Unitrunker tip for Uniden XT scanners

[Bote]

My local public safety SmartZone trunked system has been giving me fits because it keeps changing the control channel on me. I am using a BCT15X to dump control channel data to Unitrunker and I thought the scanner is required to HOLD on the control channel.

While testing the delay problem I discovered that as long as the scanner is not stopped on a talkgroup it continues to pump out the control channel data. So my advice is to disable all groups on that particular system, make sure the scanner is in SCAN mode so it doesn't stop on random unprogrammed talkgroups, and let it scan. It should dump data to Unitrunker with no interruptions even if the control channel changes.

 

[Jay911]

I have an issue with the 396XT when trying to use it with Unitrunker and I think here is as good as any place to bring it up, since you're talking about XTs and Unitrunker already.

When I leave my scanner on hold on the trunk control channel (as you said in the first paragraph), with the volume up, I can hear frequent changes in volume/signal quality, where the sound of the control channel will vary in strength (generally two levels, what I'd call "strong" and "not quite so strong"). Does anyone else experience this, and does it impact UT functionality? Even with the latest iteration of UT, and a steady consistent signal, I get many dropouts in UT (red bars or no bars on the site window) and bad data (creating false systems/sites/channels, etc). Basically, I'm wondering if I have a bad radio.

 

[Dewey]

I have an issue with the 396XT when trying to use it with Unitrunker and I think here is as good as any place to bring it up, since you're talking about XTs and Unitrunker already.

When I leave my scanner on hold on the trunk control channel (as you said in the first paragraph), with the volume up, I can hear frequent changes in volume/signal quality, where the sound of the control channel will vary in strength (generally two levels, what I'd call "strong" and "not quite so strong"). Does anyone else experience this, and does it impact UT functionality? Even with the latest iteration of UT, and a steady consistent signal, I get many dropouts in UT (red bars or no bars on the site window) and bad data (creating false systems/sites/channels, etc). Basically, I'm wondering if I have a bad radio.

Concerning the first part of your question... yes, I used to see this when I would use a Pro-96 to monitor the DC 603d system. It would be coming in strong, then suddenly sound like someone hit the attenuator. However, it never gave me decode problems (I was using Trunk88 at that time), so I can't answer the second part.

Dewey

 

[Bote]

When I leave my scanner on hold on the trunk control channel (as you said in the first paragraph), with the volume up, I can hear frequent changes in volume/signal quality, where the sound of the control channel will vary in strength (generally two levels, what I'd call "strong" and "not quite so strong").

I think that might be the analog AGC action responding to the various peaks of the data coming in.

 

[SCPD]

Even with the latest iteration of UT, and a steady consistent signal, I get many dropouts in UT (red bars or no bars on the site window) and bad data (creating false systems/sites/channels, etc). Basically, I'm wondering if I have a bad radio.

Check the Tuner log. Mangled CC dump messages will yield reduced frame rate.