Trisquare 900mhz Radios

[mobile1]

I picked up the TSX300-2VP at LondonDrugs on Tuesday. They got them in the store in July of this year and the price was $149.99 (Can$) .They are on sale now for $119.99 (Can$) . LondonDrugs is getting out of selling these radios but will continue to sell the Uniden/Motorola FRS/GMRS radios.The SOURCE is the only place left that sells these TriSquares in Canada $149.99. I will try the range of these radios later today against my FRS radios. At times there are just too many users on FRS/GMRS channels so I wanted to try something more private.

 

[mobile1]

We used the TriSquare TSX300 and Motorola FRS radios this afternoon. First in a rural area hills and trees and some open areas. Then moved into an urban area for testing. The Motorola FRS units were always in contact and worked well. The TriSquares soon lost contact but were much more clear and free of static than the FRS units. Then later the TriSquares must have lost their synchronization because they do not work at all now. We read the manual again and played around with them ,but they are not working. I will return them to the store and exchange them for the FRS/GMRS radios.

 

[RayAir]

Sorry to hear about the sync issues although I have heard that before about the TriSquare's.

I use the Motorola DTR's with the removable antennas. I also use the full size (about 7") 900MHz Motorola whips on them. They have never lost sync on me and they perform extremely well in difficult RF environments. Yeah, you'll have to spend more money, but the privacy the DTR offers is worth the $250 cost per radio to me. Actually, I have bought some used ones on EBAY for less than $110/ea.

I know there's different reasons you'll have affecting which type of radio you want to use and the DTR isn't a panacea, but I would recommend it for indoor use (mall, building, cruise ship) and for privacy (freq. hopping, Vselp digital voice, ability to set unique private ch.).

 

[cdesigns]

I haven't tested mine yet, but I think I will sell them to buy more iDEN phones with mototalk or directalk feature, I'm having fun with my (2) i355's , Rugged, water resistant, good battery life and good range.

I already have the software to unlock the mototalk feature on Boost mobile phones like the i290, and I also can unlock the i766 I'm just waiting for the usb cable.

So far the i355 have better range than the i290 because it has a pull out antenna, the i290 has a internal antenna. Heck don't get me wrong I would love to have a DTR set, but right now I can't beat the $15 per phone i355 on ebay.

 

[RayAir]

I haven't tested mine yet, but I think I will sell them to buy more iDEN phones with mototalk or directalk feature, I'm having fun with my (2) i355's , Rugged, water resistant, good battery life and good range.

I already have the software to unlock the mototalk feature on Boost mobile phones like the i290, and I also can unlock the i766 I'm just waiting for the usb cable.

So far the i355 have better range than the i290 because it has a pull out antenna, the i290 has a internal antenna. Heck don't get me wrong I would love to have a DTR set, but right now I can't beat the $15 per phone i355 on ebay.

One of these days I plan on picking up some i355's or similar. Heck, i've been wanting to for the last few months. Do you know of a good seller on ebay that I could deal with?

I would really like to use one as like a monitor just to see if anyone is using it.

I have never heard anyone on my TriSquare, but I just leave it on channel 0. One business inside Auburn Hills is on DTR public channel 1. Just wondering if I could pick anything up on the Nextel direct talk?

 

[James_Bond_007]

Yeah, you'll have to spend more money, but the privacy the DTR offers is worth the $250 cost per radio to me. Actually, I have bought some used ones on EBAY for less than $110/ea..

then what i'm about to tell you is going to make you cry. i got one in brand new condition in a pile of radios for 135.00 shipped then picked out the DTR 410 and a couple other UHF HT's and sold the remainder of radios for $100.00

by my figuring since i pulled out the DTR along with a couple P200's, couple MT1k's i wound up paying about $5.00 for the DTR-410.

it did not come with a charger, but still that is one heck of a deal.

i am looking for a similar deal as i would like another DTR so i can start messing with these.

 

[cdesigns]

look for i355 on the search and the seller is cybercellulars I bought the $15.99 ones rated GOOD conditions, and they are in good conditions, both of mine came with the larger battery. no he have them for $14.99 free shipping and still says good conditions "cosmeticaly"

 

[WesMartin]

Hi, I am a new member of this forum. CDESIGNS, I have been following with interest your modifications to the Tri-square 900mHz radios that allow the connection of an external antenna. I have been considering doing this to two that I had bought several months ago. I am curious to know where you purchased the SMA jacks that you used? I would like to purchase the same jacks after seeing how well they have worked with your radios. Very nicely done! It has inspired me to go ahead with these mods. Thanks for your help!

Wes Martin
VE7WDM

 

[mobile1]

Are there 2 antennas in these TriSquare radios ?

I looked inside one of these radios today and there looks to be another antenna inside the back cover. It is a 10 inch long wire. If it is a quarter wave length = 281MHz or Half wave lenght = 548MHz. Any ideas about this?

 

[Chris-KH2PM]

I looked inside one of these radios today and there looks to be another antenna inside the back cover. It is a 10 inch long wire. If it is a quarter wave length = 281MHz or Half wave lenght = 548MHz. Any ideas about this?

Possibly the antenna used for the NOAA VHF weather receiver. Just a guess...

 

[cdesigns]

I looked inside one of these radios today and there looks to be another antenna inside the back cover. It is a 10 inch long wire. If it is a quarter wave length = 281MHz or Half wave lenght = 548MHz. Any ideas about this?

That's the NOAA weather VHF antenna.

 

[RayAir]

look for i355 on the search and the seller is cybercellulars I bought the $15.99 ones rated GOOD conditions, and they are in good conditions, both of mine came with the larger battery. no he have them for $14.99 free shipping and still says good conditions "cosmeticaly"

I bought 2 i355's and tested them out against my DTR's. Since both the DTR and Nextel Direct Talk radios have to be in range of another handset to transmit I did a simple test. I placed both radios on a 2nd floor window sill and went for a drive. I got 1.5mi with the Nextel and about 1.7mi with the DTR before I got the "user not available" alert. So they really were about the same. The DTR has 1W tx power and I believe the Nextel has 700mW tx power.

I had the antennas extended on the Nextel's and one of my DTR's had the long 900MHz whip antenna.

On another note I set up a scanner relay station with a pair of 4W UHF radios transmitting using VOX from the 2nd story of my house with the radio on the window sill and I got a little over 3 miles range. That was also with Transcrypt rolling code activated. Once I got a little over 3mi away the radio was having trouble receiving the sync packets and the signal would go scrambled. I could have probably got more range in clear mode.

So in this simple test I got around 1.5mi with the direct talk/dtr and double that range with the 4W UHF radios.

Also, I took a listen to the Direct Talk on a near-field and it sounds to be exactly the same as what the DTR uses. Too bad the coding wasn't the same so the radios could interact. The Direct Talk still had about a 1 second vocoder latency, but seemed to lack the echo effect that the DTR's have when they are close to one another.

 

[W9NES]

I have a pair of the Tri-square 900Mhz portables.I use them at hamfest all the time for Secure Communications becuase no one is "scanner land" can hear my communications because they are secure.Also a lot of Volunteer Search and Rescue Teams are also using these becuase of the "Secure communications" feature.Unidens do not have that feature.

 

[SkipSanders]

I'd be a bit cautious about calling the Tri-Square units 'secure'.

While they would be difficult/expensive to monitor at any real distance (you'd need a bunch of receivers, or a custom designed simultanious multichannel reciever), a near-field monitor will receive them just fine. They transmit normal analog FM voice, simply 'hopped' between a large number of channels for a quarter second on each frequency.

A near-field monitor will simply recieve any channel transmitted equally, and so will recover the audio just fine. Of course, this is only good for fairly short distances, but still... you aren't truely secure.

 

[lmrtek]

you get what you pay for

I've had my trisquares for about a year now.

pros:

They provide great security
you never hear others on the channel

Cons:

poor audio
poor battery life
poor range
they fall out of sync WAY to much

ANY of my frs or gmrs hand helds can easily out distance them

 

[W9NES]

You cannot hear these radios on a scanner as they are "Encripted" and no one in scanner land can hear them.I use them for "Secure Communications" at Hamfest.With people putting antennas on the radios you will invalidate your warranty.

 

[SkipSanders]

No, W8NES, they are not encrypted. They transmit normal narrowband FM audio. They are difficult to monitor at a distance, yes. For most purposes, they're secure enough. But they can readily be monitored from short range by a near field monitor.

 

[cdesigns]

Ok I just did a test the radios 1 mile of distance my wife inside the house and me inside the car with the windows open transmiting thru pines and house, before the mod I was unable to hear my wife, after the antenna mod, I heard my wife with static like normal GMRS radio static when they're start to get out of range, I was able to hear her clearly with a little static, but I can't remenber if I had static before, I have been playing with my i355's and they don't have static so I don't remenber if the trisquare had static before.

The i355 have longer range I was able to get 2.6 miles from coast to open water, the only thing between the 2 radios was a little mountain about 75 feet tall

 

[rescuecomm]

I bought some fixed antennas originally used on the I325 model for my I355's. They give about two more "dots" when on Boost Mobile's network, so they should help on DT too.

Bob

 

[W9NES]

Sorry Skip Sanders, The call is W9NES not W8NES and these radios are "Encripted" I have used them for a long time and if you do not believe they try to put a portable Frequency counter in front of one and key it.It will not show a transmit frequency.These radios cannot be monitored.These radios have been tested and they are not able to be monitored.If you do not believe what I am saying please feel free to call the manufacturer of these radios direct and ask them.Thank You