HP-2: 90% of the stations that break squelch are just buzzing !

[WD9HIK]

Why do I always lock up on the control channel ( I think that is the buzz I hear) ? Once in a while I get voice, but mostly the loud buzzing. Makes listening just about useless. How do I get the scanner to not pass the control station to the speaker. No sense using the scanner if 90% of the time it is just buzzing real loud on the channels that open the squelch. Can some one tell me how to program it So I don’t get the buzzing?

thanks in advance.

 

[hiegtx]

Why do I always lock up on the control channel ( I think that is the buzz I hear) ? Once in a while I get voice, but mostly the loud buzzing. Makes listening just about useless. How do I get the scanner to not pass the control station to the speaker. No sense using the scanner if 90% of the time it is just buzzing real loud on the channels that open the squelch. Can some one tell me how to program it So I don’t get the buzzing?

thanks in advance.

Without knowing your location (city, or county, plus state), and which system you are trying to monitor, its pretty much impossible to give you a definite cause & resolution.

Are you scanning a Favorites list that you created, or using location, range, and the main database. If it's location/range, then you should not get this type of hang up on a frequency.

If this is a Favorites list that you are using, did you create it manually? Or by appending systems from the main database?

If it's a manually created list, it sounds like you have the trunk system & it's control channel(s) entered as conventional frequencies, not as part of a site of a trunked system. If programmed correctly as a trunked system, you would not hear continuous control channel noise.

By chance, could this actually be a DMR or NXDN system? The HP-2 cannot handle either of those modes, but, again, if programmed as trunked, you would not hear the buzz, but neither would you hear any voice conversations if DMR or NXDN were being used.

If this is a list you created, then I would suggest exporting it into an .hpe file, Once you've created that, you can roght-click on the file in Windows Explorer, and using the "Send-to" option on the pop-up memu, send it to a compressed folder. That folder can then be attached to a post, where someone can take a look to see what needs to be added or modified so that it will scan correctly.

 

[tvengr]

As hiegtx stated, we need to know what you are trying to monitor (using database or favorites lists, city, county, state, systems, and agencies) to be able to help you.

 

[Ubbe]

In Hopkinsville KY there are a couple of NXDN systems that a HP-2 cannot decode or mute the audio. You have to avoid those channels and systems if you manually have added them. They shouldn't be imported to Unidens special HP-1/2 database when using Sentinel.

There also some LTR systems and a P25-1 system that shouldn't be any problem to monitor, if there isn't some specific talk groups that use point-to-point encryption that the database aren't aware of.

/Ubbe

 

[u2brent]

Why do I always lock up on the control channel ( I think that is the buzz I hear) ? Once in a while I get voice, but mostly the loud buzzing. Makes listening just about useless. How do I get the scanner to not pass the control station to the speaker. No sense using the scanner if 90% of the time it is just buzzing real loud on the channels that open the squelch. Can some one tell me how to program it So I don’t get the buzzing?

thanks in advance.

1. Try the AVOID (aka Lock-Out) Button.
2. Increase the Squelch

 

[sallen07]

If you are scanning from the database, when was the last time you updated it?

 

[WD9HIK]

It

If you are scanning from the database, when was the last time you updated it?

within the week or less.

 

[WD9HIK]

Without knowing your location (city, or county, plus state), and which system you are trying to monitor, its pretty much impossible to give you a definite cause & resolution.

Are you scanning a Favorites list that you created, or using location, range, and the main database. If it's location/range, then you should not get this type of hang up on a frequency.

If this is a Favorites list that you are using, did you create it manually? Or by appending systems from the main database?

If it's a manually created list, it sounds like you have the trunk system & it's control channel(s) entered as conventional frequencies, not as part of a site of a trunked system. If programmed correctly as a trunked system, you would not hear continuous control channel noise.

By chance, could this actually be a DMR or NXDN system? The HP-2 cannot handle either of those modes, but, again, if programmed as trunked, you would not hear the buzz, but neither would you hear any voice conversations if DMR or NXDN were being used.

If this is a list you created, then I would suggest exporting it into an .hpe file, Once you've created that, you can roght-click on the file in Windows Explorer, and using the "Send-to" option on the pop-up memu, send it to a compressed folder. That folder can then be attached to a post, where someone can take a look to see what needs to be added or modified so that it will scan correctly.

Using the data base and going mobile with GPS.
sounds like it is useless scanner. If one uses the data base and going mobile will always result in locking in on channel with just digital buzzing 90% of the time. One spends more time constantly locking out buzzing channels than listening to something. very disappointed with this scanner.

 

[jonwienke]

That's not the typical experience. What specific channels are "buzzing"? What does the scanner display for the system, department, and channel when you hear the noise?

 

[WD9HIK]

1. Try the AVOID (aka Lock-Out) Button.
2. Increase the Squelch

Turning the power switch off works also. I was looking for a solution such that would have the software recognize that that channel was the control and not pass the buzzing and keep the squelch closed.

 

[hiegtx]

Using the data base and going mobile with GPS.
sounds like it is useless scanner. If one uses the data base and going mobile will always result in locking in on channel with just digital buzzing 90% of the time. One spends more time constantly locking out buzzing channels than listening to something. very disappointed with this scanner.

OK, if you are using the database, not a Favorites list, and the scanner is hanging up on a frequency, that, to me, would indicate that usage on one or more channels that are in the database as conventional, have been repurposed into a trunked system.

As jon has asked, what frequency, and system, is the one that's hanging up?

There's not a setting in the scanner nor in Sentinel that would recognize a frequency that is entered as conventional, but is now part of a trunked system, and reprogram it accordingly.

 

[WD9HIK]

That's not the typical experience. What specific channels are "buzzing"? What does the scanner display for the system, department, and channel when you hear the noise?

How does one set up this scanner then to get your “typical experience” ? Scan stations within a local area, say 10 miles radius? Or use the database and the GPS while mobile?
Does this scanner need to have every channel set up manually?? If that is true, they sure sold a pig in a poke. Very disappointed with this scanner.

 

[jonwienke]

Turning the power switch off works also. I was looking for a solution such that would have the software recognize that that channel was the control and not pass the buzzing and keep the squelch closed.

We can't help you if you won't answer the question:
What channels are giving you the buzzing noise? We need system, department, and channel.

 

[hiegtx]

How does one set up this scanner then to get your “typical experience” ? Scan stations within a local area, say 10 miles radius? Or use the database and the GPS while mobile?
Does this scanner need to have every channel set up manually?? If that is true, they sure sold a pig in a poke. Very disappointed with this scanner.

No, you do not need to set up every channel manually.

By keeping the database up to date, you can use a GPS and range, plus the database, to go most anywhere.

I have an HP-2 myself, and it works well for me in my metro area. I primarily use Favorites lists that I created to scan, because I know what I can, or cannot, hear from my location. In my case, using the database, location, and range would mean that some systems that a range would put "in range" are not receivable at my location, and some that theoretically out of range, I can hear easily.

But if you are only using the database/range/location, then your problem sounds as if one or more frequencies that are in the database as conventional, and possibly analog, are in fact, now being used as part of a trunked system. My guess is that they may be DMR or NXDN, and possibly being used on a trunked system. But no one has discovered the changed usage & submitted updated information to be changed. In my area, a number of entities, such as hospitals and hotels, are in the database as conventional analog. However, many of those have actually switched to DMR, often using their frequencies in a trunked system. As I, and others, can discover & document the new usage, it can be submitted to the database for correction. I think that is what is happening in your case, which is why we have asked what frequency is hanging up, and whose name is showing on the display. With that information to start with, then the related FCC license can be checked to see if the emission codes for DMR or NXDN have been added.

Note that depending on your exact location, and the range being used, the offending station could be in a neighboring county instead of your own.

 

[u2brent]

Reducing your range to 0 while mobile (or not for that matter) may help.
Creating an FL in Sentinel that just scans the systems and types you want to scan is a big benefit, even if it's just for while your not mobile. You can speed up scanning immensely by not scanning the full DB.

Lots of options are available

As others have indicated.. Sharing what state, county, frequency, system, department would be a big help here.
That's if you really are looking for help..