Seeking help with Kenwood TK-360 radios

General Discussion
1

Hi forum,
I have been donated a batch of six TK-360G(N) hand held radios from a local business.

All radios seem to have the same ‘fault condition’.
The company who donated them would simply buy a new handset whenever one stopped working.

The common ‘fault’ goes like this…

  • The battery charges fine and reaches ~8.2v.
  • The radio turns on with a long high tone but no other audio.
  • Pressing PTT button makes the LED go red.
  • On a spectrum analyser I can see a strong ~460MHz carrier when PTT is pressed, but the frequency never changes with the channel selector.
  • Pressing either of the side buttons (Moni button) makes a lower tone beep, but no RX audio.

I can’t seem to get the radios to communicate with each other, the squelch never brakes and the RX remain silent (all set to same channel).

I am hoping this is just a ‘hung state’ and that a re-programming cycle will fix them, I’ve ordered the correct cable for programming.

Any ideas out there?
Does this look like a hardware issue or programming fault?

Thanks in advance !
Ray (electronic engineer and all round electronic hobbyist).

2

No suggestions?

I have now tested the RF output and all radios produce the full 4 Watts and they are all FM modulated (I can see audio on a spectrum analyser display).

All radios are fixed to the same channel, irrespective of the channel selector, but I expect this is a software setting for the users who only need one channel.

So the problem seems to be entirely RX.
is it possible that the RX needs DTMF tones to be activated ?

Thanks
Ray

3

I think until you get the radios visible on the screen, you can only guess at best - so RX could be on the same frequency, but it’s probable they’re on a repeater duplex channel - so none of the radios transmit on the channel they receive on - which is pretty common.

4

Thanks Paul, I’m on the right track so.

I’ve managed to get the software running in a DOS shell.
I’ll have to wait for the cable.

Cheers
Ray

5

DOS? The software should work perfectly on Windows - are you sure you have the right version? You need KPG-56D which works fine on Windows.

6

Thanks Paul,
Your spot on mate!

I was using kpg67d because another website had it listed for my radio.
But when I checked kpg56d it also supports the radio and works fine in Windows.
As us good now.

Thanks for the help !

Ray

7

Did you find out what was happening, now you’ve read them?