Hi there from Iowa. I have a question about the TK-2312

[kikgas01]

I have a Kenwood TK-2312 that was just assigned to me. I am a first responder. We have police, fire, ems, state troopers and so on. When there is a transmission, it pulses and is hard to understand. If you change to the channel that is transmitting, it don`t do that. Is there a way to fix this? Our old radios didn`t do that. We got these as a upgrade to narrow band.

 

[mmckenna]

That's the priority scan function. The pulsing you are hearing is the radio going back and checking the "priority" channel for traffic. You'd find that if you were scanning and it landed on another agency and then your "priority" (likely your own agency) came up with traffic, it'd jump back to your own channel.

This is a really good thing to have if you are going to use scan on a 'work' radio. Depending on how your radio was programmed, it may be possible to change it yourself, but to be on the safe side, I'd recommend checking with who you work for, and whoever programmed the radio.

 

[kikgas01]

Thanks for your response. We are with fire as well and it is just hard to hear or understand what they are saying as we monitor all channels. My old radio did not do this.

 

[mmckenna]

Your old radio likely had a scan function, but maybe didn't do, or wasn't programmed for, priority scan. It can be turned off with the programming software.
If it's new to you, you might find that you will get comfortable with it as time goes on. Like I said, it's a great thing to have so you don't miss a call on your own channel.

 

[kikgas01]

We have pagers as well. I have never actually missed a call. In fact I would catch it with the radio before my pager went off. I guess I was used to the way it was. I doubt it they will change it as it costs money.

 

[Avery93]

How often does the radio sample the priority channel, or "pulse" as you describe it?

I have a TK-7360, which is essentially the mobile version of your radio, set to sample every .75 seconds and have no trouble hearing the non-priority channels. It does get a little hard to understand when set at .50 though, which I believe is the default setting. If your radio does sample every half second, you might try asking whoever programs your departments radios to increase the interval to .75 or even 1.0 seconds. Since it is an issued radio get permission first.

Priority is pretty much mandatory on any public safety radio; and I wouldn't recommend any interval over 1.5 seconds, as you are much more likely to miss important traffic on your priority channel. This is all especially true for any kind of fireground use.

 

[kikgas01]

You know, it seems to have all channels set to priority. What ever channel I change it to has a p. The only one that should be is State ems. Maybe that is the problem.

 

[kikgas01]

They are going to be reprogrammed. They are looking to have priority shut off.

 

[timkilbride]

Sounds like the priority is set to "selected". Meaning, whatever channel you switch to, it makes that the priority channel.

Tim

 

[Alarms50]

If you are working a job, especially if you are interior, I would recommend turning off scan because you really only need to hear the IC, not other agencies when you are "working". If the radios are getting reprogrammed make sure this is possible, and make sure EVERYONE knows how to turn the scann off.

 

[ramal121]

You know, it seems to have all channels set to priority. What ever channel I change it to has a p. The only one that should be is State ems. Maybe that is the problem.

Sounds like the priority is set to "selected". Meaning, whatever channel you switch to, it makes that the priority channel.

Tim

That is correct. You can reprogram the radio so priority is on a fixed channel, but you will still have an audio hole during priority sample when receiving on channels other than priority.

The audio hole is more noticeable on lower tier radios. Better (more $$$) radios will have a faster locking VCO and be able to jump to the priority channel and get back quicker. This makes the dropout less noticeable.

The only thing you can do is fiddle with the lookback timing (I like 0.9 secs) to find an acceptable medium, or disable priority scan altogether which has its drawbacks also.

 

[kikgas01]

I think they are going to disable priority. We all are volunteers and usually are at home when we get calls. We also have pagers. I think we will just disable that option. Thanks everyone.