Philips PRM80 series
A user review
Note: This user review is aimed primarily at Australian users of the Philips PRM80 series of radios, concentrating on the 8030 model, however other models will not be completely ignored.
The PRM80 family consists of:
*PRM8010 - a local mount only, 10 channel version with a single digit display (two digits for the trunked version) and only four function buttons, CTCSS and fixed SelCall system.
*PRM8020 - a local mount only, 64 channel version with 4 digit display, eight function buttons, CTCSS and variable SelCall system, and scanning
*PRM8025 - a local mount only, 100 channel version with 4 or optional 6 digit display, eight function buttons, CTCSS and variable SelCall system, and scanning and voting
*PRM8030 - a remote mount, 100 channel version with either 4 digit remote head or optional 6 digit remote head, eight function buttons, CTCSS and variable SelCall system, DTMF and scanning and voting
*PRM8030 Dual Mode - same as the PRM8030, but additionally can have two trunking networks programmed in (the trunked network feature is not much use to us hobbyists, even for receive only, since the unit must 'register' with the network)
*PRM8040 - a remote mount, 200 channel version, with alpha-numeric display remote head, function & full keypad built in, CTCSS and variable SelCall with memory list, DTMF, scanning and voting. Top of the line PMR unit, produced only in Australia
Features common to all models:
All models share a common RF board for each frequency band, and as a result the basic RF performance for each model is pretty much identical, although there are the normal manufacturing and/or tolerance variations. Generally speaking, the basic receiver RF performance of the series is very good, with a good balance between sensitivity, dynamic range, and adjacent channel rejection. The receiver comes in two basic bandwidths, to suit 25 and 12.5 kHz systems. The 25 kHz variant does have a slightly nicer sounding receiver due to the wider bandwidth, but of course this makes it unsuited to the reception of 12.5 kHz channels in a crowded spectrum. The 12.5 kHz receivers do sound a little more restricted, but not by much, and interestingly enough they don't 'clip' the standard 5 or 6 kHz deviated signals of a 25KHz channel, however they will have troubles with a signal that might be 1 kHz or more off frequency or overdeviated. They are also very slightly more sensitive and have better adjacent channel rejection figures.
The transmitter is quite good, too, with a good deviation limiter that prevents excursions into the next channels bandwidth, and good self protection circuits to guard against high temperatures from melting the transmitter or damage from a high return loss (SWR). Despite this, the TX is not 100% duty cycle rated, and you will find that the heatsink does warm up considerably after only a minute of transmitting at high power. If you like to talk long 'overs' then it would be recommended to run the unit at lower power levels. The TX audio is somewhat restricted, especially on the 12.5 kHz variants, but the audio is not unpleasant, just 'workman like' without having the fidelity normally associated with UHF CBs or amateur radios 11311h711l . Frequency stability is good, especially those fitted with a TCXO, with less than 100 Hz drift observed on a full power 5 minute key up.
All PRM80 series units are quite fussy when it comes to the supply of DC power. The slightest drop in voltage will cause the radio to flash its display, announcing that there is a problem. Drawing about 6.6 amps on TX (slightly less for VHF versions) means that at least an 8 amp continuous supply is necessary.
Programming frequencies and other functions to the PRM80 series is accomplished using a PC and software called "FPP" (field personality programmer) and a special interface between the PC com port and the microphone connector of the PRM80. This concept of programming by PC sometimes catches out people unused to such methods - they think that programming by PC is akin to magic, and can make a VHF radio that they picked up at a second hand market for $10 into a all singing, all dancing UHF radio. Sorry to disappoint you folks, this just isn't the way it works.
With this programming, you can change some things like key beeps on or off, various basic selcall features, ANI features, PTT time out timers, default power on channel, and of course set up what frequencies you want for each channel.
The 8010:
The PRM8010 is the basic two way radio of the PRM80 series, having only a single digit inbuilt display, 10 channels maximum, three function buttons and very few user features. The only real feature that can be used by the hobbyist is scanning, and even then, the scan channels (max of 10) have to be designated at programming time. There is very limited selcall capability, and CTCSS signaling is available, too. A channel can also be designated either high or low power at programming time.
This is ideal for amateurs wanting a second 2 metre rig to dedicate to packet radio, or for someone who only wants access to a few channels only.
The 8020:
A step up the ladder means that with the 8020 you get 64 channels to play with, 4 programmable function buttons, user programmable scanning, slightly more selcall capability, but generally, everything else is the same as the 8010.
The 8030 & 8025:
Graduating to the 8025 & 8030 means a real increase in user functionality. The 8025 and 8030 are pretty much identical, except that the 8025 does not have a remote display head, where as the 8030 does have this feature. At this level, you can expect such luxuries as 100 channels capability with a further 100 'background' voting channels, user selectable scanning as well as four pre-defined scanning banks, user selectable power setting, four programmable function buttons, more flexible selcall, digital mute, a received signal strength indicator and repeater talk-around, selectable backlight timer period, and an automatic power down timer. With the enhanced 6 digit display and the right type of microphone, you can get even more flexible selcall functionality, an extra 12 function buttons available on the microphone, DTMF capability and a basic power on display message. Lets not forget the convenience and security of remote mounting, especially in a vehicle where finding space to mount an entire transceiver is more and more of a challenge these days.
It is generally the 8030 that is chosen by the majority of hobbyists because of the multitude of user controllable features. Such functionality comes at a cost, however, that being the complexity of operation. This functionality is also upgradable by firmware inside the radio - early firmware had fewer features but did have french encoding selcall, where as later version firmware has more features and was slightly more user friendly but dropped french encoding.
As far as the hobbyist is concerned, the most prolific user would have to be those who use the 8030 on UHF CB. The most desirable features here are the digital RSSI that reads from 00 to 99 in proportion to how strong the signal is on RX, and the flexible selcall system that allows the user to send from 1 to 10 selcall digits, and decode and display up to 4 digits of another received selcall. Lets not forget the 100 channel capability, so you can program in a few police RX only channels, or add a few of your own 'private' channels, and of course the 25 watts output power; the last two mentioned both being illegal for CBers. Having said that, there are quite a few amateurs out there who appreciate having commercial quality specifications which helps with reducing received interference on the 2 metre band, and the large channel capacity; you can easily fit in all your commonly used channels & repeaters and still have room to spare.
The 8040:
King of the PRM80 series is the PRM8040. Utilising the main unit of the PRM8030, it has functions and performance similar to that model, but the head has been upgraded to include alpha-numeric display so that you can name channels and scan banks, an address and selcall identity 'phone book', french encoding makes a re-appearance, 8 function buttons, an alarm clock feature, user selectable CTCSS tones (early 8040 versions only), 200 channels available for use, and a user 'code plug' that can hold your particular 'phone book' on a module that you can then insert into another 8040. The 8040 is more user friendly particularly because of its alpha-numeric display, text labeled function buttons and in-built keypad. There are lots of little user configurable settings eg: back-light level, backlight timer, contrast level, user selcall identity book editing etc etc. With a hardware option, you can even have variable channel bandwidths (12.5 or 25 kHz channels).
The PRM80 series, especially the 8030 and 8040 really are very good radios, and their special qualities are much appreciated by UHF CBers, amateurs and other radio hobbyists. The fact that it can do so many things, in such a flexible, user-tailorable way and do these things so well endears the PRM80 to nearly all who use them.
Using the PRM8030:
Writing instructions on how to use the PRM8030 (the most common of this series being used by hobbyists) is not an easy thing, so many user customisable features makes it impossible to cover all configurations. For example, some people like to program in their UHF CB channels as 1-40 simplex, and 41-48 as repeaters. Others like 1-8 as repeaters, and 9-40 and 41-48 as simplex. Some people will program the first function button as the 'scan' button, others will program it as something else depending entirely on their personal preference. However, each feature will operate in a similar way, and the user will quickly pick up on the exact execution of a feature, given the following hints:
Explanation of controls:
On the head of the unit, there are a pair of up & down buttons to the left of the display - these do nothing, except when adjusting the mute level.
To the right side of the display, there is another pair of up & down buttons which change the channel (displayed in large digits on the right side of the display) or in scan mode, change the scan bank.
At the very left of the control unit 'head' is the combined power on/off and volume control, a black round knob. The radio is turned on or off by pushing in the knob, and the volume is adjusted by turning the knob clockwise for more volume, anti-clockwise for lower volume.
Underneath the display are four function buttons, which each could be programmed with various functions, the description of the more common functions are explained here:
KEYPAD MODE SELECT: This activates the numeric keypad on the microphone face (applicable to 6 digit heads with controller microphone ONLY). When pushed, a small flashing letter comes up in the centre of the display to show what the keypad will do; a flashing "F" indicates the keypad is in function mode. When in function mode, pressing a number on the microphone keypad will activate a function as determined by the PC programming.
If Selcall is active in the radio for the particular channel you have selected, another push of the MODE button will show a flashing "S" (can look like a number 5) which indicates the keypad is in Selcall sending mode. To send a selcall, make sure the flashing "S" is displayed, then enter the five digit selcall number of the radio you wish to call and push # to transmit the number. If you make a mistake, push * to clear the number and start again.
If DTMF is active in the radio, then another push of the MODE button will show a flashing "d" which indicates the keypad is in DTMF sending mode. To send DTMF digits, simply press the corresponding number on the microphone keypad.
Another push of the MODE button will cycle back to the state before the MODE button was pushed.
MONITOR/RESET: (applicable to radios that have Selcall programmed only) This sets the radio into either quiet mode or monitor mode. When in quiet mode, there will be no chevron displayed above the MONITOR button, and you will not hear anything being transmitted on the channel until someone sends a selcall to your radio. This is useful if you do not wish to be disturbed by any other chatter on the channel. If you push the MONITOR button, a chevron appears above the button, and indicates the radio is in monitor mode, and will hear anything on the channel.
POWER HI/LOW: If there is no chevron displayed above this button, it means that the radio will be transmitting at high power. If you push this button, a chevron will be displayed above the button to indicate that the radio will transmit at low power. It is best, if possible, to keep your radio in low power mode, only changing to high power if you find that the person you are speaking to is having difficulty hearing you because of a weak signal.
SCAN ADD / DEL: This button will add or delete channels into your scan bank number 1. If you wish to scan several channels of your choice for activity, you will need to 'add' channels to the scan bank number 1. To do this, simply change to one of the channels that you wish to scan, and push the ADD / DEL button. A chevron will appear above this button to indicate that this channel has now been 'tagged' for scanning in scan bank number 1. Continue to do this until you have added all the channels you wish to scan, up to a maximum of 15 channels.
To remove a channel from scan bank number 1, change to that channel (you will note the chevron is lit, indicating that it is 'tagged') and push the ADD / DEL button to remove it, and the chevron will disappear to indicate it has been 'de-tagged'. If you wish to check to see what channels you have added to scan bank number 1, using the channel up / down buttons, scroll through each channel and take note of the chevron indicator above the ADD / DEL button. If the chevron is lit, then that channel has been added to scan bank number 1.
SCAN: Scanning is the process of automatically looking at several channels for any activity. When activity is found, the radio will stop scanning on the active channel, allowing you to hear what is being said. After a short time if there is no further activity, the radio will automatically resume scanning.
To begin scanning, ensure the microphone is 'hung up' on it's bracket, and then press the SCAN button. To stop scanning, press the SCAN button again. When scanning is started, a flashing number replaces the channel number to indicate that the radio is scanning. The radio has several 'banks' of channels that it can scan, and the bank that the radio is currently scanning is shown by the flashing number ie: if a flashing 02 is shown where the channel number would normally be, then it indicates bank 2 is being scanned. If there is a flashing 03, then bank 3 is being scanned and so on. Once activity is found on a channel, the flashing bank number is replaced by the channel number that activity was found on.
You can change the scan bank by doing the following: once the radio is scanning (indicated by the larger flashing numbers where the channel number would normally be) push the up or down channel buttons to change the bank. The flashing number will change to show what bank is presently being scanned: 01 for scan bank 1 and so on.
Bank 1 is left free for you to choose your own channels to scan (see ADD / DEL above)
Banks 2 to 5 can contain up to 15 channels each, which can only be programmed by PC when first setting up the radio.
Be aware that if you have selcall enabled in the radio and start scanning, but the radio is in quiet mode (no chevron displayed above the 'MONITOR' button), then you will not hear anything during scan, even if a signal is found, unless someone sends you a selcall. To hear any signal found during scanning, ensure that the monitor mode is active (chevron is lit above the "MONITOR" button). If, during scanning, you find a conversation that you wish to join in on, quickly pick up the microphone off it's bracket, and the radio will stop scanning on that channel. If you are too slow in picking up the microphone, the radio will stop scanning but will revert to the channel you were last using. To resume scanning in this instance, replace the microphone back on to its bracket and scanning will resume shortly.
ADJUSTING THE MUTE: The mute is a control that determines how strong a signal must be before your radio allows it to be heard and passed to the speaker. A high mute setting will only allow stronger signals through. A low mute setting will allow both strong and weaker signals through. To adjust the mute, push the MUTE-MODE SELECT button. Two smaller digits will start to flash. This displays the mute value, which you can change to be higher or lower using the up / down buttons to the left of the display. A value of 02 will allow very weak signals through. A value of 04 to 06 is the normal setting, and a value up to 15 will only allow progressively stronger signals through. Values below 02 should not be used, as the radio will make a loud noise between hearing signals. If you happen to use the radio in a large city where there is more chance of interference, use a mute value of 6 or higher to prevent interference from 'breaking' the mute.
Once you have set the value to your choice, leave the radio alone, and the flashing mute value will disappear after 5 seconds, indicating that the new value has been set.
The radio can be programmed by PC to go through this mute adjustment every time the radio is powered on.
Some early versions of firmware for the PRM8030 won't allow mute adjustment while the RSSI is active (see below) - simply turn off RSSI and then make the mute adjustment.
ACTIVATING THE SIGNAL STRENGTH METER: A signal strength meter is available on the PRM80 radio to tell you how strong the currently received signal is. A weak signal shows a reading of 10 or less, while a strong signal shows up as 99. To activate, or deactivate if already active, press the RSSI ENABLE/DISABLE button. Two small digits will show how strong the received signals are.
SEND1 or SEND2: transmits a predefined selcall sequence according to programming.
SQUELCH DEFEAT: quickly turns the mute all the way off so you can hear very weak signals, however this will not over-ride any CTCSS or Selcall 'quieting'.
RESET: returns the radio to 'quiet' mode if Selcall is active.
PRIORITY CHANNEL: To set a priority channel, select the channel you wish to become a priority, and then push the PRIORITY CHANNEL button. Then, during scanning, the priority channel that you have designated will be checked for activity every 5 seconds no matter what. If something should be found on the priority channel, then the radio will stop there until the priority channel is silent again. You can de-activate the priority channel by changing to the priority channel, and press the PRIORITY CHANNEL button once more.
ALARM: This will set in place a certain sequence of events designated by PC programming. It is designed so that if the operator of the radio were to encounter an emergency, the ALARM button can be pushed, and certain events will automatically occur, such as causing an emergency selcall to be transmitted, or other specialized events that can be programmed.
AUXILLARY: pushing this button has no effect unless there is an external device plugged in or installed to the PRM80, such as a scrambler. This function is used to control external devices.
TRANSPOND ENABLE/DISABLE: If Selcall is active in the radio, depending on PC programming, the radio might be programmed to transmit a response after receiving a selcall. By pushing the TRANSPOND ENABLE/DISABLE button, you can stop this response to be transmitted, but all other actions remain the same.
REPEATER SELECT: This is not something to select between simplex and repeater operation. This affects french encoding for selcall setups.
REPEATER DEFEAT: This enables a repeater channel to be used in simplex mode. Pressing this button a second time returns the setting to normal.
CHANNEL UP or CHANNEL DOWN: self explanatory.
CTCSS ENABLE/DISABLE: If CTCSS is active on the channel you have currently displayed, pressing this button will disable any CTCSS encoding or decoding for that channel. Press this button again to return to normal.
MODE CHANGE: This is very different from keypad mode select, this will put the radio into trunking mode (applicable to dual mode radios only)
Remember that there are only four buttons available on the display unit that can hold one only of the above functions, and if a 6 digit head and controller mike is used, a further 12 functions of the above can be used. Not all of them can be available at once. You need to choose the most important functions to you and program them to a function button accordingly.
USING SELCALL: Selcall is a system that allows you to place the radio into a quiet mode where you will not hear anyone else speaking on the channel, until another person with a radio that is selcall-equipped calls your radio specifically with your unique selcall number. This is useful where you do not wish to be bothered with all the 'other' chatter on a channel, and only want to hear those people that you have given your unique selcall number to. Note that selcall does not prevent other people on the channel from hearing anything that you might say - it only prevents you from hearing everyone else until your radio is selcall'ed or you manually wish to monitor the channel.
When the radio is in "MONITOR" mode (with a chevron lit above the monitor button) the radio will be able to hear any signals on that channel regardless.
When the radio is in 'quiet' mode (no chevron lit above the monitor button) and the microphone is hung up on it's bracket, your radio speaker will not be active, and the radio is in the background waiting for someone to send your radio a selcall. When you do receive a selcall intended for you, the radio will issue an audible alert, flash a musical note symbol and open the speaker for 10 seconds. After the 10 seconds has expired, the radio will go back into quiet mode, but the musical note symbol will continue to flash as a reminder that someone has tried to call you. (Note that this is only a common example, and that the person programming the radio with a PC can cause the radio to respond in a variety of ways when receiving a selcall.) If you wish to answer the call, you can either lift your microphone off the bracket (which will automatically put you into "monitor" mode) or push the monitor button so that you can begin to hear the person who is calling you. If you wish to ignore the call, press the monitor button twice (once to stop the audible and visual alerts, and again to reset the radio back into quiet mode).
At the conclusion of the conversation, you can either put the radio back into quiet mode by hanging up the microphone on the bracket and pressing the monitor button, or you can continue to leave the radio in monitor mode and hear everything on the channel.
To send a selcall, make sure the flashing "S" is displayed, then enter the five digit selcall number of the radio you wish to call and push # to transmit the number. If you make a mistake, push * to clear the number and start again.
Some points to note here:
The radio can only be put into 'quiet' mode by having the microphone hung up on its bracket first, before pushing any buttons to set quiet mode.
Removing the microphone from the bracket will automatically place the radio into 'monitor' mode. This is done so that if you wish to speak or send a selcall to someone, you will hear if there is a signal presently on the channel. Do not try to speak or send a selcall if there is someone already using the channel - the person you are trying to call may not hear you over the top of the other signal.
Receiving a selcall while the radio is scanning is unreliable. This is due to the fact that if someone were to send you a selcall on a particular channel, your radio may not hear the selcall transmission, because your radio was busy scanning other channels at the time.
PROBLEMS: here is a list of common problems that you might encounter with the radio:
Radio will not scan: ensure the microphone is properly hung up on its bracket. The bracket has a magnet behind it, and a sensor in the microphone uses this magnet to detect weather it is hung up or not. Also ensure the mute setting is above at least 4 for reliable scanning.
Radio does not appear to hear anything: your radio might be in selcall 'quiet' mode. Press the monitor button to enable the radio to hear anything that is on the channel, or simply remove the microphone from the bracket. Also check that the antenna connection is good.
The person to whom I am talking to can't hear me: if using a repeater channel, you must both be the same repeater channel (ie 41 through to 48) and you must both be within range of the same channel. Otherwise, choose a simplex channel (1 to 40)
The person to whom I am talking to can't hear me: does the other person still have their radio in selcall 'quiet' mode?
The radio has 'lost' all my channels that I 'tagged' for scan bank number 1: occasionally, the radio will loose it's memory of channels (and you may notice your preferred mute setting and selcall mode - quiet or monitor - are missing too) if power is lost to the radio. If the radio is installed in a vehicle, starting the engine can cause this problem, as can incorrectly wiring the radio via the ignition. It would be best to wire the radio direct to the battery so that some power is available all the time to keep the memory operating. Don't forget to turn the radio off at the end of the day if you do this. If your radio is in a 'home base' situation, it is best to keep power connected to the radio at all times - just switch it off using the volume control when not in use.
The radio is rapidly changing channels by itself: this can happen sometimes when you change a channel yourself, and there is no explanation for why it does this. To stop it, simply press either the channel up or down buttons to stop the problem, and then reselect the channel you wanted.
The radio seems to be making loud noises all the time, or in between received signals: you need to set the mute to a higher value. This will be needed especially if the radio is operated in a major city or near another high powered transmitter (ie TV transmitter)
The radio does not transmit, and the display is flashing when I try to talk: this indicates either that there is a problem with the antenna or the cable going to the antenna (maybe the cable is squashed or cut, maybe the antenna is broken or otherwise damaged, or it can indicate that the antenna is simply mounted too close to the radio or control unit). This can also be an indication that the radio is not getting enough power: either low voltage from a flat battery or poor connection somewhere, or low current which is also caused by poor connections or an inadequate size power supply or battery in poor condition. If the problem is not too severe, switching to low power can help, but it would be best to find the problem and have it fixed.
The display is flashing all the time: this can mean that the cable going between the main body of the radio and the control 'head' unit is damaged, or the power supply voltage is very low.
The radio will not turn on at all: check all connections, especially the power and the cable going between the main body of the radio and the control 'head' unit. Maybe your vehicle battery is flat or the power supply is off?
Any other problems: many problems can be solved simply by switching the radio off for 10 seconds and back on again. If this doesn't fix the problem, refer the fault back to the person who programmed your radio.
Care of your radio:
Don't transmit at high power for extended periods of time - the radio gets hot doing so, and needs time to cool down.
Don't transmit on the radio if the antenna is missing, broken, or the antenna coax cable is in poor condition.
The control 'head' unit is not a robust item, so locate it where it will not be subject to knocks or bumps.
Take care with the routing and placement of the power, antenna coax and flat cable that connects the main body of the radio to the control unit. The radio can be damaged if any of these cables become damaged.
The microphone cord is also subject to damage - try to keep it in good condition without excessive twists, cuts or nicks, being flattened out etc.
The microphone keypad is sensitive to dust - key operation will be intermittent if dust gets inside the microphone, so try to keep it in a relatively clean location.
Remember, these instructions were written for one specific user, so will not apply exactly to you, but the general operation will be similar for each feature or function.
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