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Re: Not receiving signal

Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 6:14 pm
by M6KFR
Many thanks for you very informative answer
By DMR dropping out I meant it goes from green to red on occasions, or it’s red at start up.
I hadn’t thought of a router problem I will try changing back to my older one that I know works ok.
I also thought it was important to select the correct radio type/‘top hat’ setting in configuration.
Many thanks for the clear precise md380 program procedures it’s(I’m ashamed to say) shown me where I may of gone wrong.
Another mistake I made was formatting over my working DMR set up when I saw V4 of pi=star had been released.
Whilst I was able to set up dstar and ysf with minimum fuss I have to admit I am flummoxed with DMR.
Still it’s fun learning as I go along.
My thanks to you and everyone who has suggested solutions... I’m only surprised no one has said give up.... (-;.
Gordon M6KFR

Re: Not receiving signal

Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 8:02 pm
by AF6VN
KE7FNS wrote: Sat Nov 30, 2019 6:05 pm So what that means is our radio is simply not programmed correctly. You don't have it set to listen to the response. You can do this a number of different ways, the easiest is to just turn on promiscuous mode that way your radio will always listen to every transmission, no matter which group is is from. But again the issue you are having of not hearing the parrot is because the radio is not programmed to listen to the transmission from the hotspot from the 9990 group. In your codeplug there should be an area for a "receive group list" or something similar where you can specify which group that channel is supposed to listen to, you need to set it to listen to 9990.
Unless the OP is running 3rd party firmware in the radio, the MD-380/390 do not have "promiscuous mode".



I also just tried a test with my MD390, using the menu system to add a new contact "9990 / Parrot" (and then had to figure out how to use contacts for sending). I'd already had a channel configured as BM TG 9 (which I never used as US BM doesn't use reflectors). That got me out of the group with actual traffic (US Nationwide is my normal space).

With "Parrot" highlighted* in the contact list, PTT and mumbling my call sign produced (hard to cut&paste since the page keeps refreshing)

Code: Select all

Local RF Activity
Time (EST) 	 	Mode 	Callsign 	Target 	Src 	Dur(s) 	BER 	RSSI
14:02:31 Nov 30th	DMR Slot 2	AF6VN	9990	RF	5.8	0.4%	
and releasing PTT then resulted in

Code: Select all

Gateway Activity
Time (EST) 	 	Mode 	Callsign 	Target 	Src 	Dur(s) 	Loss 	BER
14:02:40 Nov 30th	DMR Slot 2	9990	AF6VN	Net	6.6	10%	0.0%
14:02:31 Nov 30th	DMR Slot 2	AF6VN	9990	RF	5.8	0%	0.4%
(and yes, I did hear my mumble)
Note that my radio was still set for a channel using BM TG 9, and if I were to PTT again, the dashboard would show TG 9 rather than 9990. The private call to 9990 only holds while the screen is on the contact list. I have no channel configured for 9990. I don't know if the group/private hang time settings in the radio affect it. I did not try using a different talk group -- as I understand it, TG 9 acts as a "local" by most repeaters, meant for use when a reflector has been activated -- so should not have any interfering traffic on a hotspot with no active reflectors.

So -- again presuming the MD-380 is similar to my MD-390.
Have a CHANNEL configured for Group type contact TG 9 (and located in some zone) and hotspot frequency
Have a Private type contact "Parrot" 9990 (suggest either first or last contact in list) (OR "manual dial")
Select the zone and TG 9 channel
{optional, may not be needed: PTT to activate TG 9 on BM<>hotspot}
Menu button; Contacts confirm; 1 Contacts confirm; ^ or v to find Parrot contact; with Parrot highlighted: PTT and make some short announcement ("manual dial" could be used here).
Release PTT; should hear announcement repeated back.

I did NOT have to add Parrot/9990 to any receive group list (In fact, since I added Parrot/9990 using the radio "New Contact" menu I could NOT add it to any group list -- that function is not available in the radio itself), nor create a channel dedicated to that contact.



* this is what took me a while to figure out... Selecting "Parrot" and hitting "Confirm" was NOT the action to take; just selecting and PTT is what worked for private call. "Confirm" brought up a sub-menu and "call alert" just made the radio blip the TX and listen for a responder -- not enough to activate the hotspot even. Same problem with "Manual Dial" -- one does not want to "confirm" after entering the 9990; instead just PTT while the entry page is showing.

Re: Not receiving signal

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:48 am
by M6KFR
Hi
Pleased to say DMR is up and running (-:
Not only my code plug but an actual fault on my phone line caused many headaches.
BT came out and fiddled about with local j.b. Reslotting my line ? And I have no more problems connecting up to pi-star.
Who ever suggested that I link up to 9990 check that works and build up from there is a star !
Many thanks to all who gave helpful hints and tips.
Linking to Ireland was a major key, why I can’t use the U.K. is a mystery .
So thanks one and all
73
Gordon M6KFR

Re: Not receiving signal

Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 6:27 pm
by M1DNS

KE7FNS wrote:
I suspect the UK master has a different password than the rest of the masters, and to connect to it you'd have to change the password, which then would break all the masters you can currently connect to, so in my opinion it really isn't worth messing with unless you always want to stay on the UK master.
The UK password change approx 2months ago to bring it in line with all other BM servers in having the same single entry password. pistar was updated to reflect this a few days after the change was noted.
Anyone who's ran an update anytime over that time period from then to now the changes would be inclusive. If not then the suggestion is users run an update, most especially UK ops. wanting to access BM UK.

Andrew M1DNS, (Mod)