530HCx Radio question

[+jamesdeanj]

I new here, so bare with me. I've borrowed a friend of mine's Rino 120s several times in the past for trips we make to Mexico and the radios have always worked great. This year I bought a pair of Rino 530HCx because he was using his at the same time as my trip. I love them with the exception of one problem. The radios are very garbled most of the time, even when your only a few hundred yards apart. I've set them to different channels and tried several settings. Doesn't seam to help. Am I missing something simple? Thanks for any suggestions.

Edited October 12, 2008 by jamesdeanj

[7rxc]

I new here, so bare with me. I've borrowed a friend of mine's Rino 120s several times in the past for trips we make to Mexico and the radios have always worked great. This year I bought a pair of Rino 530HCx because he was using his at the same time as my trip. I love them with the exception of one problem. The radios are very garbled most of the time, even when your only a few hundred yards apart. I've set them to different channels and tried several settings. Doesn't seam to help. Am I missing something simple? Thanks for any suggestions.

Sorry I can't speak from experience re the Rino's, BUT... on of the most common errors made by people using new radios in general is SHOUTING... I say that in humour of course, but it is true... overmodulation caused by being overly loud speaking into the microphone causes distortion and can cause clipping as well.

Clipping is when the tops and bottoms of audio signal (sine wave form) are flattened out... in fact you lose part of the voice. Distortion is just that, the signal gets warped out of shape and sounds like it... I'm sure there are many other possible causes, but not many cheaper to fix... Reduce the level of your voice and speak clearly... In FM radio, the quieter your voice, the less signal deviation and the more concentrated the signal (stronger) it becomes. Loudness equates to spreading out the frequency, quiet focuses it more.

 

You should also check that you are on the same frequency. Sometimes if you are in canyons or near cliffs you can have reflections (multiple signal paths) that result in distortion caused by several almost identical signals being received at nearly the same time, nearly that is... you can hear them almost simultaneously.

This tends to garble them. Solution to that is just move a bit until you find the clearest spot.

 

It also helps to shut off loud machinery like a quad or truck, or find a quieter spot...

 

Don't know if this will help, but it doesn't cost anything to try either...

 

Doug VE7RXC

[+Siskiyou]

Go into the radio setup and make sure it is not in scamble mode.

[7rxc]

Go into the radio setup and make sure it is not in scamble mode.

I'm not the one with the problem, but for my notes... These units have scramble??

I've never seen one out of a display case... Is this an audio scramble or something deeper...

and more inscrutable... I think that you may have something if they indeed do... Fingers can be a big problem with anything electronic for sure... along with either not or mis- reading the manual.

 

Doug VE7RXC

[+Jeff in Pa]

I new here, so bare with me. I've borrowed a friend of mine's Rino 120s several times in the past for trips we make to Mexico and the radios have always worked great. This year I bought a pair of Rino 530HCx because he was using his at the same time as my trip. I love them with the exception of one problem. The radios are very garbled most of the time, even when your only a few hundred yards apart. I've set them to different channels and tried several settings. Doesn't seam to help. Am I missing something simple? Thanks for any suggestions.

 

I have a couple of 520HCX and so I pulled them out to check this out. These units have a scramble setting that scrambles the voice that comes across any given channel and if I turn one "Scrambler" on and the other off it is very "Garbled" to say the least. You said that you were useing 120's with 530's and I don't think that the 120 has the scramble funtion so if the 530 scramble was turned on and the 120 does not have this funtion it would be the same as what I just experienced. This funtion serve's as a better privacy funtion so that if you don't have a new set of Rino's you can't understand what another party just said. I never tried that funtion till just now and it is a usable funtion.

 

Jeff

[+jamesdeanj]

I have 2 530HCX and they are both not on scramble. I know not to talk loud and not to close to my mouth. Sometimes they come in clear and other times they sound like you're under water. It's odd, even when you're in the middle of nowhere, where you think there would be no interference and even when it line of sight between the radios. Thanks for your help, please keep suggestions coming.

[+jamesdeanj]

I have 2 530HCX and they are both not on scramble. I know not to talk loud and not to close to my mouth. Sometimes they come in clear and other times they sound like you're under water. It's odd, even when you're in the middle of nowhere, where you think there would be no interference and even when it line of sight between the radios. Thanks for your help, please keep suggestions coming.

[+jamesdeanj]

I have 2 530HCX and they are both not on scramble. I know not to talk loud and not to close to my mouth. Sometimes they come in clear and other times they sound like you're under water. It's odd, even when you're in the middle of nowhere, where you think there would be no interference and even when it line of sight between the radios. Thanks for your help, please keep suggestions coming.

[+jamesdeanj]

I have 2 530HCX and they are both not on scramble. I know not to talk loud and not to close to my mouth. Sometimes they come in clear and other times they sound like you're under water. It's odd, even when you're in the middle of nowhere, where you think there would be no interference and even when it line of sight between the radios. Thanks for your help, please keep suggestions coming.

[+Jeff in Pa]

I have 2 530HCX and they are both not on scramble. I know not to talk loud and not to close to my mouth. Sometimes they come in clear and other times they sound like you're under water. It's odd, even when you're in the middle of nowhere, where you think there would be no interference and even when it line of sight between the radios. Thanks for your help, please keep suggestions coming.

 

My only suggestion is call Garmin, its not human error so there has to be something wrong with your units.

 

Jeff

[+leatherman]

Even with the older models, I have the 520, they were known to sound bad Tx. Due to their water proof membrane covering the mic.

I remember several complaints that I couldn't understood. I carried a separate radio 'cause of that.

[+jamesdeanj]

Even with the older models, I have the 520, they were known to sound bad Tx. Due to their water proof membrane covering the mic.

I remember several complaints that I couldn't understood. I carried a separate radio 'cause of that.

Maybe I'll try them with external mics and see if it's better. Thanks for the idea.

[7rxc]

I have 2 530HCX and they are both not on scramble. I know not to talk loud and not to close to my mouth. Sometimes they come in clear and other times they sound like you're under water. It's odd, even when you're in the middle of nowhere, where you think there would be no interference and even when it line of sight between the radios. Thanks for your help, please keep suggestions coming.

Official report in quadruplicate! Very official...

 

Any way, since you have checked things out, and found nothing out of order... They could be subject to some sort of frequency drift... being FM the transmission is spread out... being a few kilohertz up or down from the other radio and it sounds increasingly garbled... if both radios are randomly drifting slightly it could cause the intermittent clear / garbled... most radios can still be read when 10 khz off, but with difficulty. I think that during such a transmission the range would be much reduced since much of the signal would be missed. Only a guess... I suspect that they don't really put much into the radio technology for these things... at least compared with Ham or Commercial radio equipment. I was looking at some GMRS units that were a pair with charger and batteries for under $90 Cdn. Not Rinos, just ht's... since most of that was the charger and batteries I think... you can't expect too much... Garmin has a product reputation, but I don't see that some compromise to quality can be expected... I really have to have a closer look at them.

 

You might look for someone who can test for frequency or something like that... it should remain the same and not move around... you need someone with a counter or service monitor to do that... look for the local Ham radio guy... for example.

 

Doug VE7RXC

[+jamesdeanj]

Sorry about the quad post. My internet locked up and wouldn't move. Didn't realize it would post for everytime I had a seasure. I was just hoping that a $400-500 radio would be better than this, especially when the 130's I've used on previous occations worked great.

[+Jeff in Pa]

Sorry about the quad post. My internet locked up and wouldn't move. Didn't realize it would post for everytime I had a seasure. I was just hoping that a $400-500 radio would be better than this, especially when the 130's I've used on previous occations worked great.

 

Like I said... call Garmin, your radio should work great, I don't have any problems with mine.

 

Call them.

[7rxc]

Sorry about the quad post. My internet locked up and wouldn't move. Didn't realize it would post for everytime I had a seasure. I was just hoping that a $400-500 radio would be better than this, especially when the 130's I've used on previous occations worked great.

 

I was just kidding... about the quad thing... I did a little more reading of mail here...

IF you were right about the sometimes clear and sometimes garbled results, I'd say that the presence of a membrane on the mic isn't in itself the problem... It would probably be either all good or always poor. Unless the membrane comes and goes... in sync with the quality. It might be as simple as something loose inside... mics are small and can roll around (away from the talk spot grill - some are just a single small hole). I remember poorly, but there was a radio that was poorly finished for it's cost... it was always muffled in some cases (examples ) that were bought. That was just a piece of plastic left over from moulding the case that moved around and often blocked the single 2.5 mm hole. Once removed it was fine.

 

As for my comments on the costs... I did go to Garmin and look at the product notes... Have you any idea what level the GPS portion corresponds to... does it match another model without a radio... I suspect still that the FRS/GPS radio portion is likely comparable in quality to stand alone radios... The interconnection software/ hardware wouldn't be horribly expensive in itself... Hams have used GPS with APRS for years without excessive costs... and that was when you had to buy radio, GPS and radio modem separately.

plus a computer to view the results. I still wish you luck on finding the problem. Those look like good radio sets and GPS by themselves as far as when they are working well.

 

Doug VE7RXC

[+leatherman]

Even with the older models, I have the 520, they were known to sound bad Tx. Due to their water proof membrane covering the mic.

I remember several complaints that I couldn't understood. I carried a separate radio 'cause of that.

Why did I say I had the 520?

 

I have the 120. Sorry.