[CS800DMR] Talkaround Issue

Has anyone else noticed that the talkaround option does not come up in the utilities menu? I have it enabled to show in CPS, but it does not appear on the radio.

Assigning button 3 to "repeat/talkaround" and then pressing it does not toggle talkaround on and off.

If you program a channel with talkaround enabled, you can go back and change it in CPS, but the radio ignores the change when you write it to the radio again. The only fix is to create a new channel. Since you cannot toggle it on and off on the radio, you are stuck.

Posted by: Michael - N1PLH

I went in and looked around and didn't seen an option to turn it on and off either. These are the radio options that fewer people try in the beginning because they just want to get on the air. I am glad that somebody is trying all the different functionalities and discovering the deficiencies. Just like text messaging etc. if the radio has features, then those features should work. Whether folks use them or not. I personally think that those people selected to be beta testers in the future should be indentified now by looking at who is finding the problems. I think that people have been patient and understanding. It's a hassle to keep updating firmware and or sending the radio back and forth. It makes me wonder if the price point is worth the aggravation. I will hang in there but I hope there are lessons learned at the end of the day. If it wasn't for the fact that CSI's staff are so customer service friendly and upfront personal, I may have looked elswhere. But they are trying. 

Posted by: William McCasland

Based on the design of his other radios, I believe this is how he wants it to work. My question for the group is does it work the way I posted. In the meantime I just e-mailed the manufacturer to confirm what I just posted below.

Talk Around

(1) If the Tx and Rx Frequency is the same, then that channel is always set for talk around regardless if the talk around box is set.

(2) If the Tx and Rx Frequency is different and the talk around box is checked, then it requires you to program one of the buttons for talk around.

(3) If the Tx and Rx Frequency is different and the talk around box is not checked, then the channel will never go into talk around even if a button is programmed for talk around. 

Posted by: Jerry Wanger KK6LFS

This is not a completely fair characterization of what is happening. The only reason for sending in the CS700 radio is to upgrade it to a new model. Try asking Motorola what it would take to change their 6550 to the 7550? If you told Motorola your radio would not work with a ICOM speaker they would tell you to buy a Motorola speaker. We could of told you it only works with brand x external speaker and not go through the trouble and expense of putting in the diode. If you look at the Motorola Forums you will also see frequent updates to their firmware. The main difference is Motorola is not up front with their problems. The MD380 is also going through frequent firmware changes. The only reason it is not going through more was because we worked most of the bugs out in the CS700 radios.

However I am as frustrated as you with the stupid mistakes in the firmware. You fix a problem in one of the versions and then it comes back in a future version. It seems that either they are not carefully checking all the features in the radio or they have and just did not tell us that they know this particular feature is not working yet. If we did like most of the competitors do and that is release things infrequently, then you would get the impression that there are not as many problems. 

Things seem to be settling down and there are not many important features left to fix. We will soon add some completely new firmware features soon such as KPP and we will go thru this cycle again.

Jerry Wanger KK6LFS