In general, an update of PC-software (CPS) or radio-firmware should only be done if it is really required, following the golden rule that "If it isn´t broken, don´t fix it!". Notes: ⅰ. Prior to performing a firmware update, save the current codeplug to a file. After doing so, the firmware update may be applied. Finally, the previously saved codeplug should then again be written to the radio using the corresponding CPS. ⅱ. This firmware update guidance works for both Radioddity GD-88 and Radioddity DB25-D 　 Before update, the following items are needed: ⅰ. Programming cable ⅱ. Radio ⅲ. A computer running the Windows (XP/Vista/7/8/10/11) operating system ⅳ. Download the firmware and update tool through Radioddity Download Page ⅴ. Make sure the radio is with sufficient power / stable power supply 　 Firmware Update Steps 1.Install the Firmware Update Tool To install the updater, just unzip the archive you downloaded from Radioddity support and double click on the file, named "IAP(setup).exe". This will install the firmware update program on your Windows machine and place a shortcut on your desktop. 2. Put the radio into firmwamre update mode ⅰ. Turn off the radio. ⅱ. Close the CPS (in case it had been running) in order to make sure the virtual COM-port of your programming cable is not occupied. ⅲ. Connect your Radioddity GD-88 or DB25-D via the supplied programming cable to your Windows PC. ⅳ. Press the [P1]-key on top of the Radioddity DB25-D and keep it depressed. For the Radioddity GD-88 it is the upper sidekey [P2] that needs to be kept depressed. ⅴ. Additionally turn on the radio either by turning the volume key clockwise (Radioddity GD-88) or by pressing the "power key" left to the [P1]-key (Radioddity DB25-D). ⅵ. The status-LED will constantly light up red. ⅶ. On the Radioddity GD-88 a special screen will be displayd with either "IAP_A" or "IAP_B" shown in the top line. On the Radioddity DB25-D, the display will stay blank and backlight will be on, regardless of your normal settings. ⅷ. Release the [P1]-key (Radioddity DB25-D) or the upper sidekey [P2] (Radioddity GD-88). 　 3. Start the update tool 　 4. Choose the virtual COM-port that does represent your programming cable 5. Click on "Open" Note: If the update tool connect to your Radioddity DB25-D or GD-88 successfully, it will output "IAP Successfully". If it isn´t able to connect to the radio, it will stay on CommPort:COM "x" (where "x" represents the selected virtual COM-port number of your programming cable ). If you forgot to shut down the CPS, you will get a "The COMM port is occupied or doesn't exit!" error. 　 6. Click on the button "Open APP file". 7. navigate to the path that does contain the update file that is intended to be transferred to the Radioddity DB25-D or Radioddity GD-88, such as: "C7000_DR880UV_HAM_A_2022-10-27" Note: ⅰ. Do not use update files intended for other radios, even if those radios may be looking like the Radioddity DB25-D or Radioddity GD-88. Using files not intended to be put on a Radioddity DB25-D or a Radioddity GD-88 may result in a loss of any guarantee ⅱ. Whereas a firmware update for the Radioddity DB25-D consists of just one file, the Radioddity GD-88 does require two separate files. One for each independent VFO (A and B). To select the target location of the file, long press the upper side key [P2] of the Radioddity GD-88 to switch between "IAP_A" and "IAP_B". The firmware files are normally marked with "HAM_A" and "HAM_B". 　 8. To start the actual update process, click on the ‘IAP’ button. Note: Do not press any key on the radio, do not remove power, just wait until the radio has finished the update process and turns off! During the update process, the status-LED will flash green and red and the application shows the progress by the increasing number of "Current Page". As soon as the update has finished on the Radioddity DB25-D, the radio will automatically shut down, whereas the Radioddity GD-88 will state the following on its screen "Status: Rec Done!". If you have just updated one of the two GD-88 VFOs it is now time to select the second VFO (long press of the upper side key) and update it with its corresponding firmware file as well. After you have updated both VFOs of the Radioddity GD-88, turn off the radio. 　 9. You may now normally power on the radio again. To check which firmware version currently is installed, click: MENU → Device Info → Version he output will look similar to: 　 Enjoy the new firmware!

Radioddity GD-88 now also fully supported by CPEditor As you may know, David MM7DBT´s CPEditor already does support our well-selling Radioddity DB25-D mobile radio for quite a long time. We are happy to tell you that now David additionally added the functionality required to fully support the Radioddity GD-88 handheld radio as well! In order to make the transition even easier, his CPEditor even allows to write a DB25-D codeplug formerly created with his CPEditor to a GD-88 or a GD-88 codeplug to a DB25-D. His CPEditor has been successfully tested with the initial firmware as well as with the newest release and we are confident, that future firmware releases of the DB25-D and GD-88 will also be fully supported by his CPEditor. Besides general functionality to write a codeplug to the radio and read it from the radio and store it in a file, his CPEditor is also capable of updating the radio firmware, changing the startup-logo and writing the DMR-database (even selectable per country) to the radio. Just one single tool does it all. Now searching for an updated DMR-ID database, personalization of your radio, keeping it fresh... and some more functionality is included within just one single tool that even runs under Windows 11 and supports all COM-ports. However, two things Radioddity customers should know: 1. Radioddity does not give any support to his editor. If you have any suggestions or need help/support about it, please use David MM7DBT's wiki and forum to communicate with the community. 2. If you do use David MM7DBT´s CPEditor and feel happy, please consider honoring his work by using the donating link as found on his Codeplug Editor website. Download here the Radioddity version of his CPEditor today! 　 Little Secret: The next update of his editor will also support new features that will be part of the next Radioddity GD-88 firmware update. Stay tuned...

Since a long time, there had been a nasty bug hiding in the firmware of our DB25-D and GD-88. Under certain circumstances this did prevent the correct display of DMR ID data that had previously been written to the radio on the radio screen. This bug has now finally been eliminated for both radios. If you update your radio with that new firmware, you also do need the newest version of our CPS. What´s been fixed: • DMR ID data is now properly displayed (no more display of wrong DMR database data) • Assignment of 1450 Hz Pilot tone fixed (does require at least CPS 3.3 DMR CPS_DRS [9.2.16]) • minor fixes within the Talker Alias display • support for programming cable based on FTDI-chip • Radioddity DB25-D only: ‘Dual Watch’ added as option to be assigned for a programmable function key. This results to the very same functionality as the switch for Single or Dual VFO display mode found within the radio menu at ‘Local Set ➙ DisplayMode ➙ S/D mode’ 　 Note: When assigning one of the burst tones / pilot tones to short press of a programmable p-key, the long-press function will not be available. So best would be to assign burst tones / pilot tones only to long-press of p-keys. 　 Known issues: Non-standard ASCII-characters are not yet supported for Talker Alias. If received Talker Alias data contains such non-standard ASCII-characters or the Talker Alias data received had been encoded using UTF-16, only part of the Talker Alias data will be decoded successfully. --- --- --- --- --- --- For full details, please click Radioddity Download Page to get and checkout the release notes of the various archives. Within our support pages for the DB25-D you will find: • 2022-11-20 Radioddity CPS 3.3 [9.2.16] (file: 2022-11-20 DB25-D and GD-88 CPS 3.3 DMR CPS_DRS [9.2.16].zip) • 2022-11-23 Firmware 909E.D64.EARSAB.018 (File: Radioddity DB25-D firmware 909E.D64.EARSAB.018.rar) Within our support pages for the GD-88 you will find: • 2022-11-20 Radioddity CPS 3.3 [9.2.16] (file: 2022-11-20 DB25-D and GD-88 CPS 3.3 DMR CPS_DRS [9.2.16].zip) • 2022-11-20 Firmware B49E.D64.EHPSAB.010 (file: Radioddity GD-88 firmware B49E.D64.EHRSAB.009.zip) --- --- --- --- --- --- Relevant Blog: How to update Radioddity GD-88 & DB25-D Firmware?

A while ago, back in April 2021 we did publish our first edition of “Getting on Air with Your DMR Radio”. Since then, we introduced two more DMR-radios, the GD-AT10G handheld and the DB-25D mobile. As we noticed that both radios are often bought by ham operators new to DMR, our engineers updated the existing document to include references for those new radios. The 43-page document starts with the very basics, such as how to apply for a DMR ID and continues with chapters on gathering information about the DMR station(s) you want to operate up to the point where it guides you on how to create your own, working codeplug (that´s the settings file for your DMR radio). What can you learn from this document? 1. Intention of this document 2. Make yourself familiar with DMR 3. Apply for and receive your DMR ID 4. Gather information about a DMR station 5. Install any USB-driver that might be required 6. Install CPS according to your DMR-capable radio 7. General process of creating a DMR code plug from scratch 8. Sample codeplugs You want the easy way? Get your copy of the document, together with sample codeplugs for Radioddity GD-73, GD-77, RD-5R, GD-AT10G, DB-25D as well as Baofeng DM-1701 and TYT MD-9600 > CLICK HERE <

--- by Jason Reilly Introduction: "The nice thing about standards is there are so many to choose from." I love the ironic humor in this statement; a standard should result in everyone doing things the same way in order to be compatible, and prevent having to constantly re-invent the wheel. Yet, everyone has to have their own standard! Just take two-way radio digital voice systems for example: there’s P25 phase 1 and phase 2, NDXN, DMR, TETRA, OpenSky, Provoice, and dPMR, along with a whole host of legacy digital voice modes as well. That doesn’t even consider the ham radio contenders, such as DStar, Fusion, FreeDV, some old offerings from Alinco & AOR and so on. And guess what? Absolutely none of them are compatible! Choosing what digital voice standard you'll go with can be daunting. For emergency services and government communications, P25 is by far the most dominant, there’s no doubt about that. For business & private radio, DMR followed by NXDN is the two most popular choice. In the ham radio arena, the picture is a little less clear. DStar took an early lead, but Yaesu is keen to take market share with their Fusion offering. Hams have always been keen to leverage off existing commercial equipment, and it seems the most popular commercial system adopted presently is DMR. Personally, I think DMR will take the lead in both the commercial business & private two-way radio field as well as in ham radio. This is helped in no small part by the ready availability of DMR radio equipment at prices that rival traditional analog two-way radio, and that one of the biggest names in two-way radio, Motorola, are throwing their weight behind DMR. 　 Motorola's SL7750 blurs the line between DMR radio and cellular mobile phone 　 Three flavours: There are three "tiers" or levels of functionality for DMR systems. Tier 1: The simplest form of DMR is Tier 1, which is mainly used for simplex communications, with no repeaters. The human voice is digitally sampled and compressed with the AMBE+2 codec, and then transmitted in this digital form to another radio. Tier 2: Things start to get a bit more complicated here. With Tier 2 DMR, repeaters are used in a TDMA arrangement, with two "timeslots. What this means is that two completely separate radio transmissions can be going through the repeater at the same time; each radio takes turns in transmitting in short 27.5 millisecond bursts. In addition to this, radios can be set to logical closed groups called ’talk groups’, which you can think of as ’virtual channels’. Repeaters can be linked via the internet to form networks that can be as small as just two repeaters, or thousands of repeaters across the world. Again, the AMBE+2 codec is used to turn speech into compressed data for transmission. All amateur radio DMR systems are Tier 2, as are many business / commercial radio DMR systems. Tier 3: This is effectively a trunked radio system on top of Tier 2. A pool of frequencies are used to carry the TDMA transmissions. This is used by more complex or larger networks for big businesses and commercial radio users. 　 The advantages of DMR: So why go to all this trouble, when plain old analogue FM works perfectly well? DMR has the advantage that it four times more efficient when it comes to spectrum usage. For one 25 kHz analogue FM channel, you could fit four DMR transmissions. Not only that, but DMR offers some very flexible calling facilities - you can call one person, a group of people, or everyone in your fleet at once. While not every DMR network supports it, sending of data and short messages is also possible. DMR is also designed to be easy to network, with connections using IP, so creating wide coverage areas using a network of DMR repeaters is already built-in; cover your city or cover the entire country! Yet another advantage is because a DMR transmitter is only turned on about half the time due to it transmitting in bursts, battery life is longer. 　 TYT's hugely popular MD-380 can be bought for around $100 　 Some DMR Jargon: Colour codes: Every DMR transmission uses a "colour code" which is very similar to CTCSS or PL tones in the analogue radio world. On a repeater or simplex frequency, every radio must use the same colour code to be able to communicate together. The main use for colour codes is for where two repeater coverage areas on the same frequency may overlap, different colour codes are used to ensure each radio accesses the correct repeater. Timeslot: For Tier 2 and 3 systems, a timeslot is a slice of time, about 30ms long, that a radio can transmit in, or receive in. There are two timeslots per frequency, and you need to have your radio configured for the right colour code for the repeater, the correct timeslot and correct talkgroup for you to be able to hear anything. Zones: This is simply a collection of channels & talkgroups, all grouped together in one "zone" or bank. A radio user can switch zones to access a different lot of channels & talkgroups that they may wish to use. Typically a zones are divided into repeaters for different areas, so you might have one zone for the west side of a city, and another covering the east side of the city - but there's nothing to say that you must set up a zone that way. Code Plug: This is a Motorola term that has stuck over the years, and in the DMR context means a complete configuration file of channels, talkgroups, zones, contacts etc. for a radio. The code plug can be saved to computer disc, and is used to program a radio to give it the functionality a user requires. CPS: Another Motorola term, meaning Customer Program Software. Simply put, this is the software you’d use to create a "code plug" and configure your radio. Hotspot: A small box that connects to the internet and acts like your own personal low power DMR repeater, useful if you're not in range of a DMR repeater to access. You can even take them with you and use your cell / mobile phone wireless data to connect the hotspot to the internet and be able to use DMR anywhere you get cellular signal. Most hotspots are multi-mode, handling not only DMR but DStar, Yaesu Fusion and P25 as well. ZUMspot, Jumbospot, Openspot, MMDVM etc are all examples of hotspots that you can buy or build yourself. 　 Radioddity GD-77, dual band, DMR & FM, I think the best bang-for-your-buck DMR portable, also around $100 　 So what's in it for me? The use of DMR in radio hobbyist circles falls into two categories: ham / amateur radio and scanning receiver use. Lets take a quick look at each: Ham radio: Hams have long taken advantage of surplus, second hand, or even new commercial radio equipment and re-purposed it for their own use, and DMR equipment is no exception. Worldwide, DMR enabled and connected repeaters are appearing and are interconnected to provide a huge linked network spanning the entire globe. Depending on the talk group selected, you could be communicating just around town, across your region, across the entire country, and some groups even cover the world. Motorola DMR equipment is frequently used, but increasingly the cheaper units, in particular TYT, have increased the affordability and availability of DMR equipment to the mass market. In some cases, you can get on air to the DMR scene for less than a hundred dollars! Scanning: As the world relentlessly marches on to a digital future, many businesses and commercial interests have migrated their legacy analogue FM two way radio systems to DMR. There are scanners available that can hear DMR, enabling the scanning hobbyist to continue to listen to such transmissions. For those hobbyists who can’t justify the high price tag of those scanners to listen in to DMR, there are other alternatives: certain computer software can decode DMR with a regular scanner and a ’discriminator tap’, or a ’virtual audio cable’ if using an SDR, or if portable DMR reception is desired, an entry level DMR transceiver from TYT or Radioddity will do the job very well - to keep yourself on the correct side of the law, you should disable any transmit capabilities of these transceivers. If you are looking for a quick guide on how to program the digital channels for your Radioddity GD-77 or RD-5R, take a look here: http://members.optuszoo.com.au/jason.reilly1/Radioddity-DMR-Quick-Start-Guide-GD-77&RD-5R.pdf (1.1 Mb)