I have a midland basecamp xt511 and 2 Tera TR-505 HT’s. I have turned off the privacy codes on all the radios. I can call back and forth between the 2 tera HT’s, but, if I try to call from the Tera to the Midland nothing will happen. Now if I hit the ptt on the Midland then the 2 radios can both rx and tx. I’ve spoken to the Tera radio people and they think it’s a flaw or a setting wrong on the Midland. We spent some time trying to reprogram but eventually failed to fix the problem. I hope one of you out there has the answer bvecause I sure couln’t find it. I believe it’s something simple…any ideas guys…? I’m all ears. Thanks.
We don’t carry the TR-505, so I am not very familiar with them. However, I’ve had a Midland XT511 for almost a decade and I know it very well. Based on the limited information provided, and all other things being equal, I would doubt the issue is with the Midland for two reasons.
First, other than setting PL tones and the various features in the menu, it’s not user programmable.
Second, the TR-505 is PC programmable, so there is more access to channel frequency assignments, options and settings that can cause issues if there are errors in the programming.
I understand that you turned off the CTCSS and DCS on all the radios. However, you said that if you press the PTT on the Midland, then two radios can communicate. If the other radio initiates the contact, they can’t. So obviously all things are not equal.
So here is a list of things to check on all the radios.
- Be sure you turned off CTCSS and DCS for both transmit and receive on the Tera radios.
- Be sure VOX is disabled on all the radios, including the XT511
- Disable all Call Alerts
- Disable Silent Operation on the XT511
- Disable Dual Watch
- Disconnect any cable or device from the USB jacks
- Disconnect any charging cable from the XT511
- Disconnect anything plugged into the audio jack on the XT511 and the Tera radios. This includes the external speaker mic, headset or earpiece.
- Be absolutely sure the Tera radios are programmed with the same frequencies on the same channel numbers as the Midland, and be sure they are programmed for simplex only.
- Turn the XT511 off and back on to reset.
Try to initiate communication using the Tera radios again. If they are all on the same channel and frequency they should communicate with the XT511. When you press the PTT, does the RX icon appear on the display of the XT511? If a signal is sent, it should. If not, and you can initiate communication from the XT511, the issue may very well be with the Tera radios.
The only thing I needed to do was to remove the hand mic from the midland.On #3 I don’t think you can turn off/disable the call alerts, I think you can only switch between the 10 alerts. As far as I know the radio channels are set for simplex. I also have MURS and Weather on some frq’s.Now on the midland the privacy codes are turned off, on the tera radios there are none programmed. I removed them all. Things remain the same sir, the tera’s can’t call the midland unless the midland initates, after that all work in harmony. Thanks for taking a little time. I defininately need some guidance. I’m stumpted, I wish you could have a look at these things because I have a feeling I screwed something up that was fairly simple.
You should be able to disable the Call Alert. Choose “CA” in the Menu, use the tuning knob to choose “oF” (Off) and press Menu to confirm. Also, AFAIK, there are only five.
Did you also disable Dual Watch? It is possible it could get in the way of receiving a call from your other radios if it is set to just scan two specific channels. Other than that, I don’t know of anything else that would keep it from receiving from another radio.
I’ve never had an issue with mine, and this the first time I’ve heard of that happening with one used with another radio, so that has me stumped as well.
Hello again. Thank you for giving me a hand with this mess. I believe there may be multiple versions of the xt511, I know they quit making them for a time. With mine you can’t turn off CA, only make a choice of which one. To complicate things a little more I used a chinese radio to call the xt511. The xt511 didn’t rx. When I clicked the transmit button on the xt511 then both radios could rx and tx just fine. The chinese radio also worked with the two tera with no issues at all.Also you mentioned AFAIK, I do not know what that means. If you think of something please let me know. Thank you.
Interesting that you can’t disable Call Alert. Although Midland did suspend production of the XT511 a couple of times, I am not aware of any significant changes to it.
AFAIK is old forum and texting shorthand for As Far As I Know. It’s the same genre of internet/text speak as LOL, BTW (By The Way), and YMMV (Youre Mileage May Vary) and RTM (Read The Manual).
I generally use other Midland GMRS radios with the XT511 at home and have never seen this issue. The only chinese made GMRS radio I use is the Wouxun KG-805G, but it’s currently in my office and during the pandemic I am working from home, so I am unable to get there to retrieve it to try to replicate your issue. While I do have other chinese made radios at home, none of them are FCC type accepted for use on the GMRS, so I don’t have them programmed for those frequencies.
There is another possibility, but based on how the radios are communicating, I rather doubt it is the cause.
GMRS allows both wide and narrowbanding on channels 1-7 and 15-22. If one of the radios is operating wideband and the other on narrowband, the radio on narrowband will hear the radio transmitting on wideband, but the radio on wideband may not hear the radio transmitting on narrowband well. All the radios should be using the same bandwidth for optimal communications.
Also, which channels are you using? Have you tested these radios on each one, or are you using a few specific channels?
How are you programming your Tera radios? PC/cable or manually?