What are the parameters that Unication radios use to select the best site for its current location? I have heard that the radio stays with a site until the signal degrades to some level, then looks for another site. How is the next site selected? Does the radio poll each site for the system looking for the strongest / best cch signal? Does it look in some particular order, like site number order, or the order the sites were entered into its programming? Can a use designate preferred sites, or a threshold signal level when evaluating sites?
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Site selection logic
- Thread starter maus92
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From what I can see in programming, there isn't an "expert" setting like in some Whistler scanners where you can set the "Roam" feature on the sties. The pager stays on what it has until it degrades to the point that it needs to find another one.
The reason why, as explained to me by Unication's Tech Support, is that you don't want the pager jumping around if you are using it to get activated. You want that pager sitting on your dispatch talk group for as long as possible until it can no longer get a good signal.
I haven't seen any white papers from Unication explaining when the pager looks for another site or what the sequence is.
The reason why, as explained to me by Unication's Tech Support, is that you don't want the pager jumping around if you are using it to get activated. You want that pager sitting on your dispatch talk group for as long as possible until it can no longer get a good signal.
I haven't seen any white papers from Unication explaining when the pager looks for another site or what the sequence is.
CFP387
Member
However, I have noticed that if I am holding on to a particular talk group that is not affiliated on the closest tower near my location, the pager will roam to find a tower that affiliates to that talk group. This is provided that the pager is set up to roam adjacent tower sites in a smart zone system and not set to just monitor one site. Has anyone else experienced this?
When you mention that the pager is set up to roam adjacent sites, is that as simple as adding two or more sites (and corresponding control freqs) to that zone's site list / control chan list in D2 of the PPS? Just want to be certain that I've programmed the system correctly.
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CFP387
Member
Yes, you can program as many or as few sites as you desire. You can even use a wildcard of "FF" to search all sites that fit the RFSS criteria. Personally, I have our statewide system programmed in to my pagers different ways depending on what I'm trying to monitor or in what region of the state I'm going to be in.
Beauteous. Many thanks for confirming.
The Unication will lock on to a site based on the initial RSSI meeting a certain threshold. It will then hold that site until BER rises above a certain threshold, then scroll CC's looking for another one that meets the RSSI threshold. So once the Unication locks a site, it holds it based on BER. It does not contantly sample RSSI of other sites and will usually hold a site a little longer than let’s say an APX subscriber, which is constantly sampling RSSI.
So will the scoll go in any particular order? Perhaps the order the sites were entered in the programming? Or in numerical order?
Just curious, how does it know and/or decide if a TG is affiliated to a tower? It can't transmit and get denied so I see no way for it to accomplish that...but I could be wrong.
CFP387
Member
Yes, I have witnessed this on more than one occasion. When I'm traveling and have my G4/G5 set to roam my statewide system, the unit will tend to stay on a site until the traffic is almost garbled before it will start looking for another closer site. This can be considered one drawback with their technology especially when knowing my Motorola portable doesn't do that.
I honestly don't know and I'm hoping someone here can help explain this. I'm actually hoping that someone else here has actually seen this happen. But I can attest that if I'm roaming a series of towers and holding on to a certain TG, the unit will find the closet tower that TG is affiliated with. If it can't find a tower, it will show that it's out of range. I'd like to say that the unit will read the information to see what TG's are active on a site and if it can't find the TG selected, it will look at the next closest site (depending on RSSI strength and BER).
A portable radio won't show out of range because once the user selects a TG, the nearest tower will automatically affiliate. But I'm not a radio engineer, so I don't know nearly as much as I'd like to know about the inner workings of these pagers.
Using the various sites (set with FF) in my area, which has three towers in range, it seems as though it doesn't grab the strongest signal, but rather it grabs the lowest frequency with acceptable strength, if I change channels, thus losing the signal, it will scan again and stop on the next highest frequency active on the system.
It doesn't. If you try to monitor a TG that's not being carried by the current site you'll never hear anything.
As Kevin mentions above there is no mechanism for the pager to verify active TGs since it only passively monitors the system.
More than likely what you're experiencing is strictly coincidental. Many times while commuting back and forth I've gone for long periods hearing nothing on busy TGs. Then suddenly the unit roams and I'll end up in the middle of a conversation.
Now, some Harris systems do advertise available services and announcement groups so there may potentially be some logic within the pager for considering that information, however, that would not apply for regular TGs.
N1GAW...Correct, but let me elaborate. It will go through your list of frequencies and as soon as it finds one that meets the RSSI threshold, it will lock it. Then hold until BER rises above a set threshold. So, it will not necessarily lock on to the site with the best signal if you have 3 sites in range, just the one that meets the RSSI threshold first. So put your frequencies in order of which one you prefer higher up so it locks that first. I personally have certain sites set up as their own "system" so I can basically lock on the site I want and manually switch. Why, well certain sites carry certain talkgroups while other sites don't. So my strongest site might be 5 miles away, but I want to listen to the Agency on the site 20 miles away. Others I have set to multiple sites to cover a wider area for when lets say I'm driving and don't want to bother flipping knobs. Its all in how you program it to make it work for you. As an example, I have one knob position set to all the North Carolina Highway Patrol talkgroups and sites that cover I-95. The G5 will just switch sites as i drive south to north. Again, it doesn't RSSI sample sites, so it will hold a site longer than a subscriber on the system. I've personally tested things with valid subscribers on several systems.
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