HELP: Extremely low GMRS/FRS TX power on out-of-the-box Rino

[bilbo]

Hi guys,

I need your help and advice. I have two Garmin Rino 530HCx units, most possibly from a single batch (just 11 serial numbers apart,) which, out of the box, present identical problem: their radio signal gets lost in the background RF noise beyond about 30 feet. There's a third unit as well, most likely from that very same batch, which I'll test tomorrow (it's with a friend of mine living in another city.)

I suspect a problem with the radio transmitter producing only very weak, extremely low-power signal. Besides the excessively short range, it seems very indicative that any obstacle on the Rino’s signal path disrupts the communication even at these short distances. On the other hand, the radio receiver part seems to be working well: it reproduces loud and clear the transmissions of other GMRS/FRS radios even within a reinforced-concrete building (at reasonable ranges, of course.)

Below is the comprehensive (as much as I could make it such) report I sent to Garmin. Unfortunately, Garmin refused to even consider it, making excuse of the EU address in my registration. I wouldn't even like to comment how disrespectful and plain stupid this is: you certainly understand that if you have a GPS, you're very likely to travel -- why would you need it otherwise -- and that could very well be around the world; and that's of course just one reason why a EU citizen with a Rino is not necessarily a petty criminal. BTW, I guess there are a lot more US citizens using the GMRS channels without proper FCC license than EU owners of the Rino; but that's really a completely different story.

Anyhow, the eBay retailer immediately offered to replace the units or even refund the money (an exemplary seller, indeed!,) but I'm reluctant to take that road until I'm certain it's not my fault (doing or not doing something,) or a problem that can be fixed easily (e.g. in software.) It's not just about shipping expenses and time wasted, but I might have to pay duty and VAT a second time -- while I might be a law-abiding citizen, I still am not fascinated about "over-abiding" the law, really.

So, here's the report, finally. Many thanks in advance to all who reply!

TESTS PERFORMED

• Voice and data (location only) communication between the two units.
  
• Voice communication between the Rinos and a pair of Uniden GMR638-2CK two-way radios (hereafter referred to just as “Uniden(s)”.)
  

TESTS SETUP

• Power supply: tested both on battery (fully-charged original Garmin supplied Li-Ion battery) and on AC power (using the original Garmin supplied AC charger unit.)
  
• RF channels & CTCSS codes: tested all 22 GMRS/FRS channels. GMRS repeater channels not tested due to lack of respective equipment. All channels tested without using CTCSS codes (“code” 0 selected.) A few channels tested additionally with randomly chosen codes (synchronized between the units.)
  
• Rinos’ radio setup options:
  
  
  
  1. GMRS power: tested 1/2W, 2W, and 5W.
     
  2. Send location: tested On and Off.
     
  3. Allow polling: tested On and Off.
     
  4. Scramble: tested On and Off (synchronized between the units.)
     
  5. Internal microphone sensitivity: tested throughout the range; headset not used.
     
  6. Volume and Squelch: tested throughout the ranges.
     

Location: open field in rural area about 20-30 miles from the nearest large settlement or industrial area. No known interference sources in the vicinity: the area is relatively secluded, and even the cell phone network coverage is marginal.

Physical setup: units hand-held with absolutely clear line-of-sight between them – see the results section for additional information.


TEST RESULTS

• Voice transmissions received loud and clear in all tests up to a distance of about 3 feet.
  
• From 3 feet further, the SNR of Rinos’ transmissions rapidly deteriorates, indicated by the constantly increasing distortions and audible RF noise on both the other Rino and the Unidens. In comparison, Uniden radios’ transmissions keep being received loud and clear both by the Rinos and the other Uniden.
  
• At distances of about 30 feet the Unidens stop detecting the Rino units’ transmissions; in comparison, they keep receiving the other Uniden’s transmission loud and clear. The Rino units, on their part, can be forced to detect the other Rino’s transmissions by lowering the squelch setting significantly (the Unidens don’t provide such control,) but the received transmissions are seriously distorted and hardly distinguishable from the surrounding RF noise. At the same time, the Rino units continue to receive Unidens' transmissions loud and clear.
  
• Beyond 30 feet neither the Unidens nor the Rinos are able to reliably detect a Rino unit’s transmission. Only operating in “monitor” mode, it’s sometimes possible to hear very faint signal amidst the RF noise.
  
• At distances as low as about 10 feet, putting one’s body between the two Rinos or between a Rino and a Uniden completely obstructs transmitting Rino’s signal. In comparison, Unidens’ signal is not affected in any detectable way.
  
• Data communication seems to be affected the same way, perhaps being lost (at least in terms of integrity) at even shorter distances than 30 feet. While special tests have not been performed, it’s certain that the two Rinos do not react in any way (no “receiving transmission” indication, no “NAME updated”) to the other Rino’s transmission beyond 30 feet.
  
• The results have been entirely consistent between the different settings: neither the channel/CTCSS chosen, nor the GMRS transmitting power selected, nor any other of the aforementioned options seemed to produce any difference. Concerning the tests location, in different, less-than-ideal areas (e.g. in the city) the results have been (understandably) even worse.
  
• The two Rino units behave in exactly the same way regarding transmission.
  

NOTES

• The two units have been shipped with software version 2.40, and were upgraded to version 2.50 almost immediately after unpacking (using the official Garmin WebUpdater tool, and strictly following Garmin’s instructions.) Therefore, nothing can be said about their operation truly right out-of-the-box.
  
• Repeating the firmware update and hard-resetting the units (PAGE + ENTER + POWER) have not produced any difference.
  
• GPS, electronic compass and all other features seem to be working as expected. The GPS does produce significant errors sometimes (up to about 2.5 miles,) but this has been observed in other units as well (e.g. a 60CSx) in specific circumstances (e.g. only half of the hemisphere visible.)
  
• One of the units seems to be much more sensitive when receiving, usually requiring higher squelch setting (sometimes much higher) in order to eliminate activation on random background RF noise. No further specific tests have been performed in this regard.
  

[Tim]

Yikes! I'm afraid I'm not going to have any good answers for you. I haven't spent a ton of time with the Rinos in the past, but have used them on a few ski trips and on a few paddling trips. We certainly got much better performance than that and I don't see anything in your setup that would cause such poor performance.

Is it remotely possible that they are somehow reducing the power based on the geographic location? I know they have fairly strict rules on where they can be sold, but that theory seems quite extreme.

Have you tried emailing Garmin support from a ".com" email address to see if you can get a better response that way?

[bilbo]

Hi, Tim! Thanks a lot for the fast reply.

[bilbo]

BTW, the unit that is more sensitive, is in fact so excessively being such, that the squelch setting must be left at max. Any lower, and the unit begins to randomly pick up incoming transmissions -- just random RF noise, actually.

[bilbo]

UPDATE: Together with my friend we compared the three Rinos again. Look at the serial numbers:

*****09**
*****75**
*****75**

Somehow, when we distributed the units, my friend has picked up the first one. And, guess what: it works! Not just works, mind you, it works ASTONISHINGLY well so. Truly an amazing radio.

Kudos, Garmin! If only you weren't such jerks.

Edit: "Astonishingly" means that even at 0.5W TX power, the Rino completely blows away the Uniden GMR638.

[bilbo]

Just to clarify: ONLY the *09* unit is working, the other two still can't transmit reliably to more than 20 feet!