996T missing replies, Slow to acquire conversations in progress

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n5gqb

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Trying to determine if there is another firmware bug regarding digital trunking....(sure seems like it).

I am having problems with the 996t randomly not stopping on digital TG's already in progress in a timely manner. Many times the radio will take 3-4 seconds to stop on a conversation already in progress, either missing replies, the first half or missing it altogether. The scanner is not busy doing/scanning anything else or on another conversation. No priority, no close call or Wx is engaged. This problem only applies to digital talkgroups, analog and conventional digital work fine. As mentioned the problem is random and does not apply to a particular TG or system freq. Also the frequency as to which it happens is random too. Sometimes happening back to back or not occuring for several minutes.
Once the radio lands on a active conversation it holds it just fine, but will miss the reply occasionally because of the problem.
Oddly enough if I "hold" on a talkgroup the radio does great, not missing replies nor missing the beginning.

I am also having a problem of the radio randomly NOT applying the delay I have set in the menu. The radio simply takes off scanning right away, ignoring the delay setting. Here again digital talkgroups only.

Also this is my SECOND RADIO... I sent the first one back because of
this very problem thinking it was that radio only.

BTW-The system I monitor is a p16 system, I do not know if it occurs on a p25 system.


As for my setup for now I am using the 996t in the house with the back of set antenna, the tower site is only a few miles away and I have a good and constant signal. I double checked the system freqs and data channel for possible interference from external sources...all ok. The system I am listening to is a 7 channel 800mhz standard 3600baud
p16 system with both analog and digital talkgroups. System name is Bryan TX, system id # A710. I am familiar with programming these "dynamic memory" radios and others as I already have the 396t, 246t, 296d, and pro-96. All of these other radios work fine on this system. And yes the p25 digital setting has been tuned as well as possble,
transmissions are clean and clear.

I have tried all various sorts of workarounds with no avail. Just to name a few, digital end code, status bit, fm vs nfm, control channel only vs not, different system hold times/delay times, different sqk's, id scan vs id search, "digital only" audio setting for talkgroups and so on...

See if you can confirm this as well. It definatley helps to have another radio to follow along. You will need to monitor just one system.

I have been in coorespondence with another scannerist in another part of the country and he has noticed this problem too (p16 system also).

Thanks Sly
 

trido

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I have smae exact thing SLY

Sly same thing here in Indiana on SAFE-t system

I have used two dif Pro 96 two dif bcd996t just like you say the bc is missimg at times many many seconds of a digtial talk group.
 

scannerfreak

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agree, same problem here on SAFE-T (also 3600), running it side by side with the 2096 proves it..996 misses alot and I also see the delay issue being random. A Little issue also with motorboat before digital transmissions, but not to bad, no matter the P25 settings..

I live 2 miles from a site and do not even need an antenna to get the CC with 5 bars, so you are right, not a signal strength thing. I have just ignored it because I have the 2096 running 24/7 too, but since you brought it up, I will chime in.

Frankly, If I knew for sure the 2096 would survive rebanding in a timely manner, and at all, I probally would sell my 996. I don't undertstand why Uniden can't get the digital as good as RS..The hidden AGC tweak makes it sound better, but Uniden needs digital decoding like the 2096, where you don't have to tweak it at all..I have my site hold on 1 second and the system delay at 4 seconds, sometimes it waits and sometimes it zooms right on after the end of a transmission.

I'm glad someone brought this up :)
 
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AndrewC75

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Just a thought... Do you all have Close Call DND turned on when this is happening? CC DND causes the radio to leave the control channel for a blip every so often when there is no activity. If activity started during that blip, the scanner would have to switch back to the control channel, listen to the data, determine that there's activity, switch to the voice channel, and open the audio. It should all happen in less than a second or so, but it could explain it.
 

Freqed

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I have also experienced this issue but on type 2 800 mixed system. running side by side with a 796D the 996T misses the begining of convo's when the ID is on hold. I have experienced this with my Pro-2067 also , and it continues to "work" in the background while held on an ID, thus it misses the first of any convo's. Don't know if the 996T is doing the same thing or not.
 

n5gqb

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No CC of any kind is enabled. I had sent Paul O. an e-mail about this problem and he didn't really have an answer. No offense of course to Paul...just hope he passes this info along... so we can see a fix in a firmware update.
As mentioned before all my other digital scanners don't have this issue (396t, 296d and pro-96).

Scannerfreak, as for the motorboating did you set your digital TG's audio to digital only? If not try that. Mine does it just a little but it stopped it altogether when I did this (heck, AFAIK you are the one to come up with that!)
Sly
 

n5gqb

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Update

I took a trip over to Austin,TX today to see how the 996 would do over there. I can say that the problems I have on my local p16 system do NOT appear while monitoring a p25 system.
So it has something to do with p16 systems only. Probably why you guys in Indiana are having the same problem too on the safe-t system
sly
 

ofd8001

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For what it's worth, I live in Louisville KY, and can hear the Floyd's Knobs and Henryville sites. I don't think I have a problem with missing transmissions on either my 996 or 396. The only "difficulty" I had was the 996 cutting off the end of transmissions. But then I realized I had it on WX priority, and it was checking the weather channels, so that's apparently why that occurred.
 

n5gqb

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thanks for the reply. Are you listening to p16 systems (mixed mode) or another flavor?
As of right now it only seems to affect digital talkgroups on 800mhz p16 type systems. At least thats what I/others have noted. Also if that even applies to all p16 sytems or just some (for whatever reason).
Sly
 

Freqed

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I ran through Indiana yesterday, from Roselawn to Terra Haute on 41. Programmed the sites for that corridor before I left and had the same experience, the Digital rasping, then the convo's, sometimes though the convo's would not come through, just the rasp. I heard ISP catch a couple that stole from Tractor Supply Store in Laf. then get apprehended somewhere down the road. Overall coverage was good, I sat up on CC's only and auto on the audio. Never though about digital only setting, but being from an area where there isn't any systems it's hard to program one your not used to listening too.
 

jerk

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scanner_freak said:
agree, same problem here on SAFE-T (also 3600), running it side by side with the 2096 proves it..996 misses alot and I also see the delay issue being random. A Little issue also with motorboat before digital transmissions, but not to bad, no matter the P25 settings..

I live 2 miles from a site and do not even need an antenna to get the CC with 5 bars, so you are right, not a signal strength thing. I have just ignored it because I have the 2096 running 24/7 too, but since you brought it up, I will chime in.

Frankly, If I knew for sure the 2096 would survive rebanding in a timely manner, and at all, I probally would sell my 996. I don't undertstand why Uniden can't get the digital as good as RS..The hidden AGC tweak makes it sound better, but Uniden needs digital decoding like the 2096, where you don't have to tweak it at all..I have my site hold on 1 second and the system delay at 4 seconds, sometimes it waits and sometimes it zooms right on after the end of a transmission.

I'm glad someone brought this up :)

I don't have a 996T, but I do get the motorboating on my 396T. PIA, I tried origianlly new firmware setting which helped, then to a -3 or -4 which was a little better. But still having the problem with SAFE-T. Uniden need to fly an engineer to indiana to check out this system and the adjust the firmware.
AL
 

JohnnyGalaga

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I remember how the 2nd version of the BC245XLT had the same problem, where it would be slow to track motorola talk groups causing you to miss the first 2-3 seconds of a transmission.
 

scanbc780

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I found the exact reason.
I was sitting there listening to my 996 one night and decided to turn on the BC796 to compare audio. I noticed my 796 was picking up conversations and the 996 was just sitting there ID SCANNING. HMMMMM so I played with settings and nothing improved. Then I noticed my S-Meter was dropping every 2 seconds. I then chose to make the system hold time 5 seconds and the S-Meter was dropping in 5 second intervals and was picking up a little more coversation. I decided to make it 20 Seconds and it almost flawless.

The 996 is dropping the control channel as if it was going to scan another system even if there is no other system turned on. The 996 is needing to reaquire the control channel every how many seconds to have you HOLD TIME set to..

Hope this helps out!


Brian
 

JohnnyGalaga

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I don't have a 996T, but I've noticed something similar on my BCD396T. While scanning a Motorola talk group ID list, if no ID's are active, the signal strength bars flicker off and back on once every second, even though I'm only tracking one system.

I haven't noticed it missing transmissions, though.
 

n5gqb

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As mentioned before, I also have the 396t programmed identically and no problems with it missing conversations. The 396t also has the signal meter flicker to it as well. According to Paul Optiz, that flicker just means that the scanner is doing some brief "housekeeping" and doesn't interfere with scanning. With the 396 it apparently is true, but looks like it maybe an issue on the 996 (or something else).
The 996 has some small glitch in it regarding this. I hoping it gets addressed soon.
I haven't tried extending the hold time yet to see if it works on my end. That would suck having such a long hold time if trying to scan several systems.
Sly
 
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