Baofeng 1701 won't work well in hotspot mode- Update: Bad Radio

[K4BMI]

I am not sure if anybody else having this issue but my 1701 just does work well while in Hotspot mode. I tried BlueDV and connect it to a Raspberry PI but audio is distorted and stuttering.

I tried adjust the BER in both Pi-Star and WPSD but neither will start the adjustment mode. Tried it directly using SSH "sudo pistar-mmdvmcal" and it says board not supported.

Adding ferrite chocks to the USB cable did nothing. The modulation even starts audible but it breaks up after a few seconds becoming garbled.
I know it is something with the 1701 because I tried a TYT9600 and a TYT 390 plus and both wotk fine. Not sure where to go from here.

[SA0BUX]

I am not sure if anybody else having this issue but my 1701 just does work well while in Hotspot mode. I tried BlueDV and connect it to a Raspberry PI but audio is distorted and stuttering.

I tried adjust the BER in both Pi-Star and WPSD but neither will start the adjustment mode. Tried it directly using SSH "sudo pistar-mmdvmcal" and it says board not supported.

Adding ferrite chocks to the USB cable did nothing. The modulation even starts audible but it breaks up after a few seconds becoming garbled.
I know it is something with the 1701 because I tried a TYT9600 and a TYT 390 plus and both wotk fine. Not sure where to go from here.

You use the 1701 as the hotspot radio modem ?

Then you either need to use the calibration menu in opengd77 or adjust it manually in the mmdvmhost config file.

[K4BMI]

That is correct, when I have the TYTs as modem, all works ok, but the 1701 just garbles and distorts the audio.

I am familiar with the WPSD config file and will look there however never touched the openGD77 calibration menu before, is there a guide or reference with the steps on how to calibrate using it? The Official guide mentions frequency adjustment but the steps there are just for TX power adjustment.

I would try adjusting in the mmdvmhost config file, however I have two other radios, so ideally I would need adjust the 1701 instead.

[SA0BUX]

That is correct, when I have the TYTs as modem, all works ok, but the 1701 just garbles and distorts the audio.

I am familiar with the WPSD config file and will look there however never touched the openGD77 calibration menu before, is there a guide or reference with the steps on how to calibrate using it? The Official guide mentions frequency adjustment but the steps there are just for TX power adjustment.

I would try adjusting in the mmdvmhost config file, however I have two other radios, so ideally I would need adjust the 1701 instead.

You can step down to frequency calibration with SK2+Down Arrow when you are in the calibration menu.

I have used my frequency counter and adjusted all radios and hotspots to be as accurate as possible.
Bit error is less than 0.2% in pi-star nodes.

You can also use a SDR with VHF/UHF coverage and at least adjust all your equipment to use the same carrier frequency.

[VK5DOC]

I had the same problem, I believe the 1701 was faulty. I replaced it with a RT3s with the BlueDV and no issue.

[K4BMI]

I've been trying to use the Calibration function with no luck, is there any documentation that shows the process step by step?

I can access the function fine but once in the option, there is more than one frequency showing up for adjustment and I could not input my hotspot frequency either.

[SA0BUX]

I've been trying to use the Calibration function with no luck, is there any documentation that shows the process step by step?

I can access the function fine but once in the option, there is more than one frequency showing up for adjustment and I could not input my hotspot frequency either.

The first submenu is for power calibration on a number of frequencies.
For frequency calibration you have two calibration points one for VHF and one for uhf.
Use sk2+down arrow to jump down to the frequency menus.
You must use sk2 +green to save changes to nvram

[K4BMI]

I tried calibrating but I noticed the new settings will go away after powering cycle the radio! it only saves while the radio still on.

I also could not fix the issue yet as it is a slow and painful process: change the calibration value, hit green to (partially) save it, power cycle the hotspot to start the radio in hotspot mode, wait x minutes to boot, when radio enters hotspot mode, wait for a an active TG to hear the results, than get disappointment that the issue still there start all over Even if I could find the right value, it will go away if I turn the radio off!

One thing I found, it is certainly hardware related! I got a second 1701, loaded OGD77 in it and this one worked fine in hotspot mode, at least on a quick test. However I need try calibrating the bad 1701 but simply having a extreme hard time to do it.

I re-loaded OGD77 in it and tried to copy the new 1701 calibration to the bad one but it did not work!

[F1RMB]

I tried calibrating but I noticed the new settings will go away after powering cycle the radio! it only saves while the radio still on.

I also could not fix the issue yet as it is a slow and painful process: change the calibration value, hit green to (partially) save it, power cycle the hotspot to start the radio in hotspot mode, wait x minutes to boot, when radio enters hotspot mode, wait for a an active TG to hear the results, than get disappointment that the issue still there start all over Even if I could find the right value, it will go away if I turn the radio off!

One thing I found, it is certainly hardware related! I got a second 1701, loaded OGD77 in it and this one worked fine in hotspot mode, at least on a quick test. However I need try calibrating the bad 1701 but simply having a extreme hard time to do it.

I re-loaded OGD77 in it and tried to copy the new 1701 calibration to the bad one but it did not work!

I think you need to carefully read the post above yours.

[K4BMI]

Updating this post to report that the problem was caused to a faulty radio.
That 1701 for some reason doesn't like to work in Hotspot mode.I tested on another 1701 and the second one works fine!

I tried changing the calibration in both radio and hotspot but did not make any difference, the communication is received fine and audio is clear in the first 3 to 5 seconds than it starts becoming broken and garbled. If I hit PTT audio seems to sync and comes back clear, but after couple seconds it breaks up again.