After Listening To Digital, Do You Still Enjoy Analog Communications?

[JASII]

As posted above, after listening to digital, do you still enjoy listening to analog communications? When public safety in my area went P25, there was a lot of complaints. After listening to P25, it sounds so much better to me than analog. Weak signal, noisy analog sounds horrible.

When over the air television went from NTSC to ATSC, I thought it was a huge improvement.

While I don't listen to a lot of broadcast radio, HD Radio sounds better to me than analog wide-band FM broadcast.

A week ago I tuned into an amateur radio repeater that had a number of weak signal stations trying to access the repeater. It just sounded horrible.

 

[KevinC]

Along those lines….

I really enjoy implementing a mixed-mode system and having the customer do OTA testing. Same infrastructure and same subscriber and let them test away. P25 always wins. No noise, no static.

 

[JethrowJohnson]

I got my first digital trunking scanner just last year, and I like the audio on the MARCS network much better than my county's analog UHF frequencies, and the Wood County Sheriff's Office in West Virginia switched to a P25 conventional system not long after I got this scanner and I still agree it's way better than the analog frequency. I can't wait for my PD to finally switch over to MARCS but I think they'd need a huge grant in order to afford it though. ☹

 

[JASII]

When it comes to video, I find myself avoiding 480p and 720p. I prefer 1080p, minimum.

My wife, on the other hand, when we went from NTSC to ATSC, said she could tell any difference!

 

[KC4FCF]

Digital is good...until you get in a marginal signal area. With digital it's either 1 or 0, it's wither present or not, no in between, no pulling a communication out of the mud. Have you noticed digital TV where the signal is marginal? You get a lot of pixels and drop outs. Once a signal gets below a certain threshold, it's ignored or they might "gt ev oth wor" or maybe not . So if you are in public safety and you need to contact the dispatcher urgently but you don't have a strong enough signal, you are out of luck. As a retired volunteer firefighter and ham radio operator I can tell you that digital can be overrated, and a lot can be said for the old ways.

 

[lu81fitter]

With digital, it's either there, or it isn't. I listen to both in my area. Don't mind either. My biggest complaint is user related. Bad user etiquette is rampant. Some people think it's cool to hold the mic in their lap and talk while others are practically eating it. In law enforcement, the radio is your lifeline. Take the time to use it right.

 

[jgorman21]

Yes…

 

[mmckenna]

When it comes to video, I find myself avoiding 480p and 720p. I prefer 1080p, minimum.

My wife, on the other hand, when we went from NTSC to ATSC, said she could tell any difference!

I can't tell the difference. I still have a 720p TV in the bedroom.

 

[RRR]

The Digital decoder will be where the difference is. Bad decoder (P25, DMR, NXDN, etc.) = poor voice quality

 

[mmckenna]

Digital is good...until you get in a marginal signal area. With digital it's either 1 or 0, it's wither present or not, no in between, no pulling a communication out of the mud. Have you noticed digital TV where the signal is marginal? You get a lot of pixels and drop outs. Once a signal gets below a certain threshold, it's ignored or they might "gt ev oth wor" or maybe not . So if you are in public safety and you need to contact the dispatcher urgently but you don't have a strong enough signal, you are out of luck. As a retired volunteer firefighter and ham radio operator I can tell you that digital can be overrated, and a lot can be said for the old ways.

That's a common impression.

With error correction and it being easier to pull the 1's and 0's out of the noise, a digital signal will usually hold together a bit longer than analog. When it falls apart, you ~might~ get some analog audio with enough recoverable words to get some information.

I migrated from an analog trunked system to a digital trunked system about 12 years ago. Same antennas, same coax, same combiners, same location. For a while I had a few channels of analog and a few channels of digital, so I could compare the two side by side. Coverage was equal with a slight benefit to digital.

As for digital audio, it's all about proper setup of the radios. I went through this early on and received some documentation and guidance from the manufacturer. After following that, the audio is slightly better than 12.5KHz analog.

So much as to do with the guy setting up the system and the radios. Unfortunately some just slap the system together and call it good.

 

[JASII]

...My biggest complaint is user related...

The law enforcement talkgroups in my area have excellent radio procedures.

EMS in my area have good procedures.

The fire service is horrible.

Here is what I mean.

On the law enforcement main talkgroups a typical exchange is the squad will simply announce their unit number. That's it. When dispatch is ready they say, "Go ahead" or repeat the unit number as acknowledgement. very professional sounding!

On the fire main talkgroups the users just get on and talk. Out of the blue, without acknowledgement, you will hear "Liberty City Engine One blah, blah, blah...blah, blah, blah...blah, blah, blah!" Now. for anybody wondering if this is a part-time paid fire service vs full-time fire service thing, nope, BOTH full and part time are pretty much the same. I don't know if the communications center tried to instill professional radio procedures when they started 15 years ago and gave up or what happened. Another county near me, that also has full and part time fire service, sounds MUCH more professional on their fire talkgroups! NIFOG, or a similar guide, even specifies how procedures should work. A different county near me essentially uses inter-op/mutual aid procedures routinely. That way, when they are in an inter-op situation, they are already accustomed to doing it everyday!

 

[KevinC]

P25 only needs to be about 2 dB above the noise floor to decode. Try that with an analog signal.

The times I’ve had customers test a mixed-mode system I have them find a place where analog sounds bad, then switch to digital. Huge difference.

 

[APX8000]

Here we go again....the sound of pure P25 just tickles my taint.

 

[chrismol1]

Yes, 110% P25 all the way. Analog is OK, as long as its a strong signal, no background noise and mic AGC. Like KevinC commented, and it will still be clean P25 where analog won't be. Especially with a Motorola APX AMBE vocoder Luxury Radio P25 audio also tickles my taint. A Motorola APX Luxury Radio will provide Luxury P25 audio. Anyone who says otherwise has a crap scanner and thinks P25 is garbage because of the garbage audio processing on the scanner or they hear an analog patch to P25 or they have an old xts or astro saber running 2002 firmware

 

[belvdr]

One of the main reasons I am not a fan of HF is the constant battle with hiss. It's analogous to fingernails on a chalkboard. I prefer digital.

 

[vagrant]

It’s not the mode, it’s the people. Still, I prefer digital.

 

[AB5ID]

I like some analog, it can have some hiss and noise, but if the signals are quiet, it can good sounding clarity. It was even better before deviation was tightened. I miss the sitting right next to me sound.