MotoTRBO radio having trouble accessing DMR repeater

[KD9WEI]

I recently obtained a Motorola XPR 7550 radio and I am trying to put it into ham use as a DMR radio. But I found that I cannot access a local DMR repeater: when I press the PTT button, the transmit light blink two times and then I heard a long “beeeeeep” tone as long as I keep pressing the PTT, and there’s no transmission.
(The repeater is a Kenwood analog repeater connected to a MMDVM server, which works perfectly with an Anytone d878uv).

I tried every combinations and found that this “beeep” problem only appear if I am trying to transmit on a digital channel with different TX and RX. Analog repeater/simplex are both working, DMR simplex is working. I guess that the radio automatically turns into “repeater mode” if a channel has different TX and RX frequency. I verified my guess using an analog scanner: I heard that the radio attempted to “ping” the repeater several times in TX frequency the moment I pressed the PTT, and then the “beeeep” tone appears. I repeated this experiment on a Anytone radio, and I only heard one “ping” and then the Anytone started to transmit traffic as normal.

Now my question is:

1. Does it require certain special setup on the repeater to support not only “standard DMR” but also MotoTRBO?
2. Is there any privacy settings on a MotoTRBO radio that can potentially prevent it from accessing the repeater?

Thanks in advance!

 

[MTS2000des]

Without seeing the radio codeplug, it can be a variety of reasons why you can't access a repeater. Generally, the color code, time slot, and talk group need to be correct. The RX group list and TX contact need to reflect the talk group you want to access. Who did the programming?

 

[KD9WEI]

Without seeing the radio codeplug, it can be a variety of reasons why you can't access a repeater. Generally, the color code, time slot, and talk group need to be correct. The RX group list and TX contact need to reflect the talk group you want to access. Who did the programming?

I’m doing the programming. I have some experience playing with amateur-grade DMR radios and I’m sure I correctly programmed the color code, time slot and the talk group I’m dialing into. I didn’t touch the “RX group list” stuff (the ham-grade DMR radio I used before seems to assume TX and RX contacts should be the same?), and I will give it a try later.
So how can I show my codeplug? By using the “File > Reports” feature?
Thanks for the response!

 

[Magnetsteve]

Change your admit criteria to "always" and see if that helps. If the radio thinks the repeater is busy, it will not let you talk.

 

[FormerSoCalradioBenchTec]

an xpr 7550 in dmr talking to an analog kenwood repeater with a mmdvm server attached? A. check the programming in the Anytone d878uv hand held you are using.check all settings related to that channel trying to use. B. check TX/RX center freq and power out at the freq you are using the may be of freq. C. is that server set for using Dstar, or DMR, with IP connect. The problem can be any where in that chain of settings.

 

[KD9WEI]

Change your admit criteria to "always" and see if that helps. If the radio thinks the repeater is busy, it will not let you talk.

I tried this option but unfortunately it is still not working. By the way, I have another radio (the one that works on this DMR repeater) and it did not pick up any traffic, and I think it is not the case.

 

[KD9WEI]

Update: the repeater that I’m trying to reach is connected to Brandmeister network. I tried another repeater in DMR-Marc network (which seems to be operated by motorola repeaters), and my XPR 7550 successfully pinged that repeater (the display changed to the in-call display). However, the other radio, which is working on that Brandmeister repeater, didn’t pick up any traffic from that DMR-Marc repeater, which makes me doubt whether I transmitted anything. Things are starting to get even more confusing…
I did the programming according to this step-by-step guide on DMR-Marc’s website.

 

[KC4YIN]

I might can help here. The problem may be with the mmdvm on the repeater. mmdvms can be touchy.
I recently built an mmdvm repeater. I have an Anytone 878 and several XPR 7550 radios that experienced the same problems you are having. The Anytone worked great while the 7550s just bonked. Messed with it for several months until I found the attached Youtube video describing how to properly tune the transmit side of the mmdvm.

What I found was that Motorola radios need more transmit gain which is an adjustment on the mmdvm itself to get the proper handshake to access the repeater. That's why you are getting bonked. The repeater worked fine with the Anytone 878 but simply would not key the repeater with the 7550 until I increased the gain a little more. Now the repeater works great. Now when I say that mmdvms can be touchy is when I installed a Buck converter to power the mmdvm instead of the power supply I tuned the mmdvm with. Just changing that power supply to the Buck converter, was enough change in the voltage to throw off all the settings and the 7550 would not access the repeater once again. Changed back to the original power supply on the mmdvm and it worked great and has ever since. So at that point I quit messing with it and called it DONE.

Tell us more about the repeater.

 

[KD9WEI]

I might can help here. The problem may be with the mmdvm on the repeater. mmdvms can be touchy.
I recently built an mmdvm repeater. I have an Anytone 878 and several XPR 7550 radios that experienced the same problems you are having. The Anytone worked great while the 7550s just bonked. Messed with it for several months until I found the attached Youtube video describing how to properly tune the transmit side of the mmdvm.

What I found was that Motorola radios need more transmit gain which is an adjustment on the mmdvm itself to get the proper handshake to access the repeater. That's why you are getting bonked. The repeater worked fine with the Anytone 878 but simply would not key the repeater with the 7550 until I increased the gain a little more. Now the repeater works great. Now when I say that mmdvms can be touchy is when I installed a Buck converter to power the mmdvm instead of the power supply I tuned the mmdvm with. Just changing that power supply to the Buck converter, was enough change in the voltage to throw off all the settings and the 7550 would not access the repeater once again. Changed back to the original power supply on the mmdvm and it worked great and has ever since. So at that point I quit messing with it and called it DONE.

Tell us more about the repeater.

Thanks for the response!
About the first repeater (W9YT, the one works with Anytone but not with 7550): It’s a somewhat funny mixture of a Kenwood repeater and an mmdvm host. Here are some details about this setup.

The second repeater (W9RCG) labeled itself as a DMR Marc repeater, and the handshake seems to be successful for both Anytone and 7550 on that repeater. However, when I was transmitting on the 7550 to that repeater, Anyone didn't pick up anything, so I'm doubting whether the traffic from 7550 is correctly picked up by W9RCG. Is there a dashboard for DMR Marc, just like Brandmeister? I dug around on DMR Marc's website but found nothing related.

 

[WA0CBW]

Was the anytone near the 7550 when you were testing? Was the Anytone being desensed by the 7550?

 

[dickie757]

Do the radios share the same ID? Maybe the Anytone doesn't want to decode info from same ID as itself. Or, was the Anytone tuned to Brandmeister repeater? Maybe the DMRmarc not connected to Brandmeister.

Also, if the same ID, could mmdvm reject the 7550 because the anytone has used the repeater? Just guessing out loud

 

[kayn1n32008]

Shooting in the dark, but if you can get into a XPR/SLR repeater on DMR-MARC, the issue is possibly not with your radio, but the Brandmeister repeater.

You haven't provided near enough info to actually diagnose your problem.

Your codeplug would greatly help to know if it's a programming error. If there is nothing wrong with your codeplig, then it's likely with the repeater.

 

[kayn1n32008]

Change your admit criteria to "always" and see if that helps. If the radio thinks the repeater is busy, it will not let you talk.

His radio is transmitting, the repeater is not responding. Changing admit criteria will make zero difference.

Regardless of what DMR-MARC says 'Always' should not be used.

 

[kayn1n32008]

Do the radios share the same ID? Maybe the Anytone doesn't want to decode info from same ID as itself. Or, was the Anytone tuned to Brandmeister repeater? Maybe the DMRmarc not connected to Brandmeister.

Also, if the same ID, could mmdvm reject the 7550 because the anytone has used the repeater? Just guessing out loud

ID is irrelevant, he isn't even keying the repeater.

My Anytone portable will decode the same radio ID.

He isn't even keying the repeater.

The DMR-MARC repeater is either an XPR series or SLR series repeater. He's said he has no issue keying the DMR-MARC machine. This all but eliminates the 7550 alignment, it doesn't eliminate an error in programming though. If there isn't a programming error(need to see his code plug to check for a programming error) it's likey an issue with the MMDVM/Kenwood repeater.

The MMDVM won't differentiate between radios of the same ID. It's just another valid RID, it doesn't know the difference.

 

[dickie757]

ID is irrelevant, he isn't even keying the repeater.

My Anytone portable will decode the same radio ID.

He isn't even keying the repeater.

The DMR-MARC repeater is either an XPR series or SLR series repeater. He's said he has no issue keying the DMR-MARC machine. This all but eliminates the 7550 alignment, it doesn't eliminate an error in programming though. If there isn't a programming error(need to see his code plug to check for a programming error) it's likey an issue with the MMDVM/Kenwood repeater.

The MMDVM won't differentiate between radios of the same ID. It's just another valid RID, it doesn't know the difference.

This thread is almost a year old. I posted that stuff before i got ma lurnin on the mototerbo sistum seepee ess too poynt oh.