Underwater sound P25-Why?

odontia32m · Dec 6, 2008

Unit- RS Pro 197

All traffic on the local P25 digital, sounds like it is in a hollow chamber or underwater. Is this normal?

Bob

N8IAA · Dec 6, 2008

Yes.
Larry

odontia32m · Dec 6, 2008

N8IAA said:
Yes.
Larry

Thanks Larry,

Bob

rabidmoose57 · Dec 6, 2008

Loyd Bridges would be proud

I particularly enjoy the incessant motor boating sound that I can't get rid of no matter what I do. But, alas it's just part of the joys of digital transmitions. Wait untill you hear multi tower signal echo!

odontia32m · Dec 6, 2008

Thanks guys I am new to digital receiving. I just wanted to make sure I was not loosing my mind here.

Bob

Star56 · Dec 7, 2008

I use a PSR500 and a Pro 106 and have NO motorboating plus the Audio is quite crisp and clear.

The Pro96 that I had motorboated like crazy.

Choose your scanner wisely.

pitbulvig · Dec 7, 2008

I see you guys know your stuff on the radio shack scanners, I am currently going to update my old pro-95 and dont know which to buy? I only need a hand held that will get my local PD (Worcester,ma.) and my state police plus maybe some small surrounding towns so dont really want to spend $500, I was looking at the pro-164? will it still be able to program in frequencies after re banding etc.? or should I just spend the $$ and go with the pro-96 or 106? Any advise greatly appreciated.....Vig

SWCOScanner · Dec 7, 2008

OK, here's my input (so far) on the sounds of digital scanning.

Motorboating is not a fact of life with a 2096 - I'm in fringe areas, using a VHF antenna, and mine rarely motorboats. I might hear that once or twice a day at max. I don't know how to explain why mine doesn't do it a lot, even with the wrong antenna, but I'm happy with it.

All of my digital traffic sounds like they're trying to talk while gargling, or at least when using a VHF antenna on the 2096. When I move the scanner to the truck, which is using a 800 MHz antenna only, it seems to me that the "gurgling" sound becomes much less. So far this is just a theory, as I have not confirmed it with multiple radios, antennas, or speakers. I'll know more after I get the 197 programmed and tested out in similar situations. I seriously doubt that the "watery" sound is going to go away completely, as I even hear it in the CSP cars on their own radios. As said above, just some of the joys of digital radio...

hoser147 · Dec 7, 2008

I must be lucky also, with the 600 and 2 96's I vary rarely have any motorboating and the sound is crystal clear. If there is a major atmospheric change then I may have to use the attenuation on the 600, but that seems to be more of a sensitivity issue..

Forts · Dec 7, 2008

I guess I must be lucky too. I've had a Pro-96 for 4 or 5 years, and just picked up a Pro-106 last month. Rarely hear motor boating (as in hardly ever) and P25 audio sounds great.

odontia32m · Dec 7, 2008

Sorry none of my replies are making it

jerk · Dec 7, 2008

odontia32m said:
Sorry none of my replies are making it

Try changing your settings to either roam or stationary.
Safe-T in Indiana
Program this frequency first: 868.4250 (Henryville)
then 868.4625 (East Salem)
then 867.8875 (Seymour)
then 868.8625 (Madison)

It should work and sound much better with the frequencies in this order.

odontia32m · Dec 8, 2008

newsalan said:
Try changing your settings to either roam or stationary.
Safe-T in Indiana
Program this frequency first: 868.4250 (Henryville)
then 868.4625 (East Salem)
then 867.8875 (Seymour)
then 868.8625 (Madison)

It should work and sound much better with the frequencies in this order.

Tried it, the same result. I spoke with a trooper today. He said the same result unless you are right by a tower. Thanks for the replies.

Bob

jerk · Dec 8, 2008

odontia32m said:
Tried it, the same result. I spoke with a trooper today. He said the same result unless you are right by a tower. Thanks for the replies.

Bob

If you are expecting TV or Radio quality or what you hear from analog transmitters it will not happen.

But the Pro-106 is one of the best sounding [scanning] radios I've heard. Maybe you need to bring it back for an exchange. I hear all those towers, and my radios sound fine.

Based on your call sign, you are near a tower, the Henryville one.
Also make sure attenuation is off.

GTO_04 · Dec 8, 2008

Star56 said:
I use a PSR500 and a Pro 106 and have NO motorboating plus the Audio is quite crisp and clear.

The Pro96 that I had motorboated like crazy.

Choose your scanner wisely.

Do you notice any difference in audio quality (overall not just digital) between the Pro 106 and the
PSR-500?

GTO_04

Mike_G_D · Dec 8, 2008

Digital sound quality

Don't overlook the "SuperTrack" feature setting for the system you are listening to. The setting is under the "Expert" settings menu for the TSYS programming. If it's already on then try turning it off to see if that helps. On the systems I monitor I was very surprised by the difference in digital audio quality between on and off - SuperTrack ON works the best for me and the quality of the demodulated digital audio is surprisingly good versus my old PRO-96. With it OFF it was about the same or maybe a little worse than what I got from the 96.

From what the description in the manual states, it's a situational setting in that some some systems may benefit from it while others may not. I, personally, would like to know the technical details of exactly what SuperTrack does - all I know currently is that having it ON works best for me with the systems I monitor.

Be aware that the Starrsoft program, WIN500, has it activated by default when programming a TSYS object.

-Mike

garikfox · Dec 8, 2008

odontia32m said:
Tried it, the same result. I spoke with a trooper today. He said the same result unless you are right by a tower. Thanks for the replies.

Bob

Turn OFF Global ATT.

Make sure u got AUTO/P25 Delay(s) at 0, Also put Squelch at 9'O-Clock.

odontia32m · Dec 8, 2008

garikfox said:
Turn OFF Global ATT.

Make sure u got AUTO/P25 Delay(s) at 0, Also put Squelch at 9'O-Clock.

It is off. thanks though.

Bob

odontia32m · Dec 9, 2008

Update

OK first of all thanks to all for the help. I can tell this is a great place to be.

What I have done so far.

The Super button did not seem to matter so I left it on.

I changed my service to roam, that did help.

I checked the boost button, that helped.

I already had the AGC checked on all P25 systems.

What I am doing tonight is hooking my 10dbi vhf/uhf beam with LMR 400, up to it and pointing it at the direction of both the towers that are the strongest and are used the most. This will tell me if I am in need of a better antenna setup for this scanner. My wife is picking up a PL259 to BNC adapter as I type.

Thanks again,
Bob

ETA: This ain't you Daddies scanner is it? A big learning curve is involved.

jerk · Dec 9, 2008

odontia32m said:
OK first of all thanks to all for the help. I can tell this is a great place to be.

What I have done so far.

The Super button did not seem to matter so I left it on.

I changed my service to roam, that did help.

I checked the boost button, that helped.

I already had the AGC checked on all P25 systems.

What I am doing tonight is hooking my 10dbi vhf/uhf beam with LMR 400, up to it and pointing it at the direction of both the towers that are the strongest and are used the most. This will tell me if I am in need of a better antenna setup for this scanner. My wife is picking up a PL259 to BNC adapter as I type.

Thanks again,
Bob

ETA: This ain't you Daddies scanner is it? A big learning curve is involved.

Found your problem. Safe-T is not a P25 system.
Set it as MOT800/900 system, and you probably don't need the [audio] boost.
The rubber duck antenna is more than adequate, change the [trunking] setting and that should solve the problem.

Software helps, PSR500 or win500 or ARC500 are all free to try. Makes life much easier.

Underwater sound P25-Why?

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