Hi, I was just invited to join a repeater group that has several repeaters around southern california. They are on the same TX and RX frequency but use different tones to operate each of them separately...cool! My questions stems from the listed repeaters look to be requiring different tones for transmit and for receive.... I have a Kenwood D710a and know how to assign a tone to the TX freq (t) but I cannot find how I can assign a separate tone to RX (ct)... Any help?
Kenwood: Programming separate Tx and Rx tones Kenwood D710a
- Thread starter 26MOUNTED
- Start date
- Status
n5ims
Member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2004
- Messages
- 3,993
Using the freely available Kenwood software, read your radio (you need to read it first even if nothing is programmed). It's a good idea to immediately save the radio programming after that pre-changes read to have a way to go back to how it was if things don't go as planned. Save it with a meaningful filename (I use yyyymmddhhnn-vv with yyyy being the current year, mm the current month, dd the current day, hh the current hour, nn the current minute and vv a version number if I make multiple changes - the initial save is version 00).
Now that you have your current settings saved somewhere safe you can make your changes as desired. In the Memory Channel page, program your memory channels (duh!) and for the info that isn't on the main page, press the Channel Edit... button and this is where you can make most of the special changes. Enter the basic settings for your memory channel. To do independent tones, Set the Tone/CTCSS/DCS entry to "Cross". Set the Tx Cross Tone entry to "Tone", and Rx Cross Tone to CTCSS. Set the Tone Frequency [Hz] to the desired transmit tone and set the CTCSS Frequency [Hz] to the desired receive tone. Close that dialog box and your changes should be associated with that menu entry. Once you're finished, you can upload the settings to the radio and your memory should reflect the different transmit and receive tones on that channel.
Now that you have your current settings saved somewhere safe you can make your changes as desired. In the Memory Channel page, program your memory channels (duh!) and for the info that isn't on the main page, press the Channel Edit... button and this is where you can make most of the special changes. Enter the basic settings for your memory channel. To do independent tones, Set the Tone/CTCSS/DCS entry to "Cross". Set the Tx Cross Tone entry to "Tone", and Rx Cross Tone to CTCSS. Set the Tone Frequency [Hz] to the desired transmit tone and set the CTCSS Frequency [Hz] to the desired receive tone. Close that dialog box and your changes should be associated with that menu entry. Once you're finished, you can upload the settings to the radio and your memory should reflect the different transmit and receive tones on that channel.
n5ims
Member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2004
- Messages
- 3,993
Note, I used the MCP-6A software that is for my D710GA. Your version may be different and the screens may not match completely. I believe that for the D710A you'll need the MCP-2A software.
Memory Control Program MCP-2A (kenwood.com)
Memory Control Program MCP-2A (kenwood.com)
n5ims
Member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2004
- Messages
- 3,993
I installed the MCP-2A software and it does work a little differently. Actually it looks a bit easier to me. Instead of selecting "Cross", you simply select the CTCSS entry and enter your selections in the Tone Frequency [Hz] for your transmit tone and CTCSS Frequency [Hz] for your receive tone. Close the dialog box and save as instructed in my previous post.
n5ims
Member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2004
- Messages
- 3,993
One other thing. The above posts are how to set different transmit and receive tones on a single frequency. If you have several repeaters on the same frequency that use different tones to allow you to select which repeater you want to use the programming is easier.
Program each repeater in a different memory channel with the same transmit and receive frequency (more like receive frequency and transmit offset and shift/split settings) but with different Tone and CTCSS settings. These will match the entries for that specific repeater. You will change memory channels to select them just like you would with other repeaters, just be aware that if someone is on one of those that use the same transmit/receive frequency (but different tones) you may still interfere with conversations if you transmit even with the different tone settings. Using the lowest power setting necessary may help reduce or eliminate this interference.
Program each repeater in a different memory channel with the same transmit and receive frequency (more like receive frequency and transmit offset and shift/split settings) but with different Tone and CTCSS settings. These will match the entries for that specific repeater. You will change memory channels to select them just like you would with other repeaters, just be aware that if someone is on one of those that use the same transmit/receive frequency (but different tones) you may still interfere with conversations if you transmit even with the different tone settings. Using the lowest power setting necessary may help reduce or eliminate this interference.
Is the radio really using two separate PL tones? I've owned several Kenwood dual-band rigs and I recall that the "Cross" mode only allowed a mix of Tone/DCS or DCS/CTCSS, but not Tone/CTCSS. I always found it somewhat confusing that the Kenwood rigs would accept values in the individual Tone, CTCSS, and DCS sections, but would only actually use whatever squelch mode was actually selected.
In other words, if you entered different values in the Tone and CTCSS modes, and selected CTCSS, the radio would only use the CTCSS value and disregard the Tone value. It would not "split" the PL tones. When programming for a split-tone repeater, I always found it necessary to use whatever encode mode was required TX and carrier squelch for RX.
In other words, if you entered different values in the Tone and CTCSS modes, and selected CTCSS, the radio would only use the CTCSS value and disregard the Tone value. It would not "split" the PL tones. When programming for a split-tone repeater, I always found it necessary to use whatever encode mode was required TX and carrier squelch for RX.
I very much appreciate all of your input! I downloaded and am now using the MCP 2A software. Unfortunately, it doesnt sound like I can enter these frequencies manually via the radio head menu settings. Thanks again!!
You can, but it is a lot more work.
- Status
