Help with my TYT MD-380

[TheListener]

Hello everyone !

I am starting to be hopeless. I bought an TYT MD-380 few days ago and I tried to play with it but I did nothing greater than hearing analog frequencies... I am using an Airspy and DSD+ in order to find DMR radio, get the Talk Group, the Color Code, the Slot, ... but I hear absolutely nothing. I can see the light turns green and the signal increase which means it detect activities on the frequency but I do not hear anything.

I first thought it could be a problem with the speaker but analog frequencies works well... So I thought that it could be a problem with the DMR decryption and I injected a Code Plug that the shop gave me : it worked well, I was able to listen a repeater somewhere in Epsom.

So the conclusion is that I am doing something wrong but I have no clues what ! I tried to compare the Code Plug with my configuration and I don't see anything wrong...

As I said, I am starting to be really hopeless I am in Central London with a Diamond X-200N. Do anyone experienced the same problem (I guess yeah ?) and could help me, please ? Thanks in advance !

EDIT : I attached 2 files that shows an example of my configuration following the information DSD+ is giving me.

[moj]

Theres loads of things wrong there , the main thing you haven't got and the most important is it has to be set as RX !! only so you cant accidently transmit on the frequency of another user which is illegal , secondly the frequency your trying to monitor doesn't look correct and then you also have to have the correct details of what your trying to monitor otherwise you wont pick up a thing .

really need to look at your codeplug on teamviewer tho to see everything is setup like it should be etc

[Metradio]

If it is a repeater you are trying to listen to change the TX frequency to something other than the RX frequency..
If the TX and RX entered frequencies are both the same the MD-380 thinks it is working simplex and ignores any slot timings from a repeater - hence you hear nothing...

Mike

[TheListener]

Theres loads of things wrong there , the main thing you haven't got and the most important is it has to be set as RX !! only so you cant accidently transmit on the frequency of another user which is illegal , secondly the frequency your trying to monitor doesn't look correct and then you also have to have the correct details of what your trying to monitor otherwise you wont pick up a thing . i

really need to look at your codeplug on teamviewer tho to see everything is setup like it should be etc

Hi Moj, thanks for your answer ! Yes, I checked the "Rx Only" box just after the screenshot. The frequency is correct (there is DMR activities on it) and the details are correct (look at the DSD+ screenshot, you will see that the color code, the TG and the slot are correct).

If it is a repeater you are trying to listen to change the TX frequency to something other than the RX frequency..
If the TX and RX entered frequencies are both the same the MD-380 thinks it is working simplex and ignores any slot timings from a repeater - hence you hear nothing...

Mike

THANKS A LOT METRARADIO FOR YOUR HELP ! It wa actually THAT simple ! I just changed the TX frequency to something random (430.000 Mhz) as I will not transmit anything and it now working ! How do you know if it is a SIMPLEX frequency tho ? Thanks in advance !

[Admiral]

It does look an oddball frequency, 445.750 looks more 'natural'. Reading the frequency from an SDR software is not 100%, check the frequency against the WTR.

There's no harm in putting in a specific contact name and a grouplist, but good practice to use one or the other.

My money would be on the frequency, the LED and signal activity could just be 'bleedover' from the proper signal.

[TheListener]

Thanks a lot for the help ! The problem was actually coming from the fact that I was entering the same RX and TX frequency as Metradio pinpointed it ! I still don't really understand how and why but it does work now so all good Thanks a lot for the help !

[radiosification]

It's generally good practice to use a frequency where you won't cause any harm if you do accidentally transmit. These MD-380s have a bug where you can still get them to transmit even if you have RX only set. I use one of the PMR446 channels because that's probably the safest place to accidentally transmit.

[Metradio]

Thanks a lot for the help ! The problem was actually coming from the fact that I was entering the same RX and TX frequency as Metradio pinpointed it ! I still don't really understand how and why but it does work now so all good Thanks a lot for the help !

No sweat.. 99% of the DMR signals you will come across will be from repeaters.. The MD-380 when set up with a different **TX frequency from it's RX frequency will automatically listen for a 2 Slot repeater frequency. When set up with a simplex frequency (TX and RX frequency the same) the MD-380 will listen for a single slot DMR radio transmission, in both cases you will only hear the transmission trype you are set up for.

** As long as there is a difference of 12.5KHz or more between RX and TX frequencies the MD-380 will listen for a repeater transmission, and as long as both frequencies are in the same band (i.e. 400-470MHz) it will work..

Mike

[Hal9000]

Hi everyone,

I have a similar problem with my TYT MD-380 . I have tried many different programmation. I 'd like to use a digital channel with different TX and RX frequencies to trasmit with a diy digital repeater (also x2 MD-380, one only for TX and one only RX linked trought a cable headphone and mic with automatic PTT function) .
To receive from the TX repeater there no problems but when I try to trasmit from a MD-380 client they fail and make a fail tone and red LED and doesn't show on the screen the trasmission infos (trasmission ID) . The RX repeater receive that signal because I can see the green LED and the receive straight increses.

The MD-380 clients are configurated with two difference frequencies, same TG of the repeater same contact name of repeaters same color and time slot.

I have already tried to trasmit with the same parameters on the same frequencies without any problems. That inssue start only on the client side in trasmission when the device has a different TX and RX frequencies.

What else? I will thank a lot anyone give me some advice about that inssue because I became crazy about that.

I've also supposed to reflash the MD-380 with an other firmware

Regard

[radiosification]

When you set different TX and RX frequencies the radio expects to see a repeater transmitting the data for it to synchronise with on the RX frequency. If it doesn't see this then it won't transmit, because it has to sync timings with the repeater first. What you're trying to will not work on the radio by design.

[Hal9000]

Thank you so much radiosification! For what you have explained it means that it can be possible only by analog trasmission but not in digital one.
Another question about TYT MD-380. Is there a possibility to set "dual channel" mode to permit to receive on a channel and trasmit on an other channel. When I press the PTT trasmit at X frequency and when I don't press the PTT spring directly on an other RX frequencies. This kind of elementary setting normally has got also on really cheap trasceivers but I can't found it on the MD-380 .

Cheers

[radiosification]

I don't remember ever seeing that feature on the radio, no. However you could set a scan list and put the other channel in there, and I think there may be an auto scan option in the programming software that causes it to automatically turn on scan when you go on that channel. You'll need to select the scan list on the transmit channel so that it will scan the receive channel.