Arizona Public Service

[Paysonscanner]

I received the BC325P2 about a month or more ago. The primary reason for the purchase is to listen to APS, especially during stormy weather and other power outages. I had no problem downloading the system from the RRDB. What I noticed right away is that this P2 system really sounds tinny. It's like digital on steroids. Is this common for Phase 2 systems? It seems worse than the Phase 1 systems I listened to when I lived in California. I tuned on the AGC, which seemed to help a little, although I don't know why. Is there something else in the settings for the radio that might improve the reception? I would imagine that the radios APS people are using in the field sound far better than a hobby level receiver. Sometimes it is hard to understand transmissions because of the tinny sound.

 

[Paysonscanner]

P.S. I'm finding the BC325P2 to be very complex. I'm taking programming it and understanding it very slow otherwise I would be pretty frustrated right now. The scanner's manual and the software instructions are not very good so it is slow going. My caregiving duties give me little time for this hobby anymore, so that slows down the learning process.

 

[DanRollman]

What I noticed right away is that this P2 system really sounds tinny. It's like digital on steroids. Is this common for Phase 2 systems?

That is not common for Phase 2 "systems" but is not unusual on consumer-grade "scanners." That is, I doubt it sounds that way to the users of the system (or others) using commercial grade equipment.

We should always be careful to question whether what we're hearing is a result of "the system" or our own equipment. By way of example, my SDS100 receives PCWIN (Phase 2) better than any other consumer grade scanner I've ever used (which, of course, is not saying much, considering the garbage that preceded that model), but it still doesn't sound anywhere close to as good as my Unication G5 or my BKRadio KNG-P800 or KNG2-P800 radios on the same system.

 

[GlobalNorth]

Agreed. When I had an APX-6000xe, the voice quality was great. On my scanners, not so much. The audio difference is not worth $5k or more in my estimation.

 

[N9JCQ]

There was a firmware update done last year for the 325P2. Make sure you apply the update because it does improver the digital audio a bit.

 

[Paysonscanner]

There was a firmware update done last year for the 325P2. Make sure you apply the update because it does improver the digital audio a bit.

The radio was delivered about a month ago. I already checked to see if it has the latest firmware and naturally it does.