Questions for Rugged Radios G1 Users

[HPNQ420]

I just finished installing this radio in my Bronco. A couple of things aren't clear from the users manual.

1. Can I enter a channel from the mic? When I type a number from the mic it shows up on the main screen but I can't figure out how to confirm it.

2. Can you program the presets P1 & P2 without software? If so, how?

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[GNFITR]

I don't have any answers for you, and hopefully you have figured this out already.

I do have a G1 being delivered today. I won't get it installed until this weekend though because the antenna, mount cable, etc won't be here until Friday.

While researching radios I did find this:

https://www.rtsystemsinc.com/RRS-G1...G1-GMRS-radio-from-Rugged-Radios-_p_2162.html

I have a Amateur Radio license also but I sold all my gear a few years ago and have been out of the hobby. Getting into GMRS may convince me to pick that back up and I wil probably use the G1 for more than just offroading. So the cable and software may come in handy.

 

[GNFITR]

I just finished installing this radio in my Bronco. A couple of things aren't clear from the users manual.

1. Can I enter a channel from the mic? When I type a number from the mic it shows up on the main screen but I can't figure out how to confirm it.

2. Can you program the presets P1 & P2 without software? If so, how?

BTW-How do you like the G1 so far?

 

[HPNQ420]

I don't have any answers for you, and hopefully you have figured this out already.

I do have a G1 being delivered today. I won't get it installed until this weekend though because the antenna, mount cable, etc won't be here until Friday.

While researching radios I did find this:

https://www.rtsystemsinc.com/RRS-G1...G1-GMRS-radio-from-Rugged-Radios-_p_2162.html

I have a Amateur Radio license also but I sold all my gear a few years ago and have been out of the hobby. Getting into GMRS may convince me to pick that back up and I wil probably use the G1 for more than just offroading. So the cable and software may come in handy.

I never did figure it out. So far I haven't really needed to. I think I will pick up the software and see what it can do.

The radio itself works great. So far I have used it mostly on trail rides, where it gives clear communication in hilly terrain that didn't allow com with a cheap handheld.

I have a set of cheap Midland handhelds. I have a part time business training police and SAR dogs in tracking trailing and I'll use these to communicate with the trail layers waiting to be found. Yesterday I lost com with one of my trail layers when she was about 1000m out in urban terrain. I turned on the G1 and no problem. She could hear me with the crappy handheld with the crappy antenna because I had a real transmitter and real antenna, and I could hear her because the supplied Point 5 antenna could pick up her crappy antenna and transmitter.

I just passed my technician exam and I am going to add a good waterproof dual band handheld to my kit. I'll hook up a dual band antenna on the opposite side cowl to the Point 5 so the handheld won't be kneecapped by its antenna. I like everything to be waterproof inside my Bronco. If you take the top off sooner or later the equipment inside will get wet. Mine did last week.

 

[GNFITR]

Yep, that's why I went with the MGV seats and the washout flooring.

I will install it this weekend and let you know if I figure anything out.

 

[GNFITR]

So I got my G1 installed and did some testing with it. I found that the radio will not save PL Tones. I have three repeaters that I can reach from my home and they all use PL Tones. I programmed one for testing and it worked fine. After changing channels and coming back to that repeater channel I was unable to make any contact. I went in and finally figured out the PL Tones that I set had reverted back to tones off. I figured out it works fine after you set them as long as you stay on that channel, but when you change channels or turn the radio off it goes back to tones off. I have never had another radio that does that so I called RR this morning and they told me I was doing it correctly but I needed updated firmware (I have the 8/2023 ver so less than a year old). I said OK how do I get that? They said I can't and I needed to send the radio back to them to get the Firmware updated if I want it to work correctly. I have had my Amateur license for several years and I don't recall ever owning a radio that required me to send it back to the manufacture just to update the firmware.

So this radio looks good on paper but the engineers writing the software/firmware are obviously idiots so I am not sure I would recomend this to anyone until they figure out how to do something other radio manufactures have been doing for many years.

Update: So while writing this, RR Customer Service called me back and said they would send me the updated firmware file that should resolve this issue but they needed a couple of days to put that together. Apparently I am the first person to contact them to get this done. Again not a lot of confidence at this point but I will let you know how it works out.

 

[GNFITR]

I just finished installing this radio in my Bronco. A couple of things aren't clear from the users manual.

1. Can I enter a channel from the mic? When I type a number from the mic it shows up on the main screen but I can't figure out how to confirm it.

2. Can you program the presets P1 & P2 without software? If so, how?

Ok I think I have an answer for you for Question #2:

If you go to the channel you want to save as P1 and do a "long press" on the P1 button on the radio, that channel will be saved as P1. Same for P2 and HWY. The accepted HWY Channel is 19 but I beleive you can save any programmed channel to HWY if you want. I did not try it with the P1 button on the MIC but that may work also.

I did not check, but those presets may or may not revert back if you Power the radio off. I do know you can program those buttons with the software.

As far as Question #1, if I understand correctly, you would be TX & RX on the channel that is being displayed on the screen of the radio. I have not played with that much other than I know you can scroll thru the channels using the UP/DN arrows.

I think I have my "Code Plug" streamlined and all of the extra unnecessary channels deleted and added the local repeaters for my area. Let me know if you get the programming software and have any questions. It is pretty straight foreward if you understand what each setting does.

Also there are some nice to have settings in the software like "Auto Off" I was worried about leaving it on for an extended time since it is wired direct to the battery, but in the software you have the option to set it to turn off after a period of time. That may be in the radio menu too, but I have not seen it.

 

[HPNQ420]

Ok I think I have an answer for you for Question #2:

If you go to the channel you want to save as P1 and do a "long press" on the P1 button on the radio, that channel will be saved as P1. Same for P2 and HWY. The accepted HWY Channel is 19 but I beleive you can save any programmed channel to HWY if you want. I did not try it with the P1 button on the MIC but that may work also.

I did not check, but those presets may or may not revert back if you Power the radio off. I do know you can program those buttons with the software.

As far as Question #1, if I understand correctly, you would be TX & RX on the channel that is being displayed on the screen of the radio. I have not played with that much other than I know you can scroll thru the channels using the UP/DN arrows.

I think I have my "Code Plug" streamlined and all of the extra unnecessary channels deleted and added the local repeaters for my area. Let me know if you get the programming software and have any questions. It is pretty straight foreward if you understand what each setting does.

Also there are some nice to have settings in the software like "Auto Off" I was worried about leaving it on for an extended time since it is wired direct to the battery, but in the software you have the option to set it to turn off after a period of time. That may be in the radio menu too, but I have not seen it.

Software is worth it for the auto off alone.

 

[GNFITR]

Software is worth it for the auto off alone.

Well so much for that. I was working on some things so I had my radio scanning while I was in the shop. After nearly 2 hours later, the G1 never shut off.

I emailed RT Systems and they tested it. Long story short- "Auto Off" does not work and will be remeoved from the programing software in a future upgrade.

 

[CrystalRedTintCoat]

I just finished installing this radio in my Bronco. A couple of things aren't clear from the users manual.

1. Can I enter a channel from the mic? When I type a number from the mic it shows up on the main screen but I can't figure out how to confirm it.

If I understand your question correctly, yes you can. I like RPT18 and would like to tune to that GMRS Channel directly. From the mic, enter its Rugged Channel and boom! It tunes in.

Let’s assume the default (OOTB — out of the box) Rugged Channel of GMRS RPT18 is 048, simply enter 048 on the mic and your Rugged will turn to RPT18.

See, the rugged can be programmed to accept up to 199 Rugged Channels. Even though there are only a handful of GMRS channels (22 to be exact), you can set up Rugged channels based on various configurations of GMRS channels, provided there are local repeaters, in your area, and these repeaters have been setup to allow the use of Tones.

Let’s say you like to use the GMRS channel RPT16 @ the frequency 462.5750. But you don’t want to trounce on public 4x4 chatter used by off-roaders. Provided, there’s a repeater in your area, who is willing to provision Tones for you and your group, you could setup your Rugged to Transmit and Receive on that same GMRS channel with the owner’s specified Tone allowing only you and your friends hear one another. Doing this means the general public won’t hear you. (Caveat Emptor — there are ways for Joe Public to determine the Tone you are using and thus lurk or join the conversation).

But you don’t want to use the same OOTB Rugged Channel (RPT16 in our example here) for BOTH Open and Restricted communication. Instead, using software from RT Systems Inc, program your Rugged to have TWO (2) GMRS RPT16 channels. One for open communication (no tones) and one for closed communication (with Tones) for you and your posse.

Note: for those in the know, many Repeater owners employ the Travel Tone of 141.3 which is reserved for emergency situations. So you /could/ program your Rugged to have 16 repeaters Rugged channels rather than just the 8 channels mapped to the GMRS 8 repeater channels. That way you have 8 open/public repeaters _and_ you have 8 Travel Tone repeaters for emergency communication.

Example:
Channel RPT15 no tone
Channel RPT15 using tone 141.3
Channel RPT16 no tone
Channel RPT16 using tone 141.3
..


But, your time might better be served referencing the local repeaters in your area using www.mygmrs.com.

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