Big problem with newest GD-88 Firmware

[VE7WDO]

Radioddity just released new firmware for the GD-88, dated 2024-05-23 (2024-05-23 B49E.D6x.EOPSAB.017 2024-05-10 09.28.23 (A) and 2024-05-23 B49C.D6x.EHRNAB.010 2024-01-15 17.03.01 (B)).

After installing it, I found that transmitting on DMR would no longer work. It reported "No Contact".

After discussion with Michael from the support team at Radioddity he concluded that there is a problem with the CPEditor. And after some personal research I must agree with him.

When you run the CPEditor and upload a codeplug to the GD-88, the contact list is empty when you check it on the radio. So apparently the new firmware is correctly reporting "No Contact".

Don't confuse this with the "Ham Contacts", which the CPEditor uploads and installs correctly.

I would encourage David to talk to Michael at Radioddity to resolve this issue.

In the meantime, I did the following hack to get things working with the new firmware:
(A) Uploaded the codeplug to the radio using CPEditor. The contact list is not uploaded or stored on the radio (but the Ham contacts are correctly stored).
(B) Downloaded the codeplug from the radio using the Radioddity CPS editor. The contact list was empty.
(C) Exported the contact list to a CSV file from the codeplug using the CPS Editor.
(D) Modified the CSV file for the contact list so that it corresponds to the CPS editor’s CSV file format for contact lists. (Note: Call Type = 1 for group contacts, and Call Type = 2 for private contacts)
(E) Imported the contact list into the codeplug using the CPS editor.
(F) Uploaded the codeplug using the CPS editor.

One strange thing is that the Ham Contacts on the CPS Editor was empty. And since I had previously uploaded the Ham Contacts using the CPEditor they were not overwritten. So the Ham contacts remained intact after all of the above.

The above seems like a lot to go through. But honestly, the CPEditor is so much better in most respects that it is probably worth it.

Hopefully David will fix the CPEditor to resolve this issue.

[MM7DBT]

Hi,

I have spoken with Michael regarding the issue that you have and it would seem that the issue is a rather simple one with an easy fix.

See the screenshot below, where contacts 3, 4, 5 have a Call Type of "GROUP" instead of "Group".. Change those and the contacts will work again
It would be caused by importing contacts and the lack of case checking by myself. I have now corrected the issue and any incorrect values will be automatically replaced.
I will issue an update to CPEditor soon that will implement the fix..

ContactTypeCase.PNG

One strange thing is that the Ham Contacts on the CPS Editor was empty. And since I had previously uploaded the Ham Contacts using the CPEditor they were not overwritten.

Ham Contacts are never read FROM the radio to the CPS/CPEditor, so the list in the CPS will always appear empty after reading from the radio. It takes around 50+ minutes to write the full database to the radio.. so it would take the same amount of time to read them from the radio, hence why they are not read.
Also, since the Ham Contacts list cannot be 'updated' to add new contacts and has to be completely overwritten each time, it makes no sense reading from the radio anyway.

So the Ham contacts remained intact after all of the above.

Ham Contacts are stored in a different area of memory on the radio, hence the separate upload process. So they should always persist unless manually overwritten. They will stay on the radio even after firmware updates and after a factory reset**

**factory reset is not a "true" reset.. As it simply loads a codeplug from, again, another part of it's memory and overwrites the current codeplug.
Which is why it is possible to create your own 'factory reset' using any codeplug you like, using the "Write as Factory Reset" option in CPEditor.


I hope this solves your issues for the time being

[VE7WDO]

Thanks to both David (MM7DBT) and the Radioddity support team! That sorted out the problem for me.