Radtel RT-880 HF question and CPS update

[wcu02mpa]

I have downloaded the latest RT-880 CPS (1.08) and no password. Radio reads and writes fine. The one thing I still cannot figure out is getting this in the lower HF portion. I cannot get it below 18 MHz. In VFO mode I press the lower side key and it brings me to broadcast FM mode. In the YouTube videos, others do this and it seems to automatically go into HF mode. What am I missing? If I can get that figured out, this radio would be pretty amazing.

 

[wcu02mpa]

Got is figured out. In the FM portion in the CPS, got the channel and select range. Select the 2-30 MHz. This version of CPS seems a bit buggy, but what I wanted was the HF portion. Leaving this for anyone else struggling like I was. Will report back any other interesting findings.

 

[EAFrizzle]

You got the basics of it. The "FM Radio" isn't intuitive the way they name and explain it, but it's pretty simple. I keep one channel set to AM BCB, one each to HF AM/LSB/USB, and one to FM BCB. That works well for me.

Not sure if you've figured out the Multi-Standby on the transceiver and RX Standby on the FM Radio, but you can monitor HF with the transceiver breaking in on transmissions. Really nice for MilAir monitoring.

 

[wcu02mpa]

Did some further testing with my R2670B analyzer. I am betting possible spurious emissions, but did not test for that. 5.25 watts on 52.525 and 3.2 watts on 29.600 both FM. I did receive sensitivity tests from 7 MHz to 30 MHz and the results were pretty amazing. Receiving at -115 to -110 dbm across the bands. I hooked up a long SMA whip and was receiving some HF short DX pretty good. For the money this is a sold radio. Tuning the frequencies is a bit cumbersome but for less than $100, I recommend. More to follow…..

 

[KC3ECJ]

Did some further testing with my R2670B analyzer. I am betting possible spurious emissions, but did not test for that. 5.25 watts on 52.525 and 3.2 watts on 29.600 both FM. I did receive sensitivity tests from 7 MHz to 30 MHz and the results were pretty amazing. Receiving at -115 to -110 dbm across the bands. I hooked up a long SMA whip and was receiving some HF short DX pretty good. For the money this is a sold radio. Tuning the frequencies is a bit cumbersome but for less than $100, I recommend. More to follow…..

I tried an antenna for a Uniden CB handheld on the 880, the medium wave broadcast AM reception on with that antenna is pretty good.

 

[ladn]

My RT-880 came in over the weekend. Shipped with firmware 1.10 and CPS 1.08. Upgraded the FW to 1.14.
Still working on getting comfortable with the radio and CPS.

I prefer to program via CSV importing since my preferred channel load is a few hundred channels. I exported the "first" read channel load to use as a template for my CSV import. Discovered I needed a few more settings, so I added a few more channels with the needed attributes and exported it.

One thing I immediately noticed in the exported CSV are columns that apply to DMR (ie: color code, time slot, etc). I "hid" those columns in Excel (and "unhid" when I exported to CSV).

I made up a test channel load of about 30 channels in Excel, saved as an xlsx file, then as a CSV. Imported the CSV into the CPS. Most channels worked as entered, except those with a "whole number" PL code (ie: 67.0 100.0, 123.0). The CSV had them is "67, 100, 123") and they showed up in the CPS as "6.7. 10, and 12.3), so it apparently wants all PL codes to have one decimal place. Working on a more complicated import.

The CPS is poorly documented. I noticed on the Channels CPS tab, at lower right hand corner, there's an option for "IMPORT OP77". What is this?


I also see on the Config 2 tab, power settings, but the numbers don't make any sense (all are "200"):

 

[AB5ID]

What are the limits on the power setting? if it's 0-255 that would make sense.

 

[ladn]

What are the limits on the power setting? if it's 0-255 that would make sense.

Yes, 0-255.

 

[AB5ID]

Yes, 0-255.

Those are digital steps, with one byte of data used to control the RF power output. That allows for quite a bit of resolution, especially considering the total output is only 10 watts. If you have a wattmeter, try testing different values.

With the transmitters I work on, we typically set a value from 0 to 255, where a setting of 100 equals 100 watts. However, we get about half power at a setting of around 74. The scaling can be quite arbitrary.

 

[ladn]

Those are digital steps, with one byte of data used to control the RF power output. That allows for quite a bit of resolution, especially considering the total output is only 10 watts. If you have a wattmeter, try testing different values.

With the transmitters I work on, we typically set a value from 0 to 255, where a setting of 100 equals 100 watts. However, we get about half power at a setting of around 74. The scaling can be quite arbitrary.

Thanks. That clears things up. I was initially looking at the numbers as having a unit of measurement.
0-255 gives 256 step increments or 8 bits data. We use this system a lot in digital photography to define colors (0=maximum black, 255=maximum white and 128 is a midpoint gray {128, 128, 128 in RGB format}.

I saw a YouTube evaluation of this radio and its iRadio cousin. The tester measured the power output on several of the bands. VHF came closest to the advertised power at about 9W, UHF was about 6W, CB was in the 2W range and 50 MHz was 0W.

 

[ladn]

I made up a test channel load of about 30 channels in Excel, saved as an xlsx file, then as a CSV. Imported the CSV into the CPS. Most channels worked as entered, except those with a "whole number" PL code (ie: 67.0 100.0, 123.0). The CSV had them is "67, 100, 123") and they showed up in the CPS as "6.7. 10, and 12.3), so it apparently wants all PL codes to have one decimal place. Working on a more complicated import.

I did a little more work on the Importing of a channel load with a CSV file. I took an export CSV from my Icom 2730A, changed the column headers and order to match the exported "base" CSV from the RT-880. I also changed column content format to match the 880 (ie: the 2730 appends "Hz" to PL tones, the 880 just gives the tone).

I also solved the issue of Excel and the ".0" in PL codes by setting a custom format for the TX/RX codes as "0.0". PL codes like 100, 67 and 123 now export in the CSV as 100.0, 67.0 and 123.0. My test import was 100 channels and they imported accurately.

Two anomalies I did find during my testing with CPS 1.14:

• Even though I turned the "Roger beep" functions off in the CPS and confirmed on the radio's settings, they were activated on the radio after importing the CSV (even though the CPS setting was still "off").
• The 880 seems to be very sensitive as to how it perceives DTMF tones. The CPS and radio have a "display DTMF tones" setting (default=ON) which I overlooked since I don't use DTMF. During a net last night, the 880's display kept showing occasional, random DTMF tones when other users talked via a repeater. Changing that setting to "OFF" solved the issue.

Next up I'll finish the full import from the 2730 (about 300 channels total) and work on configuring the zone structure.

 

[Hawk]

I did a little more work on the Importing of a channel load with a CSV file. I took an export CSV from my Icom 2730A, changed the column headers and order to match the exported "base" CSV from the RT-880. I also changed column content format to match the 880 (ie: the 2730 appends "Hz" to PL tones, the 880 just gives the tone).

I also solved the issue of Excel and the ".0" in PL codes by setting a custom format for the TX/RX codes as "0.0". PL codes like 100, 67 and 123 now export in the CSV as 100.0, 67.0 and 123.0. My test import was 100 channels and they imported accurately.

Two anomalies I did find during my testing with CPS 1.14:

• Even though I turned the "Roger beep" functions off in the CPS and confirmed on the radio's settings, they were activated on the radio after importing the CSV (even though the CPS setting was still "off").
• The 880 seems to be very sensitive as to how it perceives DTMF tones. The CPS and radio have a "display DTMF tones" setting (default=ON) which I overlooked since I don't use DTMF. During a net last night, the 880's display kept showing occasional, random DTMF tones when other users talked via a repeater. Changing that setting to "OFF" solved the issue.

Next up I'll finish the full import from the 2730 (about 300 channels total) and work on configuring the zone structure.

Nice job! It would be great if you could share it.

With so many frequencies, zones, talkgroups, reflectors, and rooms to manage, I'm also a big fan of using CSV import/export rather than relying on the (often less-than-great) CPS software.

I get that it can be a bit of a challenge to put together a proper CSV file depending on the radio, but once you’ve got it sorted, it makes programming so much easier.


Another big advantage is the ability to cross-program different radios from different brands using parts of the same CSV main file. For example, I use the same set of analog VHF/UHF frequencies and hotspot entries across my Anytone, Icom, Kenwood, and Yaesu codeplugs.

 

[jazzboypro]

I’ve noticed that in the CPS if I rename a zone, the display does not show that name. My fist zone is called Zone VHF but on the display it shows ZONE001. Kind of sad that it’s not dual receive but it’s still not a bad radio for the price. I still need to play around with the CPS and look at the HF portion.

 

[EAFrizzle]

What exactly do you mean when you say, "not dual receive"? The RT-880 will receive all three VFOs/channels while simultaneously monitoring HF. It will only do so in RT-880/transceiver mode. The Wideband Receiver mode won't do the Multi-Standby or HF Standby. It's really good for monitoring Military Air; three UHF frequencies monitoring while listening to HFGCS on 11175.

 

[jazzboypro]

What exactly do you mean when you say, "not dual receive"? The RT-880 will receive all three VFOs/channels while simultaneously monitoring HF. It will only do so in RT-880/transceiver mode. The Wideband Receiver mode won't do the Multi-Standby or HF Standby. It's really good for monitoring Military Air; three UHF frequencies monitoring while listening to HFGCS on 11175.

Hummm I will have to look into it. Maybe I was not clear or used the wrong words. In my current setup. The 3 sections on the display are in zone mode. It looks like only the active zone is being monitored and I can scan only on the active zone. What do you mean by “transceiver mode” ?

 

[EAFrizzle]

Yes, in zone mode, only one zone can scan and receive. In VFO or channel mode, all three can be monitored simultaneously with the Multi-Standby control, but not while scanning.

 

[EAFrizzle]

To go from RT-880 mode to Wideband Receive hold the down arrow while powering on. All transmit is disabled along with Multi-Standby and HF standby. It does allow you to enter a frequency in each VFO, regardless of band (18-64 MHz, 64-620 MHz, or 900-1000 MHz).

 

[jazzboypro]

Yes, in zone mode, only one zone can scan and receive. In VFO or channel mode, all three can be monitored simultaneously with the Multi-Standby control, but not while scanning.

Thanks, i went back to the CPS and found the parameter. I should be able to test it today.

To go from RT-880 mode to Wideband Receive hold the down arrow while powering on. All transmit is disabled along with Multi-Standby and HF standby. It does allow you to enter a frequency in each VFO, regardless of band (18-64 MHz, 64-620 MHz, or 900-1000 MHz).

Thanks for the info, i might try the R-30 antenna on it.