Best Practices for Monitoring Cap+ on XPR

[Twlighting]

Evening Guys,

After delving into the monitoring of a few local Cap+ systems in my area (Singe site, no RAS or Privacy), I had a few questions come up regarding the best way to program the radio for reliable reception while continuing to not interfere with the operation of the systems. I'm working with an XPR6550 at the moment.

-At this point I've programmed all Cap+ voice channels without TX frequencies/repeater inputs. Does this impact the radio's ability to find the rest channel, and track along with the system? It seems sometimes when I switch to a new system, the radio will come up with an 'Out of Range' until a call occurs at which point it appears to stay in range, and track the rest channel.

-Though the CPS indicates the RX Only option is not possible with Cap+ systems, the option remains configurable on each Personality. By turning it on, the TX Contact/Group for that personality is disabled and one must choose an RX Group exclusively. Fair enough since I'm only looking to monitor, but curious if this impacts the radio's ability to track the rest channel.

-As far as the rest channel transmissions themselves, is it safe to assume these occur at a lower power level than a voice call? I seem to be on the fringe of several systems that often display OOR but periodically light up with voice traffic.

Thanks!

 

[Mikek]

After delving into the monitoring of a few local Cap+ systems in my area (Singe site, no RAS or Privacy), I had a few questions come up regarding the best way to program the radio for reliable reception while continuing to not interfere with the operation of the systems. I'm working with an XPR6550 at the moment.

Cap+ does not require subscriber affiliation, so monitoring the system will not interfere with it. (transmitting with a duplicate radio ID will, especially if private calls are used frequently).

-At this point I've programmed all Cap+ voice channels without TX frequencies/repeater inputs. Does this impact the radio's ability to find the rest channel, and track along with the system? It seems sometimes when I switch to a new system, the radio will come up with an 'Out of Range' until a call occurs at which point it appears to stay in range, and track the rest channel.

You don't need valid TX channels, and can even go RX only. Since you have to wait for a voice call before going 'in range', you may not have all of the system channels configured. You should go in-range within a few seconds of switching to the system.

-Though the CPS indicates the RX Only option is not possible with Cap+ systems, the option remains configurable on each Personality. By turning it on, the TX Contact/Group for that personality is disabled and one must choose an RX Group exclusively. Fair enough since I'm only looking to monitor, but curious if this impacts the radio's ability to track the rest channel.

No - no impact at all.

-As far as the rest channel transmissions themselves, is it safe to assume these occur at a lower power level than a voice call? I seem to be on the fringe of several systems that often display OOR but periodically light up with voice traffic.

No - the rest beacon is sent the same power as all other voice and data transmissions. If the radio misses a few of them (due to poor RSSI or any other reason) it will start hunting for it. If a voice call matching the TGID you've selected is heard with sufficient RSSI to decode, you'll hear it.