BK GPH programming issue

General Discussion
#1

I bet someone on here can help - I just picked up a batch of used BK GPH portables from another agency to distribute to fire departments in need. I’ve done this several times, always find some are junk, but most useable. This time, I started trying to program, and the first half dozen all did exactly the same thing - they’ll program, channel 1 looks correct, every other channel says “ch 16”. When I “read” the radio, it shows programmed, but if I hit xmit it says there’s nothing there. I tried cloning from a known radio, and programming from the computer.

Thought at first I’d just grabbed a bad one, but I’m guessing since they all do the same thing it’s something in their original setup? Any help would be appreciated, as I have VFDs that need these and can’t afford new. And before someone says it, yes, I know this is an old model that’s not factory supported any more, but we’ve got lots that still work and meet the needs, so if I can get some more in the hands of the FDs that need them, I’d like to, until they can get something better.

Thanks for any help…

1 Like
#2

Try yahoo groups. There is a bendix king users group. Lots of fine folks that possibly help you there.

2 Likes
#3

Straight GPH or a GPH CMD radio?

If using the Editor on a PC, open up Global Settings and go to the Channel Selector tab. Check the “Use Factory Default Channel Selector” and/or set all of the Group Assignments to TouchPad/Global and all the Channel Assignments to Fixed/Channel1-16

These settings determine what the channel knob does on the radio, and is sometimes used to make a radio firefighter-proof or idiot-proof for lack of better words. You can make any combination here that says for instance, Channel 16, regardless of group I’m in, is always going to be “Group 3, channel 8.” In the Editor, if you click the Help button, it explains it well in the Global Settings -> Rotary Switch Assignments.

Another forum for help includes https://forums.radioreference.com/industry-discussion/ However they can have a lack of patience for older radios.

2 Likes
#4

Thank you! Sure enough, on the chart it shows channel knob positions 2-16 as all being channel 16. Sure appreciate the help.

#5

actually, what i wrote wasn’t right, but your answer was - found and fixed the problem with that info. Much appreciated.

1 Like
#6

NORCLSCAN:
Good call on the globals, thats one of those esoteric things not a lot of people catch untill it happens to them.

#7

Global Settings being altered due to badly configured clones have been a long-time headache. I moonlight as my district COMT and I can’t count how many times I have had to reset standard global settings on BK’s post-tour. Thankfully the KNG series is a bit more bullet-proof in the PC software.

Seriously wish Relm would’ve just removed the Scan-hook feature option, or at least made it keypad programmable. Our hotshot crews keep submitting CIO tickets thinking its broken when its just a software setting fix -_-

1 Like
#8

Good info. I was coming back here to post info about the Global Parameters in the GPH Editor software, but see that it’s been covered. I’ve found that the GPH Commander Editor, and now the KNG series RES software, is better/easier than the previous EPH and GPH editors.