996P2 have P25 Manual Settings?

[kruser]

When Uniden started releasing the updated P2 models such as the 996P2, there was an owners manual posted here or a link to one.

In that manual, it made mention of being able to set the P25 Decode Thresholds to Manual where the user could set them to 6 or 8 or whatever worked.
Like the old 996T models.

Is that true or do they still have that hidden menu that allowed some P25 adjustments but it was radio wide and not per system? That's how the 996XT models worked and it was almost useless.

Even though I have several x36HP models that do a fantastic job on simulcast sites, I'd love to have a model based on the 996XT that does Phase II and also brought back the Manual P25 settings for EACH site.
My old 996T runs circles around my XT models as I can set the P25 threshold to a true manual level for each site unlike the XT models.

If the 996P2 does offer a true per site Manual P25 setting again, I may just get one or two but I've not been able to find out for sure if this is true.
Just because I saw it in a early (possible pre-release) manual does not tell me if it was a fact or if Uniden accidently used something from the old 996T manual.

Anyone know for certain if this feature has been restored in the 3 or 996P2 models?

My old 996T even runs circles around my 996XT on non-simulcast sites by allowing me to set the P25 decode threshold manually instead of letting the radio use what it thinks is best.
It would be nice if the Auto P25 setting worked but there are just too many factors involved for an Auto setting to work for everyone.
It may work for owners that live in rural areas with not much RF in the air but when you are in an RF rich urban area, the auto setting jumps all over the place when it does actually lock onto an active talkgroup.

My x36HP models also work better when I set them to a Manual P25 threshold level but they also do a much better job than any of their predecessors did if I forget and leave some sites on Auto which is the default if you don't change it.

I hope someone will confirm that the Manual per site P25 threshold setting is back in the new P2 line of the older models. That would be so great if Uniden did bring that feature back with the new P2 models like 996P2!

Thanks everyone.

edit: I forgot to mention that I setup a dummy 996P2 in ProScan and I did not see the option to set the P25 thresholds anywhere in the dummy system I created so I assume this feature does not exist in the 996P2 models. That's what led me to believe that the early manual that was posted was in error but I'm hoping I'm wrong and the feature is back.

 

[darunimal]

The current firmware of the BCD325P2 only allows a Global setting of Manual P25 Decode Threshold, I have one system that loves 12 and one that loves 8 (on the current firmware) but the 2nd swings wildly from 5-13 on decoding with1-2 or 3 antenna bars, 1st is Motorola Type II second is Phase II with its Dispatch Phase I (it's crazy how long it takes to settle and never truly does until 7-8second or w a quick reply)

 

[lu81fitter]

I do not have any new digital scanner, but have been researching them. (including the 996P2 and the 536) My understanding is that the 996P2 does not have the manual settings, and the 536 does. Maybe someone else (smarter than me) could chime in and confirm. That would be helpful in my quest for information also.
GOOD QUESTION!

 

[darunimal]

You also have to enter through the hidden menu option, just like one of the earlier firmware versions on the BCD396T or BCD396XTs current: hold HOLD and Power ON

 

[kruser]

The current firmware of the BCD325P2 only allows a Global setting of Manual P25 Decode Threshold, I have one system that loves 12 and one that loves 8 (on the current firmware) but the 2nd swings wildly from 5-13 on decoding with1-2 or 3 antenna bars, 1st is Motorola Type II second is Phase II with its Dispatch Phase I (it's crazy how long it takes to settle and never truly does until 7-8second or w a quick reply)

Does the setting in the Hidden Menu actually offer an option that says "Manual" and "Auto" now or are the two settings still like the XT series where you had a "P25 Adjust Level" with a range between 1 to 200 and a "P25 Adjust Mode" that had a range of 3 to 15?

On the XT models, the Adjust Level setting just narrowed down the Mode setting range but no matter where you set the Level at, the radio would always start at 8 or 9. You could set the Mode to 3 but good luck getting the radio to use it. I could hardly get mine down to 6 where I need it. I tried every value for the Level and of course every value for the Mode but my XT's would almost always start at 8 or higher. After several seconds, they would sometimes settle down to 6 but that never happened on short transmissions. So short transmissions were usually garbled.
The only good thing about the hidden menu options was the fact it could be used to keep the radio from starting at a high value like 12 or so.
I'd have much rather liked to been able to set the Mode to 6 and it stayed there from start to finish like the old T series or the new x36HP models.
A fixed level of 6 would cover 90% of the P25 systems I monitor. Very few here like a level of 12 but they are out there.

I think I ended up settling on a Level of 115 to 125 and a Mode of 6 or 7. Somewhere in that range, my XT's would go down to 6 on longer transmissions.

I'm in the same boat where one P25 site likes 12 and most others in my area like 6 and sometimes even 5!

It sounds like Uniden did not really change much with the P2 series. They of course added P25 Phase II support and I'm pretty sure they changed the front program port to USB instead of Serial. I'd imagine they just inserted a USB to Serial adapter in the radio and changed the jack to Mini USB.
I wonder if it is still rate limited to 115200 bps on the serial side or if it can run at USB speeds now. I guess people will stop complaining because they needed an external USB to Serial adapter.
If that is all they did, I think I'd still like an external adapter just in case some new version of Windows drops support for whatever chipset Uniden is using for the internal adapter.
I think Microsoft basically said Win 10 is it though and they won't release anything new like they have been doing. If that is the case and the chipset Uniden is using internally is supported by the current Win 10, it should continue to work.

Uniden may have a design limitation in the XT models that prevents them from offering a true per site manual P25 mode setting or they just ignored the many threads on this subject that having a true manual setting does indeed help with many simulcast issues people have. At least they brought it back in the x36HP line.

Thanks for yours and lu81fitter's replies. Not really what I was hoping for but is what I expected after setting up a dummy system in ProScan using its 996P2 radio choice and not seeing any P25 settings.

Do let me know if one of the hidden menu choices does offer a P25 setting of Manual or Auto. If one is worded with those two choices, that is at least a step in the right direction!

 

[ofd8001]

As far as I can tell, the x96 series only allows a global setting for P25 "things". The x36 series allow for a site by site P25 settings and you can easily choose Manual or Auto.