Radius SP50 RX Question

[dwh367]

I just got my Radius SP50 out of my local Motorola dealership Friday, after having the internal microphone and the 2 button keypad replaced. After 7 years of use, it didn't seem to be receiving as well as it used to so I had them to go through it and make sure everything was up to factory spec. I didn't notice any improvement in the RX even though the invoice said they realigned it so I took it back. (For example, I could set it down on a desk in a fringe area of the repeater that I use and not be able to hear the hang timer unless I picked it up and moved it a little.)

I watched the tech put it on a service monitor and it was breaking squelch at around 30 microvolts and was full quieting at around 50 microvolts. The factory spec for RX is 25 microvolts. I asked if the automatic squelch setting might be just a little too tight but they recommended leaving it where it was. They said if they backed it down too much, then it could become unsquelched too easily (2 of the 10 channels do not use PL/DPL) and anything less than what the service monitor was showing would be unreadable anyway.

I guess I should mention that the repeater I use is in the UHF band and I am 23.2 miles away from it when at my home. The repeater is a Radius R100 25 watt unit located at the highest point of the next county. The repeater antenna is mounted at 110 feet on the tower and the hill that the tower is on is at 400 feet. From outside, I can pretty well bring it up from anywhere in the town I reside in. If I'm inside a structure though, things naturally get a little more interesting as far TX/RX is concerned.

Since I'm so far away from the repeater and I need the maximum sensitivity it is rated for, should I take it back again and have them to go ahead and lower the automatic squelch treshold to achieve the 25 microvolts or should I just take their advice and leave well enough alone if they are correct in stating that no noticeable improvement would really be gained?

Thanks,
David H.

[DJP126]

The factory spec for RX is 25 microvolts.

I do hope you mean .25 uV. 25 uV is pretty deaf.

[dwh367]

The factory spec for RX is 25 microvolts.

I do hope you mean .25 uV. 25 uV is pretty deaf.

You are correct in saying .25uV is what I meant. I had just gotten off a 12 hour shift at work when I wrote that and my brain had evidently already gone to sleep before I did. Thanks for bringing that error to my attention.

David H.

[RadioSouth]

It's been a while but tight/loose squelch might be an option you can assign to the OPT button, that way you can have it both ways if you didn't need it to toggle scan or hi/lo power.