BCD996T, ERR Rate

[scannerowner]

I was just wondering if I was monitoring the system that if I write down all the values when I'm trying to find the ERR rate, and I wait til it says 0 and I believe this is the optimum digital threshold. Can I program those in through manual mode, and the P25 will be crystal clear when I program these without any problems? I have the scanner set to auto right now and have a few clear transmissions and a lot of broken up ones. Will this help with making them all clear?

Thanks!

 

[jackj]

The error rate measures all errors, not just those caused by the radio's settings. So the answer to your question is no. Your best bet with a 996T is to update to the latest firmware, version 3.02.00. Earlier versions of the firmware were really bad at digital decoding but the latest version seems to work pretty good. My 996T works okay since the last upgrade.

 

[scannerowner]

I have the latest firmware, and just thought it might work if I tweaked the settings to have clearer transmissions. I have seen the transmissions in the clear at ERR 0 and the worst were way higher.

 

[jackj]

Sorry, I misunderstood your post. I thought you were complaining about poor digital decoding. You can try to tweak the settings but the optimum settings will probably be different for different systems and maybe even different towers on the same system. I monitor the Ohio MARCS system and sometimes the transmissions are garbled because of wind noise or a poor signal from the mobile back to the tower. I leave my radio set for auto and that seems to be the best setting for me.

 

[UPMan]

Short answer is Yes. And No.

There is only one optimum setting for a particular system (maybe tower, but I'm sure that the radio techs try to keep all sites in a multisite system matched), so if you determine that setting should be "8" (for example), then manually setting it to 8 will result in the best decode when the scanner is receiving a decodable signal.

First and foremost, the scanner must be receiving a signal that is of good enough quality (strength, free from interference, etc) for decoding to work. Most "decode" issues have little to do with decode (i.e. the ability of the receiver to correctly decode the received symbols) and almost everything to do with reception.