tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73177099285592033142024-03-13T21:21:42.602+00:00RadiosificationThe blog of radiosification. Covering topics such as DMR, dPMR, Amateur radio, Scanning, Digital modes, software defined radio.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-71649092269778447482022-10-19T18:33:00.037+01:002023-07-03T21:41:31.353+01:00Kydera DR-880UV Plus / Radioddity GD-88 firmware<p>This post was originally intended to be a repository of firmware for the DR-880UV Plus radio since Kydera does not have a page on their website like other manufacturers do to provide updated firmware. However, now that Radioddity has started publicly releasing new firmware that works on both brands, I've started using it to provide more details on their newest firmware.</p><p>If you want to share the any of my downloads (not the ones on Radioddity's website), please link to this page rather than the mega.nz link directly because I will update it with new ones in the future.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">How to use</h1><p>To apply the firmware you need the IAS software and the programming cable. Turn off the radio, connect it with the programming cable and then turn on the radio while holding the top side button. It should show a different screen from normal with A or B on the top. You can change between A and B by holding the top side button again.</p><p>Then use the IAS software to load in the A firmware with A on the screen of the radio. Switch it over to B and then load in the B firmware. Each firmware package should have two files in - one for each of A and B.</p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Versions</h1><h1 style="text-align: left;">September 2022 Version</h1><p>Screenshots of radio (one for each VFO. The firmware is different for each):</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD5t5rOSzF4rL0FbH_bs10H6t-CzTWOOprI0ETscZCN5b4qgQ73u85rm1J_suarX4ReunSL_GlWeuH81YyP1DDWM0EDH14p2hByC-YkszQ5-jE41BqnnCOOFBZmnZH5qO6hbXPgAmtU0QVN5YS8mpMg3fm_g-lybzumluBYkyNQFm-5NkWMPMzWlt18A/s400/firmwareA.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="333" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD5t5rOSzF4rL0FbH_bs10H6t-CzTWOOprI0ETscZCN5b4qgQ73u85rm1J_suarX4ReunSL_GlWeuH81YyP1DDWM0EDH14p2hByC-YkszQ5-jE41BqnnCOOFBZmnZH5qO6hbXPgAmtU0QVN5YS8mpMg3fm_g-lybzumluBYkyNQFm-5NkWMPMzWlt18A/w166-h200/firmwareA.jpg" width="166" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3QnmjlSqVB2DCEnW97f9LgQpIFi0gFOiIbOk-xE6KufFObQuk560Ifue3f--hMnsB_qLXdHJGlt9GQTAmxYVjufZbtjrJVLQ1Pqdb9R1i920ai4v_AIASp3HTfOrCajGKi7b-luRTuquVZk6MoBenAxNyiSb2REHDMdJi3B9TdO7PzebQtjESqpFuOQ/s400/firmwareB.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="357" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3QnmjlSqVB2DCEnW97f9LgQpIFi0gFOiIbOk-xE6KufFObQuk560Ifue3f--hMnsB_qLXdHJGlt9GQTAmxYVjufZbtjrJVLQ1Pqdb9R1i920ai4v_AIASp3HTfOrCajGKi7b-luRTuquVZk6MoBenAxNyiSb2REHDMdJi3B9TdO7PzebQtjESqpFuOQ/w179-h200/firmwareB.jpg" width="179" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It's interesting to note that this version says GD-88 V1.0 at the top line when opening the versions on the radio.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Issues I've found with this firmware:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Volume is way too loud even on minimum.</li><li>Screen backlight setting (BL Switch) keeps resetting itself to BL ON after I set it to auto.</li><li>Wrong ham contact shown. If two people are talking it keeps showing the details of the first one.</li><li>VFO B keeps changing its step back to 5kHz. I've changed it to 6.25kHz about 10 times now.</li><li>Recording feature just stops recording even though it's still turned on in the menu. Can't get it to resume recording even if I turn it off and on.</li><li>The Single frequency repeater (SFR) is buggy. Half the time it doesn't pass audio. It always sounds muffled and quieter than the original audio so it seems like it's being transcoded even though it shouldn't be.</li><li>Analog APRS can lock up the radio and it continues transmitting until you pull the battery out. I think this occurs if the message you set is too long.</li></ul></div></div><br /><a href="https://mega.nz/file/hA4ETS5J#uUJxemiseitn1VFOYXxU8anrBu4tVEAneI6PpJhnHhk" target="_blank">Download link</a><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">October 2022 Version</h1><div><br /></div><div>This one is from Radioddity and shows as Oct 27/28 when loaded to the radio. It still shows as GD-88 V1.0 though. It works on the DR-880UV/Plus.</div><div><br /></div><div>Changes:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>They've changed the version display so you can see the version of both A and B VFOs on one screen now (instead of two separate screens like in the photos for the previous version). </li><li>Includes talker alias! Excellent feature so you don't have to load the ham contacts database and keep it updated. The radio will now transmit and receive talker alias on DMR.</li></ul><div>Download direct from Radioddity: <a href="https://www.radioddity.com/pages/radioddity-download" target="_blank">https://www.radioddity.com/pages/radioddity-download</a></div><div>Click on the GD-88 then download 2022-10-28 Firmware B49E.D64.EHRSAB.007.</div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">November 2022 Version</h1><div>Changes:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Supposedly fixes the ham contacts database. I've loaded the firmware onto my radio and it does seem to be better. It would previously get stuck on one contact and show that contact for everyone else until you restarted the radio.</li><li>Adds support for programming cables based on the FTDI-chip. Most people won't notice the difference but if you had a programming cable you thought should work but didn't, it might now work after updating the radio to this firmware. The problem is you'd need a working cable to update the radio first anyway.</li><li>"<i>minor fixes within the Talker Alias display</i>". Not sure what Radioddity meant with this one. It seems to be working just the same for me. They didn't provide any more detailed information about what they fixed.</li><li>"<i>Assignment of 1450 Hz Pilot tone fixed (does require at least CPS 3.3 DMR CPS_DRS [9.2.16])</i>". Again not much detail provided by Radioddity on this one. I'm guessing the 1450 Hz tone which is needed to speak through some analogue repeaters wasn't working before and now it is.</li></ul><div>See Radioddity's page on it here: <a href="https://www.radioddity.com/blogs/all/bugfix-for-radioddity-db25-d-and-gd-88" target="_blank">https://www.radioddity.com/blogs/all/bugfix-for-radioddity-db25-d-and-gd-88</a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>I think I heard someone mention in a discussion that if you put this firmware on a Kydera radio it will brick the radio (make it stop working), but it works fine on my Kydera DR-880UV / Plus. I'm guessing if you have the non-plus version (Kydera DR-880UV) it would probably not work.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Download direct from Radioddity: <a href="https://www.radioddity.com/pages/radioddity-download" target="_blank">https://www.radioddity.com/pages/radioddity-download</a></div><div>Click on the GD-88 then download 2022-11-20 Firmware B49E.D64.EHPSAB.010.</div></div><span></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h2><h1 style="text-align: left;">March 2023 version</h1></div><div>Changes:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>DTMF is supported now</li><li>Single VFO mode added</li><li>"<i>DMR-audio level aligned to
analog-audio level</i>" Still too loud on both at minimum volume.</li><li>Talkgroup will be received now if programmed as the contact for a channel</li><li>"<i>Current entry of menu or
submenu and the total number
of entries are displayed in the
upper right corner above each
other</i>" Still hard to use. They should just replace it with an extremely simple text based menu.</li><li>"<i>RXGroupList’ menu within
‘Device Info’ now displayed
correctly"</i> To be honest I hadn't noticed there was an issue with this before.</li><li>A few other minor things. You can see the rest in the release notes provided within the update package.</li></ul><div>I actually made an update video based on the state of the radio with this firmware update applied:</div>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/keZ6YThTdbE" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>Download direct from Radioddity: <a href="https://www.radioddity.com/pages/radioddity-download" target="_blank">https://www.radioddity.com/pages/radioddity-download</a></div><div>Click on the GD-88 then download 2023-03-30 Firmware. Or direct download link <a href="https://radioddity.s3.amazonaws.com/Radioddity%20GD-88%20firmware%20update%20-%20release%202023-03-30.zip" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><span></span><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">June 2023 unofficial version</h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjihWtCVFrK4ZBdilXxus9rnBX7tsgMngdDx5McDoHjb9845r7yNX0GcirzhEDiSItBHslbKMrjk-1o2ql8aM6wLnRI9B-DbpiWX3_OtHGYxL-As_wOi5BNl_umeH8mfKGCdiuYSa5mH59yFyrzsUFY58GxI9mIXYM_DuTdFpzRTuSVphj3884DsfBn-tyi/s1067/jun2023firmware.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjihWtCVFrK4ZBdilXxus9rnBX7tsgMngdDx5McDoHjb9845r7yNX0GcirzhEDiSItBHslbKMrjk-1o2ql8aM6wLnRI9B-DbpiWX3_OtHGYxL-As_wOi5BNl_umeH8mfKGCdiuYSa5mH59yFyrzsUFY58GxI9mIXYM_DuTdFpzRTuSVphj3884DsfBn-tyi/s320/jun2023firmware.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>This is not an official Radioddity or Kydera released firmware. This is one I got sent by a radio dealer I know, who got it direct from Kydera after he showed them my videos complaining about the radio's problems. They made this firmware to address one of those problems. </div><div><br /></div><div>I expect they will include the changes in the next official firmware release.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Use at your own risk! I have tested this on my own radio and it worked fine, but I don't take any responsibility if it causes issues with your radio!</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Changes:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Analog and digital audio are now at a much lower volume when the volume is set to the minimum level.</li><li>There may be other changes - I haven't tested everything and no changelog was provided by Kydera.</li></ul></div><div><b>Download link had to be removed</b> after a request from Kydera to take it down. It turned out they had used the radioddity model number (by mistake I think) in this firmware even though they sent it out via Kydera. I think that's why they wanted it not to be shared anymore (but I'm not 100% sure). The Late June 2023 version below seems to be almost the same anyway so if you were looking for this update then just use that one instead.</div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;">Late June 2023 version</h1><div><br /></div><div>This one is an official Kydera firmware. I've had one person verify it also works on the Radioddity GD-88 which is usually the case with all of these firmware releases.</div><div><br /></div><div>This has just come out on 03 July 2023 even though the date in the versions info shows June.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Changes:</div><div><ul><li>Analog and digital audio are now at a much lower volume when the volume is set to the minimum level.</li><li>There may be other changes - I haven't tested everything and no changelog was provided by Kydera. Please let me know in a comment or by contacting me using any of the details on my contact page if you find other changes from the last firmware.</li></ul><div>This is an official release this time (so I shouldn't be asked to remove it), so here's the <a href="https://mega.nz/file/scggAAxa#055pNL3p1LZl9HErI9NKsxd4emT3a3RKQlZhTfO5mOI" target="_blank">download link</a>.</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-56282962434011875772022-01-09T21:15:00.009+00:002023-07-02T15:40:37.349+01:00Comparison of digital PMR446 radios. dPMR446 and DMR Tier 1.Old radios:<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" style="text-align: left; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="font-weight: bold;">Radio model</td>
<td style="font-weight: bold;">Digital mode</td>
<td style="font-weight: bold;">Approx. price</td>
<td style="font-weight: bold;">Waterproofing</td>
<td style="font-weight: bold;">Notes</td>
<td style="font-weight: bold;">Availability</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Icom IC-F4029SDR</td>
<td>dPMR</td>
<td>-</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>First digital PMR446 radio.</td>
<td>Discontinued. Icom recommends IC-F29DR2 instead.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Icom IC-F29SDR</td>
<td>dPMR</td>
<td>-</td>
<td>IP67 (submersible)</td>
<td>Icom IC-F29DR with display.</td>
<td>Not officially discontinued but availability is poor</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Icom IC-F29DR</td>
<td>dPMR</td>
<td>-</td>
<td>IP67 (submersible)</td>
<td></td>
<td>Discontinued - Replacement is Icom IC-F29DR2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Kenwood TK-3401D</td>
<td>dPMR</td>
<td>-</td>
<td>IP54 (splashproof) & IP55 (water jets)</td>
<td></td>
<td>Discontinued - Replacement is Kenwood TK-3701D</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Kenwood TK-3601D</td>
<td>dPMR</td>
<td>-</td>
<td>IP67 (submersible)</td>
<td></td>
<td>Not officially discontinued but availability is poor</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Motorola XT660d / XT665d</td>
<td>dPMR</td>
<td>-</td>
<td>IP55 (water jets)</td>
<td>Motorola's first and only digital PMR446
radio. XT665d includes LPD
channels (low power, not PMR446 and they have worse range so not much
benefit of having these channels). The dPMR association claims that
this is
not a dPMR radio, but I received a recording of the digital signal from
someone who says they have this radio <a href="https://twitter.com/radiosification/status/1675514213211447302" target="_blank">and it decoded</a> using some
software that decodes dPMR signals, so I think the dPMR association are
mistaken and it is a dPMR radio (maybe just not certifiied by them).</td>
<td>Discontinued - No replacement. Motorola only sells
analogue PMR446 radios now.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hytera PD355LF</td>
<td>DMR</td>
<td>-</td>
<td>IP54 (splashproof)</td>
<td></td>
<td>Discontinued</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hytera PD365LF</td>
<td>DMR</td>
<td>-</td>
<td>IP54 (splashproof)</td>
<td></td>
<td>Discontinued</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Icom IC-F29DR2</td>
<td>dPMR</td>
<td>-</td>
<td>IP67 (submersible)</td>
<td>Programming cable is about £50 and software (CS-F29DR2)
is about £24.</td>
<td>Discontinued. Replacement is IC-F29DR3.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br />
Current radios:<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" style="text-align: left; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="font-weight: bold;">Radio model</td>
<td style="font-weight: bold;">Digital mode</td>
<td style="font-weight: bold;">Approx. price</td>
<td style="font-weight: bold;">Waterproofing</td>
<td style="font-weight: bold;">Notes</td>
<td style="font-weight: bold;">Availability</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Icom IC-F29DR3</td>
<td>dPMR</td>
<td>£192</td>
<td>IP67 (submersible)</td>
<td>Programming cable is about £40 and software (CS-F29DR3)
is
apparently available from dealers. Icom says software from the last
model (the IC-F29DR2) is not compatible so you have to buy new software
(which is rather a shame because the radios appear to be functionally
identical with the DR3 only having a more powerful speaker).This radio
seems a good choice. </td>
<td>Good availability<br />
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Kenwood TK-3701D</td>
<td>dPMR</td>
<td>£145</td>
<td>IP54 (splashproof) & IP55 (water jets)</td>
<td>Programming software is about £20 and cable is generic
kenwood style so many can be found cheaply. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoVyMDwR1Rg" target="_blank">Range test video.</a> A good choice.</td>
<td>Good availability</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Alinco DJ-PAX4</td>
<td>dPMR</td>
<td>€180</td>
<td>IP67 (submersible)</td>
<td>Programming
software freely available online. Cable looks to be kenwood style so
should be cheap. Seems like it could be a good choice.</td>
<td>Good availability in EU only</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Wouxun KG-D26</td>
<td>dPMR</td>
<td>€199</td>
<td>IP54 (splashproof)</td>
<td>Programming
software freely available online, but it shows that it doesn't use
common IDs as is recommended for dPMR446 equipment (so programming is
more complicated). May work fine just for groups who will only use this
radio out of the box and not need to reprogram to talk to other dPMR446
radios. At the price I wouldn't recommend it and would just go for the
Kenwood instead if you only need IP54 rating.</td>
<td>Good availability in EU only</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dynascan DA-350</td>
<td>dPMR (AMBE+2C)</td>
<td>€175</td>
<td>IP67 (submersible)</td>
<td>Uses
AMBE+2C vocoder (not the standard AMBE+2 that most other radios use) so
will not be compatible with other radios, except in analogue mode. <a href="https://radiosification.blogspot.com/2018/06/puxing-px-508d.html" target="_blank">Looks like a rebranded cheap Chinese radio</a>
so probably not as good quality as other brands. Could not find it
available in the UK so price is in euros.</td>
<td>Good availability in EU only</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hytera BD305LF</td>
<td>DMR</td>
<td>£97</td>
<td>IP54 (splashproof)</td>
<td>Not so good build quality and uses DMR mode so worse
range than dPMR. Not recommended.</td>
<td>Good availability</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hytera BD505LF</td>
<td>DMR</td>
<td>£153</td>
<td>IP54 (splashproof)</td>
<td>Not so good build quality and uses DMR mode so worse
range than dPMR. Not recommended.</td>
<td>Good availability</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hytera PD505LF</td>
<td>DMR</td>
<td>£178</td>
<td>IP54 (splashproof)</td>
<td>Seems better build quality than Hytera BD series. Uses
DMR mode so worse range than dPMR.</td>
<td>Good availability</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hytera BP515LF</td>
<td>DMR</td>
<td>£144</td>
<td>IP54 (splashproof)</td>
<td>Uses DMR mode so worse range than dPMR.</td>
<td>Good availability</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br />
<h3>My recommendations</h3>
For PMR446 use, dPMR is better for most
users because it uses 6.25 kHz channels rather than 12.5 kHz. DMR has
to do some trickery to
allow the same effective number of channels (32) which not all radios
do, whereas with dPMR
there are 32 channels by default. dPMR mode also gives better range.
For these reasons I recommend people
pick dPMR radios over DMR when choosing digital PMR446 walkie talkies.<br />
<br />
I also don't recommend the Dynascan DA-350 because it looks like a
rebranded cheap Chinese radio so the quality is dubious and it won't
work with any other dPMR radios (unless they happen to use the same
non-standard vocoder). I have the Kenwood TK-3701D and I can recommend
it. It works very well and is much better value for money than the Icom
if you don't need IP67. I haven't tried the Icom IC-F29DR3 or the
Alinco DJ-PAX4 but they also look like good options especially if you
need IP67 rating since the Kenwood is only IP55. Out of the Icom and
Alinco I'd probably go for the Alinco because it has programming
software that is free and the Icom programming cable is expensive.<br />
<br />
If you find any radios I've missed off this page or if any
information is
out of date, please leave a comment (or email me using the details on
my contact page) so I can update it.<br />
<br />
This page was last updated 02/07/2023.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-22711749931237432392022-01-09T21:11:00.002+00:002022-07-28T18:04:01.661+01:00Chinese dPMR radios comparison<table style="text-align: left; width: 100%;" border="1"
cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Names</td>
<td>Type</td>
<td>Vocoder / Vocoders</td>
<td>Availability</td>
<td>3.125 kHz steps</td>
<td>Compatibility group</td>
<td>Notes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Puxing PX-508D, Puxing PX-558D, Radtel RT-14D, NRC DigiA</td>
<td>Handheld, no display or keypad</td>
<td>AMBE+2C</td>
<td>Poor</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>1</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Zastone ZT-9908</td>
<td>Handheld, display and keypad</td>
<td>AMBE+2C</td>
<td>Poor</td>
<td></td>
<td>1</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>TYT DM-UVF10, Retevis RT2</td>
<td>Handheld, display and keypad</td>
<td>AMBE+2C</td>
<td>Poor</td>
<td></td>
<td>1</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Puxing MD-500</td>
<td>Mobile</td>
<td>AMBE+2C</td>
<td>Poor</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>BFDX/Belfone BF-P108</td>
<td>Handheld, no display or keypad</td>
<td>RALCWI</td>
<td>Poor</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>BFDX/Belfone BF-P118, Luiton DG-1180</td>
<td>Handheld, display and keypad</td>
<td>RALCWI</td>
<td>Poor</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Kirisun S780, Kirisun FP460</td>
<td>Handheld, display and keypad</td>
<td>ASELP</td>
<td>Poor</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>Poor range - bad receiver sensitivity.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Kydera DP-550S</td>
<td>Handheld, display and keypad</td>
<td>AMBE+2C, ASELP</td>
<td>Poor</td>
<td>No. Rounds to nearest so 446.103125 becomes 446.1</td>
<td></td>
<td>Terrible audio quality - very muffled sound. Does not
work with other dPMR
radios.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DCYX5H5"
target="_blank">Recent RS208D</a> </td>
<td>Handheld, no display or keypad</td>
<td>ASELP</td>
<td>Good</td>
<td></td>
<td>2</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dn0zPYT"
target="_blank">Recent RS209D</a></td>
<td>Handheld, display and keypad</td>
<td>ASELP</td>
<td>Good</td>
<td></td>
<td>2</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DFip6RV"
target="_blank">Recent RS308D</a></td>
<td>Handheld, no display or keypad</td>
<td>ASELP</td>
<td>Good</td>
<td></td>
<td>2</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DC3BN1z"
target="_blank">Recent RS309D</a></td>
<td>Handheld, display and keypad</td>
<td>ASELP</td>
<td>Good</td>
<td></td>
<td>2</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sainsonic FM-416, HYND DP320 </td>
<td>Handheld, no display or keypad</td>
<td>Probably ASELP</td>
<td>Poor</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DE3yO3V"
target="_blank">Recent RS-619D</a></td>
<td>Handheld, display and keypad</td>
<td>Probably ASELP</td>
<td>Good</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HYND DP330</td>
<td></td>
<td>ASELP, AMBE+2C</td>
<td>Good</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>HYND 500(DPMR)</td>
<td></td>
<td>?</td>
<td>Good</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>Be careful, they also sell a DMR model of the same
radio with the same model number.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Vocoder</span><br>
The vocoder is
the part of the radio that converts your voice into very low bitrate
digital data so it can be sent over the radio channel efficiently. Each
vocoder will sound different because they make different
sacrifices to compress the voice. I wrote a page about different dPMR
vocoders <a
href="https://radiosification.blogspot.com/2019/01/dpmr-vocoders.html">here</a>.
Some radios are available with multiple vocoders so you have to make
sure to get the right one. The only way to tell is usually by trying
it, or sometimes the seller or manufacturer will be able to tell you.
They often don't know much about their products though.<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">3.125 kHz steps</span><br>
For
a radio to work on dPMR446 channels it needs this. If not, it will be
on the wrong frequency. The radios on this page are not legal to use on
PMR446, however it is pretty common for people to program chinese
radios to use PMR446 frequencies and as long as you fit in by using the
right frequencies and bandwidth then it probably won't be noticed.
Therefore, if you're planning to use one of these radios on PMR446
digital frequencies then you should get the one with 3.125 kHz steps.<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Compatibility group</span><br>
This is a term I just made up for this page. Radios in the same
compatibility group should be able to talk to each other. This is not
guaranteed as I have not tested them all and specifications (including
vocoder) are sometimes changed even for the same model number.<br>
-------------<br>
<br>
If
you're trying to buy any of these radios, aliexpress, eBay and alibaba
are usually good places to search. eBay is usually the easiest as they
will post from your country but only the most popular radios usually
get listed there. Aliexpress is the next best but they post from China
so it may take a long time to arrive. I have linked some of the names
to the product page on aliexpress.<br>
<br>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Please leave a comment
below if you have information missing from this page that I can add.</span>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-86690502313648209662020-07-16T18:13:00.003+01:002022-01-20T20:48:47.266+00:00Quansheng UV-R50 programming software downloadI found it very difficult to find this software online so thought I'd provide an easily searchable download link. For some reason it installs itself as TG-Currency03.exe. They probably just didn't bother to rename it from a default. So you'll need to look for that to open it once installed. I suggest you rename the folder during the installation to something sensible, so you know what it is later on.<div><br /></div><div>If you're going to link to the download then please link to this page as I may change the download link if it breaks, and then your link would break too.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://mega.nz/file/ZNwRkbzI#4srxAMaqACmBZFrLeoJFWEW2kzd_Eava56Rj23o3Pu4" target="_blank">https://mega.nz/file/ZNwRkbzI#4srxAMaqACmBZFrLeoJFWEW2kzd_Eava56Rj23o3Pu4</a></div><div><br /></div><div>The original link to the Quansheng website where this file is from, is below. I provided this just in case it actually stays up and doesn't break. It might be a good idea to try this link first because it may have a more up to date version of the software. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.qsfj.com/products/459" target="_blank">http://www.qsfj.com/products/459</a></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-55733923165373557072020-05-13T17:53:00.000+01:002020-05-13T17:53:34.468+01:00Tuning your hotspot (Pi-Star)<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iLVIyh3czUE/Xrwiocf78JI/AAAAAAAABis/UmUJGPuvZ_8-GgpHy_HhScHORnRGYuEFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Capture.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="893" data-original-width="1081" height="330" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iLVIyh3czUE/Xrwiocf78JI/AAAAAAAABis/UmUJGPuvZ_8-GgpHy_HhScHORnRGYuEFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/Capture.PNG" width="400" /></a>Tuning your hotspot is something you should do to get the lowest BER (Bit Error Rate) - that means to get the least errors in the digital data being sent by your radio. If you have a high BER then it causes your audio to sound bad to others or even to fail to decode if it's very badly tuned.<br />
<br />
So to do this, first open up the dashboard of your hotspot. This can be accessed at <a href="http://pi-star/" target="_blank">pi-star/</a> usually. Then click on configuration near the top right of the page.<br />
<br />
Next, in the same area click on Expert, then MMDVMHost. Scroll down on this page to the Modem section. You should see an RX offset field.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RJ5ZgLK6PB4/XrwlffMS99I/AAAAAAAABi4/9TO_cPGptakSewdL2fa894dj53EZK9thACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Capture2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="874" data-original-width="1186" height="235" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RJ5ZgLK6PB4/XrwlffMS99I/AAAAAAAABi4/9TO_cPGptakSewdL2fa894dj53EZK9thACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Capture2.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Now, set your radio to use a talkgroup/room/reflector where you won't be disturbing anyone by transmitting. I suggest using an echo test one. On the Brandmeister network this is done with a private call to 9990.<br />
<br />
Open a new tab in your browser and navigate back to the dashboard. When you transmit, you should be able to see it under the Local RF Activity section. If you don't then it could mean that your frequency is off by such an extent that the hotspot isn't even detecting the transmission.<br />
<br />
From here you can start tuning up and down on the RX offset frequency. I'd recommend going up or down in 100 Hz steps at first. Each time, save the new RX offset and transmit again for a few seconds. See if your transmission comes up under Local RF Activity. Look at the BER and write it down along with the RX offset. After some trial and error, you should find an offset that gives the lowest BER. If you are still increasing/decreasing the offset and the BER keeps going down, then keep going until the BER starts to increase again. At the minimum point, you've found the correct offset.<br />
<br />
At this point you can either tune it further, by going up and down in smaller steps than 100 Hz, or you can just stick with the current offset. I'd recommend tuning it more if you have the time.<br />
If you choose not to tune it further, then you're done!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-2960045909086970792019-01-23T19:34:00.003+00:002021-02-22T18:58:24.575+00:00dPMR vocoders<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NTLFGwR0Mtk/Uyt4jmOvxtI/AAAAAAAAAQE/idaEjW7BxiA-eP1bP0HPfYDLml7Dtj-owCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/1373653810646_wm.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NTLFGwR0Mtk/Uyt4jmOvxtI/AAAAAAAAAQE/idaEjW7BxiA-eP1bP0HPfYDLml7Dtj-owCPcBGAYYCw/s320/1373653810646_wm.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kirisun S780. An example of a cheap Chinese <br />
dPMR radio with the ASELP vocoder</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There are a number of vocoders commonly used in dPMR. For those of you who are not familiar already with what a vocoder is, here is a brief explanation: A vocoder converts the voice signal into low bitrate digital data so it can be sent over a radio channel, and then converts it back to voice at the other end. This allows the voice to be sent in less bandwidth than if some other audio codec that is not optimised for voice (MP3 for example) was used, or even than analogue modulation. A vocoder is just an audio codec that was specifically designed to be optimised for voice, and usually will not accurately represent other sounds.<br />
<br />
The dPMR standard has two bits allocated to denoting which vocoder is in use, allowing four choices. This is specified in the <a href="http://www.dpmr-mou.org/downloads/dPMR%20MoU%20tech.lib-Voc%20Bits%20-v1.pdf" target="_blank">dPMR Mou tech.lib-Voc Bits-v1</a>
document. The options are:<br />
<br />
<b><u>1. (00 in binary) Standard vocoder. AMBE+2.</u></b><br />
This vocoder is very widely used in digital PMR/LMR products including in DMR, P25 Phase 2, and NXDN. It is a solid choice of vocoder, but far from the only choice. A sample of how this vocoder sounds can be heard at the start of <a href="https://youtu.be/fuJUuOsXmRw" target="_blank">this video</a>. All Icom and Kenwood dPMR radios use this vocoder and are guaranteed to work together because they have been through interoperability testing.<br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
<b><u>2. (01) Vocoder to be selected by the Chinese DRA.</u></b><br /><div>According to one commenter on this article, the DRA is a Chinese entity but seems not to have produced anything since 2010. I did some further research (originally for <a href="https://radiosification.blogspot.com/2013/06/kirisun-s780-information-on-vocoder-and_28.html" target="_blank">this</a> article) and found out that DRA stands for Digital Radio Association. It seems they originally intended to create a dPMR based radio standard called NDR, using their own vocoder. dPMR radios with this vocoder could be sold as NDR radios, presumably to assure users that they would be compatible with each other.</div><div><br /></div><div>I could not find any information about this vocoder online. I requested information from the dPMR association and they did not know what it was either. My guess is that the DRA and their NDR project got abandoned.</div><div><br /></div><div>If any vocoder was selected, I believe it's highly likely that the ASELP vocoder would have been the one chosen. This is because it's a Chinese developed vocoder. See more information later in this article.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you have any further information then please leave a comment below or <a href="http://radiosification.blogspot.co.uk/p/contact.html">contact me</a>.</div><div>
<b><u><br /></u></b>
<b><u>3. (10) RALCWI vocoder.</u></b><br />
I have never seen a single dPMR radio using the RALCWI vocoder. I cannot even find any samples of what that vocoder sounds like online. I contacted the company that made this vocoder, asking if they had a sample, and if they would give me permission to post it. They said that they do have a sample but that "audio samples are only made available to known equipment manufacturers with a defined relevant project." My guess is that this vocoder must not sound very good, because other vocoder makers usually want to show off how great their product sounds.<br />
<u><b><br /></b></u>
<u><b>4. (11) Manufacturer defined vocoder.</b></u><br />
This is probably the second most used choice after number 1. Although the certified dPMR radios all use the standard vocoder, many Chinese manufacturers have been using the dPMR standard to create fairly cheap digital radios, however their radios have not been certified by the dPMR association so are not guaranteed to work with other dPMR radios. The manufacturer defined vocoder is not one specific vocoder. It can be any other vocoder that the manufacturer selects.<br />
<br /><h1 style="text-align: left;">Other Vocoders</h1>
The vocoders that I have seen in use (with, I assume the manufacturer defined setting), are ASELP and AMBE+2C. More information is given below.<br />
<br />
<b><u>ASELP</u></b><br />
A vocoder developed by the Chinese Tsinghua university. ASELP stands for Advanced Sinusoidal Excitation Linear Prediction and is not to be confused with ACELP, the vocoder used in TETRA. This vocoder was developed because of the desire for a vocoder with intellectual property rights that were owned by a Chinese organisation. There is not all that much information on this vocoder online in English, however you can read <a href="https://radiosification.blogspot.com/2018/02/aselp-vocoder.html" target="_blank">my attempted translation of the journal article describing this vocoder</a>.<br />
<br />
ASELP is commonly used in Chinese made dPMR radios and sounds fairly good. A sample of the vocoder as implemented in the Kirisun S780 can be seen in <a href="https://youtu.be/asWA4Yj2R0g?t=45s" target="_blank">this video</a>.<br />
<br />
<b><u>AMBE+2C</u></b><br />
This vocoder caused a bit of confusion for dPMR enthusiasts because nobody seemed to know who it was by, if it was the same as AMBE+2, or if it was just a name made up by the Chinese manufacturers to trick people into buying their radios (which would not be surprising because Chinese radios are commonly listed online with exaggerated output power and specification claims).<br />
<br />
I contacted DVSI, the company who made the AMBE+2 vocoder to ask them about AMBE+2C. They told me that it <b>is</b> their vocoder. It is made as an alternative to AMBE+2 but is not compatible with it. Although I was not given pricing information, I would guess that this vocoder is cheaper than AMBE+2 and that's why it is commonly used in Chinese made dPMR radios. It is available through a software licence.<br />
<br />
<u><b>My advice</b></u><br />
If you're looking to buy dPMR radios then I recommend that you buy radios using the standard vocoder. These are sold by Icom and Kenwood, and they are all good quality radios. The dPMR radios sold by Chinese manufacturers are cheaper, but the quality is usually nowhere near as good, and you cannot rely on them to work with each other. Even within the same model of radio, the vocoder is sometimes changed, so if you need to buy a new radio later on then you might find that it won't be able to communicate with the older ones.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-58347894745832068242019-01-16T21:27:00.001+00:002019-04-19T23:35:09.429+01:00Jumbospot ethernet adapter<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="200" src="https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/AvIAAOSwbURZrq0G/s-l1600.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="200" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A cheap Chinese ethernet adapter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
If you're thinking of getting an ethernet adapter for your jumbospot hotspot, watch out. The cheap Chinese ones on ebay (usually marked with the number 9700) have issues. See <a href="https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/issues/1045" target="_blank">this link</a> for full details. The short version is that they're only USB1 so are very slow, and they have a poor design that makes them perform sub-optimally.<br />
<br />
They still work but it might not be as good as a properly made and supported ethernet adapter. The slow speed is generally not too much of a problem since hotspots don't need to transfer data at a high speed most of the time anyway. Digital voice is low bitrate, which means it only needs low speeds.<br />
<br />
<br />
They should work out of the box, assuming you have a relatively up to date version of pi-star installed. I had to restart the hotspot to get it to work. I also noticed the dashboard loading much quicker than on Wi-Fi so even with the slow speed and poor design, it might be better to get one of these than relying on Wi-Fi.<br />
<br />
Still, it would be better to buy one which is properly supported, like the 3 Port USB Hub w/ Ethernet - Micro USB (Pi Zero) sold by ModMyPi, Pimoroni and other retailers.<br />
<br />
<b>Update (19/04/2019)</b>: After about three months of use, I haven't had a single issue with this ethernet adapter. Although in theory they might not be completely optimal, I find that in practice they work perfectly adequately for hotspots. Hotspots generally operate at a low data rate, so the fact that this product only supports USB 1 isn't an issue for this use case. I recommend this product if you want to connect your hotspot by ethernet cable for more reliable connection to the internet.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-57781195319743431072018-07-07T18:48:00.001+01:002018-07-08T20:07:17.972+01:00Ailunce HD1 full detailed review<b>Note: This review was originally made in video format (<a href="https://youtu.be/Z-ZyOBUevG0" target="_blank">click here to watch</a>) however I have posted it in text format as well for those who prefer to read it, or to allow readers to use automatic translation. If you want to watch the video version in your language, it has full subtitles so you can use automatic translation on YouTube.</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iw082zjORZg/W0D1XB7ZyUI/AAAAAAAABY8/7-ddp8QYbyE23meMkqA_L2zV0J5osi9ZwCLcBGAs/s1600/Image1ec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1380" height="250" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iw082zjORZg/W0D1XB7ZyUI/AAAAAAAABY8/7-ddp8QYbyE23meMkqA_L2zV0J5osi9ZwCLcBGAs/s320/Image1ec.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Body of the HD1, a dual band DMR radio</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<h3>
<b>Intro</b></h3>
If you hadn't heard of it already, the Ailunce HD1 is a dual band DMR radio that covers 136 to 174 and 400 to 480 MHz. It does both FM and DMR, as most DMR radios do. But the thing that makes this radio stand out from the other DMR radios is that it was specifically made for amateurs and has a number of features that commercial DMR radios don’t have.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<b><a name='more'></a>Features</b></h3>
The first one I’m going to mention is that this radio has a proper frequency mode where you can spin the channel selector or type in a frequency and start using it straight away. And this mode isn't hidden away in a menu somewhere. It's one of the primary functions of the radio. To access it, all you have to do is hit the red exit button.<br />
<br />
You're also able to program this radio fully from the front panel. It would be entirely possible to set the radio up and start using DMR without ever connecting this radio to a computer, although you would have to go without any firmware updates, or updates to the user database.<br />
<br />
The user database stores the DMR IDs of up to 100,000 amateur radio operators and then looks them up and displays their name and callsign on screen whenever they're talking. Speaking of the user database, that's another feature this radio has because it was designed for hams. Commercial radios like those made by Motorola and Hytera don't have this feature at all, except in the case of the TYT MD-380 which had unofficial firmware made that does support this. There are a few other radios on the market now with this feature though, so don't think that the HD1 is the only radio that has it.<br />
<br />
Another interesting and very useful feature this radio has is promiscuous mode. This allows you to hear any talkgroup without needing to program it in first. Since DMR is a commercial standard, normally DMR radios would only hear the talkgroups they have been programmed to listen for. But on radios like the HD1 with promiscuous mode, you can hear any talkgroup. This is useful in amateur radio because you should always check that nobody is already using the timeslot you want to use on the repeater before transmitting.<br />
<br />
One question I got asked about this radio is whether it can receive on both bands at the same time. The answer to that question, is no. The radio only monitors both channels and receives from whichever is active first.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<b>Hardware</b></h3>
Build quality is one of the things Ailunce got absolutely right with this radio. The HD1 feels very well built, and I’m confident that it would survive being dropped just fine.<br />
<br />
The radio is rated as water and dust proof to IP67, which means you should be able to submerse it in water and it'll still work fine. I haven't dared to try this because Ailunce sent me this radio for free to test and review, and I'd hate to have to go back to them and tell them I broke it. But there is a video of someone else testing this and it worked absolutely fine.<br />
<br />
The radio uses the SMA female connector for antennas, which is the standard connector you see on most Chinese radios including the UV-5R.<br />
<br />
The speaker mic and programming connector on this radio is one that you may have seen before if you’re familiar with Motorola’s radios. The radio will work with speaker mics and other accessories made for Motorola radios with this connector, but you do have to be careful because these were probably all made for analog radios. DMR radios pulse on and off when transmitting, which can manifest as a helicopter noise on transmissions if you’re using an audio accessory with inadequate shielding.<br />
<br />
The connector is the same one used on many radios, including the GP328 Plus, GP344, GP388, EX500, and HT750. This connector would have been chosen over the normal Kenwood 2 pin connector that most Chinese radios use because it remains waterproof even when the cover is not in place.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, the radio connects to your computer using a com port interface. Although the COM port adaptor is included within the USB programming cable, it still makes things more difficult for the user than the alternative method, which most other new radios use these days. As it is, you have to make sure to select the correct COM port for the radio, to be able to read and write to it, and it takes a very long time because of the slow speed of this ancient technology.<br />
<br />
The battery in this radio claims to be a huge 3200mAh at 7.4V which gives a Wh rating of 23.68. I don't know if the battery actually has that much capacity, but the radio does seem to have excellent battery life, especially if you turn the power down to medium instead of using high power all the time.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-blRnKyn5BWg/W0D3Q75TTuI/AAAAAAAABZI/gBqyQd0a9IYS_Z7kOfN7z652bzYpPyjRACLcBGAs/s1600/Image3ec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1575" height="219" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-blRnKyn5BWg/W0D3Q75TTuI/AAAAAAAABZI/gBqyQd0a9IYS_Z7kOfN7z652bzYpPyjRACLcBGAs/s320/Image3ec.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The display of the radio is too dark in direct sunlight</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The colour display looks good and works well, and I especially like the fact that it shows the battery percentage on screen all the time. A common complaint is that the display is very difficult to see in bright sunlight. I have confirmed that this is the case, and you have to shield it from the sunlight to be able to read the display at all. To me this is a fairly minor issue, since you're not looking at the screen most of the time, but it’s one that does seem to annoy a lot of people.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<b>RF performance</b></h3>
The HD1 features higher transmit power than most handheld radios. It's claimed that it does 10W on VHF and 8W on UHF. I haven't tested this myself, but the difference in transmit power is not as significant in operation as you might think. A better antenna would help you a lot more. Fortunately, the HD1 does have a longer antenna available to buy.<br />
<br />
The high transmit power of this radio has caused problems for some users. Apparently, the impedance of the radio is not 50 Ohms, so if you try to use it with any other aftermarket or external antennas then there will be an impedance mismatch, which could cause a lot of power to be reflected back into the radio. This would cause damage to the radio, so it's recommended that you use the radio on low or medium power only, if you're planning to connect it to a non-stock antenna. This issue has been reported to Ailunce, but they haven't given any official response which I think means it's a hardware problem that they're not planning to fix.<br />
<br />
Another thing you have to watch out for is that the HD1 uses a direct conversion receiver that is very easily desensitised. If someone else happens to be transmitting nearby, or there's a high power transmitter nearby then your radio will either suffer from much worse reception, or it will completely drop out. As of the time of writing this review, all of the other *dual band* DMR radios available have this same type of receiver, so would probably suffer from the same problem. To me, this is important because it's a potential safety issue if you ever need to use the radio in an emergency, and an annoyance if you ever want to use the radio around other people who are transmitting on theirs, or anywhere near a radio mast. But since most amateur radio traffic is not mission critical, this is not a deal breaker for many hams. If this is important to you then buy a radio with a superheterodyne receiver instead. There's a <a href="https://radiosification.blogspot.com/2017/11/comparison-of-dmr-radios.html" target="_blank">comparison of DMR radios </a>on my blog, which shows which radios have which type of receiver.<br />
<br />
The sensitivity of the radio is good. I don’t have test equipment to give accurate results on this, but the sensitivity of the HD1 definitely is comparable to all my other DMR radios including the TYT MD-380 and Motorola DP4800.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<b>
Audio</b></h3>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lhXoiWboeDE/W0D4EQ9V3-I/AAAAAAAABZU/kBHaqTUo8z4wNrLcvAykmHGribVU5MGVACLcBGAs/s1600/Image4ec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1424" height="242" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lhXoiWboeDE/W0D4EQ9V3-I/AAAAAAAABZU/kBHaqTUo8z4wNrLcvAykmHGribVU5MGVACLcBGAs/s320/Image4ec.jpg" width="320" /></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The microphone of the HD1. Good on DMR, quiet on FM.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The speaker on this radio produces really good sounding audio on both FM and DMR. It’s very pleasant to listen to. I did an audio test video with a comparison between the HD1 and MD-380, if you want to hear what it sounds like in action. There’s also a demo of the radio working on both DMR and FM in my HD1 front panel programming video. Both of these videos can be found in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL08qaVyAma-1fNaTbMWmiTtQpCXjdngsW" target="_blank">HD1 series playlist</a>.<br />
<br />
The transmitted audio is a little bit quiet on FM. It could do with being a bit louder, but it works well enough.<br />
<br />
On DMR the transmitted audio is absolutely fine. The radio doesn’t seem to have any automatic gain control, so you do have to speak fairly close to the microphone, but once you get used to talking at the right distance from the microphone it sounds just as good as any other DMR radio.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Issues</h3>
A lot of users complained that the audio on the HD1 would go very tinny sounding after a few minutes of use in certain conditions. That was a hardware issue in the early radios, which has now been fixed in all new radios by the addition of a small ventilation hole in the back of the radio. This is not something you need to worry about if you're considering buying the radio today, but it shows that my rule of always waiting a few months before buying any new Chinese made radio is worth following.<br />
<br />
When the HD1 first came out, it had quite a few bugs, as most Chinese radios do. Thankfully, Ailunce continued to work on this radio and most of the bugs have been fixed now, and the radio works reliably enough. They are still working to fix any remaining bugs and add new features to this radio, albeit painfully slowly.<br />
<br />
DTMF is not available in this radio. This is a problem for some users, particularly those who use analog internet linking systems like echolink or IRLP.<br />
<br />
There is one feature that this radio could really do with, and that is ad hoc talkgroup switching. On the TYT MD-380 with TyMD380Tools firmware, you can very quickly and easily type in any talkgroup and start transmitting within a few seconds. On the HD1 you have to go into the menus and scroll through until you find the right contact and then save it. And that’s assuming you already have the group you want to use in your contacts. If not, then you have to program it in first. The lack of any easy and quick way to switch talkgroup means that you either have to program the radio with a channel for every talkgroup on each repeater, or you just have to put up with it taking a long time to switch talkgroups.<br />
<br />
Another issue with this radio is scanning. If there is interference with a different or no CTCSS on any of the analog channels, then the radio often gets stuck on that channel when scanning. This is very annoying and seems to be caused by the radio still detecting a signal on the channel even though it’s supposed to ignore it if the CTCSS doesn’t match what you have set.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Other questions</h3>
Encryption is something that’s not really relevant for amateur radio, but a few people have asked me about it so I thought I’d include it here anyway. The HD1 does have encryption, but it doesn’t work with any other DMR radios out there, so you have to have two HD1s to use encryption.<br />
<br />
Another question people asked me about this radio is whether it’s a proper real DMR radio, and not a cheap Chinese knock off like the DM-5R. I have personally used the HD1 many times on DMR repeaters and a few times on simplex, and I can tell you it definitely works as a proper DMR radio and talks to other DMR radios exactly as it should.<br />
<br />
A few people asked me about programming this radio, from the front panel and on the computer software. I’ve made detailed videos on both of these topics, which you’ll find in my <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL08qaVyAma-1fNaTbMWmiTtQpCXjdngsW" target="_blank">series playlist for the HD1</a>.<br />
<br />
I also want to add in a quick comment here about the legality of this radio. This radio is not something you can just buy and use. You need to be appropriately licensed to use this radio, and it’s not legal to use it on licence free channels such as PMR446, FRS, GMRS, or MURS. It’s also not appropriate to use this radio as a marine radio. There are proper marine radios available that are built for that purpose and have the correct channels already setup for you. Please, don’t try to use this or any of the other cheap Chinese radios aimed at amateur radio operators for anything mission critical.<br />
<h3>
<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RGQKxaPiilY/W0D7eVEctiI/AAAAAAAABZg/4OuP4Z1UGMwYqEGrmiZiu8NklBJRp-dIQCLcBGAs/s1600/Image1ec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1500" height="230" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RGQKxaPiilY/W0D7eVEctiI/AAAAAAAABZg/4OuP4Z1UGMwYqEGrmiZiu8NklBJRp-dIQCLcBGAs/s320/Image1ec.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ailunce HD1 showing some of the <br />
front panel programming (FPP) settings</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Summary</b></h3>
The Ailunce HD1 is a decent radio for any amateur radio operator who wants dual band DMR capability in a single handheld. It does have a number of issues which I have detailed in this review, so whether this radio is suitable for you really depends on whether the combination of problems it has would affect you too much. The competitors to this radio also suffer from their own problems, so you have to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of each one, and decide on what fits you best.<br />
<br />
Personally, if I’m going out and just want to take a single radio, then I tend to pick up the HD1. The reason I choose it over my other radios is because, even though it has its issues, it’s the most versatile radio I own, by a large margin.<br />
<br />
If you want to <a href="http://smarturl.it/ailuncehd1" target="_blank">buy an HD1, please use this link</a> and I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you. The colour options actually select whether you want the GPS or non-GPS version.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-24943825391233648692018-06-23T20:51:00.000+01:002018-06-23T21:47:01.016+01:00Puxing PX-508D<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-64j75bsA_Lc/Wy6wkZrbNqI/AAAAAAAABYY/Ptp9MKFtPbM_klI-3x3clVkYcWKvJb20wCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_3281e_wm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1114" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-64j75bsA_Lc/Wy6wkZrbNqI/AAAAAAAABYY/Ptp9MKFtPbM_klI-3x3clVkYcWKvJb20wCPcBGAYYCw/s320/IMG_3281e_wm.jpg" width="222" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A front view of the radio</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u>Features</u><br />
A dPMR radio with IP67 waterproof rating available in UHF or VHF. Capable of doing 3.125KHz steps which means it could be used on certain channel allocations such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMR446#Digital_FDMA" target="_blank">dPMR446 licence free channels</a> in Europe. However, this radio would not be legal on those channels due to the power output which is over 0.5W.<br />
<br />
As with many Chinese radios, this radio can be customised by the factory with your own brand. It is also sold as:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Radtel RT-14D</li>
<li>NRC DigiA</li>
</ul>
<br />
Please leave a comment if you know any other names this radio is sold under (or to add to any other information in this post).<br />
<br />
Note: There is also the Puxing PX-508 which is the FM only version with no dPMR. Make sure to get the version with the D on the end if you want dPMR.<br />
<br />
The PX-558D seems to be very similar if not the same as the PX-508D.<br />
<br />
<u>Compatibility</u><br />
Known to work with other dPMR radios using the AMBE+2C vocoder. Tested with:<br />
<ul>
<li>Zastone ZT-9908</li>
<li>TYT DM-UVF10 / Retevis RT2</li>
<li>Puxing MD-500</li>
</ul>
If you have used this radio with any other radios, please leave a comment so I can add them to the list.<br />
<br />
<u>Connector<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AAfvo-LmONk/Wy6xZ6UNr2I/AAAAAAAABYc/agZBlpW18sQZumtyBFHJNW_6LI1xnHt2wCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_3292e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1593" data-original-width="1600" height="198" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AAfvo-LmONk/Wy6xZ6UNr2I/AAAAAAAABYc/agZBlpW18sQZumtyBFHJNW_6LI1xnHt2wCLcBGAs/s200/IMG_3292e.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The accessory connector of the PX-508D</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</u><br />
The programming cable needed seems to be the Motorola MagOne A8 style cable, but this is not verified. It can be seen in the software that it must connect through a COM port, but some cables have the COM to USB adaptor integrated.<br />
<br />
I have confirmed that it works with accessories with the MagOne A8 connector. For the radio to be waterproof, the cover must be on the accessory port.<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Downloads</u><br />
Programming software <a href="https://mega.nz/#!MchEwCAJ!D8T-WCRpqCqAjCZNTK6G07tFsqphFVFYiopKou6_tRQ" target="_blank">download</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-86469610439300358242018-02-02T18:10:00.002+00:002018-02-02T18:26:57.020+00:00ASELP vocoderThe ASELP vocoder is commonly known in the western world as being used in dPMR radios. It was developed in China as a competitor to the very popular AMBE+2 vocoder which is the standard vocoder for DMR, dPMR, and P25 Phase 2.<br />
<br />
There is not a lot of information on this vocoder available online, so I have attempted to translate the journal article explaining ASELP from Mandarin Chinese to English. I have translated this with Google translate, some common sense, and some knowledge of radio, but if you think of a better translation for any sentence then let me know and I'll edit it if I agree with you.<br />
<br />
Some things didn't translate very well and I have left them to allow readers to interpret the correct meaning, if possible.<br />
<br />
If you know Mandarin and English and could help improve the translation then please leave a comment or <a href="http://radiosification.blogspot.co.uk/p/contact.html">contact me</a>.<br />
<br />
The original document in Mandarin Chinese can be viewed <a href="https://mega.nz/#!YcYURSAS!pI6zt9Jt7G-O0CxQ49IAH_hUkgpPXUuzADBD00MM4rk" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<u><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Techniques of vocoder in digital trunking</span></b></u></h2>
<u><b><br /></b></u>
CUI Huijuan, JI Zhe, HE Honghua, XU Jingde, CHANG Liang, ZHAO Haijun. Department of E.E. of Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China, cuihuijuan@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn.<br />
<br />
<i>Abstract: The algorithm of ASELP vocoder at 2.4kb/s, 1.2kb/s for Digital Trunking System is presented in this paper. Vocoders are weak in naturalness, robustness and the high resources consumption of computing and storage resources that means high cost and power. These interferences are obstructions of its application in Digital Mobile Radio. In this ASELP vocoder, the proper excitation signal, simple quantizer and a post-processing are adopted, a trade off at the bit-rate between the vocoder and the FEC is applied. Take the advantages of these algorithms, this 2.4kb/s, 1.2kb/s ASELP vocoder is just perfect for a digital radio. It has been well used in Digital Trunking Systems.</i><br />
Key words: ASELP: Advanced Sinusoidal Excitation Linear Prediction; Vocoder; Parameters Coding. Digital Radio; Digital Trunking.<br />
<br />
<b><u>1. Introduction.</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
Because of their strong advantages, digital walkie-talkies are gradually replacing analog walkie-talkies to become a major force in professional mobile communications.<br />
<br />
Mobile communications can be divided into public mobile communications and professional mobile communications. Professional mobile communications systems are designed for business sectors such as railways, aviation, EMS, police and public security. Cell phones require the same walkie-talkie-like network so that they can be used in areas without coverage. Systems are required to be robust. This is currently beyond the capabilities of public cellular systems such as GSM and CDMA.<br />
<br />
China's professional mobile communications technology system at this stage is divided into four levels to meet the needs of different user groups:<br />
1) 400MHz public radio.<br />
2) 150 MHz and 400MHz professional FM.<br />
3) 900MHz decentralized [?] (无中心自) trunking communication systems.<br />
4) 350MHz and 800MHz digital trunking communication systems.<br />
<br />
On September 13, 2007 the Ministry of Information Industry issued official document (2007) 81 regarding "Radio Frequency Technical Requirements for Digital two way radio Systems Equipment" (for Trial Implementation) , marking the start of development of China's digital walkie-talkies.<br />
<br />
In digital walkie-talkies, narrow band efficient speech coding is used instead of the original analog voice. Most currently use 2.4kbps vocoder technology.<br />
<br />
Motorola, Kenwood, Icom and other companies in the digital two way radio industry use the United States DVSI’s AMBE 3000 2.45kbps vocoder. In April 2009, the dPMR MoU decided to adopt the AMBE 3000 2.45 kbps vocoder from the U.S. DVSI Company as the standard dPMR vocoder.<br />
<br />
In light of this information, we responded to Chairman Jintao's call to "Grasp the rare opportunity of information technology improvements, rapid development of new materials, science and technology and claim the independent intellectual property rights of the core technologies of manufacturing and information industry to enhance the competitiveness of China’s industries" and we developed the ASELP vocoder with independent intellectual property rights in response to the requirements of professional mobile communication equipment.<br />
<br />
<b><u>2. ASELP vocoder.</u></b><br />
<br />
The SELP vocoder is based on Tsinghua University’s linear prediction techniques using the sinusoidal excitation algorithm completed in the year 2000, with independent intellectual property rights.<br />
<br />
In order to meet the needs of professional mobile communication systems such as digital trunking, we have made adaptive improvements to the aspects of excitation, quantization and post-processing, and improved performance to give the Advanced Sinusoidal Excitation Linear Prediction (ASELP) Vocoder.<br />
<br />
In order to adapt to various topographies and achieve communications in all conditions, we use the source, channel variable parameter encoding strategy. ASELP vocoder has a flexible coding rate, so is the perfect use of this coding scheme. Figure 1 is the ASELP vocoder encoder block diagram.<br />
<br />
<b><u>2.1 ASELP encoder overview</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
<b><u>2.1.1 ASELP vocoder parameters</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
Speech is a non-stationary signal with short-term (about 20ms) stability. As a result, the method of the frame division processing can be used to extract the speech model parameters in one frame (about 160 samples).<br />
<br />
See Figure 1, the use of linear prediction techniques, coding extraction parameters are:<br />
1) Represents the 10th order prediction coefficient (LSF) of speech spectral envelope;<br />
2) Prediction of redundancy (Excitation);<br />
3) Pitch of the vibration frequency of the vocal cords (Pitch);<br />
4) Whether the sound is voiced or unvoiced;<br />
5) Energy (Gain);<br />
<br />
As with DMR, dPMR and other international standards’ sub-frame length, ASELP vocoder frame length is 20ms (160 samples/frame).<br />
<br />
In the encoder, 160 speech samples per frame are processed: 1) First, accurately analyse and estimate the speech model parameters as described above; 2) Then, in accordance with the required coding rate, the parameters can be compressed to achieve high efficiency of quantization, coding; 3) Finally, the encoded stream multiplexed, which gives the output bit stream.<br />
<br />
<b><u>2.1.2 Variable rate ASELP vocoder implementation</u></b><br />
<br />
ASELP vocoder has a frame length of 20ms. Parameter analysis and voice reconstruction use 20ms frames for the complete computing unit. In order to realize a vocoder with a lower code rate, ASELP uses a super frame mechanism to form a superframe with 2 frames, 3 frames, or more respectively. A superframe is used as an arithmetic unit for vector quantization to achieve a lower coding rate.<br />
<br />
Vector quantization uses a large amount of computing, storage resources at the cost of access to efficient quantification. Application requires a compromise between performance and resources.<br />
<br />
<u><b>2.2 Coding parameter analysis algorithm selection</b></u><br />
<u><b><br /></b></u>
The vocoder application of a variety of parameters, a variety of analysis, synthesis algorithm, you can use different ways to achieve.<br />
<br />
Our first consideration for applying parameters and analysis algorithms is high robustness. For example, the prediction coefficients are expressed in mathematically equivalent line-spectral frequency (LSF), the gain is extracted from the original speech signal, rather than from the predicted redundant signal, and so on. These improvements lead to a slight decrease in MOS (mean opinion score), but improve the vocoder robustness. In particular, the harsh howling of synthesized speech caused by bit errors or dropped packets is eliminated. This is especially important for wireless mobile communications.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9LqFyp_FgpE/WnEYQGO9pfI/AAAAAAAABT4/S9THUy8IIPYwx30FMw7f4U3d-reZS4W7ACLcBGAs/s1600/fig1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="697" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9LqFyp_FgpE/WnEYQGO9pfI/AAAAAAAABT4/S9THUy8IIPYwx30FMw7f4U3d-reZS4W7ACLcBGAs/s400/fig1.png" width="346" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fig 1. The architecture of ASELP encoder.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b><u>2.3 Quantization strategy for LSF parameters</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
<b><u>2.3.1 Low complexity LSF parameter quantization</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
In this paper, the ASELP 2.4kbps vocoder uses the algorithm of globally optimal scalar quantization for the quantization of the prediction parameter LSF which occupies more than 50% of the coding rate. Designing an N-level quantizer, that is, selecting the reconstruction level and threshold, meets the minimum quantization distortion requirement.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xSbWiBmeL9g/WnEYw6rKHDI/AAAAAAAABUA/yY8GF6dc91cFha_0mLeVRNEb_wqBihAAACLcBGAs/s1600/eq1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="126" data-original-width="476" height="84" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xSbWiBmeL9g/WnEYw6rKHDI/AAAAAAAABUA/yY8GF6dc91cFha_0mLeVRNEb_wqBihAAACLcBGAs/s320/eq1.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Equation 1.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Where: D is the quantization distortion, N is the number of quantization intervals, Tj-1 to Tj is the jth quantization interval, ωj is the jth quantization level, and p(ω) is the probability density function of LSF.<br />
<br />
Using the dynamic programming algorithm, the entire quantization interval of LSF is obtained, and the quantization level and the level of each layer are minimized, so that the quantization distortion D can be minimized.<br />
<br />
Compared with vector quantization, scalar quantization saves resources:<br />
1) The computation is reduced by about 36%.<br />
2) The amount of memory is only 0.035 that of vector quantization.<br />
<br />
With the same reconstructed speech quality, the scalar quantization is increased by about 15% compared with vector quantization.<br />
<br />
<u><b>2.3.2 LSF parameter low bit rate quantization</b></u><br />
<br />
In order to further reduce the encoding rate, and considering the limited resources, a superframe is adopted for the LSF parameters, and multi-level vector quantization achieves a high quality 2 kbps vocoder.<br />
<br />
<b><u>2.4 ASELP vocoder decoding side</u></b><br />
<br />
Figure 2 is ASELP vocoder decoder block diagram.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GOV3YKN9Puw/WnEZfKR182I/AAAAAAAABUI/6L7pfOdP4LY9do7lDAyn7QjXKbrSRCGfACLcBGAs/s1600/fig2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="655" height="288" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GOV3YKN9Puw/WnEZfKR182I/AAAAAAAABUI/6L7pfOdP4LY9do7lDAyn7QjXKbrSRCGfACLcBGAs/s320/fig2.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 2. The architecture of ASELP decoder.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
At the decoding end:<br />
1) First, the code stream framing processing;<br />
2) Then decode, de-quantize, reconstruct speech parameters;<br />
3) According to the statistical characteristics, the verification parameters are reasonable. And then the parameters of post-processing, remove the channel transmission error;<br />
4) Finally, the reconstructed excitation signal is used to excite the linear prediction synthesis filter to obtain synthesized speech.<br />
<br />
<b><u>2.5 ASELP sinusoidal excitation mechanism</u></b><br />
<br />
The voice signal is divided into vocal vibration (voiced) and no vibration (unvoiced):<br />
1) Voiced: more information;<br />
2) Unvoiced: Less information.<br />
<br />
The statistical characteristics of speech signals show that in voiced speech segments, voiced speech accounts for about 65%. In the ASELP vocoder, a sinusoidal excitation algorithm is used for 65% of informative voiced segments.<br />
<br />
From the human vocal mechanism analysis for voiced sounds, its frequency is called the pitch. As shown in Eq. (3), using the fundamental frequency ω of the vocal cords and its kth harmonic as excitation signals of voiced sounds gives a good representation of the original speech.<br />
Voiced excitation:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U08OokQTDEY/WnEaTpQYyhI/AAAAAAAABUU/io97awbfAZ0b1HtI1f7HiDRuHpRsovQdwCLcBGAs/s1600/eq2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="106" data-original-width="269" height="78" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U08OokQTDEY/WnEaTpQYyhI/AAAAAAAABUU/io97awbfAZ0b1HtI1f7HiDRuHpRsovQdwCLcBGAs/s200/eq2.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Equation 2.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
In this algorithm, the excitation signal e(n) weights the excitation signal of the tone with the sub-band unvoiced / voiced information, see equation (3).<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DKMecNVvZfU/WnEarpDiwzI/AAAAAAAABUY/JkKBJjdKb_04iShGz9NIOA2oACvuqrBDQCLcBGAs/s1600/eq3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="112" data-original-width="738" height="60" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DKMecNVvZfU/WnEarpDiwzI/AAAAAAAABUY/JkKBJjdKb_04iShGz9NIOA2oACvuqrBDQCLcBGAs/s400/eq3.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Equation 3.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
where:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lKSGk6F75_k/WnEbXHlRXhI/AAAAAAAABUo/j4Js4bklUCU0xmFSS1j7zqCnVXZRpIg_ACLcBGAs/s1600/eq4and5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="1230" height="214" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lKSGk6F75_k/WnEbXHlRXhI/AAAAAAAABUo/j4Js4bklUCU0xmFSS1j7zqCnVXZRpIg_ACLcBGAs/s640/eq4and5.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Equations 4 and 5.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The US Federal Information Processing Standard MELPe algorithm extracts IDFTs of the largest magnitude M (k) in the prediction as follows:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-drY221uUs-0/WnEbv55rjDI/AAAAAAAABUs/_r_Sc4-qTP8QtcK3h5fD3iWGTaijGN0hwCLcBGAs/s1600/eq6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="119" data-original-width="380" height="62" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-drY221uUs-0/WnEbv55rjDI/AAAAAAAABUs/_r_Sc4-qTP8QtcK3h5fD3iWGTaijGN0hwCLcBGAs/s200/eq6.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Equation 6.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In addition, there are some other differences. Finally, the two algorithms compare test MOS (described in Section 3.1) and the result is:<br />
2.4 kbps ASELP higher than MELPe: 7.685%;<br />
1.2 kbps ASELP is higher than MELPe: 6.919%;<br />
This proves that ASELP's algorithm is better.<br />
<br />
<u><b>2.6 ASELP Vocoder resource requirements</b></u><br />
<br />
On the Tl DSP TMS320C55x hardware platform, ASELP 2.4 kbps vocoder required resources are as follows:<br />
1) The amount of computation (code + decode) is about: 2.5MIPs;<br />
2) Storage capacity:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Program: 13k words;</li>
<li>Memory: 10k words.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div>
<b><u>2.7 ASELP vocoder hardware implementation</u></b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Figure 3 shows the vocoder hardware module that has been completed. It compresses the input analog voice signal into the required encoding rate and outputs the compressed bit stream via SPI, UART or I2C interface. At the same time, it can decode the input compressed bit stream and reconstruct the analog voice signal output.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wcNuudexx90/WnEcT3KHJmI/AAAAAAAABU8/8595TtjwgnE5A7tp-tMLTKCEld3rVLScgCLcBGAs/s1600/fig3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="232" data-original-width="346" height="214" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wcNuudexx90/WnEcT3KHJmI/AAAAAAAABU8/8595TtjwgnE5A7tp-tMLTKCEld3rVLScgCLcBGAs/s320/fig3.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 3. The hardware of ASELP vocoder.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<div>
Module Size: 25.4mm X 25. 4 mm X 3.2 mm.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The module consumes about 10 mw or so. Speech coding algorithms implemented on the module:</div>
<div>
1) ASELP voice encoder, encoding rate: 0.3 kbps, 0.6 kbps, 1.2 kbps, 2.4 kbps, 4.8 kbps, etc. </div>
<div>
2) 8 kbps ITU-T G.729; </div>
<div>
3) 16 kbps CVSD; </div>
<div>
4) 64 kbps PCM; </div>
<div>
5) Etc.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<u><b>3 ASELP vocoder test results</b></u></div>
<div>
<u><b><br /></b></u></div>
<div>
<u><b>3.1 Reconstruction of voice quality testing methods</b></u></div>
<div>
<u><b><br /></b></u></div>
<div>
This paper uses the ITU-T P.862 Objective MOS test method. The specific operation is the original voice, rebuild the voice input to this program, you can output objective MOS points. But the statement length is less than 4 MB.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<u><b>3.2 Tsinghua University ASELP and the United States DVSI AMBE + 2 comparison</b></u></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Table 1 compares Tsinghua University ASELP 2.4 kbps vocoder with the U.S. AMBE + 2.45 kbps vocoder from DVSI.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Table 1. Comparison of vocoder between ASELP and AMBE+2</div>
</div>
<div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 112.7pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Test sample</div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 112.7pt;" valign="top" width="142"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Vocoder</div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 112.7pt;" valign="top" width="141"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Bitrate</div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 112.7pt;" valign="top" width="140"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
MOS</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 112.7pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
MIX1.wav</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 112.7pt;" valign="top" width="142"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
AMBE+2</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 112.7pt;" valign="top" width="141"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
2.45 kbps</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 112.7pt;" valign="top" width="140"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.237</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 112.7pt;" valign="top" width="143"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
MIX1.wav</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 112.7pt;" valign="top" width="142"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
ASELP</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 112.7pt;" valign="top" width="141"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
2.4 kbps</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 112.7pt;" valign="top" width="140"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.364</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
Conclusion: ASELP is superior to AMBE+2.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<u><b>3.3 Tsinghua University ASELP compared with the US government standard MELPe</b></u></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Table 2 shows the comparison between Tsinghua University ASELP 2.4 kbps vocoder and the U.S. government standard MELPe 2.4 kbps vocoder.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Table 2. Comparison of vocoder between ASELP and MELPe.</div>
</div>
<div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Test sample</div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
MELPe</div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.3pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
ASELP</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
MIX1.pcm</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
2.983</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.3pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.294</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
MIX2.pcm</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
2.982</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.3pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.225</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
MIX3.pcm</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
2.988</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.3pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.278</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
MIX4.pcm</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
2.993</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.3pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.250</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Average</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
2.9865</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.3pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.26175</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The ASELP's MOS is better than the MELPe vocoder.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<u><b>3.4 ASELP compared to TETRA ACELP 4.567 kbps</b></u></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Table 3 shows the Tsinghua University ASELP 2.4kbps vocoder, compared with the European digital trunking TETRA speech encoder ACELP at a coding rate of 4.567 kbps.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Table 3. Comparison of vocoders ASELP and TETRA ACELP.</div>
</div>
<div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Test sample</div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
ACELP</div>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.3pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
ASELP</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
MIX1.pcm</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.225</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.3pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.294</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
MIX2.pcm</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.163</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.3pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.225</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
MIX3.pcm</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.183</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.3pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.278</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
MIX4.pcm</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.180</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.3pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.250</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Average</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="188"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.195</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.3pt;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
3.26175</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<u><b>4. Practical applications</b></u></div>
<div>
<u><b><br /></b></u></div>
<div>
<div>
Tsinghua University ASELP has been widely used at a variety of encoding rates in various communications at home and abroad.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<u><b>4.1 Applied to Daxinganling forest defence digital trunking system</b></u></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GO4eaMj95IU/WnEd-fdhRdI/AAAAAAAABVI/_dL-YKOq_CAAwEHxQR_r_IBQiFYp0Q7uQCLcBGAs/s1600/fig4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="421" height="243" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GO4eaMj95IU/WnEd-fdhRdI/AAAAAAAABVI/_dL-YKOq_CAAwEHxQR_r_IBQiFYp0Q7uQCLcBGAs/s320/fig4.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 4. Distribution of base stations in the Jiagedaqi Region.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Figure 4 shows the network topology of the ADUCS (Advanced Digital UHF communication System) digital trunking system in the region of Jiagedaqi. The Daxinganling Jiagedaqi Forestry Bureau ADUCS trunking system is equipped with 13 base stations covering an area of about 180,000 square km. A single base station covers an average radius of about 2 km. ADUCS is configured with ASELP 2.4kbps and 1.2 kbps: two different encoding rates, depending on the actual system needs to determine the vocoder encoding rate.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<u><b>4.2 Conclusion</b></u></div>
<div>
<u><b><br /></b></u></div>
<div>
The ITU-T P862 PESQ program tests, home and user measurements and practical applications show that Tsinghua University ASELP vocoder is suitable for digital trunking systems.</div>
</div>
<div>
<u><b><br /></b></u></div>
<div>
<div>
<u><b>References</b></u></div>
<div>
<u><b><br /></b></u></div>
<div>
[1] Li Jinliang, Proposal for Formulating Digital Professional Mobile Communication Standard in China, Mobile Communications, May 2008.</div>
<div>
[2] T.E. Tremain, The Government Standard Linear Predictive Coding Algorithm: LPC-10, Speech technology, pp.40-49. April 1982.</div>
<div>
[3] Jiang Hao, Cui Huijuan, and Tang Kun, “Sinusoidal Excitation LPC vocoder” Chinese Journal of Electronics, Vol.7, No.3, pp.296-300.</div>
<div>
[4] Draft FIPS publication on MELP, “Analog to digital Conversion of voice by 2,400 Bit/second Mixed excitation linear prediction”, Federal information processing standards publication. June 12 1997.</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-24312598950234132522018-01-31T20:59:00.000+00:002018-02-12T22:47:40.691+00:00dPMR and DMR Tiers and modes explaineddPMR and DMR are two completely separate and different standards but many people are confused by them because of the terminology used around them. In this post I will explain the terminology and hopefully stop any further confusion. Both of them are digital standards, just like P25, NXDN, D-STAR, TETRA, TETRAPOL, OpenSky.<br />
<br />
They both use the same vocoder, but this does not mean they are compatible, because they use different bandwidths and simply because they are different standards. It's just like comparing Russian and English. Even though they use the same parameters (the human voice), they are different languages so will not be able to talk together.<br />
<br />
The tiers are not related between different standards. Do not try to equate tier 2 DMR to tier 2 dPMR.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<h2>
DMR</h2>
<br />
<h3>
Tier 1.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fsr-723osfg/WnJJOMjKSJI/AAAAAAAABVY/lS2KnURVUTs_lKA342q-aO8A4lH6KiDXACLcBGAs/s1600/PD505LF.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="673" data-original-width="238" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fsr-723osfg/WnJJOMjKSJI/AAAAAAAABVY/lS2KnURVUTs_lKA342q-aO8A4lH6KiDXACLcBGAs/s320/PD505LF.png" width="112" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hytera PD505LF. <br />
A DMR Tier 1 radio.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</h3>
Licence free for use in the PMR446 band only. Direct mode (radio to radio, also called simplex) communication (meaning no repeaters), limited to 0.5W and with a fixed antenna. Radios are band limited to PMR446 frequencies only. May only be used in countries where PMR446 is legal.<br />
<br />
Do not confuse Tier 1 to mean any radio which only does simplex. It does not! A Tier 1 DMR radio is specifically made for PMR446. Many Chinese radios incorrectly use the term.<br />
<br />
Uses 12.5KHz bandwidth channels just like tier 2 and tier 3. DMR can never have any other bandwidth. Tier 1 radios may use continuous transmission mode, which means that the radio does not pulse on and off like with tier 2 and 3 (i.e. not TDMA), but they do not have to use continuous transmission mode. There are radios that do use TDMA in tier 1 DMR because it saves battery since the transmitter is only on half the time.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Tier 2.</h3>
Direct mode (simplex mode) and repeater operation on licensed frequencies. You need to obtain a licence to use this. It can be an amateur radio licence or a business radio licence. Can be used in any country where a licence is granted by the local regulator. Radios do not have a power limit and may have removable antennas. Radios use TDMA which stands for time division multiple access. This allows DMR to achieve the same spectral efficiency as dPMR (6.25KHz equivalent) because the 12.5KHz channel is divided by time into two alternating slots. The radios take it in turn to use these slots so essentially each radio is using half of a 12.5KHz channel. The benefit of this is that one repeater can support two voice calls at the same time.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Tier 3.</h3>
Like tier 2, but with the addition of trunking. This is DMR standard trunking and not to be confused with proprietary add ons from manufacturers that let their radios do trunking with tier 2. They are not part of the DMR standard and won't interoperate with other manufacturers radios. The idea behind using standards is that you can buy radios and network infrastructure from different manufacturers and have them work together. It is usually better in the long run to stick to standards based technology.<br />
<br />
<h2>
dPMR.</h2>
<div>
dPMR uses 6.25KHz bandwidth channels for all modes/tiers. FDMA, which stands for frequency division multiple access, is used, so each user occupies one full 6.25KHz channel when talking on the radio. </div>
<h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wHABWdcsmmY/WnJJYTUy3EI/AAAAAAAABVc/1nE9VY0_hpgM2Q-4snjLWlWZQDdG6SwOgCLcBGAs/s1600/ICOM%252BdPMR%252B446%252BTransceiver%252BIC-F29DR%252B-%252BLicence%252BFree%252BICOM-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="569" data-original-width="267" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wHABWdcsmmY/WnJJYTUy3EI/AAAAAAAABVc/1nE9VY0_hpgM2Q-4snjLWlWZQDdG6SwOgCLcBGAs/s320/ICOM%252BdPMR%252B446%252BTransceiver%252BIC-F29DR%252B-%252BLicence%252BFree%252BICOM-1.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Icom IC-F29DR.<br />
dPMR446 licence free radio</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</h3>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Tier 1. Also called dPMR446.</h3>
dPMR for use on the PMR446 licence free band. Limited to PMR446 frequencies only, with 0.5W maximum output power and a fixed antenna. Not the same as DMR tier 1. Not compatible either. May only be used in countries where PMR446 is legal. Direct mode only, so no repeaters.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Tier 2.</h3>
Normal licensed dPMR. Licence is required. Can be used in any country where a licence is granted by the local regulator. No power limits on radios, no band limits, no fixed antenna required.<br />
Split into three modes:<br />
<u>
Mode 1</u><br />
Radio to radio. Similar to Tier 1 dPMR, but with no power limit, no band limit, and no fixed antenna.<br />
<u>
Mode 2</u><br />
Use of conventional repeaters. This is just a normal digital repeater that receives the signal and transmits it back out. Comparable to DMR Tier 2, but not compatible.<br />
<u>
Mode 3</u><br />
Full trunking. Comparable to DMR Tier 3, but not compatible.<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-173965233464195322017-12-06T13:41:00.001+00:002019-05-16T18:05:09.078+01:00Kydera DP-550S info and downloads<u>Compatibility</u><br />
This radio does not seem to be compatible with any other dPMR radios. The reason why is unknown. If you have this radio and have got it to work with other dPMR radios please leave a comment or contact me.<br />
<u><br /></u>
<u>Instructions for programming</u><br />
<div>
For earlier radios you will need the earlier programming software. If you try one version and it doesn't work (it will give an error like "Agent id not match") then try the other one instead.<br />
<br />
So try to read the radio first before putting any information into the codeplug. If you can't read it with the software you downloaded then use the other one.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g71uVyc9ksw/WifughvaPZI/AAAAAAAABRo/0gQPPrG7QZE6Vi6coM8XgtM4l8nYjUB3ACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/wrong_software.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g71uVyc9ksw/WifughvaPZI/AAAAAAAABRo/0gQPPrG7QZE6Vi6coM8XgtM4l8nYjUB3ACK4BGAYYCw/s320/wrong_software.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you get an error like this, try the other version of programming software</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u>Vocoders</u><br />
I also spoke to the manufacturer and asked about the vocoder. They told me that the vocoder is actually fixed in this radio and can't be changed by the user. This was quite disappointing for me because I only bought this radio to try out the different vocoders.<br />
<br />
In the software where you see the vocoder selection box, trying to change it won't do anything. When you read the radio, I believe it will show which vocoder your radio has by having that vocoder in the box. So my radio seems to have the AMBE+2C vocoder.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TV0JN9L-aJg/WifubCmHg0I/AAAAAAAABRg/yX7CCJC0FKsOZe9k4zypoiybe8lpzgW0wCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/vocoder_selection.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TV0JN9L-aJg/WifubCmHg0I/AAAAAAAABRg/yX7CCJC0FKsOZe9k4zypoiybe8lpzgW0wCK4BGAYYCw/s320/vocoder_selection.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screen showing vocoder selection box</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Kydera told me that there are two versions of the radio with different vocoders, so we know that one version is with the AMBE+2C vocoder, then the other version must be with ASELP or ASELP2. (Although I have never heard of ASELP 2 and wonder if it's real.)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NFDZdtadWxg/Wify35y2_4I/AAAAAAAABR0/7e7FW1f2yEwlXzkRDdq-Cmxz5tPR4rpxgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/vocoder.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NFDZdtadWxg/Wify35y2_4I/AAAAAAAABR0/7e7FW1f2yEwlXzkRDdq-Cmxz5tPR4rpxgCK4BGAYYCw/s400/vocoder.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Which vocoders are possible</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u><br /></u>
<u>Downloads</u><br />
<a href="https://mega.nz/#!hNxwCIbJ!WMB3nYu3gAE9RbHh1pE9sgt2x1RZvgHNe-Mk1nZAP9Y" target="_blank">Manual</a><br />
<a href="https://mega.nz/#!NJg0SJrK!z_Q60Po2avjoYsacRrq0wwUan8bJUMKvfXZlrydZws4" target="_blank">Programming software</a> Version 2.5.0<br />
<a href="https://mega.nz/#!IV5lRDKb!-TAb2Q0p3kpanu3YarhYnxLehMq5BkGLSRy77GmLsCU" target="_blank">Programming software</a> Version 2.7.1<br />
<b></b><br />
<b></b><b>Link to this page if you want to link. </b>I sometimes change the download links so if you link directly to the download your link may die after some time. Also this page contains useful information for whoever wishes to program their radio, so if you link directly to the downloads, people will miss this information.<br />
<br />
If you don't know how to open the rar files which contain the programming software, you can use the free program <a href="http://www.7-zip.org/" target="_blank">7-Zip</a>.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-90807132825967512392017-11-28T23:51:00.005+00:002023-02-10T11:42:04.062+00:00Comparison of DMR radios <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IE-c-NQX_94/Wt5Rqy-d91I/AAAAAAAABWw/CaXQ21_ZTfM6d38sQXEqrFaWedieS-tAACLcBGAs/s1600/dmr%2Bradios%2Bcomparison_S.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="785" height="205" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IE-c-NQX_94/Wt5Rqy-d91I/AAAAAAAABWw/CaXQ21_ZTfM6d38sQXEqrFaWedieS-tAACLcBGAs/s320/dmr%2Bradios%2Bcomparison_S.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span><div style="text-align: left;"><span>The date at the top is only the date this article was originally posted. It does not change when I update the post!</span></div><div style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">Sharing this?</span></span><br />
Please link to this page instead of copying because I will be regularly updating this table with new radios and new data.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Please contribute</span><br />
If you spot any errors or out of date information or if you have more information to add, please leave a comment below or send me an email. Check contact page for details.<br />
<br />
Anything with a ? in is something I don't know. If you do, then please help by telling me. If I have missed out any Chinese DMR radios please tell me in the comments.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Disclaimer</span><br />
Information in this table is not guaranteed. I have made my best effort to provide correct information but there could be errors. Please check before buying, and if you find a mistake <u>please let me know</u>!<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Legal information</span><br />
This comparison is made for licensed amateur radio operators. It is illegal to use any of these radios on licence free channels such as PMR446 or FRS (including GMRS). Radios used on FRS and GMRS must be certified for use on these channels by the FCC. Radios used on PMR446 must have 0.5W maximum output power, and a fixed antenna.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<!--START OF TABLE ------------------------------------------>
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" style="height: 696px; text-align: left; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="center" style="width: 158px;" valign="middle">Radio</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 48px;" valign="middle">True DMR</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 44px;" valign="middle">Dual band</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 68px;" valign="middle">Available
in</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 71px;" valign="middle">Waterproof</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 83px;" valign="middle">Receiver
type</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 54px;" valign="middle">Rough price</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 45px;" valign="middle">User DB</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Recommended/comments</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" style="width: 158px;" valign="middle"><a href="http://smarturl.it/md380" target="_blank">TYT
MD-380 / Retevis RT3</a></td>
<td align="center" style="width: 48px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 44px;" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 68px;" valign="middle">VHF or UHF</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 71px;" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 83px;" valign="middle">Superhet</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 54px;" valign="middle">90</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes. Good
quality body and good performance. Superhet receiver is good.
Promiscuous mode and many more enhancements available in <a href="https://youtu.be/cA1GkqgO_oQ" target="_blank">unofficial
firmware</a>. Only real issue is tones/beeps volume can't be
changed.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" style="width: 158px;" valign="middle"><a href="http://smarturl.it/md390" target="_blank">TYT
MD-390</a></td>
<td align="center" style="width: 48px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 44px;" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 68px;" valign="middle">VHF or UHF</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 71px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 83px;" valign="middle">Superhet</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 54px;" valign="middle">125</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes. Same
as MD-380 but waterproof.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" style="width: 158px;" valign="middle">Baofeng
DM-5R</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 48px;" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 44px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 68px;" valign="middle">VHF + UHF</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 71px;" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 83px;" valign="middle">Direct
conversion</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 54px;" valign="middle">50</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No. Does
not talk to other DMR radios (uses a different vocoder), and only works
on simplex mode.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" style="width: 158px;" valign="middle">Baofeng
DM-5R Plus</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 48px;" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 44px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 68px;" valign="middle">VHF + UHF</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 71px;" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 83px;" valign="middle">Direct
conversion</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 54px;" valign="middle">70</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No. Does
not work on repeaters properly. Will talk to other DMR radios fine on
simplex though.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" style="width: 158px;" valign="middle"><a href="http://smarturl.it/ailuncehd1" target="_blank">Ailunce
HD1</a></td>
<td align="center" style="width: 48px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 44px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 68px;" valign="middle">VHF + UHF</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 71px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 83px;" valign="middle">Direct
conversion</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 54px;" valign="middle">190</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes. Good
if
you need a radio with VFO mode and dual band. This radio is good
because it allows full <a href="https://youtu.be/07nUqfXNazc" target="_blank">front
panel programming</a> and a proper "VFO mode". Also has
promiscuous mode.<br />
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" style="width: 158px;" valign="middle"><a href="http://smarturl.it/rt82" target="_blank">TYT
MD-2017 / Retevis RT82</a></td>
<td align="center" style="width: 48px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 44px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 68px;" valign="middle">VHF + UHF</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 71px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 83px;" valign="middle">Direct
conversion</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 54px;" valign="middle">220</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes. Trackball
is disliked by
users. Now has TyToolz firmware (like on the MD-380) which
adds features like adhoc talkgroup changing.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" style="width: 158px;" valign="middle"><a href="http://smarturl.it/gd77" target="_blank">Radioddity
GD-77</a></td>
<td align="center" style="width: 48px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 44px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 68px;" valign="middle">VHF + UHF</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 71px;" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 83px;" valign="middle">Direct
conversion</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 54px;" valign="middle">87</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No. One of
the cheaper dual band DMR radios but buggy and not great quality. Still
a better choice than the RD-5R though.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" style="width: 158px;" valign="middle">Radioddity
GD-55/ TYT MD-398</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 48px;" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 44px;" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 68px;" valign="middle">VHF or UHF</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 71px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 83px;" valign="middle">Direct
conversion</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 54px;" valign="middle">-</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No. Does
not work on repeaters properly. No longer sold.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" style="width: 158px;" valign="middle">Radioddity
GD-55 Plus</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 48px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 44px;" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 68px;" valign="middle">UHF</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 71px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 83px;" valign="middle">Direct
conversion</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 54px;" valign="middle">115</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No. Users
complain that firmware is too buggy. Development seems to have stopped.
Shows the importance of not buying a radio that still has bugs - they
may never be fixed!</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" style="width: 158px;" valign="middle">Kirisun
DP-770</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 48px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 44px;" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 68px;" valign="middle">UHF</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 71px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 83px;" valign="middle">Superhet</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 54px;" valign="middle">300</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle"> No.
Expensive compared to other Chinese radios and no promiscuous
mode.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" style="width: 158px;" valign="middle"><a href="http://smarturl.it/cs580" target="_blank">BFDX CS580</a></td>
<td align="center" style="width: 48px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 44px;" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 68px;" valign="middle">VHF or UHF</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 71px;" valign="middle">Splash</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 83px;" valign="middle">Direct conversion</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 54px;" valign="middle">130</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes. Gets
excellent reviews. Colour code and timeslot promiscuous mode as well.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" style="width: 158px;" valign="middle">AnyTone
AT-D868UV</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 48px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 44px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 68px;" valign="middle">VHF + UHF</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 71px;" valign="middle">Splash</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 83px;" valign="middle">Direct conversion</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 54px;" valign="middle">175</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes,
generally good reviews.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="middle">AnyTone
AT-D878UV</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">VHF + UHF</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Splash</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Direct
conversion</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">210</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes. Good
reviews, but expensive for a direct conversion radio. As of April 2019
this is probably the best dual band DMR radio.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="https://smarturl.it/btechdmr6x2" target="_blank">BTECH
DMR-6X2</a></td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">VHF + UHF</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Splash</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Direct
conversion</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">170</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes. Like
the AnyTone
AT-D868UV but with a few additional features. See comparison of models <a href="http://www.miklor.com/COM/Compare-DMR.php" target="_blank">here</a>.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" style="width: 158px;" valign="middle">Connect
systems CS750/CS751 (VHF)</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 48px;" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 44px;" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 68px;" valign="middle">VHF or UHF</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 71px;" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 83px;" valign="middle">Superhet</td>
<td align="center" style="width: 54px;" valign="middle">240</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Monitor
feature is good – basically a colour code and timeslot promiscuous
mode, but there are newer radios out there with more features and
cheaper. Generally good reviews.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Wouxun
KG-D901</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">VHF or UHF</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">?</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">150</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No.
Reviews complain that the radio only has 32 channels. Not many reviews
and there isn't much of a user community.
Meant to be more channels with firmware update but Wouxun says you have
to send the radio back to be upgraded. Not worth the hassle and cost.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="http://smarturl.it/rd5r" target="_blank">Baofeng
RD-5R</a></td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">VHF + UHF</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Direct
conversion</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">75</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No. A
total mess. Full of bugs.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Zastone
Mini9+</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">UHF</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Probably
direct conversion</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">50</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Will not
work on repeaters but
for simplex use it seems good. Very
small, limited display and simplex only. Not legal for use on licence
free
channels.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="http://smarturl.it/gd77s" target="_blank">Radioddity
GD-77S</a></td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">VHF + UHF</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Direct
conversion</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">77</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No screen.
Not sure why an amateur would buy this. Maybe good for blind users. For
commercial use it would be better to buy a radio with a superhet
receiver. Not legal for
use on the licence free frequencies it is programmed to by default.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Alinco
DJ-MD40</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">UHF</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Splash</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Superhet</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">135</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">I
couldn't find any reviews of this. Alinco is a good brand
so quality would be expected here, but there are cheaper
radios
available with many more features (MD-380 and MD-390) so I don't really
see why anyone would buy this.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="middle">TYT
MD-UV380 / Retevis RT3S</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">VHF + UHF</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Direct
conversion</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">130</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No. Not to
be confused with the MD-380. This radio is dual band but has a direct
conversion receiver. It's not a bad radio overall, and has group and
private call promiscuous modes as well as user DB, but there are
cheaper ones out there with similar specs. Also has some poor design,
like all tones are way too loud and volume can't be changed, adhoc
talkgroup change doesn't stick after you use push the PTT once.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="middle">TYT
MD-UV390</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">VHF + UHF</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Direct
conversion</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">175</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">See TYT
MD-UV380 above. This radio is practically the same but waterproof.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Alinco
DJ-MD5</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">VHF + UHF</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">No</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Direct
conversion</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">170</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes</td>
<td align="center" valign="middle">Yes. Has
good reviews but still no superheterodyne receiver. Very disappointing
for a supposedly "good" Japanese brand to come out with a direct
conversion receiver radio.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">Radioddity GD-88 / Kydera DR-880UV Plus</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>VHF + UHF</td>
<td>Splash</td>
<td>Direct
conversion</td>
<td>195</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">No. Too many bugs at
the moment. Maybe in the future, but don't buy until the bugs are fixed
as there's no guarantee they ever will be.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br />
<!--END OF TABLE ------------------------------------------>
Explanation of columns:<br />
1. True DMR. Whether the radio works as it should do on repeaters and with other DMR radios. I strongly discourage you from buying a radio that is not true DMR. You will not be able to use it on repeaters.<br />
<br />
2. Dual band. Whether the radio supports two bands in one radio. This will almost always be VHF and UHF.<br />
<br />
3. Available in. States which bands the radio is available in. VHF, which is normally 136-174 MHz and UHF which usually starts at 400MHz and goes up to 470, 480 or sometimes even 520 MHz. For amateur use then up to 470MHz is fine because no countries (that I know of) have an amateur band above that (well okay, there are much higher frequency bands but I mean within the operation of these radios).<br />
<br />
4. Waterproof. No means not at all. Yes means submersible in water. Splash means not submersible but certified for use in rain.<br />
<br />
5. Receiver type. Superheterodyne receiver (shortened to superhet) is better because it rejects other channels better. So if someone is standing next to you talking on another radio, your radio will not become temporarily deaf. Direct conversion is cheaper and takes up less space on circuit boards but is easily desensitised. (that’s what it’s called when the radio cannot hear what you’re listening to because of a strong signal on another frequency). Most Chinese radios use direct conversion which is inferior, at least in the way it is implemented in these radios. A radio like this is considered to have "poor selectivity".<br />
<br />
6. Rough price. Given in US dollars. As with most things, you may find it being sold at a much higher or slightly lower price. Please let me know in the comments below if the average price of a radio changes so I can update the price in the table.<br />
<br />
7. User DB. The user DB is a database of amateur radio operators and their DMR IDs. When they are transmitting, a radio with the user DB will show their name and callsign. Without the database, the radio would just show the ID which is usually a number such as 3111234. Only radios which have been specially designed (or adapted by newer firmware such as with the MD-380) will have this feature. Commercial radios and brands like Motorola, Hytera etc do not have this.<br />
<br />
8. Recommended/comments. Whether I recommend the radio or not based on my own experience and my understanding of other user’s comments online. Also gives comments on why I do or do not recommend the radio.<br />
<br />
Promiscuous mode, which is mentioned in some comments, means that the radio has a mode where it can hear any talkgroup without needing to program it in. Usually you have to program in a talkgroup before you will hear anyone talking on it. Promiscuous mode disables this requirement.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com53tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-79658910368517870682017-11-01T15:37:00.002+00:002017-11-01T15:37:24.875+00:00First look at the new Ailunce HD1!This is a pretty exciting radio as it's the first radio I know of to be made specifically for amateurs. It has a VFO or frequency mode so you can just type in the frequency without having to enter it into a channel, unlike other DMR radios which were made for the commercial market.<br />
<br />
Watch the video for more:<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" gesture="media" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rO3M_PGZqdE?list=PL08qaVyAma-1fNaTbMWmiTtQpCXjdngsW" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-63275982521611592532017-07-08T10:49:00.000+01:002017-10-29T19:51:29.214+00:00Baofeng UV-5S. Waterproof dual band HT programming softwareI recently bought this radio to test out, and I'm quite pleased by it. It seems to work well, and I tested how waterproof it is in my video on it.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dtp5FoSpjGM?rel=0" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
I had some trouble at first trying to program it, because I read somewhere that it is treated like a UV-5R in CHIRP. I tried this, which didn't work. I then tried the UV-5R software, and that also didn't work.<br />
<br />
Eventually I ended up contacting the seller who I bought the radio from. They sent me the correct software by email. It turned out to be the Baofeng BF-A58 software. I also tried using this model in CHIRP, and it now works properly.<br />
<br />
So if you want to use this radio with CHIRP, then select BF-A58 as the radio model when it asks.<br />
<br />
Since CHIRP is currently in beta for this particular model, it may be preferable to use the manufacturer's software. for it. You can download it <a href="https://mega.nz/#!JNYiwYTL!mE4l0H5xfosR19wM7tEIMYcDF-U706dRuxKc_Pg8JjA" target="_blank">here</a>. Or if you want to get CHIRP anyway, go <a href="http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
If you want to buy the radio, you can get it here:<br />
Radio: <a href="http://smarturl.it/uv5s" target="_blank">http://smarturl.it/uv5s</a><br />
Programming cable: <a href="http://smarturl.it/uv5s-cable" target="_blank">http://smarturl.it/uv5s-cable</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-74203339981843356932017-06-06T17:13:00.003+01:002017-08-23T23:52:28.758+01:00Dual band DMR radios: Ailunce HD1 and TYT MD-2017<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mUNsJG4wlUg/WTFJ6VoUvRI/AAAAAAAABGg/dzzOPzV_ShI9yBYvTfEfywhwt5dQAciDACLcB/s1600/HD1_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="645" data-original-width="389" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mUNsJG4wlUg/WTFJ6VoUvRI/AAAAAAAABGg/dzzOPzV_ShI9yBYvTfEfywhwt5dQAciDACLcB/s320/HD1_1.jpg" width="192" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ailunce HD1 prototype. <br />
Image courtesy of <a href="https://twitter.com/l_Steven59_l/" style="font-size: 12.8px;" target="_blank">@l_Steven59_l</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A dual band DMR radio is something that has been on many people's wish lists for quite a while now. The first dual band DMR radio to be released is the TYT MD-2017, but should you buy it now? My opinion is maybe not.<br />
<br />
Although TYT is the first manufacturer to come out with a dual band DMR radio, it definitely will not be the only one for long.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ailunce/" target="_blank">Ailunce</a> (part of Retevis) is working on a radio called the Ailunce HD1 which is expected to be released around mid June 2017. With the release of this radio, the TYT MD-2017 may have to drop its price to compete, so if you can wait a couple of months, you may save yourself a good amount of money.<br />
<br />
If we look at the trend with earlier Chinese-made DMR radios such as the TYT MD-380, we see that the price started off high but decreased as more similar radios came onto the market. Especially since <a href="https://radiosification.blogspot.com/2017/05/price-fixing-and-tyt-md-2017.html" target="_blank">TYT is forcing retailers to sell the radio at a fixed price</a> right now, the prices should come down significantly once there is some competition.<br />
<br />
Not counting the Baofeng DM-5R and other "fake" DMR radios (see <a href="http://radiosification.blogspot.com/2016/12/dmr-radios-to-avoid.html" target="_blank">this post</a>), the release of the Ailunce HD1 will bring the number of dual band DMR radios on the market to two, and inevitably more will follow.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The TYT MD-2017 is waterproof, works on repeater as a proper DMR radio and covers UHF and VHF. Comparing this to the specs of the HD1, there are many similarities:<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1Z9O0Qn5Uoo/WTFKFQCPzkI/AAAAAAAABGk/uVJgAlSDXnMqpVoZzSheCLyEMILOQ3ZywCLcB/s1600/HD1_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="819" data-original-width="540" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1Z9O0Qn5Uoo/WTFKFQCPzkI/AAAAAAAABGk/uVJgAlSDXnMqpVoZzSheCLyEMILOQ3ZywCLcB/s320/HD1_2.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">Another photo of the Ailunce HD1 prototype</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u></u><br />
<u><br /></u>
<u>Some of the important Ailunce HD1 specifications:</u><br />
<ul>
<li>Dual band: 136-174 and 400-480 MHz</li>
<li>True-2-slot:Provide 2-slot communication which allows for 2 talk paths on 1 frequency. <i>(I clarified with Ailunce, this means that it has <a href="http://cwh050.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/dcdm.html" target="_blank">DCDM</a>, allowing two users to talk on a simplex channel at the same time. The MD-2017 also has this.)</i></li>
<li>DMR Tier 2 <i>(Tier 2 is the standard that the amateur DMR networks use, so this is what you want)</i></li>
<li>Storage for approximately 100,000 contacts</li>
<li>Display the Caller ID, Name, City, State, etc.</li>
<li>10W Output power <i>(this is quite a lot for a handheld, but there will be three levels with 10W as the highest setting. MD-2017 only has 5W)</i></li>
<li>3200mAh Battery capacity <i>(pretty large. You need it though if you're using 10W. The MD-2017 only has a 2200mAh battery.)</i></li>
<li>IP67 Waterproof and dustproof <i>(like the MD-2017)</i></li>
<li>Battery percentage shown on screen<i> (Not just 3 bars, but an actual percentage)</i></li>
</ul>
According to a representative I spoke to at Ailunce, they expect to release the HD1 around mid June 2017. It has also been shown in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Ailunce+HD1" target="_blank">a few videos</a> online, and a few people have been sent prototypes (like in the photos) for testing and development to help remove any bugs before the official release, so the radio is definitely at a late stage in its development.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--GqXGz8slKg/WTVjdk3o1tI/AAAAAAAABHQ/QOleIYPCUbURSbKUPC7eNR9XRFWLo-LCgCK4B/s1600/ailunce_hd1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--GqXGz8slKg/WTVjdk3o1tI/AAAAAAAABHQ/QOleIYPCUbURSbKUPC7eNR9XRFWLo-LCgCK4B/s640/ailunce_hd1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>One of the official marketing images for the Ailunce HD1</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
So it looks like the Ailunce HD1 will be a good competitor to the TYT MD-2017. It might be worth waiting until this radio comes out before deciding on which to buy if you were looking to buy a dual band DMR radio. At the very least you can expect the price of the MD-2017 to drop after some time.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>Update</u></b>: There is also the Radioddity GD-77. This radio is a dual band DMR radio and works properly on both timeslots. It is not waterproof, unlike the MD-2017. It is being sold at a much lower price than the MD-2017. Currently only $87 USD. Definitely worth considering at that price.<br />
<br />
There is also a copy of the MD-2017 called the Retevis RT82. This is currently being sold at around the same price (As of August 2017). The casing is slightly different but the features and functionality are all the same.<br />
<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>If you know of any other new dual band DMR radios that are due to be released soon, please leave a comment.</i><br />
<br />
<i><a href="http://radiosification.blogspot.com/p/subscribe-by-email.html">Subscribe to my email list</a> and I'll send you an email whenever I release a new video or blog post. If you later decide you don't want the emails anymore, you can very easily unsubscribe simply by clicking a link at the bottom of the email.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-33410014872547465452017-05-31T01:13:00.000+01:002017-06-04T12:04:40.246+01:00Price fixing and the TYT MD-2017A <a href="http://www.trilogy.org.uk/?page_id=283" target="_blank">post on Trilogy's website</a> suggests that TYT may be engaging in resale price maintenance with radio dealers in the UK and possibly worldwide. Is this legal in the UK? A review of online documentation would suggest not.<br />
<br />
Resale price maintenance (RPM) is defined by the Competition and Markets Authority: <b><i>"RPM is where a supplier and a retailer agree that the retailer will not resell the supplier’s products below a specified price."</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
Note: I used the term price fixing in the title of this post. Technically retail price maintenance is not the same thing as price fixing, however they are both actions that harm the consumer by causing a price not to lower with competition. Both of these practises are illegal in many countries.<br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lUI9Rm_nlvc/WS4Di2ahkKI/AAAAAAAABFg/jFosI4bXTHY3XFX10a0wQFGmOAeB5G5rwCK4B/s1600/TYT_price_fixing.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lUI9Rm_nlvc/WS4Di2ahkKI/AAAAAAAABFg/jFosI4bXTHY3XFX10a0wQFGmOAeB5G5rwCK4B/s400/TYT_price_fixing.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Screenshot of the webpage on Trilogy's website</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
In communication assumed to be directly from TYT, price fixing is openly discussed:<br />
<b><i>"Regular price is 110(simple)/118usd(GPS) </i></b><br />
<i><b>But please note that our MOQ is 50pcs ,and retailer price should not less than 219/229usd</b>"</i><br />
<br />
This also reveals that the actual price the dealers are buying the radio at is only $110, and currently, the only dealer selling the radio in the UK is reselling them for £199.99! ($257 USD)<br />
<br />
The webpage suggests that TYT may be deliberately limiting the market to artificially maintain a high cost for its radio, not only by fixing the price, but also by only allowing a single retailer in the country to sell the radio.<br />
<br />
In <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/resale-price-maintenance-advice-for-retailers/resale-price-maintenance-advice-for-retailers" target="_blank">a guidance document</a> published by the Competition and Markets Authority, the following advice is given to retailers:<br />
<b><i>"You may still be involved in an unlawful RPM agreement where a supplier:</i></b><br />
<ul>
<li><b><i>imposes restrictions on how far you can discount its product</i></b></li>
<li><b><i>prevents or limits your ability to advertise lower prices online (so-called ‘minimum advertised price policies’)</i></b></li>
<li><b><i>has linked a resale price for the product to what other retailers are selling it for"</i></b></li>
</ul>
They also state that <b><i>"Suppliers must not take any action that interferes with a retailer’s ability to set their own price of the supplier’s goods online or through other channels. Any attempt to do so is likely to be illegal."</i></b><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cMdtLu9oAUo/WS4MkKMBEZI/AAAAAAAABF4/E35tMPb8evILihiTLkoi3ihhX_MHbbf1QCK4B/s1600/TYT_price_fixing_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cMdtLu9oAUo/WS4MkKMBEZI/AAAAAAAABF4/E35tMPb8evILihiTLkoi3ihhX_MHbbf1QCK4B/s400/TYT_price_fixing_2.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Screenshot showing that TYT will not sell the radio to dealers who do not agree to fix the price.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Back in May 2016, the CMA fined a supplier of commercial refrigeration equipment over £2 million in a case where the supplier had set a minimum advertised price and threatened to stop the supply if dealers did not follow it.<br />
<br />
Setting of a recommended retail price is legal. RPM is different because in RPM the manufacturer forces retailers to sell at the price they set, otherwise they cut off the supply.<br />
<br />
Other websites also suggest that resale price maintenance is also illegal in the USA. If you are a citizen of the USA or any other country where RPM is illegal, and are affected by this RPM, you may wish to report it to the relevant authorities so that a free market can be established and consumers like yourself can benefit from competition in prices.<br />
<br />
See <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/resale-price-maintenance-information-for-businesses" target="_blank">this page</a> for more information on resale price maintenance in the UK.<br />
<br />
Do you think this constitutes illegal resale price maintenance?<br />
<br />
Click <a href="http://radiosification.blogspot.com/p/subscribe-by-email.html">here to subscribe to my email list</a> and get updates whenever I release a new video or blog post.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-21468967505784684432017-02-23T20:35:00.006+00:002017-11-06T18:13:42.103+00:00Decoding TETRA on Windows!<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AiMJbyw8Bi0?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />
To capture the signals I was using an RTL SDR which is a very cheap device that allows you to tune to a wide range of frequencies. You can find one to buy at this link:<br />
<a href="http://smarturl.it/rtlsdr" target="_blank">http://smarturl.it/rtlsdr</a> (Redirecting link for your local area)<br />
<br />
Video by cURLy bOi who wrote the wintelive software: <a href="https://youtu.be/OTKn1UwYMBI" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/OTKn1UwYMBI</a><br />
<br />
The audio on this TETRA system is often not very good. I'm not sure of the exact reason for this but it sounds like they have the mic gain set to a fixed value rather than using AGC, so their voices are often way too loud or way too quiet. I don't know why they would do this. Maybe the radios they use aren't able to do AGC, in which case they must not be very good radios. I had to adjust the audio gain in this clip to reduce the volume of some radio users and increase the volume of others.<br />
<br />
Follow me on social media!<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Radiosification-1027424323954473/" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/Radiosification-1027424323954473/</a><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/radiosification" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/radiosification</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-55864719123906039862017-02-19T15:06:00.002+00:002017-06-02T18:47:35.221+01:00Baofeng DM-5R Programming software downloadI noticed that it was very difficult to find a working link to download this software since everybody else was linking to the file hosted on radioddity.com which they had removed. I found a working download link eventually but thought I would post a new link online so others can find it easily. If you want to provide a file for download, please host it yourself or put it on some file host instead of just linking to someone else's download!
<br />
Anyway here it is:<br />
<a href="https://mega.nz/#!ENQkwAhL!yMy-OSUtZ2mmVBp_FZgUFLrX1etcV2K8s6qOpv-Zjo4" target="_blank">Download</a><br />
The link contains the software for the Baofeng DM-5R DMR radio for Windows and Mac OS.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Assuming you are here from a search engine, you might find my other posts interesting. I have a video on the DM-5R:<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m14v6h2h_B0?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-71675643294143237602017-02-13T21:29:00.001+00:002017-06-02T18:48:02.345+01:00Baofeng DM-5R demystifiedThe first time ever the Baofeng DM-5R has been explained honestly and without BS. If you noticed the poll in the card, please do answer it. I'd like to know what you think of it.<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m14v6h2h_B0?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
If you noticed the poll in the card, please do answer it. I'd like to know what you think of it.<br />
PRODUCT LINKS<br />
Baofeng DM-5R:<br />
US: <a href="http://amzn.to/2kpSltc" target="_blank">http://amzn.to/2kpSltc</a><br />
UK: <a href="http://amzn.to/2lcWLYr" target="_blank">http://amzn.to/2lcWLYr</a><br />
Baofeng DM-5R Plus:<br />
US: <a href="http://amzn.to/2kkrcN5" target="_blank">http://amzn.to/2kkrcN5</a><br />
UK: <a href="http://amzn.to/2kDEEaT" target="_blank">http://amzn.to/2kDEEaT</a><br />
<br />
If you want a DMR radio that actually does work on DMR repeaters, I recommend the radios below.<br />
<a href="http://smarturl.it/md380" target="_blank">TYT MD-380.</a><br />
(This link redirects you to the most appropriate site for your country)<br />
<a href="http://smarturl.it/md390" target="_blank">TYT MD-390.</a> (Waterproof version)<br />
(This link redirects you to the most appropriate site for your country)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-49507687368209671762017-02-08T15:23:00.000+00:002017-02-09T17:26:13.012+00:00DMR: Tier 1 vs Tier 2 Different tiers of DMR explained simply.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gp22GklYbSc?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
Here is an example of some real DMR tier 1 radios being sold by Hytera:<br />
<a href="http://www.dmrtier1.com/en/">http://www.dmrtier1.com/en/</a><br />
<br />
Also see my blog post on the topic of dodgy chinese DMR radios such as the DM-5R:<br />
<a href="http://radiosification.blogspot.com/2016/12/dmr-radios-to-avoid.html">http://radiosification.blogspot.com/2016/12/dmr-radios-to-avoid.html</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-5449898733623823802016-12-30T21:47:00.000+00:002017-08-23T23:44:23.846+01:00DMR radios to avoid!There has been a new trend lately of the Chinese radio manufacturers making DMR radios that don't do TDMA. TDMA is the pulsing the radio does that actually makes it transmit only half the time on the channel, allowing another user to transmit in the other half. This is what allows DMR repeaters to repeat two conversations at once. TDMA is a fundamental part of the DMR standard.<br />
<br />
These new "DMR" radios that have only come about recently are unable to do TDMA. They are being sold in many cases as tier 2 DMR radios, which means they should be able to do TDMA to use repeaters properly, but they cannot. (See <a href="https://youtu.be/0t-cyOQbGxc" target="_blank">my video</a> for an explanation of the difference between the tiers).<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h3>
<span style="color: red;">What is the consequence of this?</span></h3>
Well, the radios that claim to be tier 2 DMR radios actually should work on DMR repeaters, but they will transmit in the timeslot you want to use <b>AND</b> the timeslot you're not using. This means that nobody can use the other timeslot while you're using the repeater with one of these terrible radios. It's basically jamming the repeater! This will probably get you banned from using the repeater.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: red;">Why are the manufacturers doing this?</span></h3>
Hardware capable of doing TDMA is more expensive. That is the simple reason. The manufacturers are trying so hard to get the cost down and get people to buy their product instead of someone else's, that they are missing out <u>essential</u> parts of the radio. Show them that this is not right by spreading the word and <b><u>refusing to buy these radios</u></b>.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: red;">The list</span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IRWHPNdfLFs/WGbNA75Wp7I/AAAAAAAAA5g/n3-PrscAhaMSIx1zY3bT6jhEITkUKlTjwCEw/s1600/BaoFeng-DM-5R_vhf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IRWHPNdfLFs/WGbNA75Wp7I/AAAAAAAAA5g/n3-PrscAhaMSIx1zY3bT6jhEITkUKlTjwCEw/s320/BaoFeng-DM-5R_vhf.jpg" width="161" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baofeng DM-5R</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u><br /></u>
<u>1. Baofeng DM-5R.</u><br />
<div>
The original version of this radio. Sold as Tier 1 only (although technically this is incorrect as tier 1 is for license free PMR446 band only). This radio will work on simplex channels fine with other DM-5Rs, but not with other DMR radios before it is updated. Once it has been updated (to change the vocoder from the cheap ASELP vocoder to the DMR standard AMBE2+), it should work with any other DMR radios on simplex channels only.</div>
<u><br /></u>
<u><br /></u>
<u>2. Baofeng DM-5R plus.</u><br />
<div>
Sold as a tier 2 radio. This radio should work out of the box (i.e. without any software upgrades) with other DMR radios on simplex channels. It will also work on repeaters, but it will jam the other repeater slot so you should never use this radio on a DMR repeater. This is a hardware limitation of this radio, so don't expect there to ever be an update that will allow it to work properly on repeaters.</div>
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m14v6h2h_B0?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br />
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sqYNrosJGlk/WGbNzicfW-I/AAAAAAAAA5s/DPT2gux4jnUe-ORzvUU4_KQiYfPJfrTgACEw/s1600/New-Model-TYT-MD398-MD-398-DMR.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sqYNrosJGlk/WGbNzicfW-I/AAAAAAAAA5s/DPT2gux4jnUe-ORzvUU4_KQiYfPJfrTgACEw/s320/New-Model-TYT-MD398-MD-398-DMR.png" width="147" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TYT MD-398</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u><br /></u>
<u>3. Radioddity GD-55/TYT MD-398</u><br />
The Radioddity GD-55 is a re-branded TYT MD-398. Neither of these radios can do TDMA. This is a hardware limitation so no firmware updates or upgrades will be able to change this. This means that the radio could potentially work on DMR repeaters but it will jam the other timeslot like the DM-5R plus, so should never be used on a DMR repeater.<br />
<br />
Note: The GD-55 Plus does work fine on both timeslots according to information I've seen online, but beware that this radio is NOT dual band, unlike the GD-55.<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>4. TYT MD-680</u><br />
A 10W radio with no screen.<br />
<br />
That's all for now. If you know of any other radios with this problem, please leave a comment so I can add it to the list. I'll try to keep this list up to date.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Please share this post to spread the word and stop others from being tricked into buying these radios.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>If you enjoyed this article or found it useful, you might like to watch some of my videos on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/radiosification" target="_blank">my YouTube channel</a>.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
If you're looking to buy a DMR radio then I currently recommend these radios:<br />
<a href="http://smarturl.it/md380" target="_blank">TYT MD-380.</a> (Link redirects to most appropriate site for your country)<br />
<a href="http://smarturl.it/md390" target="_blank">TYT MD-390.</a> (Waterproof version) (Link redirects to most appropriate site for your country)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-27688685647902272572016-08-24T12:48:00.001+01:002016-08-24T12:48:21.394+01:00TYT UV8000E Dual Band 10W FM HT with crossband repeater Review <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eroW11OCy3g?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-12446552224357934022016-07-30T12:46:00.000+01:002016-08-24T12:47:07.635+01:00Motorola MotoTRBO XPR6550 VS XPR7550 (DP3600 VS DP4800)<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gMUTH2F3QyA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7317709928559203314.post-49103209301791972722016-07-29T11:57:00.003+01:002016-07-29T11:57:48.925+01:00Listening to new channels in the field with the TYT MD-380<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eW3_VcpEzJc?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0