P25RX Firmware Updates / Testing

[btt]

I am currently running 1407. On the "Alias" tab, if I click at the top of the "Radio ID" column, it will sort the Radio ID's in ascending order. However, clicking again does not sort them in descending order; it doesn't do anything else. Is there any way to make clicking at the top of the column toggle between sorting in ascending and descending order?

I think I have it working correctly in version 2021-04-21_1825. Please let me know soon if it doesn't work as expected.

 

[W4KRR]

I think I have it working correctly in version 2021-04-21_1825. Please let me know soon if it doesn't work as expected.
-edit: In addition to sorting the RID numerically, you can also sort by the alias column as well. When sorting the RID col ascending, new RIDs will show up in the first row. This should make it easier to edit.

Thanks Todd for your continued improvements! I just tried _1825 and it sorts the columns as I would expect!

 

[turnpike61]

Hey if / when Windows locks up... check the logs that way you can determine if it's a P25x thing or not. FWIW

I did - there was nothing in event viewer to tell me what happened.

I took a look at the differences between the 04-11 and 04-20 versions to see what type of low-level things might have changed. The only thing I see is related to audio sample rate for BTConfig audio playback on the PC. The initial sample rate was previously 48000 (standard rate). The newer version starts with a playback sample rate of 47000 unless the system reports an error, then it will use 48000. There could be some kind of underlying audio driver bug that is causing issues. If you decide to try the new version again, try changing the the sample rate to 48000 on the audio tab (press the apply button). The idea behind changing the playback rate to 47000 is to ensure that there are no audio buffer under-runs on PC playback. It is possible that some audio drivers do not handle this non-standard rate well.

OK, will run 2020-04-21-1825 overnight with this change and see what happens. As of when I uploaded this firmware to the device (0154Z 22 Apr) I have been free of lockups.

 

[pcman67]

I don’t want to beat a dead horse here, but been following this thread and thought I’d try to offer some advice.

Generally, a total system lockup is attributed to something either at the OS or hardware level. Some Java application such at BTConfig running in a Java virtual sandbox typically cannot lock up your entire system unless it’s able to “breakout” of its environment.

That being said, it’s possible for BTConfig to have an influence on your system that could lead to a system lockup. A couple good examples of this would be say you’ve got a cooling issue (a fan went out or is starting to go out) and BTConfig places a load on your CPU. Your computer cannot keep cool enough and freezes. Or, say your antivirus program interferes with your Java that’s running BTConfig and your antivirus freezes up your machine. I’m not saying any of those are happening here, but these are possible scenarios.

If/when the next total freeze up happens (let’s hope it’s gone for good), a couple things you can try are the following:

Disable/uninstall all antivirus/malware scanners and see if that helps.

Perform a stress test in your system to see if it locks up — PRIME95 is a great tool to stress your system.

Perform a memory test to see if you have any bad memory. MemTest86 is an excellent tool for that.

I always try to update the PC BIOS to the latest version as that deals with low level hardware at the motherboard level and can resolve issues with system stability.

I did - there was nothing in event viewer to tell me what happened.


OK, will run 2020-04-21-1825 overnight with this change and see what happens. As of when I uploaded this firmware to the device (0154Z 22 Apr) I have been free of lockups.

 

[turnpike61]

I don’t want to beat a dead horse here, but been following this thread and thought I’d try to offer some advice.

Generally, a total system lockup is attributed to something either at the OS or hardware level. Some Java application such at BTConfig running in a Java virtual sandbox typically cannot lock up your entire system unless it’s able to “breakout” of its environment.

That being said, it’s possible for BTConfig to have an influence on your system that could lead to a system lockup. A couple good examples of this would be say you’ve got a cooling issue (a fan went out or is starting to go out) and BTConfig places a load on your CPU. Your computer cannot keep cool enough and freezes. Or, say your antivirus program interferes with your Java that’s running BTConfig and your antivirus freezes up your machine. I’m not saying any of those are happening here, but these are possible scenarios.

If/when the next total freeze up happens (let’s hope it’s gone for good), a couple things you can try are the following:

Disable/uninstall all antivirus/malware scanners and see if that helps.

Perform a stress test in your system to see if it locks up — PRIME95 is a great tool to stress your system.

Perform a memory test to see if you have any bad memory. MemTest86 is an excellent tool for that.

I always try to update the PC BIOS to the latest version as that deals with low level hardware at the motherboard level and can resolve issues with system stability.

Thanks - I appreciate the advice. I'm not inexperienced in IT. It's not a CPU issue, or a cooling issue. It may be a confluence between BTConfig and something else running, but the system is healthy, and I've run Memtest and stress tests like Prime95 recently and found nothing. I also have many devices on the USB bus, some, like the P25RX, connected to large antennas that are installed high in the air. All of them route through a bus that has lightning and static discharge devices on them, but maybe something rode in and locked up the PC.

In any case, there was no lockup this morning on the current version, although I changed the sampling rate as BTT suggested. I will wait till the weekend to accept the default rate and watch what happens.

Regards.

 

[turnpike61]

Update - clean - no lockups since those two I reported earlier. I have also returned to the default 47000 Hz audio rate.

Am currently on 2021-04-24 1559. Going to assume this issue is corrected for me.

Thanks.

 

[btt]

New testing version available. 2021-04-25_1133. This version will allow interrupt during a voice conversation for a higher priority talk group. This is partially tested for P1. P2 is completely untested. Please let me know if it doesn't work.

 

[btt]

Updated again. Version 2021-04-25_1220 available. The real-time talk-group priority interrupt appears to be working really good with phase 1. It will switch immediately from the current voice channel directly to another voice channel with a higher TG priority without returning to the control channel first. Still unknown if phase 2 is working.

 

[brndnstffrd]

Updated again. Version 2021-04-25_1220 available. The real-time talk-group priority interrupt appears to be working really good with phase 1. It will switch immediately from the current voice channel directly to another voice channel with a higher TG priority without returning to the control channel first. Still unknown if phase 2 is working.

I will check it out a little later and let you know.

 

[pcman67]

Updated again. Version 2021-04-25_1220 available. The real-time talk-group priority interrupt appears to be working really good with phase 1. It will switch immediately from the current voice channel directly to another voice channel with a higher TG priority without returning to the control channel first. Still unknown if phase 2 is working.

I was out of town this weekend for the most part, but I will schedule some time Monday to do a complete and thorough test of this new feature and I’ll email you my results.

 

[btt]

I will check it out a little later and let you know.

I was out of town this weekend for the most part, but I will schedule some time Monday to do a complete and thorough test of this new feature and I’ll email you my results.

Thank you sirs! I've been testing the phase 1 operation. I think this is probably the best new feature added to the P25RX in a while. It is probably worth creating a new thread. I will do that once phase 2 is confirmed to be working correctly. A couple of things to check out / think about in relation to this feature is 1) how should the talk-group-follow mode should work in conjunction with?, 2) should there be an enable/disable option for talk group priority?

 

[goldmyne99]

I really like this new Priority feature. It works great on my main P1 system.
THANK YOU!!

A couple of things to check out / think about in relation to this feature is 1) how should the talk-group-follow mode work in conjunction with?, 2) should there be an enable/disable option for talk group priority?

I would like to see the TG follow mode continue to lock on/hold a TG by manual button push regardless of priority.

 

[btt]

I really like this new Priority feature. It works great on my main P1 system.
THANK YOU!!

I would like to see the TG follow mode continue to lock on/hold a TG by manual button push regardless of priority.

New version 2021-04-26_0518 ignores the TG priority interrupt feature when following a talk group via the button or 'f' command.

 

[goldmyne99]

New version 2021-04-26_0518 ignores the TG priority interrupt feature when following a talk group via the button or 'f' command.

Do you think the Skip TG command should also continue to work as before regardless of priority? I rarely use Skip TG function, others may have better insight on their use of skip with priority.

 

[btt]

Do you think the Skip TG command should also continue to work as before regardless of priority? I rarely use Skip TG function, others may have better insight on their use of skip with priority.

Good point. I forgot about that one. I think it should probably continue to skip regardless of the priority setting. New version 2021-04-26_0603 should do this.

 

[Cheeseburgers]

Anybody else getting super choppy audio after the last recent update?

 

[btt]

Anybody else getting super choppy audio after the last recent update?

Phase 1 or 2? or both?

 

[Cheeseburgers]

Phase 2 only it seems

 

[btt]

I think I found what is most likely causing that. Please try version _1004

 

[Cheeseburgers]

Doing that right now, will keep you posted