HT1550 Programming Tips

[w2sjw]

Guys,

I just got a nice new HT1550, and I'm still waiting fro my program cable to arrive. I've been using the radio in it's default state that it was shipped to me in, and I have 2 questions:

#1 - People tell me my audio is 'nasally' and 'muffled'. It doesn't matter what setting in the FPP menu I put the channel at (narrow, mid, or wide). When I get the radio into CPS, what settings should I use to adjust the audio (assuming that you can - I have no knowledge of the 'Pro' series radios until now, only Jedi & XTS).

#2 - Any channel that isn't running reverse-burst has quite a pronounced static burst on receive when the repeater goes off the air. Changing the menu settings for the squelch from 'normal' to 'tight' has no effect on this. Where might I need to go in the programming to address this?

Thanks in advance!

[laramiecountyCERT]

Scott, shoot me a PM and we can talk I think I have done some work to figgure out what is going on withthe HT1550's that we are havinf problems with.

Peter

[bedfordlawdawg]

Hi, was wondering what became of the info on the 1550's. I have a brand new unit and have about a million and one questions..Is there some kind of tutorial that will teach you the RSS and programming options? Thanks!
Rookie....

[laramiecountyCERT]

Scott,
some of the settings for audio can be wrong with sounding nasal and the like.with the settings. I have programmed a few an found out that our Motorola liks the nonstandard reverse burst to be on when working with other radios in the system to be able to have the squelch tail off so it is not so harsh sounding on the ears. So what do you want to know about the HT1550 programming?

[w2sjw]

Sold the 1550 over a month ago when a XTS2500i came my way. Did a top-level drag & drop from my VHF 5000 & away I went...

[bedfordlawdawg]

I have a brand new HT1550XLS, and I love the radio, but......
At the end of most transmissions that I recieve, there is a very loud squelch. It's worse with receiving traffic from a repeater, but does it on almost every type of traffic. I have palyed, and played, and played with the settings and can't get it to go away...I also noticed (not sure what I did) that the audio on some channels have a lower pitch to them (sounds almost digital/computer) and some are realy high like the dispatcher or units are in a tin can. I have had a CP200 and a HT1250 before, but never changed or tried to change anything other than basics, and they never sounded like this. Mainly the "squelch Tail" (if thats what I'm describing) is the thing that bugs me the most...It is very loud when volume is up.
I was also looking to see if there is any online training/powerpoints/guides to programming/RSS, so I know better what I'm doing..
Thanks!

[laramiecountyCERT]

OK that makes sense, have you played around with a non-standard reverse burst? That might be part of it. And do you have the MDC1200 signaling turned on? Try the reverse burst first and see if you have the MDC1200 on as well. Audio settings for me in the advanced tab are:

Non-Standard Reverse Burst checked for TX channels
Compression Type: Disabled
Expansion Type:Low-Level Expansion
Emphasis Selection: De-Emphasis & Pre-Emphasis

This works for the repeaters I am on for work and ham. If you have any questions let me know or shoot me a PM and I will see what I can do to help.
Thanks

[bedfordlawdawg]

Very, very good..Those settings work for improving audio! Sounds good now...However, the squelch is still loud at the end of transmissions....Is there a way to either eliminate the squelch tail or whatever it's called, or reduce quite a bit? That is the only thing that is bugging me now.

Thanks so much for helping!
BG

[laramiecountyCERT]

Have you tried playing around with the non-standard reverse burst to see if that works? I have mine turned on for TX channels and turned off for my RX only channels in my radio and that seems to work well. Might start there and see how that does.

[bedfordlawdawg]

I have played with those settings to no avail..Does it matter that the channels are CSQ on RX? As far as I know, the freqs do not have PL on RX but do for TX...It doesn't seem to make much sense. I'm so frustrated!

[Tom in D.C.]

Let's see if we can help you out on this. First of all, a received may or may not have a tone code or DPL code on it. It it has neither then odds are you are going to hear a squelch burst when the carrier drops, and except for tightening the squelch there's nothing you can do about it. Now, when the other station sends a tone code or DPL through a repeater it may or may not be retransmitted. If it's not then you're in the same boat as above, meaning you're going to hear a burst of noise when the carrier drops. Now, just to complicate things, a repeater transmitter may generate its own tone code when it transmits, and that tone code may or may or may not be the same as the one it's just received. One way to tell if the transmitter you're listening to is transmitting a reverse burst signal is to listen carefully when the carrier drops. If it is transmitting one you'll hear it as a separate short transmission.

[bedfordlawdawg]

OK....I have most figured out, but I have found a TPL code that the repeater tx's on, and have programmed it in the RX set-up of the personality. Now, I can tx, but I can't RX and hear nothing, I see the signal strength bar go full to hear I have to do monitor or sticky mic to hear anything. What am I missing?

[Tom in D.C.]

How did you "find out" the PL that the repeater transmits on? Maybe you assumed that the PL the repeater needs on its input side is the same one it will transmit. This is a common error these days as more and more PS repeaters are using two different tone codes. They give out the code freely so people can monitor, but they keep the repeater's input/receive code a secret so people can't interfere with their operations. I think you've got the wrong code set on your receiver. Tip: Often the codes are adjacent, such as 186.2/192.8.

[bedfordlawdawg]

Got it worked out..The PL will not work, but the DPL worked! How do you adjust the times on RX both front and rear end of transmission? I RX OK now, but it seems like in scan or manual, that I miss a split second of the transmission before and possibly after. Does muting standard muting, etc have to do with it? Does the DOS settings need to be changed? Thanks...You are a great help in teaching this obvious novice!

[Tom in D.C.]

Tone coding occurs the whole time you're transmitting or receiving, not just at the beginning and end of either mode. There is no adjustment as such; you just set it correctly in the program and off it goes on its way to do its job. You might check the squelch adjustment in the setup program to "loosen" it, which means the radio will open up to less sensitive signals than when the squelch is set "tight." I don't know the 1550 at all, but it may have other adjustments available having to do with unmuting. Your program does have a HELP file, I'm sure, so you should be consulting/reading that as you go along. Sometime the help file "answers" are not actually much help but they're worth a try.

Thanks for the compliment. That's what this Board is supposed to be about.

Regards,

[laramiecountyCERT]

Standard muting or unmuting can be set several different ways in the CPS it can be set to standard, AND, OR just depends on what you want the radio to do. If your setting it to scan and you have a priority channel marked that it seeks your lookback time might be to long. Scanning all 16 channels and also having it set up in the CPS for PL scan lockout as well might be part of the problem. Does it do the same thing on a single channel? If you want I can take a look at your codeplug and see what it might be.
Let me know and I can see about it.
Thanks