Programming Your TYT MD-380 HT
OK so unlike many simpler & analog radios, you can’t just type in the frequencies you want to use into the keypad and off you go.
Instead, you must run communication software that will set the repeaters you will be using.
You can assign various repeaters to up to 16 different channels.
You can also program in analog frequencies (both simplex & duplex)
The good news is once you get your software file lined up, you can constantly tweak and re-program your radio
until its just the way you like it.
Install TYT software
You’ll use the official TYT interface software to update the settings, download and install from http://www.tyt888.com/
Uncompress and install
It’s not signed, you may have to turn off program signing on your computer!
Once installed, run…
You’ll get a ‘default’ setup like so:
Read in Radio Setup
Turn off the radio, plug your radio into the programming cable, then turn on. Make sure it shows up as a USB device. Now select Read Data
If you get something like:
Check that you have the STM DFU driver, not the libusbK driver installed
Fresh codeplug!
Now you have a ‘blank slate’ to work with, which is the default ‘codeplug’
If you by chance need to ‘start over’ with a blank original setup, this is the default codeplug file:
Program in DMR ID
Remember that ID number you got earlier? Now’s the time to use it. Type it into the General Settings window under Radio ID
Program in Contacts
As we determined, K2MAK is a good place to start so let’s program in this repeater that covers all of Manhattan:
This repeater carries
- Group 1 (World wide)
- Group 13 (World wide English)
- Group 3 (US + English / North America)
- Group 3172 (North East)
- Group 2 (NY-NJ Metro)
- Two TAC groups (wont be covered here)
We’ll enter all of these in as optional ways for us to communicate with others.
Go to the Digital Contacts window, to start it will have only “Contact1” which is group call ID #1
Click Add at the bottom to add a bunch of empty slots, then fill each slot with the Talk group and TG ID #
Entering Channels
The blank/new codeplug has 17 Channel slots. Note that these aren’t necessarily ‘hardcoded’ to the channel selector, you can change zones to change which channels are used. In fact you can have dozens of Channels, split between zones. For now, though, we’ll only keep the first Zone and set up one channel per talk group.
In general:
- Each channel is for a specific repeater and talk group
- You can have a different repeater/TG per channel
- You can change out all of the channels when you switch zones. So, if you are often in both NY and Texas, you can have a fully different set of repeaters and channels you switch between!
However, we’ll start with just once channel for talk group 2, on the K2MAK repeater.
Set Name and Frequency
Let start by defining this to be the K2MAK NJNY Region channel:
The midtown Manhattan, NY repeater that is part of the Bronx-TRBO network. The Repeater Transmitting frequency is 448.2750 MHz and the Repeater Receiving frequency is 448.2750 – 5 = 443.2750 MHz
That means we should set our channel RX to 448.2750 and the channel TX to 443.2750
You’re not done! You next have to program in the Color Code for the repeater as well as the time slot. You’ll get this info from the repeater as well:
This goes on the right hand side, in partular m ake sure you have the right Color Code and Repeater Slot to match the Contact Name. The remaining you can set to None
Once you have the frequencies for your repeater set up you can speed things up by copying one channel:
and pasting it onto another. Note it will delete what was in the channel you’re pasting into
This time, I’ll program in the NE Regional, which is on Timeslot #1 so don’t forget to change it!
I’ll do the rest, ending with Worldwide. I set this to RX only so I dont accidentally TX on it!
Write Data
That’s it! You’re ready to upload the data to your radio. Don’t forget you can always go back and mess with your codeplug and then re-upload it if you make a mistake or want to have more repeaters or contacts
