DSDPlus Any chance for Type II support?

[devicelab]

Just a shot in the dark but any chance DSD+ could support Motorola Analog Type II in the near future?

 

[boatbod]

Just a shot in the dark but any chance DSD+ could support Motorola Analog Type II in the near future?

Obviously I can't speak to the DSD+ developers proclivities, but I think it unlikely much effort would be put into that. Type II/Smartzone/Astro is old technology and being replaced in many jurisdictions due to the lack of replacement hardware to maintain failing equipment.

While not windows based, op25 boatbod multi_rx.py works with Smartzone, both analog and digital. You'll need two RTL dongles, one for control channel and one for voice.

 

[noamlivne]

Just a shot in the dark but any chance DSD+ could support Motorola Analog Type II in the near future?

Unitrunker supports Motorola Analog Type II (but not P25 PII)

 

[devicelab]

Obviously I can't speak to the DSD+ developers proclivities, but I think it unlikely much effort would be put into that. Type II/Smartzone/Astro is old technology and being replaced in many jurisdictions due to the lack of replacement hardware to maintain failing equipment.

Well this is true to a point but a lot of agencies are sticking with Type II because it works well for them. Digital isn't for everyone.

While not windows based, op25 boatbod multi_rx.py works with Smartzone, both analog and digital. You'll need two RTL dongles, one for control channel and one for voice.

Does OP25 work with Airspy? I only have one RTL dongle. Unitrunker and Trunk88 work OK but DSD+ could be better.

Also my point is that Type II is fairly well-known and should be easy to program. I wouldn't think it'd require a lot of extra know-how.

 

[devicelab]

Unitrunker supports Motorola Analog Type II (but not P25 PII)

It's still under development and not very stable.

 

[mikewazowski]

Well this is true to a point but a lot of agencies are sticking with Type II because it works well for them. Digital isn't for everyone.

Type II systems can be digital as well.

I'd give TRUNK88-SDR a shot. I still use it for a Type II system (with digital talk groups).

 

[devicelab]

I'd give TRUNK88-SDR a shot. I still use it for a Type II system (with digital talk groups).

Still a pain in the ass to use.

 

[natedawg1604]

Unitrunker supports Motorola Analog Type II (but not P25 PII)

I'm pretty sure it logs everything on the P25 side as far as affiliations, voice grants etc on a Type II system, it just won't decode the digital talkgroups (it doesn't decode anything digital, of course).

 

[devicelab]

Nah it decodes P25 fine but audio support/follow is not implemented for Phase 2 yet. Audio following is flakey anyway -- at least with Airspy.

 

[natedawg1604]

Nah it decodes P25 fine but audio support/follow is not implemented for Phase 2 yet. Audio following is flakey anyway -- at least with Airspy.

Unitrunker directly decodes P25 in the voice decoder? I thought you had to pipe the voice decoder to DSD+ via a virtual audio cable, has that changed recently?

 

[noamlivne]

Unitrunker directly decodes P25 in the voice decoder? I thought you had to pipe the voice decoder to DSD+ via a virtual audio cable, has that changed recently?

Unitrunker does that natively for Phase I only. No need for Dsdplus.
The developer insists not to develop Phase II voice support due to his own reasons.

 

[GTR8000]

Unitrunker directly decodes P25 in the voice decoder? I thought you had to pipe the voice decoder to DSD+ via a virtual audio cable, has that changed recently?

Unitrunker v2.x decodes P25 FDMA audio for both 3600 and 9600 systems.

Unitrunker does that natively for Phase I only. No need for Dsdplus.
The developer insists not to develop Phase II voice support due to his own reasons.

He didn't add TDMA decoding because he respects DVSI's patent on the AMBE+2 vocoder, whereas their patent on the IMBE vocoder expired a few years ago. No mystery to his reasoning.

 

[natedawg1604]

Unitrunker does that natively for Phase I only. No need for Dsdplus.
The developer insists not to develop Phase II voice support due to his own reasons.

Damn I've been running V.2 for a while and didn't even realize this

 

[garys]

Scanners that will follow Type II trunking are cheap and plentiful. I can't think of a reason that I'd tie up my SDR set up following one when I have three scanners sitting on my desk that can do that.

Just a shot in the dark but any chance DSD+ could support Motorola Analog Type II in the near future?

 

[devicelab]

Scanners that will follow Type II trunking are cheap and plentiful. I can't think of a reason that I'd tie up my SDR set up following one when I have three scanners sitting on my desk that can do that.

Yes I know -- I have plenty of scanners and XTS radios -- but that doesn't help when decoding a system that is at a distance; however, Airspy SDRs can bring in weaker stations. Also, DSD+ is excellent for mapping out a system. Doing it by scanner takes time and isn't practical.

 

[devicelab]

He didn't add TDMA decoding because he respects DVSI's patent on the AMBE+2 vocoder, whereas their patent on the IMBE vocoder expired a few years ago. No mystery to his reasoning.

Ah yes I do remember him mentioning this in a post.

 

[HavenBTS]

Well this is true to a point but a lot of agencies are sticking with Type II because it works well for them. Digital isn't for everyone.

Great example is the New Jersey State Police. It works VERY well!

 

[GTR8000]

Great example is the New Jersey State Police. It works VERY well!

Except that the NJSP has been issuing out new APX subscribers to all troopers since earlier this year, and has been transitioning them off the SmartZone system and onto the NJICS P25 system. Motorola is building the state a new ASTRO 25 core to eventually replace the old SmartZone system, at which point everything will be P25.

 

[boatbod]

Well this is true to a point but a lot of agencies are sticking with Type II because it works well for them. Digital isn't for everyone.



Does OP25 work with Airspy? I only have one RTL dongle. Unitrunker and Trunk88 work OK but DSD+ could be better.

Also my point is that Type II is fairly well-known and should be easy to program. I wouldn't think it'd require a lot of extra know-how.

Yes it does, but for op25 to work on Smartzone with a single dongle you have to be able to cover the entire system spectrum within the sample range. Doing that puts considerable load on the host system (for usb data transfer) which is fine if you have a reasonably powerful cpu, but shaky for a RPi4. Given than regular RTL dongles are cheap (~$25/ea) it generally works better to use a pair of them running at 1Mhz rather than one Airspy running at 6Mhz or 10Mhz.

 

[noamlivne]

Unitrunker v2.x decodes P25 FDMA audio for both 3600 and 9600 systems.


He didn't add TDMA decoding because he respects DVSI's patent on the AMBE+2 vocoder, whereas their patent on the IMBE vocoder expired a few years ago. No mystery to his reasoning.

Sorry for any misunderstanding. When I said "his own reasons" I did not mean that there was any mystery. I meant that other developers do support PII for many years now, as opposed to his reasons not to support it.