PSR-800 cc and sites behavior

[c5corvette]

How does the PSR-800 handle control channels and sites?

A)
For example, if I load a huge statewide trunked system with 140+ sites will it scan them in the order entered and lock / stop on the first active one regardless of if there is another site with a better signal? How does it do this?

B) Within a single site, if were to create one site with all the possible control channels from a bunch of the sites in the above example, how would the scanner react and choose the control channel to follow for a single site trunked system?


I am a more familiar with Unidens, so I appologize in advance if this question sounds dumb or redundant. I do know that the Unidens and the GRE track cc and sites differently and I though the PSR-500/600 had something called a Roam function that Unidens don't have - but I dont have the answer to my own questions above.

 

[RoninJoliet]

Well, im with you on this as i have not seen many responses to how it "decodes digital" especially on "multi-site systems like here on IL-Digital Starcom 700/800....

 

[scannerfreak]

It works like the PSR 500's roam setting. It will lock on the first programmed CC that meets the threshold levels set. When it fails to meet the threshold levels it will look for another one that meets it and lock onto it.

I have several SAFE-T sites in as their own system. With no memory worries it's no big deal

How does the PSR-800 handle control channels and sites?

A)
For example, if I load a huge statewide trunked system with 140+ sites will it scan them in the order entered and lock / stop on the first active one regardless of if there is another site with a better signal? How does it do this?

B) Within a single site, if were to create one site with all the possible control channels from a bunch of the sites in the above example, how would the scanner react and choose the control channel to follow for a single site trunked system?


I am a more familiar with Unidens, so I appologize in advance if this question sounds dumb or redundant. I do know that the Unidens and the GRE track cc and sites differently and I though the PSR-500/600 had something called a Roam function that Unidens don't have - but I dont have the answer to my own questions above.

 

[scannerfreak]

Well, im with you on this as i have not seen many responses to how it "decodes digital" especially on "multi-site systems like here on IL-Digital Starcom 700/800....

I've personally noticed a great improvement on the Cincinnati system. It's obviously not completely immune to interference, but the DSP handles it nicely.

Here in SE IN I get perfect reception on the Cincy system. But there are spots within the city where it will get a little dicey, but not near as bad as the 500. I can post some audio samples if you'd like.

 

[tampatracker]

Are the roam hi/lo settings adjustable like they are on the 500?

 

[scannerfreak]

Yep, sure are.

 

[tampatracker]

All right, excellent!

 

[c5corvette]

Are the roam hi/lo settings adjustable like they are on the 500?

How do you adjust them and where (and any tutorial)???

 

[scannerfreak]

They are set per site via the software. The high setting means it has to be greater then that decode rate and the low setting means it must not drop below that decode rate.

 

[DaveIN]

How does the PSR-800 handle control channels and sites?

A)
For example, if I load a huge statewide trunked system with 140+ sites will it scan them in the order entered and lock / stop on the first active one regardless of if there is another site with a better signal? How does it do this?

B) Within a single site, if were to create one site with all the possible control channels from a bunch of the sites in the above example, how would the scanner react and choose the control channel to follow for a single site trunked system?

I do know that the Unidens and the GRE track cc and sites differently and I though the PSR-500/600 had something called a Roam function that Unidens don't have - but I dont have the answer to my own questions above.

Yes with the Roam threshold high and low settings you can do this from the program. I agree the Roam feature is great on the go, but I have to ask why the Stat feature wasn't added when it wouldn't have been to difficult to do, since it was already a previous feature that doesn't necessarily need a full keypad to support and already was tried, tested, and proven to work in previous high end models.

The radio has the whole Radioreference database, but isn't smart enough to know your location, or guess from the control channel data, so it sees the control channel and parks on it if the signal is within the Roam threshold, or until you move locations and the signal is lost and re-acquired.

Adding (or returning) the Stat feature would solve this problem for most users who still want multiple sites from the system in one scanlist, which is why scanlists are a good feature to have, even with a trunked system that has 140+ sites, when memory is not a big deal, but is still an option for the end user who would use this feature.

 

[c5corvette]

They are set per site via the software. The high setting means it has to be greater then that decode rate and the low setting means it must not drop below that decode rate.

Are there any guidelines for these settings or any info on what they are based on, such as RSSI equivelent in MOTO-speak ;-) ???

I see the following detail description in the sw user guide, but no other help...

On trunked systems with multiple transmitter sites, the GRECOM EZ Scan Digital 
Handheld trunking scanner will search for the best site.

The Data Decode Threshold settings are used to control the selection of the best site.

When a system is first enabled, the scanner will scan through the sites from the first one 
listed looking for a control signal.  When one is found, the scanner will sample the data 
stream and calculate a decode rate based on expected data transmission rates.  If the scanner 
finds a site that meets the high threshold value, it will use that site until the decode rate drops 
below the low threshold value.  At that point, the scanner will attempt to find another site using 
the same process.

 

[DaveIN]

Just a note about the audio quality I have observed on a P25 system. When the signal is good with no interference on the voice channel from another source, the sound is the best audio decode quality I have heard short of a professional system radio. When the signal is interrupted by another source, or the signal is marginal, the sound from the speaker is robotic.

 

[c5corvette]

Yes with the Roam threshold high and low settings you can do this from the program. I agree the Roam feature is great on the go, but I have to ask why the Stat feature wasn't added when it wouldn't have been to difficult to do, since it was already a previous feature that doesn't necessarily need a full keypad to support and already was tried, tested, and proven to work in previous high end models.

The radio has the whole Radioreference database, but isn't smart enough to know your location, or guess from the control channel data, so it sees the control channel and parks on it if the signal is within the Roam threshold, or until you move locations and the signal is lost and re-acquired.

Adding (or returning) the Stat feature would solve this problem for most users who still want multiple sites from the system in one scanlist, which is why scanlists are a good feature to have, even with a trunked system that has 140+ sites, when memory is not a big deal, but is still an option for the end user who would use this feature.

What is the STAT feature, how does it work, and what radios have it?

 

[fmon]

Apparently default is Lo 88 and Hi 95 which is ok here on 4 P25's and 9 Mot's. But we are going on a trip this weekend and wondering if I should squeeze the two settings similar to yours scannerfreak? This may include driving through Prince George's County.

Although while driving around this area--extending range of one tower and decreasing another, the scanner clearly switches towers. E.g. VHF trunking tables set in both towers.

Edit: Forgot 3 Military UHF smartzones and one 800 MHz city smartzone.

 

[DaveIN]

What is the STAT feature, how does it work, and what radios have it?

The Stat feature is for the static location where all control channels are checked in turn for activity within a high and low threshold.

It was introduced on the PSR-500 and has been included on all similar models (including RadioShack equivalents) until now.

 

[fmon]

What is the STAT feature, how does it work, and what radios have it?

GRE 500 family has ROAM, STAT /w/ or /wo/ scan all CC's in every pass and OFF.
PSR-800 is always ROAM.

 

[fmon]

Also for PSR-800:
Digital Site Options:
The Digital AGC (Automatic Gain Control) is used to even out the volume on digital radio system transmissions. This option has three settings and is dependant on the voice and AGC settings in the trunked system list.

If the system voice is set to Analog or the AGC setting in the Trunked system listing is not set to "Per Site" this option has no effect.

If the system voice is set to Digital or Mixed, and the system AGC setting is set to "Per Site", this setting will have three options available:

Off: The Automatic Gain Control feature will not be used when this site is active.

On: The Automatic Gain Control feature will be used on all digital transmissions from this site, regardless of the talkgroup being used.

Per Talkgroup: The Automatic Gain Control feature will be used only on talkgroups that have the feature enabled. All other talkgroups will not use the AGC feature.

 

[evan]

Not having a STAT setting is a huge flaw for listening to large systems. For example, there are two sites of Palmetto 800 at the same location in Columbia, SC. One carries traffic for one county, the other carries traffic for the neighboring county and user radios are not allowed to affiliate with the other site. If I want to listen to the neighboring county, the radio will stop on the first control channel that meets the threshold, and not allow me to listen to any of the traffic carried by the other site. I will have no way to listen to traffic from the other county. Any way to work around this?

 

[brian]

Not having a STAT setting is a huge flaw for listening to large systems. For example, there are two sites of Palmetto 800 at the same location in Columbia, SC. One carries traffic for one county, the other carries traffic for the neighboring county and user radios are not allowed to affiliate with the other site. If I want to listen to the neighboring county, the radio will stop on the first control channel that meets the threshold, and not allow me to listen to any of the traffic carried by the other site. I will have no way to listen to traffic from the other county. Any way to work around this?

Sure, create separate trunked systems and puch each site in a different system. That means duplicating talkgroups that are shared between both sites, or dedicating one site to scan the shared talkgroups. Stoage space isn't an issue, but managing lots of sysems could be a pain for some. But using separate systems for each site (or groups of sites) would give you more control over which site is scanned.

I would like to see the "STAT" option make a return, but with a minimum threshold as was mentioned previously or in a different thread.

 

[evan]

Creating separate systems for each site is what I do with my 500. However, I don't think the programming software for the 800 will allow you to import to each system if they have the same sysID. Until further reading I just did, I was under the impression that there were no copy and paste options either, so the separate systems had to be inputed manually. It sounds like a software update now allows copy/paste.

Time for me to download the software and play around with it.