Pro 97 Talk Group, No Sound (also battery question)

[gkovar]

On my Pro-97 while listening to my local trunked system my radio will sometimes stop on a talk group (display the text tag I've assigned to it) but no audio will come out of the unit. Then when that transmission ends (presumably) it returns to normal trunk-tracking.

At first I thought it was just a person keying up but not talking. However I tried listening on both my 97 and my 2052 at the same time. I programmed both radios to track just 3 talk groups to determine if there was audio during the time when the 97 stopped on the group. Both radios stopped on all of the same talk groups (for the most part barring a few overlaps) but about one in every 15-20 stops the 97 would display the talk group but not actually open up the speaker.
Has anyone else had this problem? Anyone have any idea what the heck is going on?


Also, I read somewhere in my manual the the 97 has a low battery indicator. Is this just for rechargable or will it work on alkalines as well? Also, when my alkalines get low and I turn the backlight on the speaker makes a terrible noise distorting everything it is trying to play. Am I just using crappy batteries or is my scanner having issues?

Thanks

[Tom_G]

I have not heard of that problem.....
Was the 2052 stopping on the talkgroup and producing audio when the 97 was not?

When the batteries get low you will get the low battery beep. I believe that its the same for whatever batteries you use.
When the batteries get very low, the radio will shut off and try to restart and at those times you will get a pulsing type noise...

[gkovar]

Tom,

Yes, the 2052 was stopping and producing audio while the 97 was stopping and displaying the same talk group but producing no audio.

My radio has never given me a low battery beep. When the batteries get low it "grumbles" at me and makes the radio increasingly more difficult to understand until I replace the batteries.

[HabboX]

What type of trunked system? It is is EDACS, then you probably have one of the frequencies misprogrammed.

[gkovar]

HabboX,

I programmed both units with Scan Cat lite for my test. If one of the freqs was wrong wouldn't I have had a similar issue on both scanners?

[DanHenry]

gkovar,

Two things that haven't been mentioned yet about the low battery warning. If you've turned off the keypad confirmation beeps that also turns off the low battery warning beep. Either way you'll see the text "Low Battery" flash occasionally on the bottom line of the display when you're getting low.

The voltage drops off fast on rechargeables so with the keypad beep off the only warning I get is the open squelch stutter that Tom G described above. It probably acts differently if you're using alkalines.

-Dan

[gkovar]

DanHenry,

Bingo! I have keypad beeps off. I use the scanner while driving mostly and am not looking at the screen. It may very well have flashed "Low Battery" and I missed it.

Thanks!

[trunker0205]

On my pro-97 I never saw the low battery indicator it would just shutter with the backlight on and then go dead...I had to change the low voltage indicator in Win-97 to default..Go into help files in win-97 you may have to change the properties just so you view it
then search battery indicator and it will tell you what voltage to set it too...

[gkovar]

trunker0205,

I've never used Win-97. I use Scan Cat Lite usually, I wonder if there is a setting in there as well. Will give that a shot.

thanks

[trunker0205]

Originally Posted by gkovar

trunker0205,

I've never used Win-97. I use Scan Cat Lite usually, I wonder if there is a setting in there as well. Will give that a shot.

thanks

gkovar here is what it says in the help file..

Battery Level: You can change the scanner’s default voltage levels for its “battery low” warning. The “LO” value sets the point at which the scanner starts displaying the warning (default: 3.94VDC). The “HI” value sets the point at which the scanner dismisses an existing warning (default: 4.63VDC). (The “HI” value is used for hysteresis, as the battery level will rise and fall with scanner activity).

What you could do is download the win-97 and just use the 30 free trial period and change the voltage..Just upload what you have now from your scanner to .97 files and save them..change the voltage setting the reload the scanner with all files..here is the link

http://www.starrsoft.com/software/win97/default.asp

[trunker0205]

I just downloaded Scancat and in settings there is a voltage setting try putting in 3.94 and see what happens..

[gkovar]

trunker0205,

Will give it a go when I get home from work. Thanks for the heads up!
Not to change topic too much, but I use scan cat because it works with all of my scanners, is win-97 that much of an improvement?

Thanks

[trunker0205]

Originally Posted by gkovar

trunker0205,

Will give it a go when I get home from work. Thanks for the heads up!
Not to change topic too much, but I use scan cat because it works with all of my scanners, is win-97 that much of an improvement?

Thanks

I think it is, looking at scancat looks good but the Win 97 seems to be able to do more
but im partial because I have only used the Win-97. If anyone else here that has had experience with both please chime in...

[gkovar]

Oh yeah,
when you chime in on the software...any comments on experiences with the 97 stopping on a talk group, but not producing audio would still be of interest to me

Also, when I'm home tonight I intend to add some of the battery info relayed here to the pro 97 wiki page.

[SAR2401]

Exactly what type of system is this and where is it at? Is it possible that it is a mixed digital and analogue system and the radio is hanging on a digital talk group or some kind of digital data transmission?

[gkovar]

SAR2401,

It is an edacs system. Pasco County FL. Wouldn't the 2052 also hang?

[SAR2401]

Assuming you're listening to the system at http://www.radioreference.com/module...ame=RR&sid=737 , it appears there is no digital so that shoots my theory. I seem the remember Scancat having some issues with the Pro 97/2055 and wonder if that could be the cause of the problem. Try resetting the Pro 97 and just programming in the EDACS system and the talkgroups in question by hand and see if you still get the same results compared to the 2052.

[gkovar]

SAR2401,

Yep, that's the system.
That makes a lot of sense actually. I will fill a bank tomorrow and retry the tests.
I hope you're correct. I'd rather have a finicky scanner than one in need of repair.

thanks