Just wanted to know other people's input on this subject topic. Wanted to know if there is a optimal adjustment for these gains to pickup certain radio bands? This goes along with DSP level adapt? For example to change sensitivity to pickup P25 over other bands?
Adjusting ADC and DAC Gains on the Pro 668 or other scanners
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I've had similar questions. I don't think anyone is going to be able to directly help you, unless they have the same firmware, radio, are monitoring the same system, and are in the same location you're in. Every radio system is different. Every band is different. Every location involves different and limitless possibilities for interference and reception.
I can say that it helped me to reduce the DAC and lower the DSP to 16. I'm monitoring Atlanta's simulcast system.
Reading this helped me wrap my pea brain around the function of these settings a little better.
I can say that it helped me to reduce the DAC and lower the DSP to 16. I'm monitoring Atlanta's simulcast system.
Reading this helped me wrap my pea brain around the function of these settings a little better.
Adjusting ADC and DAC Gains on the Pro668 or other scanners
My WS1080 manual and page on Universal Radio Whistler WS1080 Configuration says
DSP level adapt in the WS1080 shows - Controls how FAST the DSP adjusts to varying P25 levels (default:64) Higher values = faster rates.
ADC Gain - Controls input signal to the CODEC default is 0+dB
DAC Gain - Sets output signal FROM CODEC varying the audio level of decoded signals Default: +0dB
I have my DSP level adapt in IL for the Starcom21 P25 system set to 74. I found having it too low (16) effects it adversely. 64 seems fine, higher up to 84 or even 94 works ok too. I haven't experimented with anything much higher as the settings go as high as 255 on EZScan and the scanner itself.
I always have the ADC and DAC at +2
The good thing IS we can experiment with the controls and see for ourselves.
My WS1080 manual and page on Universal Radio Whistler WS1080 Configuration says
DSP level adapt in the WS1080 shows - Controls how FAST the DSP adjusts to varying P25 levels (default:64) Higher values = faster rates.
ADC Gain - Controls input signal to the CODEC default is 0+dB
DAC Gain - Sets output signal FROM CODEC varying the audio level of decoded signals Default: +0dB
I have my DSP level adapt in IL for the Starcom21 P25 system set to 74. I found having it too low (16) effects it adversely. 64 seems fine, higher up to 84 or even 94 works ok too. I haven't experimented with anything much higher as the settings go as high as 255 on EZScan and the scanner itself.
I always have the ADC and DAC at +2
The good thing IS we can experiment with the controls and see for ourselves.
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Thanks for your inputs. I guess I will have to do trial and error to find out what's right for me. I am trying to tune my RadioShack 668 to pickup P25 Phase 1 and 2 better.
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That's pretty much why the adjustability is there.
What works in one area or on one system may not work in another.
In some cases, even on the same system in the same town ..... setting for optimal reception can change between locations in that town.
Gone are the easy days of plugging in a crystal and having to only adjust the squelch!
DJ11DLN
Member
+1. It's going to be a what-works-for-you-on-your-system-in-your-location type of thing, unfortunately no universal settings for across-the-board improvement. Yep, those easy days are gone...but it's more fun now, IMHO.:twisted:
I have to humbly disagree with you! I have had this piece of crap for about two months, and still no consistent scanning. after the purchase of a $500 scanner I had to purchase a second cable and sd card, card reader and countless hours trying to fool with adjustments.
it is my belief that for a scanner at this price it should be mostly plug and play. I understand adding or omitting channels you want or don't want and fooling with the blinky lights for different channels, but this amount of time and energy to get the thing to pick up all traffic on the scanner is ludicrous. my old scanner that I was gonna replace is still receiving all the same traffic and it was programmed about 4 years ago and has not been touched since.
Are we really going forward or backwards with these things? I guess when the moon is in the third phase and the summer sun is in the second solstice and the lunar winds on mars are out of the south east it does fine other than that I am surprised it has not became a skeet target as of now!
scott ross
If you think the scanner is hard to program, you should see the programming for current model P25 trunked radios. Ouch.
You will find your scanner is a breeze to program compared to system radios or even the system infrastructure itself. Most radios techs had hair before P25 trunking, now we don't. Ha ha.
You will find your scanner is a breeze to program compared to system radios or even the system infrastructure itself. Most radios techs had hair before P25 trunking, now we don't. Ha ha.
DJ11DLN
Member
Well, I sure am sorry that it's giving you fits. Different systems, I suppose...mine's a Mot2 mixed and getting ready to go to P25 trunking so that will be different. But when, after not owning an up-to-date scanner for 15 years, I got my Pro-18 a couple (maybe going on 3) years ago, I had it running in about an hour after unpacking it and installing the software. It wasn't programmed perfectly, that took a little time, but I figured it out. I know, it's not easy, and it's not real intuitive either...had I not spent the prior weeks with my nose stuck in RR, I might have been inclined to take the attitude you have. Also, I don't have any simulcast towers to fight with here, so that definitely helps.
Hang in there, they are good scanners. Nothing is easy about it...but I stand by my statement. Maybe "fun" wasn't the right word to use...but I have always enjoyed a challenge, and I've enjoyed figuring this one out. I got the Pro-668 several weeks ago and it took everything good about the -18 and just made it better. And I had it running inside of a half-hour (and no, I didn't cheat and just import the file I used for the -18). Good luck to you.
Yeah dj,
You're right. Should be fun. I just wish there was one thing that worked not a little of this a little of that some of what worked for him. I don't understand why my pro-106 works fine and the radio was made before the system it scans was made? I am in the process of playing with the settings to get it working better. I guess I just have fell way behind the bell curve for this stuff. Still a lot to learn.
Scott Ross
You're right. Should be fun. I just wish there was one thing that worked not a little of this a little of that some of what worked for him. I don't understand why my pro-106 works fine and the radio was made before the system it scans was made? I am in the process of playing with the settings to get it working better. I guess I just have fell way behind the bell curve for this stuff. Still a lot to learn.
Scott Ross
My pro 668 scanner is a pain in the butt to program in and of itself let alone mess with the sensitivity settings. I've tinkered around with them to try to get it to decode 700 MHz P25 Phase 2 and it may make one talkgroup receive better, and another fade out quickly. NJ statewide simulcasted system is terrible.
The other thing that is missed is the radio tech that set up the system if the sites are set up not to any standards then each site will have different settings. I have seen systems set up by ear and a radio and the other radio shop tech set up the next town system with a service monitor. This makes for nightmares in the interop world. Now you add all of that to a scanner user that has no idea and you have unhappy scanner owners that blame the scanner.
I agree there can be nightmares between two exact systems. I own a wrecker svc and we have gotten some wreckers that were identical but built by separate people and they are a mess to figure out. but there is a baseline standard that you can go back to to get them right. when I first got the pro106 (my first trunked scanner) and attempted to program it I was lost, that's when I found this site. loaded the software and some 4 yrs later still scanning and from what I can tell its not missing any transmissions, unless we are in the basement, not the scanners fault. this new scanner seems like you have to fudge everything to make it work. adjust that, secret key strokes to do this, hidden ways of getting to where you need to be. I just believe the software to program it could be a ton easier. my nephew wrote a program two years ago for his senior project that would rewrite script for phone apps, he was seventeen and has the attention span of an inch worm. a scanner that is marketed at $500 should be little further along and more user friendly, hell I can even program the time on the microwave.
I have made some headway with it, I am about to 90% reception rate for transmissions and still playing it. take the average person that works an 8hr day, has a 40 min each way commute and has two kids and a wife. where and when does he have the time or ability for this? if I did not work for myself and had a little leisure time during the day this thing would be in a box still wondering what to do with it. as scanners go there are just hobbyist out here that don't know what edacs are or simulcast or which system they are even listening to. they just want to hear the local info in real time fashion. I have tried to read up on a lot of this info as I am way behind on info but the little knowledge I have leaves me scratching my head, what if my mom went and bought one of these things to listen to? she don't know about removing inf files and swapping cables and turning up this and turning down that. she would be lost and the scanner would be worthless. I don't think you should have to have a major in scanner tech and a minor in computer programming to listen to a scanner, if you did the scanning population would quickly diminish and with lack of sales the scanners would sky rocket or vanish completely.
that's all I have to say about, and yes as of now I am an unhappy scanner owner/listener
scott ross
I didn't like my pro668 at first. You have to learn how to use it and program it. Once I did that. I am golden and love it. I had quite the learning curve after 30 years of this stuff.. It doesn't help that documentation is scarce. My biggest problem were the simulcast sites. Once I took out the sites I don't use it works great. It just takes time and patience. I miss the old way, but I do like the new way as well. Minus digital. That should never be used in a public safety situation. That's another story though, lol.
DJ11DLN
Member
Yup, been down that road with fire apparatus & farm equipment, it sure can make for headaches.
You would do exactly what I would, you would work with the thing until you had it purring for her. All moms are special; a mom who is also a scanner junkie and will talk shop with you about your hobby is a pearl of great price. I will always miss mine...I take comfort in knowing that where she is, she has all the ENC keys and can hear everything.
It sounds more and more like you're experiencing what buddrousa is describing, for lack of better/kinder terms and with no offense intended, a system poorly set up and with little consistency between sites. But if it really is that bad, then it's giving the users fits too, so hopefully they will get it straightened out and your 668 will start making nice. Your 106 is IMHO a more forgiving unit, so it isn't bothered as much as the 668 and its clones are by these cockeyed systems. I have your 106's B/M brother, the 197, so I'm familiar with them and I really love this series. I would not have sold (admittedly at a profit) the 651 I snagged on sale last fall so that I could grab one of the fire-sale 668's except that my system is in the middle of an upgrade that will make it "fully Phase II Digital capable" by the middle of next year. And while they're saying that it'll stay all p.1 till sometime around 2020, that could easily change and I'd be at least partially locked out. And I will hate losing the use of my 197, because as much as I like my 18 and my 668, I like it a whole lot better overall. It fits my circumstances just about perfectly, though admittedly nothing is perfect and if things were different I could be really hating it.
Sorry for rambling on so long, but just to clear the air, comparing the 106 and the 668 is kind of an apples-and-kumquats thing. The 106 is what most scanners had become at the time it was released, a sort of semi-professional or advanced piece of kit more on par with say Ham gear than plain old consumer electronics. That's because scanning had become a whole lot more complex since the days of Electra Bearcats. The GRE 800 the 668 is based on was an attempt to get back to basics: Just load the library onto the SD card, input your zip code and what you wanted to hear, and let it run. And in a perfect world it does work that way, though very few of us live in that world. The iScan software gave the option of doing it "the old fashioned way," like programming your 106 with software. I'm really lucky here, because IN evidently "did the dumb thing the smart way," meaning that while we didn't need a multi-billion $$$ statewide TSYS any more than anybody else did, at least they seem to have gone first-class all the way with very consistent settings across the state. There are some trouble spots, of course, but by and large, it not only works well but is easy to monitor. I hope your system gets re-aligned soon so that you can enjoy your scanner. Again, good luck.
I agree that the best settings are probably individual situation specific. That said, with my 800s, I hit a personal TRS "sweet spot" using:
Data Decode Thresholds: Low: 15 High: 95
together with:
Advanced DSP Settings: DSP Level Adapt: 52
together with "Single Site" programming of TRSs.
These settings, when treated to a Signal Strength/Quality of >8/100% (as measured by the HP-1(E) Analysis Features), resulted in near 100% decoding success of a "problem" P25 (Phase 1) Simulcast System.
Data Decode Thresholds: Low: 15 High: 95
together with:
Advanced DSP Settings: DSP Level Adapt: 52
together with "Single Site" programming of TRSs.
These settings, when treated to a Signal Strength/Quality of >8/100% (as measured by the HP-1(E) Analysis Features), resulted in near 100% decoding success of a "problem" P25 (Phase 1) Simulcast System.
Like others have stated where the site towers are and who sets them up makes a huge difference as to how well you can pickup radio channels/talkgroups
marine_hm
Member
I wish the Software would interface with the scanner settings directly instead of back and forth copying files, making changes and then copying back to the scanner. Tweaking settings would be much easier
Speedmanmusic
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