Ham Radio 2.0: Episode 107 - Debut of the TYT MD-9600 Dual Band DMR Mobile 

My 2014 Jeep Latitude is a tool to work with. I finally used my remote head cable for my Icom ID880 H and a mic extender cable (using CAT 5 cable) My radio is on the floorboard behind my driver seat and the Motorola speaker (the square one) is between the gear shift and the front console. I rarely have more than 1 passenger (my yl), so it does work out for me. I miss the Dodge Dakotas. I had a HAVIS console installed between the two front seats and I was all set. Then they stopped making Dakotas. Oh, well. As my brother in-law would say: "It's all good."

thanks for all you man

Great Video totally informative keep up the super videos

Correction: The Connect Systems radio is not a "uhf only radio". The CS-801 is a VHF radio, and has the N-Type connector. The Connect Systems CS800D is a dual-band radio and has the N-Type connector. Other advantages of N-Type connectors are water-proof, and re-usable. UHF/PL-259 connectors are neither.

FYI, a bird meter with a PEP kit works for measuring TDMA

Why have the manufacturers not come out with a high-quality HHCH radio yet? They would sell like hotcakes. The limited space in modern cars just don't have the room to mount "mobile" style radios.

17:45 Just blank what you want to delete using your microphone with a space character instead of backspace kind of deletion. I believe it is a fixed width field. So whatever is not filled are spaces.

Good video, very interesting.

Little disappointed that it lacks a remote mount but majorly bummed the display is kind of blah looking. Its just got the 2005 blackberry look to it. I'll never understand ham equipment seems so many years behind all other technology.

So if you have a mix of VHF and UHF channels in a zone, each band has its own line? Seems a bit odd to separate them and not have a single line like a 380/390 for continuous stepping through channels. Let's say you have a VHF and UHF frequency displaying, are both frequencies actively RX'ing or is the selected freq in RX only and the other freq muted?

I heard there is an issue with the lights in the microphone staying on when the radio is turned off. Do you know anything about that?

Great video, just subbed you. I'm looking at getting into DMR and DSTAR, also Fusion. Even though my city has no digital, but mobile often so I thought what the heck why not. 73 KA9WLU

Hey jason how can i get a copy of the cps 9600 that you have its different then the one on the tyt888 site i have a 9600 but hte software on the tyt site is giving me problems getting it programmed

I bought Tytera MD-9600 v4 or v5(I'm not sure exactly), with label 2571. The FW version on device is D026.045 The TX power steps are confusing on VHF band 144-146mhz Low=0,2W MidLow=0,5W Mid=5W High=50W So, is it possible to adjust the steps in a logical sequence on VHF band 144-146mhz? Like: Low=5W LowMid=10W Mid=25W High=50W On the UHF band 430-440mhz it is a bit more logical Low=1W MidLow=5W Mid=15W High=40W Does anyone know how the TX steps can be adjusted? Test mode? ctrl+T maybe?

Please help me figure out how to change from digital to analog. I've been messing with this god forsaken thing for 3 hours. I read the entire garbage user manual. I have unlocked the frequency range on the unit.

My initial comments on bringing up the MD-9600 for the first time... 1) The software disc that is included with the radio has a DMR folder, but no MD-9600 CPS is found in this folder. A search of the Analog Portable, D{MR, and Mobile Radio folders also do not contain the MD-9600 CPS. 2) I incorrectly assumed that the CPS found on the service download page on the TYT web-site would be the most current version of the software. After installing this software, and fully constructing my contact list, I discovered that a newer version of the CPS is available on the downloads page on Grapevine Amateur Radio, where the radio was purchased from, and was downloaded from that location. After installation of v1.18, I opened the code plug that had been created under v1.07 and found that the contact list was empty. DO NOT use versions of the CPS that are earlier than v1.18. 3) The firmware update instructions for version v1.18 firmware, which call for pressing the P1 + Alarm (red key) to turn on the MD-9600, do not function. The radio will not power on with this sequence, and as such, will not blink the display as indicated in the instructions prior to moving to the next step. Further, the user interface screen images contained within the v1.18 operation document do not match the user interface elements actually present in the software. No firmware update was performed due to these issues. 4) After creating a few contacts, channels and then a zone to contain the channels, and uploading the code plug file using CPS version 1.07, the installed firmware does not display channel name (even when the mode is set to do so). 5) With the radio turned off, the microphone back-light is enabled, and pressing the PTT will illuminate the PTT LED [which means that the user will need to unplug the microphone to avoid running the vehicle battery down on a mobile installation]. 6) With a zone programmed with a UHF channel in channel member A and a UHF channel in channel member B, and where both of these channels share the same talk group, and where both repeaters are in range, a speaker icon will toggle back and forth between channel member A and channel member B. I implemented a test zone where channel member A and channel member B are on different repeaters with different talk-groups and verified that the radio is indeed performing a dual-watch mode. There are times when a dual-watch feature is useful, but there are also times when a dual-watch feature is catastrophic. An inability to disable dual-watch mode is not conducive to conducting effective communications. There does not appear to be a control (I may be missing something here, but haven’t found one yet), either in the CPS or via the front panel, which allows for the enabling or disabling of a dual-watch feature. The only work around I see is to program the zones so that they only contain channel member A or channel member B but not both channel member A and channel member B. This would defeat some of the utility of having a dual-band radio. In our area, we have a VHF and UHF DMR repeaters, with overlapping coverage, and dual-band operation (without dual-watch) would allow manual roaming by simply switch band when driving out of one coverage of one repeater and into coverage of the other (provided each channel member has the same talk-group), where simply hitting the BAND button would move you to the other repeater. Perhaps this could be addressed in a firmware update. 7. The tones emitted from the radio are not well balanced to the volume knob when compared to receive audio. In fact, the tones are extremely loud (uncomfortably so) when the volume is set to provide a comfortable listening level for receive. 8. Both the channel member A and channel member B share the same zone and channel index within the zone. It would be extremely useful if the zones could be unique for channel member A and channel member B and if unique channel indexes could be applied to channel member A and channel member B. 9. This issue appears to be present on all TYT radios: It is not possible to go into the menu when a signal is present on the receiver. This was evident in the test at item 6 above, where USA 3100 (I know, bad choice) was placed into channel member A with a UHF repeater and a quieter talk-group was placed into channel member B with a VHF repeater. Once USA 3100 / channel member A became active, it was not possible to use the ENT key to enter the menu to change zones. Using the P2 key (programmed for zone selection) did function, however, while the receive signal from USA 3100 was active. 10. The number of zones per channel is a construct that is held over from radio architectures that used a 16-position switch for channel selection, and imposes compromises in organizing channels into groupings that are coherent to the user/operator. Simply reorganizing how the channel data is internally structured, where the channel data holds a reference to the parent group, instead of having a fixed array structure where a group has 16-channels, would allow for a group to hold an arbitrary number of channels. A good example of where this is done is with the Icom IC-F5021 and IC-F5061 LMR part 90 radios. With these radios, if you want a zone with 48 channels, or a zone with only 3 channels, you can implement these user defined groupings. This would be of great utility if this capability were brought forward to amateur radio DMR radios. A good example would allow a group to encapsulate a large number of DMR talk-group channels (i.e. more than 16) for a specific repeater to be placed into one group, rather than having to spread these channels across multiple groups. This leaves it to the user to determine the best organizing of channels into groups instead of having a manufacturer imposed constraint that forces the user to adapt a channel set into something that doesn’t make quite as much sense as it could. There is no reason to carry hardware imposed constraints forward when the channel selection is performed by either an up/down button set or a rotary encoder. 11. Pushing the up/down buttons on the microphone inverts the action. For example, pushing the down button when on channel 1 will place the radio on channel 2. REMARKS Ergonomically, the 9600 is much nicer (and easier to use) than my CS800D. At least that is the impression on the bench. Road experience might present a different impression. If I'm wrong on the lack of a dual-watch mode control (I hope I am), I'm hoping that someone will point that out.

That Surface again. And Fruit Punch Steel Reserve ftw.

I have this Radio. I upgraded the firmware and the radio can not Rx/Tx. anyone that had this issue?

Will it crossband repeat? if not is there a DMR that will?

I loaded my MD-380 code plug into the MS-9600 CPS software. I saved it to a new file. I tried the same with an MD-2017 code plug, but the 9600 CPS software would not accept it. Since I do not have a 9600 (yet), I cannot conform that the 380 code plug will upload properly t the radio.

how do you toggle the rig from DMR to analog>?

Try a 380 code plug open fine with my cps 9600 i also tried a 2017 plug but it would not open that but it will open a 380

Is this radio worth buying for a beginner and can you program with chirp

Give me 'N' series any day

Your sorry ICOM comment was lulz

illegal 11m rf amp on self below the laptop .classy !