Trunking Recorder Missing/Skipping UniTrunker Calls

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AggieCon

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Howdy,

I have Trunking Recorder configured to record via Universal Trunker (and via DSD+ for ProVoice). It's an awesome setup; however, Trunking Recorder is not recording all of the radio calls UniTrunker follows with the VCOs. It's getting to the point of being quite unreliable.

The calls that the recorder skips are all picked up and broadcast by UniTrunker. The call info shows up on the proper VCO/Scope, it's listed in the UniTrunker Call History, and there is audio output to the virtual cables. However, the Trunking Recorder window does not show the call, it does not record (no audio file), and it does not show up on the web server. If I were to output the Unitrunker audio to my speakers, I would hear all the calls; likewise, Trunking Recorder fails to record some calls while also recording other calls (so it's not like a complete freeze or disconnect).

I especially notice the problem with calls made on the same talkgroup by the same Source ID in succession (such as police conversations or tac channel conversations -- it may catch 4/10 of ~3 second calls made within a minute); however, it also skips unrelated calls (calls spaced out over time and talkgroup) and calls on infrequently used talkgroups. It occurs during both slow radio traffic (there is only one call and Trunker Recorder misses it) and when the system is busy (i.e. Trunking Recorder will record 2-3 of the conversations while missing the other one or two -- in these cases a VCO is assigned and broadcasting audio for all calls). It occurs with both digital and analog calls. Basically, I can't identify a pattern, which makes it difficult to troubleshoot.

About my setup:

I am following an EDACS system with analog and Provoice traffic. There are 5 voice channels on the system. I have one R820T2 and one R820T SDR dongles monitoring the system with three voice VCOs each (this covers the entire bandwidth of the channels and enough VCOs to cover traffic on all voice channels simultaneously). The R820T2 also follows the control channel. I am routing through two instances of DSD+ on two of the VCOs for Provoice decoding (one on each SDR) -- most of the traffic is analog. All of my virtual audio cables transmit audio to Trunking Recorder properly, and all of the VCOs have provided complete recordings on Trunking Recorder. I have Trunking Recorder 1.8.1531.5820 and Universal Trunker 1.0.32.7. I am using both Virtual Audio Cable (paid) and VB Cable. My reception of the EDACS control signal is good, with the health hovering at or near 100 most of the time. I'm running Windows 8.1, Intel i7, 32 GB RAM, and a solid state drive, so I don't think it is hardware bottleneck (Unitrunker uses 1-2% CPU, 17mb ram & Trunking Recorder < 1% CPU, ~50mb).

I am happy to upload any logs that may be of use. Of note, I noticed a receiver DecodeA log around 70 mb. (Edit: deleted some of my ignorance regarding the log files)

Also notable, sometimes Trunking Recorder freezes when I click save after changing settings. When I restart the program, the settings are set the way I changed them. (This doesn't bother me -- just trying to provide a comprehensive history)

If anyone can shed some light on this, I should be very thankful. Information regarding the communication between UniTrunker and Trunking Recorder would be helpful. What logs or files does Trunking Recorder read? How does it know when to stop and end recording, as well as which VCO to follow? Etc. A general commentary of Trunking Recorder should be very useful; I couldn't find much about the nuts and bolts of it on the forums.

In summary, my problem is that the Trunking Recorder call list does not show all of the calls in the UniTrunker Call History... many of the calls are not recorded. I appreciate any insight.

Cordially,

Justin
 

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scannerbox

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The way it works is Unitrunker updates the "sdrsharptrunking.log" log file (named this for legacy reasons) each time a call or control channel change occurs. There should be a row in the log file for every VCO you have setup in Unitrunker.
The log file is located in the folder specified in the "Unitrunker data folder" setting on the Trunking Recorder General menu.

Trunking Recorder monitors this log file and every time the file is updated it processes it looking for updates for the Voice Receivers setup in Trunking Recorder.

If Trunking Recorder is missing calls the first step would be to see if the missing calls are getting logged to the "sdrsharptrunking.log" file.

One known issue where calls might get missed is when a second voice call will reuse the same frequency for a different transmitting radio without the VCO getting parked. In this situation Unitrunker does not send an update notice for the second call. The audio is still recorded it just gets attached to the first call since Trunking Recorder thinks the first call is still happening.

In Trunking Recorder on the configure menu is an option for &#8220;Enable detailed logging&#8221; Check that and then save the settings. Wait for a bunch of calls to happen including some missed one. Then go back and click the &#8220;Create support Zip&#8221; on the Configure menu and send that Zip file to support@scannerbox.us. Also include the time when a call was missed.
 

natedawg1604

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I am having the exact same problem as the OP. I'm monitoring an EDACS system with Virtual Audio Cable and DSD+. I'm running the newest version of UT. Just like the OP, when I hold on a TG I continuously hear the voice grants, and they are displayed in UT, but Trunking Recorder sporadically records the audio traffic. Also, I'm only running one voice receiver.

It appears there is some type of issue with Trunking Recorder getting up-to-date status information from UT while the voice receiver holds on a single TG. After a short period of time while holding on a TG, Trunking Recorder seems to have trouble recognizing new voice grants from the voice receiver; when this occurs, the Trunking Recorder window shows the VCO in "PARK" mode, even though audio is coming through the Voice Receiver. Not sure if I can adjust any settings to fix this...?
 

AggieCon

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Nate,

I've investigated this extensively since the original post. I even have a Power Point about it.

The gist of it is that UniTrunker holds on to the calls too long. Additionally, it can get messed up if a new call rolls around on the same LCN right after the previous call on the LCN. The remote.dll doesn't properly update the SDR#Trunking.log file properly. It's not really a problem with Trunking Recorder. Also, the bug is internal to UniTrunker as well, because the Voice VCOs stick to the same mode of traffic (i.e., if the first call was digital and the second was analog, the audio output is to the Digital Output on the second call). Also, there are some legitimately missed calls by UniTrunker. I'm still trying to define an exact rule, but it has to do with repetitive calls on the same talk group getting missed. This will sometimes occur for minutes until for some reason sense gets knocked back into it.

I was going to do a more thorough write up about it, but there's no point since UniTrunker has been updated substantially. I'll test out how the new software works and then report my findings.

I guess my personal feature request would be an immediate call kill or user configurable setting for TTL after the end of the voice continuation command. I get that for marginal decodes it could cause premature call termination, but if the decode stream is complete and immediate, I'd set mine for ~400 milliseconds.

The current thing I am testing is making sure the Signal VCO is on its own RTL. I recently realized that the decode stream is briefly interrupted when the RTL retunes between calls.

Either way, it's great software, and we are being marginally picky regarding our free lunch. Unfortunately, it does result in substantial loss of information; that's one reason I'm looking into OP25.
 

AggieCon

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The other thing I'm trying to study are the data commands sent over the voice channel for end of call. If anyone has any technical documentation about this for the various systems, I'd be interested to have a copy. Decoding the actual system end of call command would be a much more active approach than the current passive technique of watching for a continuation command to go away.
 
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