MIRS in the 996

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kenisned

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Has anyone done any of the modifications on their 996 programming to tweak the reception or quality of the reception?

I'm talking about the adjustments from the last firmware update.

If so, can you share what you did?

Thanks
 

RocketNJ

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I've upgraded three 996s and a 396 so far. All four were set back to automatic for the digital decoding (they were on 7). Decoding is much better with the latest firmware.

If you haven't, try setting the sites to auto for the decoding.
 

Sybex7254

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Ditto on the upgrade to my 396. I was also recently out in Phoenix for work and reception of the area's various digital TRS's including the PRWIN was much better than previous trips pre-firmware upgrade and also when I had a 296D. Very little to no "motor boating" is now heard.
 
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W2SJW

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+1 on what Sybex just reported. I was in Phoenix for vacation at the beginning of the month. The PRWN & MCSO were a pleasure to listen to!

I have the P25 settings for RES TIME & REF GAIN reset to 0, and the P25 delay to 600MS with the hidden menu functions. She works like a champ - I listen to MIRS every night on my nightstand with just a 6" UHF BNC whip...
 

RocketNJ

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One other ting on the 996. After the upgrade the digital and alalog AGC were reset to off. I set them oto on and audio is very acceptable.
 

kenisned

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Couple of other questions...

Did you enter a site for each tower location (netcong, etc..) or just put all the frequencies into one site?

Do you use control channel only?

In general, how did you program the site(s)?

Thanks, great help so far.
 

RocketNJ

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I programmed a separate site for each zone. Then enter the freqs for that zone only. Disable CC only.

If you live closer to zone 1 for example (which is Morristown, Randolph, Netcong, Chester, and Dover) then lock out the other three zones. This will help prevent you from locking on a distant control channel and receiving transmissions broken up. Also I've seen the scanner lock on a weak cc channel but not have enough signal from the voice channel to unmute.

Now understand how SmartZone works - Let's say two units are the only radios on that talkgroup and both are affiliated with Zone 1. Those conversations will only be heard on Zone 1. The system is smart enough (hence the name) to not assign resources in the other three zones if no radios on that talkgroup are affiliated with the other sites.

For the most part, try to aviod listening to the site 3 or 4 as those are smaller coverage areas and possibly will not carry all transmissions.

MIRS1 calls should be heard on all sites since there are control stations in each police department across the county.
 

RocketNJ

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Also, one other thing. A mistake in the database. Site 4 should have 5 channels. The database is missing 478.000

Scott, can you please update the db?
 

kenisned

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I did some experimenting.

1. Putting all the frequencies from all the zones into one site. NO control channel only. Found this did not work as well as creating four sites and just listening to the nearest one. I guess that shouldn't be news to anyone.

2. Enabled AGC for digital. This seems to help the volume balance problem between digital and analog. Digital is still a bit quieter, but it's improved.

3. Increased the P25 hold time to 600 ms. This seems to have made a big difference. A friend even has his set to 800.

Thanks
 
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