models. The Manager Mode features work as advertised and I am able to control my DTR650s with a DTR700 in Manager Mode and vice versa. Hopefully the OTA cloning capability for wirelessly updating the contact list is compatible between the legacy DTRs and DTR600/700.
Thanks for the info. Once I get the cable I'll report back with my findings on contact list cloning.
n1das
Member
BUMP!
No more lockups in my DTR700 fleet after more than a year since disabling the Battery Save feature with the CPS.
No more lockups in my DTR700 fleet after more than a year since disabling the Battery Save feature with the CPS.
Sigh, I'm sitting here in Australia jealous over the choice of radios you have there. Only the DLR1060 is available for sale locally. The problem is we are in ITU Region 3 so our 900MHz ISM band is 915-928MHz. I've been eyeing the DTR700 for a while. Does anyone know if they can be programmed to use 915-928MHz only?
Thanks!
Thanks!
That's sad to hear. It'd be great if there was just a checkbox in the software to set the region (even if it was a dealer-only option) much like how you can set a 2.4GHz wifi device to use channel 13.
After some digging around it looks like the DTR720 has a 916-928MHz version which would work here, but it's only available in Peru and El Salvador. I just sent some emails to some Peruvian dealers to see if they'd ship here.
Thanks!
i don't know if anyone can help but i got a Motorola DTR radio and i been looking all over the internet for a programing cable i cant find any. anyone know were to get one at and the software to program it? thanks
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