I have a new TYT MD-380; it works well for DMR channels, but on analog, the squelch doesn't seem to open when it should. I'm relatively new to ham and my first suspicion is user error, but it's tempting to blame it on poor hardware quality control.
What I've observed is that if the squelch is on, I can listen on the MD-380 and an analog-only radio (a Baofeng UV-5R) and hear nothing on the MD-380. If I use monitor mode to turn the squelch off, I do hear audio.
I've tried a number of combinations here:
- Simplex and multiple repeaters
- Carrier squelch and CTCSS (haven't tried DCS yet)
When testing against a repeater, I can transmit with either radio and be heard by others. The transmitting radio always drowns out RX on my non-transmitting one as expected, and I should be able to hear the roger beep from both radios, but I only ever hear it on the Baofeng, not the TYT.
I'll add that I have installed the md380tools custom firmware, but I'm pretty sure the squelch was an issue before doing so. (Yes, that may have voided my warranty and was probably dumb.) I'm not sure whether firmware would affect the squelch's ability to function.
Update: I've seen at least one reference which says the md380tools custom firmware might be the cause, and it's not clear whether the firmware has been tested on my generation of MD380 hardware. I'm going to try to get back to the original stock firmware (D014.009) if TYT posts it for download.