I have seen many requests for code plugs to be shared but to be frank there is nothing better than learning to do it yourself.
Both these terminals are similar, but I find that there is a slight difference between my RT3 and the MD380G due to the different vocoders and the addition of the GPS.
You can run the software without the connection of the terminal and build the code plug piece by piece, researching the various aspects as you go and saving it from time to time.
Absolutely essential will be is the digital ID, so if you haven’t got it, do it now as you cannot use the terminal successfully until you have. the
Let’s start the CPS. It should be blank and show the content of the first menu Basic Information.
Select your frequency range, I’m starting of in the 400-480 MHz range, and fill in the boxes that the software can permit.
Let’s go to General Settings, giving the terminal a name and entering the Digital ID in the Radio ID box. In Alert Tone, I would suggest selecting Digital in the Talk Permit Tone, so that any repeater correctly accessed will cause your terminal to respond with bleepity bloop if it is good to go.
I left everything else as standard except Intro Screen where one can select Char String, and have two friendly lines of texts greet the user when switched on.
Let’s pass straight on to Button Definitions.
I would suggest short press on button 2 to Manual Dial for Private and long press toggle High/Low Power.
That leaves you button 1 to do with what other function is deemed necessary.
Now we’ll go to Digital Contacts.
It is important here to try and get some semblance of order. The contact name will be the convention used by the general populace. I have stuck to what is “normal”, such as TG9 for talk group 9, or whatever might be practical, however the Call ID MUST be the numerical value of the Talk group or Reflector that is referenced to it. I chose to enter ALL the available talk groups wherever they may be, in numerical order as Group Calls not forgetting TG4000, followed by ALL the available Reflectors as Private Calls not forgetting 4000, but then I can add any other Digital IDs also as Private Calls, together with names and callsigns of friends and aquaintances as needed. We may not think we need all the talk groups or reflectors but it is best to add them now as it makes for a tidy database. It might be an idea to add the DMR ID of your local repeater as a Group Call, as this can be useful later. The Call Receive Tone is at your discretion.
(I see no use for Reflectors if the repeater is configured in BrandMeister but that’s my opinion.)
Now before we proceed, skip back to button configuration for the moment, and in button one add in the short press section “One Touch Access 1”, then drop down to the definition of One Touch Access 1 and add “Digital” then select TG4000 in the contact. This gives you the facility to disconnect Dynamic Talk groups from either slot and Reflectors from slot 2. Now carry on with the rest of the code plug.
We can safely skip the rest of the menus for the moment and go straight to Channel Information.
Here is where your research is most important. For each repeater or hotspot, you will need to know the frequencies and the colour code, together with the talk groups that are available on each of the repeaters and on which slots they are.
So GB7SO has its TX frequency 430.525 MHz and RX frequency 439.525 MHz. Colour code 1. There are 4 operational talk groups TG9 Slot1 TG235186 Slot1, TG9 Slot2 and TG2350 on Slot2. We will add also TG2351, TG2352 to Slot 2 to enable a QSY chat channel. So this means we will be creating 6 distinct pages in Channel Information, so we will need to give each page a Channel Name, carefully selecting each of the drop down boxes. Digital in Channel Mode, Color code in Admit Criteria, RX ref and TX Ref as low, TOT (timeout timer) to whatever we prefer. Contact Name will be the Talkgroup, from our previously constructed table. Color Code and Repeater Slot are from the conducted research.
Click Add and we will have saved our first page and created a new blank page. Now the time saver!
Click on the page we have already created, in the menu list, and right click Copy. We highlight the new page in the list, also in the menu, and click paste. In the new main page on the right we just need to create the Channel Name, select the new Contact Name, and Slot number. And repeat!
So as I have said for GB7SO we create six channels for the two slots with two talk groups for slot 1 and 4 for slot 2.
Next we go back up the menu list to Zone Information where we create a new zone and give it a name. This zone can contain up to the 16 positions on the channel switch, but for the moment we have only six channels programmed. From the available channel list we can add the channel members.
Why TG4000? Imagine you have a contact with someone on TG2350 and you want to extend the chat. To avoid blocking the whole network you can QSY to TG2352 to continue your QSO. It means that GB7SO is still occupied, as is the repeater or hotspot of the correspondant, but TG2350 is open elsewhere. At the end of your QSO you reset GB7SO to 2350 by making a short press to to the top button above the ptt, followed by a press on the PTT, that disconnects TG2352 from the repeater. The Brandmeister server responds by saying “Not Linked”. TG2350 is a fixed talkgroup so is unaffected by this action.
In my terminal I have created many more channels that I would consider of use, like DMR simplex or PMR channels, so I can fill a zone of 16 channels so I don’t get the horrible squawk of a vacant channel.
Some repeaters may have more than 16 available talk groups, so you can create more than one zone, like one containing all slot 1 channels and the other with slot 2.
As we build the CPS we must do frequent saves, so that if we have to go back we haven’t got to build it from scratch – again.
Then we upload the code plug to the terminal. It’s that easy.
