Listening to CSP 3C tonight or lack of

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mpg0515

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Anybody else listening to 3C tonight? This dispatcher has his mic on full blast or something... I had to lock it out because I can't even understand a word he is saying, and I don't know how the troopers can even understand him?
 
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mpg0515

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skipshark773 said:
Do you have your AGC enabled? I find that using the AGC option on the 396 really helps with monitoring CSP transmissions.

Yes, if I didn't I think that the speaker would be blown out, literally. It has gotten better as the night has gone on, but geez, there is no need to have them set that high.
 

skipshark773

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Honestly, I dont know what the deal is with that. Ive noticed it all across the Northeast and Metro areas of the state. The CSP dispatchers seem to have really high gain mics or something which causes them to sound excessively loud/overmodulated. I found that using the Digital AGC at the following settings helped alot.

P25 RESPONSE TIME: -7
P25 REFERENCE GAIN: +3

Give it a shot and see if that doesn't help.

[edit]: The dispatch side still sounds loud, but the volume discrepancy between the field units and the dispatcher isn't so horrible with it on those settings.
 
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mpg0515

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skipshark773 said:
Honestly, I dont know what the deal is with that. Ive noticed it all across the Northeast and Metro areas of the state. The CSP dispatchers seem to have really high gain mics or something which causes them to sound excessively loud/overmodulated. I found that using the Digital AGC at the following settings helped alot.

P25 RESPONSE TIME: -7
P25 REFERENCE GAIN: +3

Give it a shot and see if that doesn't help.

[edit]: The dispatch side still sounds loud, but the volume discrepancy between the field units and the dispatcher isn't so horrible with it on those settings.

I didn't see the 396 at first, which would make a difference, I am using a 96
 

skipshark773

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Ah, that does make quite the difference. Disregard that last. I dont know if there is any way to set or adjust the AGC in the PRO-96. I really only use mine for PRO-96 COM. If you can find a way to, set or enable the AGC because it really does make a world of difference.
 
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mpg0515

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skipshark773 said:
Ah, that does make quite the difference. Disregard that last. I dont know if there is any way to set or adjust the AGC in the PRO-96. I really only use mine for PRO-96 COM. If you can find a way to, set or enable the AGC because it really does make a world of difference.

Hitting Func+Man toggles between having the AGC off/on, there are not adjustments/settings like the 296/396/996. I would actually like to play around with a 296 side by side with a 96 sometime to see the way they operate on the same control channel. I know that some have, and opinions seem to still be mixed on which operates better... Maybe someday
 

skipshark773

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I'm partial to uniden products so I cant honestly say. I will give that the Pro-96 has better audio quality though. Its too bad you cant edit the AGC settings though. Using the above AGC settings in my 396 you can barely tell the difference in audio between the 396 and the Pro-96.
 

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mpg0515 said:
Hitting Func+Man toggles between having the AGC off/on, there are not adjustments/settings like the 296/396/996.
BC296D, unfortunately, does not have audio AGC.

I would actually like to play around with a 296 side by side with a 96 sometime to see the way they operate on the same control channel. I know that some have, and opinions seem to still be mixed on which operates better... Maybe someday
The 296 beats the 96 in tracking and does not exhibit the "hang-time" problem that raises it's ugly head on the PRO-96 with heavily loaded sites or sites that use a "home channel" strategy in that you suddenly hear CSP (or anyone else) immediately after a transmission when it shows it's on the fire TG.

296's immediately switch back to the CC at the instant a voice channel is dropped the 96 (and 2096) hold on to the voice channel for 1/2 to 3/4 of a second and you end up hearing the next transmission assigned to that voice channel regardless of who it is if it is immediately reassigned to another TG.

What sux about the 296 (besides it being discontinued) is the battery pack, no high end on the digital audio (sounds bassy) and (thanks to the Denver CSP dispatchers cranking the mic gain on their wireless headsets to +50db) no digital AGC.

What's nice about the 296 is that it tracks P25 systems properly, has good reception of distant sites (beats the crap out of the 396) and the ability to track ID's, AFS TG blocks, multiple TG group patches and I-calls on EDACS systems and LTR classic systems.

Unfortunately the 296's successor, the 396, has been a disappointment. Having an insane amount of system storage is great but does no good if the radio is deaf.

Phil.
 
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mpg0515

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Thanks for the info Phil. I know that this sounds kind of wierd, but I also do not like the way that the 296 looks. I think that it looks like a "toy", they could have done a better job designing the overall look of it like the 396. I will probably still buy one someday to check it out. Maybe I can find one still in good shape and used on Ebay down the road.
 

Troop

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try sitting in a car that has it coming from each door (radio speakers are wired into the front stereo speakers!...first my volume goes down then up, then down....it's the first button on the radio that the VOL..wears out...most of the time it's not bad but some are worse than others
 

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mpg0515 said:
Thanks for the info Phil. I know that this sounds kind of wierd, but I also do not like the way that the 296 looks. I think that it looks like a "toy",
I wouldn't call the 296 a toy. A brick yes compared to the PRO-9x scanners. Having the nylon case uniden sold for it gives some people the impression that it is an actual two-way radio. (Been asked many times by strangers)

they could have done a better job designing the overall look of it like the 396.
I think they were going for the old school bearcat look of the original BC100XL 16 channel handheld from the early 80's with the 396. See the attachment pic with this msg.

I will probably still buy one someday to check it out. Maybe I can find one still in good shape and used on Ebay down the road.
Even if a good portion of our DTRS goes 700 MHz down the road the 296 & 796 will still be useful for tracking the WyoLink VHF DTRS.

Phil.
 
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mpg0515

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scanlist said:
I wouldn't call the 296 a toy. A brick yes compared to the PRO-9x scanners. Having the nylon case uniden sold for it gives some people the impression that it is an actual two-way radio. (Been asked many times by strangers)

I think they were going for the old school bearcat look of the original BC100XL 16 channel handheld from the early 80's with the 396. See the attachment pic with this msg.

Even if a good portion of our DTRS goes 700 MHz down the road the 296 & 796 will still be useful for tracking the WyoLink VHF DTRS.

Phil.

Thanks Phil, I guess "toy" was a bad description..... I have never seen one up close, just from what I have seen I was not to impressed. I will just have to get a better look. The thing that stands out most for me is the speaker, it is huge, and just kind of looks "fake". But then again I have never seen it up close, so I will not say anymore until then. Also it is not how it looks that is important, it is how it operates....
 

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Show up at one of the meetings and you will get to see one. There are at least 2 people that show up with them.

Actually the "Fake" looking "huge" speaker works quite well in the car with the windows rolled down clipped to the visor. I can't do that with the PRO-96 without hooking it up to a cassette adapter. Same goes for the 396.

Now if only someone would get with the program and integrate bluetooth for listening purposes.

Phil.
 
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mpg0515

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skipshark773 said:
Honestly, I dont know what the deal is with that. Ive noticed it all across the Northeast and Metro areas of the state. The CSP dispatchers seem to have really high gain mics or something which causes them to sound excessively loud/overmodulated. I found that using the Digital AGC at the following settings helped alot.

P25 RESPONSE TIME: -7
P25 REFERENCE GAIN: +3

Give it a shot and see if that doesn't help.

[edit]: The dispatch side still sounds loud, but the volume discrepancy between the field units and the dispatcher isn't so horrible with it on those settings.


I know that I am bringing up somewhat of an old thread, but I finally got a 396 the other day and well I am not seeing how to adjust the AGC on the 396 like Shipshark has described. Any suggestions?

BTW, the Uniden manual sucks for the 396. I do however like this scanner so far. It is everything that has been described on here. The audio is far worse than the 96 but it sure does track the DTRS a hell of a lot better though.
 
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mpg0515

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Awesome

scanlist said:
You need the latest firmware for the radio installed and press the "Hold" button while powering on the radio to enable this mode.

The specifics on this are in the revision notes for the V1_11_03 firmware at http://www.uniden.com/index/downloads.cfm?product=BCD396T

Phil.

Thanks Phil! I was looking for the specifics on that forever last night with no luck. I have already noticed a huge difference. How do you have yours set up? Not that shipshark is wrong, just wondering if you have seen any different results with different settings.

Or if anyone else wants to share their settings as well

So far, I am very impressed with this radio! However, it is kinda hard to get used to. I have a lot of playing around to do.
 
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rickak

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I have -5 Res time and +3 Gain here. i also set the decode to manual, level 7. Setting manual decode helped alot with audio quality for me.

Rick
 
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mpg0515

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rickak said:
I have -5 Res time and +3 Gain here. i also set the decode to manual, level 7. Setting manual decode helped alot with audio quality for me.

Rick

Thanks Rick. I am giving that a try right now. I assume manual, level 7, you mean the P25 level?

Also just a note of having this radio for a little over a day, I have the 96 and 396 side by side and already noticing the 96 missing a ton of traffic that the 396 isn't. I guess that everything is a trade off though.
 
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