Ideal audio settings for a P25 system with mouth breathers/shouters

[IFRIED91]

Can anyone recommend some AGC receive values for a dept using APX4000s just switching to P25 from analog, where employees are used to holding the mics right up to their mouth and whispering.

I understand the best thing is probably hiring a speech therapist to teach everyone whos got a booming voice and can’t help it. Both joking and serious about this statement

 

[ElroyJetson]

Years ago I was given the unenviable task of trying to teach a room full of school bus drivers proper radio technique.

Even after carefully explaining how their radios and repeaters worked, a few of them still believed that shouting into the microphone made the signal go farther. And that they could relay from bus to bus when they were using a repeater system. They would argue with me about it.

Some people CAN NOT be educated.

 

[ElroyJetson]

Since I can't edit my previous post I'll add this comment to it here. I swear, a good 25 percent of those bus drivers thought that their radios were CB radios on private channels even AFTER they asked about it and I explained it to them.

It was positively surreal. But then again, it was the kind of place where the bumper sticker, "Paddle faster. I hear banjos." wasn't really a joke.....

 

[mmckenna]

I don't know the right settings for the APX.
But I can agree with Elroy. I've had to train users, and I've come to the conclusion that there is some part of the population that is untrainable. It's a waste of energy/oxygen to try to teach them anything. They were born stupid and they've taken on the challenge of making it through life without learning anything.

I went as far as to go in at night, grab certain peoples radios and adjust the mic gain on them without them knowing.

 

[ElroyJetson]

Even one of the dispatchers routinely, always, yelled into the desk mic. The most common complaint?

You guessed it. "Dispatcher is always distorted." "Can't understand what the dispatcher is saying."



Yes, she was one of the untrainable ones.

 

[Tech21]

Even one of the dispatchers routinely, always, yelled into the desk mic. The most common complaint?

You guessed it. "Dispatcher is always distorted." "Can't understand what the dispatcher is saying."



Yes, she was one of the untrainable ones.

Every time I've gotten that complaint my solution is to tell the supervisor in the room, so everybody can hear exactly what the cause of their distorted audio complaint was. That is after doing all checks and tests to make sure I don't have a piece of faulty equipment somewhere.

 

[P25andstuff]

Years ago I was given the unenviable task of trying to teach a room full of school bus drivers proper radio technique.

Even after carefully explaining how their radios and repeaters worked, a few of them still believed that shouting into the microphone made the signal go farther. And that they could relay from bus to bus when they were using a repeater system. They would argue with me about it.

Some people CAN NOT be educated.

I have a one up for you. A room of camp counselors.

 

[ElroyJetson]

Camp counselors? I can't even imagine..........wait, parsing data..........oh. Yeah, I'll give you a provisional victory on that one due to the described scenario alone.

 

[P25andstuff]

Camp counselors? I can't even imagine..........wait, parsing data..........oh. Yeah, I'll give you a provisional victory on that one due to the described scenario alone.

They can do all this stuff on their phones instead of working but god forbid you give them a radio.

 

[lwvmobile]

We had the handheld MA/COM radios where I worked, and the common ones for where I worked was 'The Hip Talker' the person who can't bother to pull the radio off of their belt to talk on it, and all you hear is tons of wind, echoes, and a barely a voice with unintelligible words. The other problem was when people insist on trying to talk on their radio in a small room like an office with three other people in there all with radios and the radios all echo and reverberate and you can't understand anything that was said, its just one big continuous feed of reverberation. Also, just trying to use those radios outside on a windy day was always fun, all you would hear is the sound of wind hitting the mic, a little tiny breeze into it always sounded like a hurricane.

 

[wa8pyr]

Years ago I was given the unenviable task of trying to teach a room full of school bus drivers proper radio technique.

Even after carefully explaining how their radios and repeaters worked, a few of them still believed that shouting into the microphone made the signal go farther. And that they could relay from bus to bus when they were using a repeater system. They would argue with me about it.

Some people CAN NOT be educated.

Sounds like quite a few volunteer firefighters I know...

But I can agree with Elroy. I've had to train users, and I've come to the conclusion that there is some part of the population that is untrainable. It's a waste of energy/oxygen to try to teach them anything. They were born stupid and they've taken on the challenge of making it through life without learning anything.

Concur, I've tried to train the same kind of people several times. What's really frightening is that some of the ones I know like those you describe are the aforementioned volunteer firefighters.

 

[KN4EHX]

Sounds like quite a few volunteer firefighters I know...

I’m glad to know it is universal with VFD. Something about shouting into a radio.

FIFTEEN ELEM (1511) EN ROUTE FOUR ON BOARD GAS TO THA FLOOR!!! (Panting and out of breath siren wailing in the background).

Palm immediately goes to forehead as the other reaches for the volume knob. Eventually they all start shouting at each other. I think it turns into a contest.

 

[wa8pyr]

Can anyone recommend some AGC receive values for a dept using APX4000s just switching to P25 from analog, where employees are used to holding the mics right up to their mouth and whispering.

I understand the best thing is probably hiring a speech therapist to teach everyone whos got a booming voice and can’t help it. Both joking and serious about this statement

In addition to the speech therapist, your best bet is to tinker until you find the right settings. I've never had much luck using generic audio settings in a situation like that. Generally the same settings work fine across radio models, but when you switch to a different brand it's a whole new ballgame.

 

[wa8pyr]

I’m glad to know it is universal with VFD. Something about shouting into a radio.

FIFTEEN ELEM (1511) EN ROUTE FOUR ON BOARD GAS TO THA FLOOR!!! (Panting and out of breath siren wailing in the background).

Palm immediately goes to forehead as the other reaches for the volume knob. Eventually they all start shouting at each other. I think it turns into a contest.

Don't forget the ever popular "WE'VE GOT ONE IN FULL BLOOM!!!!!! IT'S-A BLOWIN' OUT THE WINDERS!!!!" shouted at top lung capacity. Heaven forbid they should utter the professional-sounding phrase "We have a working fire, two story residential with flame showing" in a normal voice.

 

[KN4EHX]

Don't forget the ever popular "WE'VE GOT ONE IN FULL BLOOM!!!!!! IT'S-A BLOWIN' OUT THE WINDERS!!!!" shouted at top lung capacity. Heaven forbid they should utter the professional-sounding phrase "We have a working fire, two story residential with flame showing" in a normal voice.

except in our case it isn’t residential or commercial but some guys unoccupied tool barn or camper. Still comes with the excitement of shots fired and entrapment. Luckily I’ve never heard either of those so if my speaker ever explodes I’ll know I’d better start heading that way.

 

[P25andstuff]

Theres this PD near me that has the mics on the dash, and the cops just key the mic while sitting in the seat and talk at a normal level. Not to mention the repeater is ****, so its interesting at best.

 

[redrock2002]

Not sure if APX has the same setting as our XPR7550 radios but in our experience, AGC off and then play with the Digital Mic Gain might help in your situation. Also, are you using Noise Suppression at all? Either in the mic or the radio itself?

 

[IFRIED91]

Yeah I use the basic set up with default profile

 

[Anderegg]

San Diego City uses MAX GAIN on their APX portables. This results in blown speaker clipped pegged VU meter hyper compressed audio levels. Always great to have a firefighter yelling into his mic like his old XTS5000 but effecting 25db more of distorted audio volume. Unfortunately they just flashed all the new radios with this portable profile so will have to wait a few years for the next "touch" to fix it. :-|

Paul

 

[KC3ECJ]

Years ago I was given the unenviable task of trying to teach a room full of school bus drivers proper radio technique.

Even after carefully explaining how their radios and repeaters worked, a few of them still believed that shouting into the microphone made the signal go farther. And that they could relay from bus to bus when they were using a repeater system. They would argue with me about it.

Some people CAN NOT be educated.

Like me trying to explain to people who have their CB radios transmitting their audio too wide onto the adjacent channel and how they're wasting their power.