Difference between revisions of "Tokmate TU30"

Latest revision as of 14:24, 2 February 2016

Tokmate TU30 Handheld 2-way Radio with 16 Channels in the UHF band, programmable between 400 - 470MHz. These are Walkie Talkie Transceivers which can be used with a USB Programming Cable.

These radios are often sold in sets of two and shipped with BaoFeng BF-S112 handheld speaker/microphones.

Specification

General

1. Frequency Range: UHF 400-470MHz
2. Channel Capacity: 16
3. Channel Spacing: 25 KHz
4. Operated Voltage: 3.7 V
5. Battery: 1500MAh Li-ion
6. Battery Life(5-5-90 duty cycle): About 8 hours
7. Frequency Stability:±2.5ppm
8. Operated Temperature: -30°c-+60°c
9. Antenna Impedance: 50Ω
10. Communication Range: about 6km
11. Dimensions:125×60×36mm
12. Weight (with battery/antenna): 175g

Transmitter

1. RF Power Output
2. Modulation: 3W
3. Spurious Emission:≤65dB
4. FM Noise: ≤-45dB(W) ≤-40dB (N)
5. Audio Distortion: ≤5%
6. Transmitting Current: ≤1.3A

Receiver

1. Sensitivity (12dB SINAD): ≤0.20 uV
2. Selectivity: 55dB/50dB
3. Intermodulation: ≥65dB
4. Adjacent Channel Selectivity: ≥60dB
5. Spurious Response: ≥60dB
6. FM Noise: 45dB/40dB
7. Audio Power Output: 1000mW
8. Audio Distortion: ≤5%
9. Standby Current: ≈15mA (with battery save on)

Package contents:

• 2x Tokmate TU30 Two-Way Radio Body (battery included)
• 2x Antenna
• 2x Belt Clip
• 2x Battery Charger
• 2x User Manual
• 2x Handheld BF-S112 Two way Radio Speaker
• 1x Programming Cable

Retail Marketing

These radios were last known to be distributed on eBay by the company Link Delight www.linkdelight.com under one of a handful of eBay accounts. These are Chinese radios and the seller is located in China. Support is extremely limited. The value of these radios is approximately $10 per radio.

These are essentially Baofeng variations. They are often sold in pairs and may not be programmed with matching frequencies. Use caution in the United States because radios may be programmed with out of band frequencies that are illegal for you to transmit on. Do not transmit until you have verified the frequencies programmed into the radio and you know you are properly licensed to operate on them.

The following is from the manufacturer:

Simple but versatile. Concise appearance with nice and solid feel case, fits right in the hand. Tokmate TU30 is designed for the needs of various occasions such as construction and manufacture plants, resorts and hotels, public safety agency and government department, metro station and airport, etc.

Two knobs to switch channels and adjust volume. Rotate the channel selection knob to switch the present channel from 1 to 16, there are numbers marked on it. ON/OFF knob also function as volume"+" and "-", just turn it clockwise to open and increase volume, though the voice is really loud enough even in those environment full of noises.

Hard enough, shock poof, dust proof, unique lock buckle on battery pack. The whole body is compact and rigid in case any accidental falling or shocks, and splashing in rainy day won't be mattered. 1500mAh Li-ion battery last for 8 hours, if not transmitting frequently. In addition, battery buckle is placed on the battery pack unlike many other radios. It is a tiny trick, but now you don't have to throw the whole radio once such part is damaged, a new battery would solve it quickly.

CTCSS doesn't protect your privacy, but you won't feel annoyed now. There are standard 50CTCSS and 105CDCSS to filter those channel jams while talking, only note that such settings won't protect you from being overheard, and side monitor button is helpful when signals are weak. VOX function makes you really hands free, good solution for construction or driving on the way. Saving mode for longer performance. Left non operation more than 5 seconds, TU30 would entire saving mode automatically. LCD and keypad are not available on this radio, which slows the battery drain down to a longer working.

User Guide: Tested

The official user guide shipped with these radios is Chinese translated to English without proper review. Also, there are numerous inaccuracies in the manual. Procedures will be tested and documented here.

FM Broadcast Radio Receiver

You can listen to FM broadcast radio with this unit. You cannot transmit on FM broadcast radio, only listen. If you receive an incoming transmission on the VHF 2-way channel you are monitoring while listening to FM broadcast radio, the received 2-way transmission will override so it can be heard. Once the 2-way transmission being received ends, the Tokmate goes back to FM broadcast listening.

Note on buttons: The User's Guide shows only two buttons on the left side of the radio. There are actually three buttons. The large top button (TOP left) is the PTT button and it is labeled on the radio "PTT." The middle and bottom buttons are both smaller, and identical to each other in size and appearance. They are not labeled on the radio. The MIDDLE button is the squelch control.

With the Tokemate TU-30 turned off:

1. Press and hold down the MIDDLE button on the left side of the radio.
2. While holding this button in, turn on the radio and patiently wait for the beep. You will not hear the initial greeting voice, only a beep.
3. Release the MIDDLE button and wait patiently for FM broadcast radio to activate. After release, you will now hear the greeting voice prior to FM radio.
4. You will likely hear static. Now momentarily press the BOTTOM button on the left side of the radio to advance the "station seek" function. The radio will tune to the first available FM broadcast station. Press again to tune to the next.

Once you press PTT you will deactivate FM broadcast radio listening. Changing the 2-way channel from the top dial will not deactivate FM broadcast radio. Pressing the MIDDLE button on the left side only momentarily deactivates FM broadcast radio, it is not clear what else occurs.

Software Programming

As of July 2015 this radio is not supported by CHIRP. Baofeng programming software for 888S and similar models also does not work.

A hacked version of the Baofeng radio software was released that is the only way to program the Tokmate TU30. It looks like this:

This software appears to be a hacked, possibly unauthorized version. It is unstable. It will program the radios, however, it often crashes. Use with caution.

During installation of the software you may be prompted to overwrite newer versions of VB OCX controls. Do not overwrite. Keep the version of the control already on your system.

• Link: Last known source of the software and driver Link Delight http://www.linkdelight.com/ Chinese seller / eBay seller with multiple eBay usernames.

Enter frequencies into table manually, do not cut and paste. After entering a frequency, press the tab key then use the mouse to click on the next field in the table. It seems to work best if you enter a frequency using all available digits, including the last zero. It is advised to save often because when the program crashes, which it often does, any customizations will be lost.

Each time the software is opened, although the interface language will remain English, the radio programming language will reset to Chinese. Remember to change this to ENGLISH each time before you write the frequency table to the radio.

• Click EDIT -> OPTIONAL FEATURES -> and change "Voice Annunciation" to ENGLISH, or Off.

You will have to manually do this each time you restart the software or it will set the language flag in the radio to Chinese.

It is best to adjust the volume to near maximum to program. If communication fails, simply turn off the radio, unplug and plug in the programming cable, turn radio back on and wait about 10 seconds before attempting to program. This procedure may require repeating one or more times before the radio will accept communication from the software. Be patient and simply retry until it works.

If you have never used this type of software or programmed radios of this nature then do not attempt to program the Tokmate TU30. It is not a recommended system to start to learn on since the software is not stable. Only attempt if you have worked with programming similar units before such as the BaoFeng radios.

USB Cable COM Port Assignment

There is a bug in Windows which sometimes causes the com port assignment to fail to be release on each use of the Prolific USB-to-Serial cable. This might have to do with the use of the hacked-Prolific chips or it might just be a problem in Windows.

THE TOKEMATE TU30 PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE WILL NOT WORK WITH VIRTUAL COM PORT ASSIGNMENTS ABOVE COM8

You can force the com port assignment for the Prolific driver in Windows Device Manager.

1. Open Device Manager.
2. Click "Ports (COM & LPT) and then right click "Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port (XXX) and choose "Properties"
3. Click the "Port Settings" tab
4. Click the "Advanced" button
5. At the bottom note the dropdown menu "Com Port Number."

Choose a Com port you know to be available. It may indicate com ports up to 9 or higher are in use. This is the glitch. You can ignore this and choose one that you know to be available. Legacy devices may already occupy Com ports 1 and 2. Choose something such as Com 5 though 8 for this software.