BCD396XT Audio Loudness

[walt991]

If you have a BCD996XT and monitor APCO P25 systems, can you answer my question below?

Does the BCD996XT sound really loud sometimes when certain radios broadcast?

I have a 396XT and a GRE PSR500. I'm thinking about buying a 996XT, but if it gets really loud when certain radios broadcast like my 396XT does, then I don't want to purchase.

I compared my 396XT to my GRE 500 and the PSR-500 audio is always constant and doesn't vary or get loud like the 396XT does. I have played with the AGC on the 396 but no matter what, I cannot get a nice constant audio level across all the talkgroups on the Westmoreland County PA P25 system.

Anyone else experiencing this on the 396XT? Should I purchase the 996XT or will it behave the same way?

 

[04Z1V6]

Have you tried using the volume offset function to adjust each TG.

 

[mikebennett]

He's probably talking about certain radios on the same system doing this as I've noticed it as well. There is one radio from the local PD that is incredibly loud but the rest are fine. It sounds like they have the radio adjusted wrong. I use the volume offset quite a bit but it won't help in this situation.

Mike

 

[Skypilot007]

Perhaps the GRE scanners have a better AGC function than the Unden scanners. Sometimes there is such a drastic difference between audio levels of different users of a radio system that the AGC on any scanner just cannot compensate for it. The system I listen to often is like this. Some of the dispatchers sound like they're 10 feet from the microphone and others sound like they're having the mic for dinner. Same goes with the mobile units. Lazy people will keep the mic on their lap and never raise it to the proper place when talking resulting in low audio. If all the end users knew how to use a radio properly we probably wouldn't be having this discussion and the AGC option would only be needed to adjust for different audio levels between different radio systems or modulation types.

 

[walt991]

He's probably talking about certain radios on the same system doing this as I've noticed it as well. There is one radio from the local PD that is incredibly loud but the rest are fine. It sounds like they have the radio adjusted wrong. I use the volume offset quite a bit but it won't help in this situation.

Mike

Correct, my issue is that within a talk group, some radios are loud, while others are very soft within a talk group. So, adjusting the volume offset doesn't help. I don't understand how the PSR500 can keep the audio at a constant level, but the 396XT struggles. Hopefully the new P25 firmware for the 396XT will fix this problem.

 

[GTO_04]

Correct, my issue is that within a talk group, some radios are loud, while others are very soft within a talk group. So, adjusting the volume offset doesn't help. I don't understand how the PSR500 can keep the audio at a constant level, but the 396XT struggles. Hopefully the new P25 firmware for the 396XT will fix this problem.

I have noticed the same thing with my 396XT. And the volume offset does not help at all. The PSR-500 definitely has better AGC than the 396XT. However, I do not have this issue with the 996XT.

GTO_04

 

[W6KRU]

I have noticed the same thing with my 396XT. And the volume offset does not help at all. The PSR-500 definitely has better AGC than the 396XT. However, I do not have this issue with the 996XT.

GTO_04

All this time I had assumed my problem with AGC on my 396XT was due to my inability to find the correct setting.