Below is a set of programming tips for anyone programming an ICOM NXDN Second Generation Radio. We covered the first couple steps this past Wednesday evening on the Florida NXDN Net (TG 1200 every Wednesday evening at 7:30 PM)
The real trick when programming any of ICOM’s NXDN radios is to do the following:
- Populate the Call List table with the Talkgroups and Individual IDs you want to use in your radio. On our network, Talkgroups 1 (Local), 1200 (Florida), 1201 (WCF Section) and 1299 (SKYWARN) are the most popular. There are a couple regional Talkgroups (1215 for Charlotte Co ARES) and 1231 (S-A-R-G) that are EmComm oriented. However, since neither of them will activate the Boyette repeater, adding them to your Call List is optional.
- Create a Digital Profile for every Talkgroup you will be assigning to one or more Memory Channels. When you program each memory channel, you will assign a Digital Profile to that channel. That represents the Talkgroup that will be used for both RX and TX.
- With Steps 1 and 2 complete, you can now start programming your Memory Channels. Many users group the repeaters they want to use into specific ZONES. They will create a ZONE for TG1200, TG 1201, TG 1299 and TG 1. Then, they will add a channel for each repeater each respective ZONE. This makes navigating between repeaters easy and enables remaining on the same Talkgroup. We recommend using SEL (Selective Squelch) for all ZONES. If you would like to monitor more than one Talkgroup, you can ADD those TGIDs into the RX GROUP list for each ZONE.
- It is likely you will have more than one ZONE in your radio. As you name a ZONE, scroll all the way to the RIGHT and make sure you designate an estimated number of Memory Channels for that ZONE. Unless a ZONE has at least one Memory Channel, you will not be able to access it from the list of ZONES. Once you are in a ZONE, you can easy ADD new Memory Channels. You can also DELETE Memory Channels by right clicking on one or more channels you wish to delete and selecting the DELETE command from the menu.
- The F4400DS supports Over-the-Air-Alias. That enables you to transmit a plain text Alias in addition to your Radio’s NXDN ID every time you press the PTT. Most Hams use OTAA (found in the DIGITAL à OPTION page to transmit their FCC callsign.
- Make sure you ADD your NXDN ID into the programming. Use DIGITAL à CONVENTIONAL àOWN ID (Edit).
Watch for another email coming soon with more information on how to UPGRADE your radio to VOTE SCAN.
73 de Paul-NB9X