Howdy gang! New member here and I am stoked there is a forum like this. I had a question: Is there a way to reset or bypass the password on an RDR2500? I bought a used one off ebay to add to our system (we do medical standby at a racetrack) and due to it being used, the original owner is unknown so discount two way radio (original seller/programmer) is refusing to give me the passcode. Trying to keep from having to fork over more cash and pay for another radio. Any advice?
Thanks,
Josh
They appear to be a house brand radio, manufactured by HYT in China for the U.S. distributor and simply re-labelled with the name “RCA.” (There is no connection to the old Radio Corporation of America brand who have been out of business for many years. RCA as a company no longer exists, and the trademark licencing company that owns the rights to the name simply sells the name to various Chinese companies.)
“Assembled in U.S.” can mean something as simple as they attach the battery to the radio, program them to customer frequencies, add a passcode to prevent user-programming, and stick them back in the box. Their business model seems to be selling radios and programming, and locking them with a passcode to prevent programming. Programming software doesn’t seem to be available separately.
All we can suggest is to send it to the distributor and ask them to program them to your licenced frequencies. They will charge for this service.
They appear to be okay radios, about on par with Baofeng. One of the downsides of buying a used radio or buying a radio from an unauthorized dealer like eBay is that you are taking a chance with programming.
Quite frankly, when radios are being used in life-critical applications like this, they absolutely should be purchased ONLY from legitimate and authorized dealers. Plus, why are you buying your own radios? As one of the people who maintain the radios and train course marshals on a race track, we would NEVER allow an outside radio to be used by any corner worker or EMS. There is too much that can go wrong; possible incompatibility issues with accessories; or improper programming that can interfere with critical communications.
Sorry if I sound abrupt on this but when a race car is upside down, fluids are dripping onto a hot manifold, a driver is waiting for help, and a radio call is missed because someone decided to bring their own radio … well, you can see the seriousness here.
Quite frankly, I would ditch that radio. If the track does not provide a radio - which I find hard to believe - then, purchase only from authorized dealers such as our forum hosts at buytwowayradios.
Appreciate the concern, but you might try and stick to answering the question, not giving advice about a situation you know nothing about. My company (yes, I am the owner operator of the company) uses our own radios that are matched to the frequencies of the corner workers and race control because their radios are unreliable and pretty beat up. All my other radios (5 of them) are purchased and programmed from an authorized distributor, I took a chance on a quality used radio. No way of knowing it required a passcode for programming as I have never thought about or needed to program on my own. You love and you learn.
Like I said, thanks for the concern though. Cheers.
No worries. My apologies. You obviously know what you are doing. I was giving advice about an application I actually know a LOT about, and I wrongly assumed it was an amateur operation based on you having to buy your own radios.
I guess conditions are different up here because we make sure race control, EMS, tow, extraction and corner workers always have reliable radios, with backups only seconds away. (The story of the upside down race car is true, but thanks to the gods of roll cages, fuel cells, quality radios and HANS devices, we avoided a fire and never lost communication.)
I know what you mean about radios getting beat up. They live a hard life! In between driver training and working with corner marshals, they keep me busy with maintenance of the radios, programming new ones and replacing broken parts where possible.
I have been working with two-way radios for decades., and would be more than happy to help out with any advice where I can. After all, when you great folks have a quiet day at the track, we all go home safe and happy.