PSR500 Sqelch tail

[clayman]

I just received my PSR500 this week and it seems like it has a nasty squelch tail issue, especially on UHF stations with DCS. Trunked transmissions, and most CTCSS transmissions seem normal. I've tried all the settings I can find and the updated DSP & CPU firmware. I've had just about all the GRE made RS scanners from the Pro 92 to the Pro 97, and they all had great squelch tail elimination. Am I missing something? Anyone else notice any squelch tail issues.
Clayton

 

[kikito]

I just received my PSR500 this week and it seems like it has a nasty squelch tail issue, especially on UHF stations with DCS. Trunked transmissions, and most CTCSS transmissions seem normal. I've tried all the settings I can find and the updated DSP & CPU firmware. I've had just about all the GRE made RS scanners from the Pro 92 to the Pro 97, and they all had great squelch tail elimination. Am I missing something? Anyone else notice any squelch tail issues.
Clayton

Yes, I noticed that too. I wouldn't call it an issue but it's certainly a little annoying. I noticed it's more pronounced for me on some UHF frequencies and CTCSS.

 

[jpryor]

I've also had some issues where the PSR-500 just won't squelch a DCS mode frequency as well as the 96 and 97. And overall for CSQ the squelch tail seemed longer than the previous radios.

I was able to shorten the squelch tail a bit and it helps make it less annoying. Set the "RF SQ Fade" in the Expert Settings (PGM+FUNC+F3) menu to a lower value in order to decrease the squelch tail length. I have decreased this setting from the default of 10 down to 5 on my PSR-500.

But I'm still not able to eliminate the tail completely on some of the frequecies that I have DCS squelch code set. Some of these repeaters worked fine on the 96/97 when it came to squelch tail elimination. I'm not sure why it is not working as well with the PSR-500.

 

[DonS]

Try decreasing "HD2 Qualify" in the FUNC+GLOB menu. Be conservative in your changes, though, since you may end up causing undesired muting if you decrease it by too much.

 

[clayman]

Thanks a bunch! I have played with those settings and it made a definite improvement. Are those settings detailed in the Owners Manual? I never saw anything about those settings and I wondered where I can get more info on what all of them do.

Thanks again,
Clayton

 

[DaveIN]

What settings did you use Clayton?

 

[DonS]

I'd bet he decreased the "HD2 Qualify" value I mentioned above. Maybe decreased it to 40, or so.

His value will be almost useless to anyone else. It's a "tweak" that will depend on what you're monitoring, the environment, etc.

 

[clayman]

I set the RF SQ Fade to 5 & the HD2 Qualify to 50. I'll try bumping it down to 40 and see what happens. There was still a slightly long Squelch tail at 50, but it was not as loud and annoying. It was something I definitely could live with.
Thanks for the help,
Clayton

 

[clayman]

Actually I went back and checked and I had the RF Fade set to 1, when I raised it up to 5, I could tell a difference. So I have it back at 1 and HD2 Qualify at 40 and thinks seem OK.

 

[DonS]

You probably don't want to set RF Fade that low. It might start having "bad" effects in weak signal conditions.

 

[jpryor]

There is not any formal GRE documentation regarding the Expert Settings. I had created a consolidated list of these settings and related information and have posted it on line at: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pJ4HPyKG38v1IamIGWMrKFw
I tried adjusting the HD2 Qualify for my case. I was not able to get any improvement or squelch tail elimination performance with the PSR-500 that works like my Pro 96 and 97 on a particular DCS repeater. Must be something else different about that particular repeater and this particular radio.

 

[AerialEars]

I've found a particular issue when using 103.5 Hz. When scanning my local sheriff's department, I have an extremely long squelch tail when I have the squelch set to CTCSS for their tone. 103.5. If I set the squelch to none, it works much better, with only a small squelch tail. I don't run into this on other frequencies with a CTCSS tone set.