Transmission1

Anybody know if the rumours surfacing of incompatibility with certain versions of Windows is true?

delboyonline wrote:Got my hands on one......

One of the annoyances with the MD-380 was that the volume control didn't control the volume of beeps, so if you wanted to use the radio with an earpiece you had to turn off all beeps or risk being deafened. I don't suppose they've fixed this in the MD-2017?

Hi all, so just bought a HT 500D from Moonraker which is a clone of the TYT MD 2017. First impressions are a really well built radio, I've not used DMR before so my reason for buying from Moonraker is they pre load every digital and analogue repeater in the uk into the radio for you!! Lazy I know but useful for the DMR novice, I was listening to the Caterham repeater whilst on Battersea bridge and the audio sounded clear and agreeable to the ear, I received my DMR I.D. this morning so will have a play over the next few days and report my experiences.

73 Gary.

Ah, you'll soon be writing your own codeplugs, or at least modifying the one you've got. I bought the Retevis rt82 (same radio) from a UK supplier rather than China because I'm impatient, but the UK codeplug it came with didn't actually include several of our local repeaters so I had to add them myself anyway. It also doesn't contain any 2 metre FM simplex channels, I'm wondering if that's because some areas are using the new narrow channels while others are still using the old wide ones?

BK wrote:Ah, you'll soon be writing your own codeplugs, or at least modifying the one you've got. I bought the Retevis rt82 (same radio) from a UK supplier rather than China because I'm impatient, but the UK codeplug it came with didn't actually include several of our local repeaters so I had to add them myself anyway. It also doesn't contain any 2 metre FM simplex channels, I'm wondering if that's because some areas are using the new narrow channels while others are still using the old wide ones?

I have purchased the Retevis version myself. It only arrived yesterday so haven't had a chance to open the box and I'm working this weekend so it will need to wait. Codeplug came on a disc along with a programming lead (an extra with the Retevis)

Anyway, I have a MD-380 at the moment and this will hopefully replace it. Hoping they have solved some of the niggles too!

kilimax wrote:I have purchased the Retevis version myself. It only arrived yesterday so haven't had a chance to open the box and I'm working this weekend so it will need to wait. Codeplug came on a disc along with a programming lead (an extra with the Retevis)

Anyway, I have a MD-380 at the moment and this will hopefully replace it. Hoping they have solved some of the niggles too!

You can get the rt82 from China with the programming cable included, if you're prepared to wait weeks for it to arrive. If you buy from the UK then it's extra, but at the time I got mine all the UK ebay sellers were out of stock so it would have come from China anyway, hence my decision to buy from a shop instead. Ironically, having spent a bit more to get the radio quickly, I haven't had a lot of time to play with mine either

I used to have an md380 too, always found it a bit small and fiddly for my hands, I prefer the rt82 in that respect. It's not quite niggle-free, but luckily they all appear to be firmware related.

BK wrote:Ah, you'll soon be writing your own codeplugs, or at least modifying the one you've got. I bought the Retevis rt82 (same radio) from a UK supplier rather than China because I'm impatient, but the UK codeplug it came with didn't actually include several of our local repeaters so I had to add them myself anyway. It also doesn't contain any 2 metre FM simplex channels, I'm wondering if that's because some areas are using the new narrow channels while others are still using the old wide ones?

I certainly hope so, just starting to get to grips with the menu functions, mine came with the Retrevis rt 82 software so it's actually more akin to that than the MD 2017 the 2 meter FM simplex channels appear to be present on my codeplug so hopefully will be able to make some contacts soon

GaryWilson wrote:the 2 meter FM simplex channels appear to be present on my codeplug

Have you got the old 25kHz 'S' channels or the new 12.5kHz 'V' channels?

BK wrote:

kilimax wrote:
You can get the rt82 from China with the programming cable included, if you're prepared to wait weeks for it to arrive. If you buy from the UK then it's extra, but at the time I got mine all the UK ebay sellers were out of stock so it would have come from China anyway, hence my decision to buy from a shop instead. Ironically, having spent a bit more to get the radio quickly, I haven't had a lot of time to play with mine either

I used to have an md380 too, always found it a bit small and fiddly for my hands, I prefer the rt82 in that respect. It's not quite niggle-free, but luckily they all appear to be firmware related.

It was ML&S I purchased mine from as I didn't fancy buying fron China in case of any issues. Been bitten before with purchases from China so I now limit myself to a few 10s of £s.

I'll hopefully have some time to unbox and carry out some basic checks over the next few evenings, time permitting. At this location, I use a DV Mini connected to a Raspberry Pi3 and use the MD380 (UHF) to connect into the DMR network that way. While it works, I find the DV mini & Pi combo, prone to locking up after several hours. Anyway, that's another story!

Will post results when I finally check out the RT82.

BK wrote:

GaryWilson wrote:the 2 meter FM simplex channels appear to be present on my codeplug

Have you got the old 25kHz 'S' channels or the new 12.5kHz 'V' channels?

I'm not entirely sure, I just saw I just saw a zone set up with simplex as a heading, i'll check and let you know.

GaryWilson wrote:

BK wrote:

GaryWilson wrote:the 2 meter FM simplex channels appear to be present on my codeplug

Have you got the old 25kHz 'S' channels or the new 12.5kHz 'V' channels?

I'm not entirely sure, I just saw I just saw a zone set up with simplex as a heading, i'll check and let you know.

Oh mine came with a simplex zone, but it only has 70cm channels in it. I've added the 2m simplex calling channel (narrow), but I'm holding off adding any more until I decide which spacing to use - I haven't been on 2m for a few years and don't know if everyone's on the new narrow ones yet.

BK wrote:

GaryWilson wrote:

BK wrote:
Have you got the old 25kHz 'S' channels or the new 12.5kHz 'V' channels?

I'm not entirely sure, I just saw I just saw a zone set up with simplex as a heading, i'll check and let you know.

Oh mine came with a simplex zone, but it only has 70cm channels in it. I've added the 2m simplex calling channel (narrow), but I'm holding off adding any more until I decide which spacing to use - I haven't been on 2m for a few years and don't know if everyone's on the new narrow ones yet.

I've had a check now I have the following programmed in for simplex,

"DV" 3 channels of digital simplex starting 144.6000

S8 to S24 the old 25KHz channels

DH1 to DH8 on 70cm Digital

SU16 to SU24 on 70cm analogue

Plus some hot spot ones as well I assume for Shark Rf or DV Mega or similar, so far I've heard nothing at all on any analogue or simplex channels or repeaters but a fair bit of traffic on the Caterham DMR repeater so not in anyway disappointed with this purchase, I only picked it up on Friday so time will tell.

kilimax wrote:

BK wrote:

kilimax wrote:
You can get the rt82 from China with the programming cable included, if you're prepared to wait weeks for it to arrive. If you buy from the UK then it's extra, but at the time I got mine all the UK ebay sellers were out of stock so it would have come from China anyway, hence my decision to buy from a shop instead. Ironically, having spent a bit more to get the radio quickly, I haven't had a lot of time to play with mine either

I used to have an md380 too, always found it a bit small and fiddly for my hands, I prefer the rt82 in that respect. It's not quite niggle-free, but luckily they all appear to be firmware related.

It was ML&S I purchased mine from as I didn't fancy buying fron China in case of any issues. Been bitten before with purchases from China so I now limit myself to a few 10s of £s.

I'll hopefully have some time to unbox and carry out some basic checks over the next few evenings, time permitting. At this location, I use a DV Mini connected to a Raspberry Pi3 and use the MD380 (UHF) to connect into the DMR network that way. While it works, I find the DV mini & Pi combo, prone to locking up after several hours. Anyway, that's another story!

Will post results when I finally check out the RT82.

Thanks Drew, will be interested to hear how you get on, I have a Raspberry pi3 which I may use with the DV Mega as my local repeater is a bit too weak indoors with the rubber duck antenna, I really like the look of the Shark RF but a £200 pounds it's a little hard to justify.

GaryWilson wrote:I've had a check now I have the following programmed in for simplex,

"DV" 3 channels of digital simplex starting 144.6000

That's interesting, I only have the calling channel 144.6125

So presumably they're numbered
DV1 144.6000
DV2 144.6125 (calling)
DV3 144.6250

BK wrote:

GaryWilson wrote:I've had a check now I have the following programmed in for simplex,

"DV" 3 channels of digital simplex starting 144.6000

That's interesting, I only have the calling channel 144.6125

So presumably they're numbered
DV1 144.6000
DV2 144.6125 (calling)
DV3 144.6250

Yes that's exactly whats programmed in, still nothing heard simplex at all, I'm pretty sure the stock antenna is a issue, I have a "super gainer" which I bought at the same time but that hasn't made much difference so could be into white stick territory, my club hold a simplex net tomorrow evening with members dotted around from local to about 10 miles away so I will see how it goes