I am using asl3 and a SA818 allstar node.
The handheld radio I use is a Quansheng UV-5R Plus.
Whenever the all-star node unkeys, there is a loud crash from the squelch on the Quansheng.
I have set the squelch tail in als3 to 4s
Hangtime = 400
I have also enabled the STE (squelch tail eliminator) on the Quansheng
I have tried turning the squelch level up, but this still doesn't help.
None of this has worked. It is even worse when I turn the volume up to listen to a station with a low audio level.
Hangtime is in milliseconds, so 400 would only be 0.4s.
Hangtime is just the time that the transmitter will wait to unkey after the TX key signal has been released, and has nothing to do with squelch tail.
STE on Chinese radios is a weird Chinese implementation with something like a 55hz tone. It is completely different from any standard squelch tail elimination method used in the USA and should be left disabled.
I have found that all of the cheapo Chinese radios such as Quansheng have an audible squelch crash on their receive, regardless whether using CTCSS w/ reverse burst or cicken burst, or even when using DCS w/ turn-off code. Kinda just one of those things where you get what you pay for.
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Hangtime is just the time between when a signal is dropped and when the radio unkeys, and has nothing to do with squelch tails.
Not sure there is a lot you can do here.
The STE (tail tone) transmitted by the SA818, if it is enabled, is not the frequency that the Quansheng likes. IIRC, Quanshengs and Baofeng UV-5R's respond to 55 Hz, and the SA818 puts out a 59 Hz tone.
Most of my radios will respond to the SA818's STE and close the squelch without crashing. This includes a Kenwood TH-D74, TH-F6A, TM-V71, TM-D700, Icom IC-R30, TYT MD-UV380, Wouxun KG-UVD1P, and a few other Chinese radios.
It does not include the Yaesu FT-70, Baofeng UV-5R/UV-5X3 or Quansheng UV-K5.
Also, using DCS won't help, because the sa818's DCS implementation is crap, and doesn't send out the expected 134 Hz tone at the end of transmissions that DCS decoders expect to break squelch.
A few years ago I asked the SHARI creator Brad (N8AR, I think) about the lack of a DPL shut off tone; he responded by putting out a new version of the SA818 programmer that appeared to fix it and my squelch crashes disappeared. Maybe he could speak up about what happened with that...
That will work with many radios, but notably not the Quansheng UV-K5 or Baofeng UV-5r, because it responds to a different frequency than the SHARI puts out when tail tone is transmitted from the sa818.
Which is why most of my radios are Motorolas / commercial Kenwoods..
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Many Chinese radios don't get PL right. The TYT MD-UV380 is probably the best I've seen on that front. It's not as fast to open and close as a Motorola or Kenwood, but it's pretty close.
My first ASL node was based on a Motorola SM50, which sent out reverse burst (actually 120 inverted phase, not one of these oddball STE tones) at the end of transmissions, and I didn't have a radio that crashed when it unkeyed, except for a Yaesu.
CC radios not included, Yaesus are the worst I've ever heard and I submit they should all be stepped on with a Cuban boot heel and ground into powder. But that's just me...
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Hmm..
Seems like I am going to have to look for another handheld that I can use for Allstar.
My Quansheng is currently the only handheld I have, so I will have to see what I can find.
A nice cheap handheld that plays nice with reverse burst is a Motorola HT-1250; I can't remember what the Asia-equivalent model number is but it's the Professional Series/Waris, assuming this is a UHF SA818-based hotspot device. Kenwood TK-3180's are nice/cheap also though you'll need to install the programming software (KPG-89D, if memory serves) w/an engineering serial # in order to access the phase angle menu I mentioned.
Easily available online.
Also, you really should ask that Brad dude over on the SHARI group on groups.io about what he knows about PL reverse burst/DPL (DCS) shutoff tone, with regard to his version of the SA818 program...might be worth the effort... He really did fix my issue overnight Just can't promise it'll work for a different radio.
When you don't have reverse burst on CTCSS, the receiving radio won't close the squelch gate prior to the source transmitter unkeying. If the transmitting radio's CTCSS doesn't do reverse burst, then CTCSS isn't a good option. DCS does the equivalent of reverse burst and shuts the squelch gate before the source transmitter unkeys so you don't hear a squelch crash. I switched my repeater to DCS and this exact problem no longer occurs.
W7CIA
I tried this, but still no luck.
There is still a loud crash on the Quansheng
I have posted on the SHARI groups.io page but I haven't gotten a response yet.
Sounds like the squelch crash is coming from the radio you are listening on, at least by your own description, if it is accurate.
If so,there is no setting to eliminate that except to move to ctcss.
While I can't speak for all radio's, not all have the same 'squelch gating' and some use a variable gate based on signal strength of the signal. And if that radio has had some firmware mod's anything is possible.
If it is all that important, ctcss is the answer.
While this is generally true, here's where it all falls apart with the sa818 and uv-k5 and other Quanshengs, specifically.
DCS transmissions typically end with a 134 HZ tone, or 268 Hz in some cases, to close squelch immediately. The sa818, even when set to DCS, puts out a 59 Hz tone with reverse vurst/STE/tail tone (whatever you want to call it) enabled, not 134 or 268 Hz, so even with DCS decoding on your radio, you'll still get squelch crash. This, of course, should never happen, but it does anyway.
The UV-K5 will close squelch when it hears a 55 Hz tone, even if CTCSS decoding isn't enabled. This is how you can have two UV-K5's talking to each other with no CTCSS, and no squelch crashing. This will also work between a UV-K5 and a UV-5r.
Unfortunately, since the sa818 puts out a 59 Hz tone, having reverse burst/STE/tail tone (whatever you want to call it) won't do a thing for you as far as eliminating squelch crash on that particular handheld, though it will on many others.
That frequency can't be changed, either. on the sa818 or the UV-K5, unless someone has done a UV-K5 firmware mod or something.
It's either on or off. That's it.
So, basically, I don't think there's an easy way around it in this case, other than using another handheld. DCS or CTCSS decoding on that radio won't do here.
I think if you use the ctcss option in asl that follows the COR only, it would eliminate it.
But you will probably miss standalone announcements etc.
Seems like non-rational work to bypass one ill conceived radio if it is at fault.
And we have not herd if the firmware was changed to a mod'd version.
So questions remain.
My 2 do no do this. But they are mod'd differently and I hardly use them.
But I don'y have/use a sa818
Good luck doing that with a sa818. Most of them have a high pass filter that doesn't allow anything under 300 Hz to be transmitted, so usbradio's CTCSS encoder won't work. You can turn the high pass filter off in the programmer, but it won't actually disable properly on most firmware versions of the sa818.
The newer ones (SHARI V5.5, generic V1.2) I'm not sure about. Don't have one of those for testing purposes.
No CTCSS or delay settings in Asterisk/app_rpt will change this. It is a cheap HT problem, not a node problem. The only solutions are:
- Get a better radio
- Get the node/sa818 to TX Chinese 55Hz STE
- Firmware/hardware mod the Quansheng squelch functionality
Here's a fun idea: what if you make a 0.5s audio file containing a 55Hz sine wave and set that as your courtesy / unkey tone in rpt.conf... would it make it all the way out to RF and get decoded by the Quansheng, or would it get caught in a high pass filter either in simpleusb/usbradio or the sa818?
There is a slight chance that will work if you are using simpleusb, your SHARI firmware is V5.5, and the high pass filter on the radio is disabled. High pass is definitely gone on RX on that firmware if you turn HPF off, but I don't know about TX. It will pass the received PL all the way through.
I set up a SHARI for a friend a few months ago, and got a much better RX sound out of it by disabling HPF on the radio and using the least steep rx high pass filter available in usbradio. It sounded really great with all the filters off and no PL, but having no PL on a radio like that is just asking for trouble. I didn't test to see if it could transmit anything out under 300 Hz when I had it, though.
Even if it does work, the courtesy tone won't play after IDs and other telemetry if not triggered by traffic from the network or your radio first.
Also, if the radio is transmitting a PL, mixing it with the 55 Hz tone would be a bad idea. That being said, the Quanshengs will still respond to that if not decoding PL.
The more I think about this, the more I'm thinking it might be better to just use another radio. LOL!
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I’ve also experienced a lot of squelch tail noise with my Baofang UV-5K Plus compared to my Yaesu FT-5D. Decades ago, I installed a miniature PL encoder board in an Icom IC-2AT. That PL encoder was configured with “Chicken Burst”. Chicken Burst is when the PL sound stops encoding when you unkey the transmitter, but the transmitter hangs for about half a second sending a carrier with no audio. That caused the squelch tail to silence. The hang time is a little longer than reverse burst, but it silenced the squelch tail extremely effectively! Instead of a squelch tail loud crash, it’s like turning down the volume very quickly and quietly.
Is there a configuration option in ASL3 or SA818 that would allow Chicken Burst to be configured on a Shari PiHat ASL node?