Motorola Talkabout MH230R/GMRS question

Well, I read the instructions and all is good but the iVOX. I have set it 6 or more times but when I speak into the speaker I hear nothing in the 2nd walkie. Is it me or is there something wrong with the handheld? iVox is set on both walkies.

For clarification, when you said all is good, does that mean you can transmit and receive with both radios when you don’t use iVOX (VOX)?

Yes I can transmit and receive on both radios just fine. Only the VOX is not working when set for VOX.

Are you using the iVOX feature with the MH230R directly or with an audio accessory, such as a PTT headset or speaker mic?

Directly, no accessories.

What happened, everyone go away?

It is difficult to help anyone when they provide incomplete details of the problem and don’t detail the steps they have taken. Did you follow the instructions to turn on iVox? Did you set both radios with iVox ON? Did you adjust the sensitivity of the mic upwards? Did you push the PTT button to engage iVox once it was set to ON in the menu? (Just setting it to ON does not engage it. You also need to push the PTT button.) Did you be sure the screen shows iVox on and not just Vox? (iVox is for no accessories; Vox is for Vox-enabled accessories.)

Is it one or both radios not working on iVox? If it is one, then understand these are cheap throwaway consumer radios that cannot be repaired at any reasonable cost. If they are brand new, send it back. If they are used, there is not much you can do except buy another one.

If they are both not working, then detail the steps you are taking to turn on iVox. It is always tough to diagnose problems for someone else without the radios in front of you. Have some patience; not everyone who knows these radios is on this forum every day.

It’s Memorial Day weekend in the US, so traffic in the forums may typically be lower.

As Chickenhawk said, the answers are only as good as the information received to provide them. The more details we have, the easier it is to give you a correct one.

VOX/iVOX has its limitations, so troubleshooting issues related to the feature is going to depend on a number of factors. As I recall, the MH230R only has three VOX sensitivity levels. The low setting sets the VOX level to its least sensitive or responsive level. Only the loudest sounds will open the mic and allow them through. Level 3 activates the mic when almost any noise is detected.

Also, there is a lag time (latency) between the moment the noise is made and the mic is activated. This is because the noise has to register with the mic before it can be blocked or passed through, depending on the level of filtering. It may take a second or two for the radio to actually start transmitting, so the first part of a sentence may be cut off. The lower the VOX level, the greater the chance of losing the beginning of the conversation.

For clarification, speaking into the speaker won’t transmit anything. The speaker in the radio is not a combination speaker/microphone. The microphone is a separate component and is usually embedded in a tiny hole located near the speaker. On the MH230R, the microphone is behind a hole in the upper right corner of the speaker grille.

Although VOX can be used with the mic built into the radio itself, it isn’t usually recommended. There are several reasons for this. First, the radio mic is generally omnidirectional, which means it is designed to pick up noise from all directions. This becomes problematic when using VOX because any extraneous or ambient audio may activate the mic and transmit unwanted noise.

Second, the mic is not specifically designed to be used more than an arm’s length away from the mouth of the operator. When VOX is activated and your radio is on your hip, it may be completely ineffective.

Also, because of its proximity to the speaker, anything the speaker emits, including button beeps and such, may also interfere with the performance of VOX.

VOX works best with an external audio accessory, such as a surveillance earpiece with an in-line microphone. The accessory must also be VOX compatible or it won’t work, which is why I asked the second question.

Keep in mind that consumer grade radios such as the MH230R are not of the same quality as a business or “pro” grade radio, and the VOX or iVOX circuitry will not be as sensitive or responsive. Some professional grade radios will have 5 to 9 levels of VOX sensitivity, so VOX will be more effective than on the low end consumer models. This is not necessarily a negative for the Talkabout MH230R, it’s just something to be aware of.

Yes, the radio may also be defective. However, there are a number of variables involved, so some troubleshooting is required before calling Motorola or simply tossing it away.

Happy Memorial Day To All. I do want to apologize to you all for anyone thing I was rushing all. But I did make a decision what to do here.

I am in Toronto Canada.I bought Motorola talkabout T9510R but the range is about one mile while they advertised 40 km…Is there any way to increase the range at least to 20 km,inside Toronto city??
Kindly provide me a list of all, low price two way Radio set ,which have actual/real high range of 25 miles inside city like Toronto Canada.

I answered this question in the other topic you started, and the short version here is that nothing will get you 20Km in a city environment, sorry. The range claim relates to the best possible - which is not remotely city bound.

Good Morning.
Any suggestion to increase the working rage to maximum.Should I install a big antenna or any hardware part to increase power to 5 wat.??

All honesty? Forget it. With 25W and an aerial at ground level, with buildings all around - it’s going to make very little difference. Drive to the top floor of a multi-storey car park so you are high and your range goes up - often considerably. Trouble is that concrete has rebar inside and is what’s called a Faraday Cage - RF just gets stopped by the walls and floors of the buildings.

In radio, geography is king. Power far, far less so. If you had 5W and a slightly better antenna on your radio - and frankly, most of the claims for those are suspect too - your body will soak up 180 degrees of the output. It’s not worth wasting money.

Thank you very much for a cute analysis.
I withdraw from two radio systems

I don’t think you quite get it? If what you need is the ability to communicate over a distance that radios on their own cannot do - you do have options, but they cost money, require planning and licensing - but do work. If on the other hand you really need to have comms between two locations simply, then you just need to buy a different radio product that does work - phones being the obvious one - but they follow exactly the same rules - radio to local cell tower, network lots together and it functions - but the actual distances RF travels is the same.

I have several 230r’s. All of a sudden one stopped transmitting and receiving. Others work fine. I changed batteries. Low power not an issue. I left batteries out to reset unit. Still no transmission or reception. No physical damage to unit. Any suggestions?

How old are the radios? Are you using rechargeable batteries and how old are the batteries? Are you using speaker mics? Are you using them for business purposes or recreational use?

Sorry, but too many possibilities and not enough information to diagnose over the internet. It is my experience with these radios that they are good radios for what they are designed for, but consumer-grade rechargeable batteries might last a year or two, depending on how they were recharged. Consumer-grade radios might last for a few years too, especially if well taken care of, but some people use a consumer-grade “family-style” radio for commercial purposes and they just won’t last when there are multiple users who probably don’t handle them too carefully. It has been my experience that the first thing to go is the rechargeable batteries, then the speaker mic socket.

Generally, if the settings on the radios all match and didn’t get changed somehow, it is easier to just buy a new one than try to fix an old one.