xpr6550 & MMDVM & DMR tx issue

[wb6ymh]

I recently purchased an 403->470 split XPR6550 on ebay and have successfully programed a few local analog repeaters and it appears to be working fine.

I've programmed some simplex DMR channels but can't really test since I only have one DMR radio. I do hear constant data on an analog radio.

I am able to receive my MMDVM hot spot on BrandMeister, but when I try to transmit to my MMDVM hot spot it transmits two bursts of data and then stops and I get a tone in the speaker until I unkey.

My Tx contact is the same talkgroup that I've successfully receive.

I've done MMDVM calibration and achieved BER of 0.19 %.

Nothing happens on any of the pi-star screens or is logged when I transmit.

I'm stumped ... any clues what to check?

73's Skip WB6YMH

 

[wb6ymh]

Additional information: My hotspot board is a "MMDVM_HS_Dual_Hat (DB9MAT, DF2ET & D07EN) for Pi (GPIO)", controller mode duplex repeater.

I CAN transmit continuously if I transmit when the hotspot is also transmitting but nothing is received that I can see.

73's Skip WB6YMH

 

[K9KLC]

Do you have other radios working on the hotspot?

 

[wb6ymh]

Do you have other radios working on the hotspot?

No, just the one DMR radio and the one hotspot.

 

[K9KLC]

It's been 3-4 years since I've done anything with a hot spot, and I remember DMR was the most difficult for me to get to work. (finally did).

1) Do you have hot spot security set on that either will pre-empt the radio from getting on there or anything?
2) Is this a simplex hotspot or duplex hotspot?
3) Is there any possibility the hotspot is transmitting and you're trying to talk to it at the same time?
4) Did you register for a DMR number on Radio ID. net? I'm not sure which system you're trying to talk on but I know for Branmeister at least you have to have the correct DMR # and have it registered to get on the stuff.

I don't really know how much more help I can be not seeing the radio programming or screen shots of the hotspot set up. Is there any possibility you could meet up with someone in your area and check the DMR programming on the radio? With DMR you must have the frequency, color code, time slot and talk group correct. I remember there was a parrot test for DMR but (like an echo test on D-Star) but I do not remember which talk group that is. Are you

 

[wb6ymh]

It's been 3-4 years since I've done anything with a hot spot, and I remember DMR was the most difficult for me to get to work. (finally did).

1) Do you have hot spot security set on that either will pre-empt the radio from getting on there or anything?

No.

2) Is this a simplex hotspot or duplex hotspot?

Duplex

3) Is there any possibility the hotspot is transmitting and you're trying to talk to it at the same time?

When I tx on the HT when the hotspot is NOT transmitting the HT sends two bursts of data then stops. If the hotspot IS transmitting then the HT will send data continuously except when it reports "Channel busy".

4) Did you register for a DMR number on Radio ID. net? I'm not sure which system you're trying to talk on but I know for Branmeister at least you have to have the correct DMR # and have it registered to get on the stuff.

Yes and I've successfully logged into Branmeister or I won't be able to receive anything either. That part is working.

I don't really know how much more help I can be not seeing the radio programming or screen shots of the hotspot set up. Is there any possibility you could meet up with someone in your area and check the DMR programming on the radio? With DMR you must have the frequency, color code, time slot and talk group correct. I remember there was a parrot test for DMR but (like an echo test on D-Star) but I do not remember which talk group that is. Are you

Here's the configuration for the parrot test.

Let me know if you want to see anything else.

 

[K9KLC]

I don't know if I still have my hotspot stuff in the 6550 I used, or if I saved the code plug. I'll check tomorrow afternoon. I only use that laptop for programming.

I had a simplex hotspot and only used TS 2, but I guess yours is duplex and different.

I had a friend who I had one of those and for some reason he never got it to work right until he changed it to a simplex HS and used TS2. I'm not saying yours shouldn't be working but obviously you need to try something different.

The split isn't what I'd use but again. It saying that's the issue.

Frankly everything you pictured looked ok to me at least at a glance. I'll check my 6550 plug tomorrow and see if I did anything differently.

 

[wb6ymh]

Thanks, if you can find it I am sure it would be helpful!

The split is a function of where I live ... Southern California. There a coordinated frequencies for simplex hotspots but not duplex, the input is the output of an analog repeater that I'm involved with. My HT competing with a 5000+ hilltop shouldn't be much of an issue.

I'll try simplex, it's certainly simpler and it's just a configuration change.

Thanks for your time!

73's Skip

 

[dickie757]

In codeplug, you have different rx/tx freqs, which is ok, but you also indicated an offset. Get rid of the offset in the middle.

 

[ramal121]

Offset is for the copy function only.

 

[wb6ymh]

Thanks Dickie, but that's not the problem. I've already verified that it's receiving and transmitting the correct frequencies.

73's Skip

 

[tweiss3]

While you did adjust RX BER, did you adjust TX at all? I suppose the radio could be off frequency as well.

Also, are both antennas parallel? I've always had to put a 90 degree fitting on the TX antenna so it was perpendicular to the RX antenna to keep the hotspot from desensing itself.

 

[K9KLC]

Have you tried it as a simplex hotspot yet?

 

[wb6ymh]

Yes, it's still not working yet but I found a LARGE part of my problem. I entered the values I got from calibrating the modem under RXDCOffset rather than RXOffset. At least now the pi-star dashboard shows that I am transmitting when I transmit.

73's Skip

 

[wb6ymh]

While you did adjust RX BER, did you adjust TX at all? I suppose the radio could be off frequency as well.

Also, are both antennas parallel? I've always had to put a 90 degree fitting on the TX antenna so it was perpendicular to the RX antenna to keep the hotspot from desensing itself.

Yes I adjusted the tx frequency and deviation as well. Receiving the hot spot on the HT hasn't been the problem.

The the problem was that I had entered the rx & tx calibration values in the wrong fields.

I still can't talk to the parrot, but I can talk to actual people on 3100, whoopie !
Thanks to everyone for their help!

73's Skip WB6YMH

 

[K9KLC]

Yes I adjusted the tx frequency and deviation as well. Receiving the hot spot on the HT hasn't been the problem.

The the problem was that I had entered the rx & tx calibration values in the wrong fields.

I still can't talk to the parrot, but I can talk to actual people on 3100, whoopie !
Thanks to everyone for their help!

73's Skip WB6YMH

I wouldn't worry too much about the Parrot, frankly on DMR I was always hit and miss about that working. As long as people can hear you, on a TG, that's all that matters. Glad you got it figured out and going. I stopped Hotspottting a long time ago but I remember the trials and tribulations trying to get all the modes set up between DMR-D-Star and Yaesu's C4FM. 73!

 

[W7GH]

Hi folks, I'm having a similar issue to the original poster WB6YMH, so I thought I'd jump into this thread. I hope that's OK.

I too have an XPR6550, and I'm having trouble talking to an established MMDVM-based DMR repeater on the Brandmeister network. My problem is that when I try to transmit, the green LED flashes and after about a half-second I get a low error tone until I release the PTT button. The Brandmeister webpage for the repeater doesn't show that the repeater heard me. Receive doesn't work either: when I monitor the repeater, from time to time the green LED will flash to show that there is activity on the channel, but the squelch won't open. All the repeater's published talkgroups are in the receive list for the two channels. (I have one channel for each time slot.)

I've done my homework: I have an ID associated with my callsign from radioid.net. I've registered with Brandmeister, which is probably optional. I have the color code correct. I've looked over my codeplug with a fine-toothed comb, and I can't find anything wrong. After reading this thread and the similar thread by KD9RTX, it seems that a radio or repeater tuning issue could be the problem. The radio works fine on narrowband FM, for what that's worth.

I have access to a service monitor at work, and I'll try tuning the radio. Does anyone have any other ideas? If someone has a codeplug for a Motorola radio that works with a Brandmeister repeater, especially a CPS 2.0 codeplug, I'd be grateful if you sent it to me. Maybe there is a setting in the codeplug that I missed.

 

[lamarrsy]

Your IP Site Connect is ticked as active; it shouldn’t.

 

[wb6ymh]

All of my issues were with the MMDVM hotspot. The XPR6550 worked perfectly. I doubt that's the problem.

I haven't used any DRM repeaters only my hostspot, but I've emailed my code plug to you that works with it.

DMR was quite a learning experience for me, things have changed a lot over the last 15 years since I was last active !!!

Good luck!

73's Skip WB6YMH

 

[W7GH]

Thanks Skip et merci Sylvain! I'm a little embarrassed, but the problem was not my codeplug.

I was only three miles or five kilometers from the repeater when I wrote my message, so I thought that the problem couldn't be distance. For an experiment I moved the radio closer to the repeater. This time there was no error tone, and I had a nice QSO with Don K3DON in Maryland on Brandmeister talk group 31675, "REF020A Bridge". So my problem was just distance, and not the codeplug. (I did not have the "IP Site Connect" box marked.) The repeater is at someone's house, and the antenna must not be very high.

Now I know: if the codeplug says the radio is transmitting to a talk group, but the radio can't hear a repeater, then the radio makes an error tone.