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Two-Way Radio Guidelines A two-way radio is an essential safety device during every Carnity Offroad Club drive. It is the primary means of communication between the convoy members. Before the Drive Every participant must bring their own two-way radio. We highly recommend programming your radio with the Carnity frequencies listed below beforehand. We do not provide spare radios or program radios at the meeting point. For your very first club drive we can lend you a radio for that day only. Ensure your battery is fully charged before every drive. No radio = No drive. If you need help choosing, programming or operating your radio, simply create a topic on the Carnity website. Our community will gladly assist you. Radio Channels Carnity Offroad Club uses multiple radio channels so that several convoys can operate simultaneously without interfering with one another. Your Drive Lead will always announce the channel to use before the convoy starts. Recommended Radio Models and Brands UHF Two-Way Radio (400-470Mhz operating range). (VHF will not work). Handheld radio (built-in models can be purchased as extra but you need at least one handheld model. Recommended brands are: Baofeng (UV5R, UV5RH, UV5R Mini), Crony or Motorola MT777, TYT, Make sure it's equipped with a keypad so you can enter the frequency. Do not buy the models without keypad unless you are savvy enough to program with a separate USB cable and Chirp Software. Recommended Radio Settings For best compatibility with other convoy members, we recommend: Frequency Step: 6.25 kHz CTCSS / DCS: Disabled (unless instructed otherwise) VOX: Off Radio Etiquette Listen before transmitting. Keep messages short and clear. Do not interrupt emergency communications. Use the radio for convoy-related communication only. Follow the instructions of the Drive Lead and Marshals. The 10 radio frequencies are listed below: Technical Details STEP FREQUENCY: on the FM band, frequencies are spaced from each-other at a certain bandwidth. The Step frequency is basically the incremental change in your radio when you turn the rotary knob on top of your radio. When you program the radio to a certain frequency, you will need to make sure the appropriate step frequency has been set correctly. (see on the above frequency list). PTT: Short for PUSH-TO-TALK: This is the button on the side of your radio that you push when you want to broadcast a message. MON: Most radios have a Monitor button. When pushed you are basically monitoring the channel. If no-one is broadcasting you will just hear noise. But this is useful to set your desired volume. SQL or Squelch: To make sure that your radio does not pickup every little signal, the squelch acts as a gatekeeper to only allow a broadcast on your radio when it is strong enough or nearby enough. If you encounter a lot of noise that's being picked up by the radio, try changing the SQL setting a little bit. A higher setting makes the radio less sensitive to noise. RX and TX frequencies: RX stands for Receiving frequency, which TX stands for transmitting frequency. in Carnity we transmit and receive on the same channels. DCS / CT codes: These are basically encryption settings that allow a user to make sure only radios with exact same CT codes can listen in on the chatter. As these settings are confusing and complex, they should not be used (CT should not be showing on your display). Programming the Motorola/Crony MT777: Note: This radio has 2 operating modes called "Frequency" and "Channel". To switch between these modes, keep the ENTER button pressed while switching on the radio. Pressing the VFO/MR button while you're in Frequency mode will bring you to the combined mode, which is basically a screen that shows both the channel and the frequency. You can use either one of these modes during operation. To Program the Channels: 1. Make sure your radio is switched off. 2. Press the Moni (black button on top of the orange one on your left side), and MENU key together while switching on the radio. 3. Wait for the set to display SELF (which means manual setup). 4. Press Enter and it will show the Channel number. 5. You can choose which channel to program by selecting it from the rotary selector knob on the top of your device. 6. Once you have the desired channel, press ENTER. 7. Type your first frequency you want to program. 8. Press ENTER on every setting below to go through the advanced settings and verify if they are programmed as following: (If above settings are not correct they can be changed with the rotary knob on the top keep pressing enter until your set displays the next channel to be set). 03=OFF (if a number is showing here, push the *Lock button until OFF appears). 04= Enter the same frequency as the one you want to program. 05= OFF (if a number is showing here, push the *Lock button until OFF appears). 06= OFF 07= ADD 08= HIGH(H) 09= NARROW 10=-------- 9. Repeat from Step 5 to program the rest of your channels. Very useful Youtube video below: method for adding a single frequency later on, without going through the whole SELF programming mode again: 1. Make sure the radio is in Frequency Mode. Type in the frequency you want to program. E.g 446.00625 2. Press MENU and then press the VFO/MR button. The channel number will start to blink. 3. Use the rotary selector knob to select on which channel you want to save this frequency. 4. Press VFO/MR button again to confirm and exit. Keypad can be locked by pushing the * LOCK button for a few seconds. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Programming the Crony CN888: Note: This radio has 3 operating modes called "Frequency", "VFO", and "Channel". You can toggle between these modes by pressing the orange Function button on the top left corner, followed by pressing 1 (Mode). Programming the radio as described below can only be done in VFO mode. 1. Switch on the radio. 2. Press the Function Key (orange button on top left corner). 3. Press 4 (STEP) until it shows 6.25. Press EXIT to confirm. 4. Now type the first frequency you want to program. Eg. 446.00625 5. Now press the # button. The Channel number in the corner of the display will start to blink. 6. Select with the A (up) or B(down) buttons to choose wich channel you want to save the frequency. 7. Press the C button. the radio will confirm by saying "SAVED AS RX FREQUENCY" 8. Press the # button again. The Channel number in the corner of the display will start to blink. 9. Press the D button. the radio will confirm by saying "SAVED AS TX FREQUENCY" Keypad can be locked by pushing the Function button, followed by the *F.L button. Programming the Baofeng UV5-R: When buying a radio like the Baofeng UV5R, many certain frequencies and channels are already programmed into the radio, but these are different from the ones we use in Carnity. As you will be programming 5 new channels onto Channel number 1 till 5, it is important to first delete these existing frequencies stored in those channels. You can do that as following: Step 1: Delete the existing channels from channel 1 till 5: 1- Switch on the radio 2- Press the MENU button followed by the buttons 2 and 8. (Menu 28). 3- Press MENU, and then use the UP/DOWN arrows to select which channel you want to clear. 4- Select CH1 and press MENU again, you will hear "delete channel, followed by confirmed". 5- Now go back to step 3 and do the same for the following channels (CH2-CH3-CH4-CH5). 6- Now all 5 channels are clear and ready to be programmed. Step 2: Set the step-frequency: - Switch on the radio - Press the MENU button and with the up and down buttons select STEP frequency. - Change this to 6.25 and press MENU to confirm. - Press EXIT to go back to the main menu. Step 3 Program the new frequencies in the radio: 1- Press the VFO button. You will hear the confirmation “frequency mode”. 2- Make sure the arrow is on the top line. If not, press the blue A/B button. 3- Type in the frequency you want to save. I.e 446.00625 4- Press MENU, followed by button 2 and 7 (menu 27). You will see MEM-CH. 5- Press MENU and now use the up and down buttons to select the channel you want to save it on. 6- Press MENU again to confirm. Your first frequency is now stored under channel 01. (receiving memory). 7- Press MENU TWICE again to confirm. Your first frequency is now stored under channel 01. (transmitting memory). 8- Press EXIT and repeat from step 3 onwards to program your remaining channels. Note: To program the Carnity backup frequency channel 5, you will need to set the step frequency to 12.5. When done, follow the same steps to program and save it under channel 05. You can either program these channels one by one into your radio, which is the easiest for you later on, or you can just enter the frequency without saving it. Some extra notes: Option 5 in your menu should be on Narrowband. Option 10 and 12 in your menu should be set to OFF (we are not using CT codes). BaoFeng_UV-5R_Manual_(1).pdf

Lets have a slight different kind of challenge, deeper in the Qudra/Faqaa desert. This beautiful area, famous for its white sand, far from the Friday afternoon crowds of Badayer or Maleha, will offer a good mix of medium and technical dunes to test your car control. Plan is just to learn and enjoy. Level: Fewbie and above (strictly) When: 21 February 2020 Meeting time: 1:15 PM sharp Where: Solar Park parking GPS Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/W3JJRSz9W1ZKP8pb7 Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 10 inches of ground clearance. Plan: Drive, train and enjoy till about 6:00 PM What to bring along: snacks - whatever you like with little extra to share, water, liquids, smiles, stories, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 6:00 PM Please RSVP the below calendar event