Question: CPS 2024.01.22.01 and programming for Talk Groups

[vk3vm]

Hi Folks,

I have been away from The GD-77 for a little while and OpenGD77 work ... But now have the time to look at it again - so please excuse me if things have changed and this is effectively a deprecated question !

This was the way that I believed that a Repeater Talk Group had to be Programmed in:

• Digital Contact: Create one of these for your Talk Group" (i.e. 505) as a Group Call

• TG Lists: Ideally create a TG List (I.e. TG 505 VK) That contains your "Group Call Digital Contact" i.e. Contains the "Digital Contact" 505 created in the first step

• Channel: Program in a channel (i.e. say repeater Tx on 439.900 and Listens on 434.900, Digital, TS2, With TG List assigned to the one you created in the previous step (i.e. "TG 505 VK") and Contact Assigned to The Group Call contact (i.e. 505 - Group) that you created in the first step

• Zone: Assign the channel to an appropriate zone (not discussed further here as irrelevant to the immediate discussion).

I have noted that with the latest CPS that assignment of Digital Contact and TG List to Channel are now MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE !

This I can foresee creating issues with resources such as the "Parrot" on 9990 that can require a group call (or sometimes a private call) with a response on TG 9.

Have I missed something here in all the recent advances?

Thanks and 73

Steve I
VK3VM/VK3SIR

[G4EML]

Contact and TG List are mutually exclusive on a channel.
You either define a contact and that is what will always be used when making a call. Or you define a TG List which allows you to select the contact to be used from the list.
Unlike most DMR radios the TG List is used for both Tx and Rx.
This is probably the main feature that OpenGD77 has over other radios. It allows you to just define one channel for each repeater with a list of all commonly used talk groups. There is no longer any need to create a channel for each talkgroup.

By default the radio will receive any incoming talkgroup so you will always hear a reply.

Colin G4EML

[vk3vm]

Colin,

Thanks for the reply.

> By default the radio will receive any incoming talk-group so you will always hear a reply.

I had observed this and I highly appreciate the confirmation.

I reserve my judgement on whether I think this is a good practise. I can foresee that this change in approach - deviating heavily from "Moto-based" practise - could potentially introduce greater misunderstanding in the DMR world.

I will be watching progress closely.

73

Steve I
VK3VM/VK3SIR

[VK3KYY]

Colin,

Thanks for the reply.

> By default the radio will receive any incoming talk-group so you will always hear a reply.

I had observed this and I highly appreciate the confirmation.

I reserve my judgement on whether I think this is a good practise. I can foresee that this change in approach - deviating heavily from "Moto-based" practise - could potentially introduce greater misunderstanding in the DMR world.

I will be watching progress closely.

73

Steve I
VK3VM/VK3SIR

This is not new

The OpenGD77 firmware and CPS has used this TG method for at least 3 years

VK2FLY who is one of the VK DMR network admins told me that he thinks a large number of operators on the VK DMR network use OpenGD77

[vk3vm]

Roger,

It is good to make contact again (and hope to catch up in person soon ... I think that a good coffee is long overdue).

I have not programmed a GD-77 radio from scratch nor had to make mods for a while - which is possibly why I have not noted this.

With the GD-77''s here (and the GD-77S) I have been just able to drop in new firmware with pre-existing code plugs just working - until the last iteration.

[ The GD-77S has been somewhat of a mess for a while as the CPS appears to no longer offer modification of key parameters ]

Great work as always Roger. Matt VK2FLY is completely on the ball !!!

Yet there is still this niggle in the back of my mind that that further discussion is needed regarding mutual exclusivity between "old ways" (i.e. Separate Public User ID with matching receive group) and the way that things are done now (stacking on to the Received Group).

I hope that I make sense !

73

Steve I
VK3VM/VK3SIR

[VK3KYY]

Yet there is still this niggle in the back of my mind that that further discussion is needed regarding mutual exclusivity between "old ways" (i.e. Separate Public User ID with matching receive group) and the way that things are done now (stacking on to the Received Group).

I hope that I make sense !

73

Steve I
VK3VM/VK3SIR

If you sent the DMR Filter to TG, you will only receive signals on the TG you have selected for Tx, which AFIK is pretty much the same as normal radios, except that you don't need to make multiple Rx Group lists each with one TG in them.

The TG filter setting will be saved and survive a reboot etc.

Re: GD-77S

Its been a very long time since we tried to get any of these radios working perfectly using the official GD-77 codeplug, especially all the radios still in production don't use the GD-77 codeplug when running the manufacturer's firmware.

So the installation instructions are now to either use a codeplug from another OpenGD77 radio, or make a new OpenGD77 codeplug from scratch.