P25RX Firmware Updates / Testing

[pdhall54]

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0958 ran all night without locking up. The previous two or three betas did lock up after a few hours.

Still waiting for a version that plays nicely with USB during reboots. I've narrowed it down to the fact that Dell doesn't remove power to USB ports during a reboot. By turning off power settings for USB I am usually able to revive the P25RX after TWO reboots in a row. The device is not found after the first reboot regardless of firmware version.

Have really good luck with my powered USB 3.0 hub. Each port has a power button so no more unplugging/plugging. Connects to an older Dell Latitude E6540 laptop. So far one power cycle on the port is all I've needed for USB lockups/firmware upgrades.

https://amazon.com/gp/product/B07DW646GY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Cheeseburgers]

I use the powered USB on my t410

 

[btt]

All, I know I said I was planning on shipping the next hardware soon with firmware version 02-24_1047, but I found there were some remaining issues. I decided to revert code back to before the USB lock-up issue and then add back in many of the new improvements. Myself and two others have been testing version 2021-03-10_0709 today with good results so far. Unless something comes up, this will likely become the next stable version before shipping. Please test if you have time. Thank you!

 

[pdhall54]

On _0709 start time 3:20 EST

 

[epersson]

Been testing since about 10:30 est. Two thumbs up. 4-P2 and 2-P1 systems all active just to beat it up. USB audio. Clear and hearing the start of transmissions. the only sporadic thing I saw, and is reported is if you set the TG timeout to the default of 2 seconds every now and then if another TG grant happens you may get unexpected audio. I set the roaming to 2 seconds and the TG timeout to 100ms and the window closes quickly.

 

[pcman67]

Version 2021-03-10_0709 is performing most excellent and no issues at all. Audio seems more crisp and clear over the 2021-02-24 version and dropouts in the audio - especially in Bluetooth mode - seem to be gone. I’ve been running this version on both of my P25RX’s for about 2 hours now and I’m thrilled with the rock solid stability and the performance/audio quality. I’ve tried enabling/disabling various options to try and uncover any bugs but I’ve not been able to find any so far. 👍👍

 

[rdlafore]

0709 going on an hour. All good!

 

[nosig55]

_0709 start 3:30 CST

 

[Cheeseburgers]

Dang, new version time!

 

[pdhall54]

SFSG three hours into it!

 

[rdlafore]

Just passed 5 hours, looks like this is a winner!

 

[FP761]

Sorry, I am getting frequent choppy voice with _0709 on my P1 LSM System.

 

[btt]

Sorry, I am getting frequent choppy voice with _0709 on my P1 LSM System.

Was it working ok with earlier versions of the firmware? The signal is very strong and looks clean for the symbols shown. Are you using the supplied antenna or something else? Thanks for posting the plot.

 

[FP761]

Was it working ok with earlier versions of the firmware? The signal is very strong and looks clean for the symbols shown. Are you using the supplied antenna or something else? Thanks for posting the plot.

I was running _1047 before this with much less chop. I have an outside antenna connected via coaxial cable. I have had ongoing voice chop since I received my P25RX, 4-weeks ago. Not sure if our Radio System is "unique"? I know it is NOT a manufacturer's name that I was familiar with. Not the big "M". The "System" was provided by ARINC. All of our Portables are "BK KNG-P500".

For reference, I typically hear chops where there are "dashes" in the white line. Not the large breaks in the line, but the smaller, barely noticeable breaks in the white line. What does the white line represent?

Another observation I see is occasional issues with RID decode. Not sure if related to the voice chop? I have not determined if the two occur at the same time.

Here is another screenshot of the "dashes", but there was no voice message during that instance. I was just watching the trace going by when I saw it.

 

[btt]

I was running _1047 before this with much less chop. I have an outside antenna connected via coaxial cable. I have had ongoing voice chop since I received my P25RX, 4-weeks ago. Not sure if our Radio System is "unique"? I know it is NOT a manufacturer's name that I was familiar with. Not the big "M". The "System" was provided by ARINC. All of our Portables are "BK KNG-P500".

For reference, I typically hear chops where there are "dashes" in the white line. Not the large breaks in the line, but the smaller, barely noticeable breaks in the white line. What does the white line represent?

The signal looks fine in the image. I don't think it has anything to do with the manufacturer. It is probably another really strong signal. Would you mind trying the small helical antenna that came with the P25RX? It obviously won't be resonant with your system, but you have such a strong signal, you could use the small 700/800 antenna to receive your 476 MHz signal fine and probably knock down a bunch of signals that your outdoor antenna is receiving. I realize this isn't necessarily an ideal solution, I would just like to know if this helps for now. I have ideas for potentially better solutions. You could also look at the "Tips" section on the website and see how to temporarily, manually set the rf gain for the front end to a lower value on the console. You could try setting it to 8dB manually. The white line is a relative representation of the total front-end system gain analog + digital as it being adjusted by the RF AGC (automatic gain control).

-edit: The RF AGC on the P25RX is designed to work well for LSM systems. The response is somewhat slow most of the time. If there is a large nearby blocking signal causing fast transients, the AGC may not be able to compensate. The issue is not that your system signal is too strong by any means. The P25RX can handle a much stronger incoming signal.

 

[FP761]

The signal looks fine in the image. I don't think it has anything to do with the manufacturer. It is probably another really strong signal. Would you mind trying the small helical antenna that came with the P25RX? It obviously won't be resonant with your system, but you have such a strong signal, you could use the small 700/800 antenna to receive your 476 MHz signal fine and probably knock down a bunch of signals that your outdoor antenna is receiving.

I switched to the 700/800 antenna. I still heard a voice chop. See screenshot using the 700/800 antenna.



I will check the "Tips" section of the website and also reduce the gain manually. Will experiment for awhile.

 

[btt]

I switched to the 700/800 antenna. I still heard a voice chop. See screenshot using the 700/800 antenna.

That is a crazy looking symbol plot. Please contact me via email for a return. I'll take a look and see if there is a hardware issue. Thanks for giving that a try. It appears the issue must be something else.

 

[btt]

Based on the feedback for 2021-03-10_0709 today, I went ahead and moved it to the new stable. There will be new receivers available by the end of tomorrow. This version will ship with them. Thank you all for testing and reporting to help make this firmware a little better every round!

 

[epersson]

Based on the feedback for 2021-03-10_0709 today, I went ahead and moved it to the new stable. There will be new receivers available by the end of tomorrow. This version will ship with them. Thank you all for testing and reporting to help make this firmware a little better every round!

Been running since 8 eastern this morning. all 6 systems in play. Two thumbs two big toes up.

 

[btt]

Been running since 8 eastern this morning. all 6 systems in play. Two thumbs two big toes up.

Thanks for all the near real-time debugging / validation via email this week!