[KyBill]

Lot's of people touting the Autocom, so I bought it for intercom. Lot's of people touting the Kenwood TK3101, so I bought it for bike to bike.

I got the Kenwood off eBay; it looks like new, and seems to function (transmit light; battery test lights up) but I don't know what frequencies are programed into it. I have a pair of cheap frs units, but when I try to transmit from the 3101 to the frs units, nothing happens!! I matched all the different (1 thru 9) between the units, but when I try to transmit either from the 3101 or from the frs, nothing happens, no squelch; no sound, no nothing. When I try to transmit from the frs to the 3101, same thing...Nothing.

Any Ideas???

 

[Dick]

Lot's of people touting the Autocom, so I bought it for intercom. Lot's of people touting the Kenwood TK3101, so I bought it for bike to bike.

I got the Kenwood off eBay; it looks like new, and seems to function (transmit light; battery test lights up) but I don't know what frequencies are programed into it. I have a pair of cheap frs units, but when I try to transmit from the 3101 to the frs units, nothing happens!! I matched all the different (1 thru 9) between the units, but when I try to transmit either from the 3101 or from the frs, nothing happens, no squelch; no sound, no nothing. When I try to transmit from the frs to the 3101, same thing...Nothing.

Any Ideas???

Quick question, Bill. What brand are the FRS units? Somewhere in the back of my mind lingers a thought about some manufacturers selecting different frequencies from other manufacturers units and assigning different channels to those. May be some info in our HoW forum - I'll take a look. In the meantime, stand by for the comm-gurus. They'll be here shortly. That brand thang may help 'em, dunno.

 

[TMH]

Looks like the Freetalk is combined GMRS and FRS compatible.

Check this link for the frequencies it works on, and where it is FRS compatible, for use with your FRS radios. Looks like only on Channels 1-7.
http://www.southernce.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/frecomp.htm?L+scstore+jqik3895+1170316224
Hope this helps.

Tom

 

[bruce2000ltc]

Lot's of people touting the Autocom, so I bought it for intercom. Lot's of people touting the Kenwood TK3101, so I bought it for bike to bike.

I got the Kenwood off eBay; it looks like new, and seems to function (transmit light; battery test lights up) but I don't know what frequencies are programed into it. I have a pair of cheap frs units, but when I try to transmit from the 3101 to the frs units, nothing happens!! I matched all the different (1 thru 9) between the units, but when I try to transmit either from the 3101 or from the frs, nothing happens, no squelch; no sound, no nothing. When I try to transmit from the frs to the 3101, same thing...Nothing.

Any Ideas???

If your radio is a Kenwood 3131 it's a GMRS radio. And like Tom said channels 1-7 are compatible with FRS. Make sure you don't have any privacy channels set. It would show on the radio display as 1-2, 1-3, etc.
If the channel and privacy channels are not the same on both radios you can't receive.

Bruce Hodges

 

[dfinazzo]

First of all your Kenwood Free Talk Model TK-3101 is a 1/2 watt FRS (Channel1-7 only) / 2 watt GMRS - UHF FM radio made to Military Standards - its top of the line for its size and extremely rugged. It easily interfaces with Autocom with the proper interface cables which also powers it off and on. But you most likely know this since you are an Autocom and Kenwood owner.

Simply go to this site and read all about - FRS, GMRS and general operations. This should address all your concerns and you should be chatting away in no time . . . with any FRS or GMRS radio!!

http://www.bestbuy.com/olspage.jsp?categoryRep=cat06000&guideID=1072288099473&id=cat12077&type=page

:dance:

 

[KyBill]

Quick question, Bill. What brand are the FRS units? Somewhere in the back of my mind lingers a thought about some manufacturers selecting different frequencies from other manufacturers units and assigning different channels to those. May be some info in our HoW forum - I'll take a look. In the meantime, stand by for the comm-gurus. They'll be here shortly. That brand thang may help 'em, dunno.

The mfg of the cheapies is "Unwired" model "FRS UFR 808", with 14 channels & 38 sub codes. None of its channels will transmit to nor receive from the Kenwood 3101.

The Kenwood TK3101's battery strength indicator (lcd) comes on very bright; the transmit indicator (lcd) comes on very bright. When on channel one (1) a green indicator (lcd) blinks one time; which I believe indicates an active chanel; it does not blink on any of the other channels. Channels 1 thru 8 remain silent, until keyed to transmit; then squelch noise & transmit indicator appear on each. Each of the remaining channels 9 thru 15 emit a constant tone signal that does not stop until a lower chanel is selected.
Perhaps it has been programed for just chanel #1??? I don't know!!!

There is an outfit advertising a programing service for the 3101; at a cost of $25.00, but I don't know if the frigin thing needs programing, or with my luck, it's just a piece of crap that needs expensive repair.

Suggestiions, opinions; recommendations will be appreciated.

 

[tmgs]

The mfg of the cheapies is "Unwired" model "FRS UFR 808", with 14 channels & 38 sub codes. None of its channels will transmit to nor receive from the Kenwood 3101.

The Kenwood TK3101's battery strength indicator (lcd) comes on very bright; the transmit indicator (lcd) comes on very bright. When on channel one (1) a green indicator (lcd) blinks one time; which I believe indicates an active chanel; it does not blink on any of the other channels. Channels 1 thru 8 remain silent, until keyed to transmit; then squelch noise & transmit indicator appear on each. Each of the remaining channels 9 thru 15 emit a constant tone signal that does not stop until a lower chanel is selected.
Perhaps it has been programed for just chanel #1??? I don't know!!!

There is an outfit advertising a programing service for the 3101; at a cost of $25.00, but I don't know if the frigin thing needs programing, or with my luck, it's just a piece of crap that needs expensive repair.

Suggestiions, opinions; recommendations will be appreciated.

did you ever get your problems solved on these?

we have two TK3101 radios, manuals, Autocom powered battery replacement pack (the packs retailed at 89 a piece and are for the Pro M1)

I am pretty sure we are going away from GMRS so we may not need this stuff much longer, at the very least i could get some info from the manual to you on how to program your tk3101

Tom

 

[KyBill]

Thank you Tom.

I appreciate your offer to assist. I finally found a download for the 3101 manual; hopefully I will get it programed properly.

 

[Torpedo]

where did you get your interconnect cable for the Autocom? ive got an autocom and ive been trying to figure out what the best CB to use is and how to use it.

How does the 3101 key up to talk? is it voice activated?

 

[kc0isv]

Did you find out how to program your TK3101?

Here's the software:
http://www.copyexchange.org/TK3101.ZIP

For the cable you should be able to use a PG-4Y serial port cable.

The program, KPG48D.EXE, is very old - You need to boot up in raw DOS to run it. The program will run in XP, but the serial port won't work.

 

[lnowell]

Couple of things:

1. The Autocom bike power adapter / push to talk cable will work with both the Pro M1 and the AVI Pro units.

2. A friend here purchased two 3101 off of ebay and found out (in spite of the sellers statements) the units were set up to operate on only 2 channels (the other channels were dead). They had been used by employees at a car dealership and both units had to be reprogramed to activate the other channels.

3. There is a computer connection that can be used to program the channels along with setting security. I don't know how it works, but a riding buddy used one to reset one channel on each of our radios so that we can have secure(?) conversations.

 

[kc0isv]

Couple of things:

3. There is a computer connection that can be used to program the channels along with setting security. I don't know how it works, but a riding buddy used one to reset one channel on each of our radios so that we can have secure(?) conversations.

The "computer connection" you need is a Kenwood PG-4Y interface cable from the TK3101 to a DB9 serial port on a computer, which must be booted up in MSDOS.

The program contained in TK3101.ZIP - KPG48D.EXE - will allow your friend to program the TK3101s to new frequencies, and set "subchannels" or "subaudible tones". These are not a security feature since other users of the same frequence can hear what you're saying, but other conversations on the same frequency are filtered out from your standpoint.

I can find no way to program a TK3101 in a Windows environment, thought I have not tried Win98.

Please note that a GMRS license is required to use a TK3101. Please see.
http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/index.htm?job=service_home&id=general_mobile

Franklin
Iowa City

 

[scurrie]

The "computer connection" you need is a Kenwood PG-4Y interface cable from the TK3101 to a DB9 serial port on a computer, which must be booted up in MSDOS.

The program contained in TK3101.ZIP - KPG48D.EXE - will allow your friend to program the TK3101s to new frequencies, and set "subchannels" or "subaudible tones". These are not a security feature since other users of the same frequence can hear what you're saying, but other conversations on the same frequency are filtered out from your standpoint.

I can find no way to program a TK3101 in a Windows environment, thought I have not tried Win98.

Please note that a GMRS license is required to use a TK3101. Please see.
http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/index.htm?job=service_home&id=general_mobile

Franklin
Iowa City

You do indeed have to be running DOS, which then assumes you have a "real" serial port to plug the PG-4Y into! While you are programming it, turn off the battery save feature on the radio or you get to listen to a most annoying click every couple seconds as it "saves" power.

-Scott