12.4 kHz seems about perfect for the 850 MHz P1 system I monitor. The symbol plot shows tighter clusters and handles weak signals even better. For a 450 MHz system with a weak signal, the 15.6 kHz or a little wider improved the decode. For a nearly too weak to monitor 172 MHz signal, 14.2 kHz is the difference between working and not working.
P25RX Firmware Updates / Testing
- Thread starter btt
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I agree. I finally saw TG PRI called out in the TG log. I must have had a long period with no conflicts.
After running the new versions (I am currently testing 2021-05-17 12:17), I am impressed with the audio. This is the best, perhaps ever, the system has sounded, and that's saying something because the P25RX has been a standout performer since I first purchased it. The new bandwidth settings are better for me on the defaults of 15.6 KHz thus far, but I simply haven't had enough sustained activity yet to really make good comparison checks. The real benefit for me is the richness and dynamic range of the P25 Audio is substantially better in this version than in any previous versions of the software. This is an accomplishment, because the P25 audio is indeed a compromise over the former FM fidelity, which I spent many years taking for granted. Really well done on this new Firmware version. Thanks Todd.
My findings are that a 12.4 Khz Channel Filter Bandwidth works best for me on both P1 and P2 on the Illinois StarCom21 statewide system (800Mhz).
I have tried all settings from 12.4 to 15.6 and it just seems like 12.4 overall works best for me in terms of both audio quality and performance. 15.6 Khz sounded "OK" and 13.6 Khz was the worst on both P1 and P2 (audio was choppy and seemed clipped at times). The system is very busy with both P1 and P2 traffic so it was very easy for me to compare settings and find out which Channel Filter BW settings were best for me. Just my 2 cents here.
I have tried all settings from 12.4 to 15.6 and it just seems like 12.4 overall works best for me in terms of both audio quality and performance. 15.6 Khz sounded "OK" and 13.6 Khz was the worst on both P1 and P2 (audio was choppy and seemed clipped at times). The system is very busy with both P1 and P2 traffic so it was very easy for me to compare settings and find out which Channel Filter BW settings were best for me. Just my 2 cents here.
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Thank you for the testing and reporting everyone. I think I'm about ready to call this a stable release with the defaults of 15.6 kHz. These settings should work for most cases even if they are not optimal for all cases. New version available 2021-05-17_1914 with a new feature. If you have the TG priority interrupt enabled, a very brief 440 Hz tone will be emitted when an interrupt event occurs.
BTT - what is the nominal bandwidth of a P1/P2 CC? In looking at my local Control Channels here (SDR Console and a Airspy R2) they appear much narrower than I had noticed before, and narrower than the filter BWs in the software. Is the filter BW maximum possible deviation?
goldmyne99
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Good information, Todd. Could you provide more tips/tricks on how best to adjust the BW using the signal insights tab IQ plot, etc.
I use the TG Priority Int. feature and love it! However, on a very busy system with 2-3 interrupts a minute, the new tone gets to be a bit too much. In a future release would it be possible to make the tone an option to be on/off?
Thank you for great hardware and software with the P25RX!!!
This configuration setting is a hardware setting and has nothing to do with the BTConfiguration software. P25 is always 12.5 kHz channel spacing (except in a rare non-standard, prototype version that used 25 kHz). Ideally, we would just set the analog IF filter to 12.5 kHz and be done. It does appear that in the case of the higher UHF bands, the 12.4 kHz setting is working well for several of us. This setting in the ASIC affects more than the analog IF filter bandwidth. It also determines the I/Q A/D converters sample rate (think samples-per-symbol, 17-bit samples). I think the reason that VHF is working better with 14.2 kHz and 15.6 kHz settings is due to the extra samples per symbol in order to increase the SNR vs reducing the bandwidth in the VHF where the noise-floor levels are already much higher than thermal noise. It is a trade-off where we are trying to find the sweet spot combination.
I will work on this.
I added an option for the TG interrupt tone to the advanced menu. If you upgraded since yesterday, you will have to enable this option after updating to version 2021-05-18_0611
I added an option for the TG interrupt tone to the advanced menu. If you upgraded since yesterday, you will have to enable this option after updating to version 2021-05-18_0611
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Works great. If you could also put on your list the ability to turn on or off a tone for every transmission for designated TG's that would be a nice feature. This way when listening to a recording, I would know which system and TG I am listening to from the pre-amble tone.
Thanks again for being so responsive to your customers. This latest update makes an already incredible device that much better.
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Works great. If you could also put on your list the ability to turn on or off a tone for every transmission for designated TG's that would be a nice feature. This way when listening to a recording, I would know which system and TG I am listening to from the pre-amble tone.
Thanks again for being so responsive to your customers. This latest update makes an already incredible device that much better.
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Had 0611 running last night from 6pm EST to about 7am EST this morning worked excellent. I like testing at my office because its right on the fringe of two sites and was a challenge even for the G4.
Also of note the SDS100 did really poorly here.
The P25rx running 0611 is performing EXCELLENT... Todd really good work man.
Also of note the SDS100 did really poorly here.
The P25rx running 0611 is performing EXCELLENT... Todd really good work man.
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p1 14.8
p2 14.2
seem to really work well
p2 14.2
seem to really work well
boy7777777777
Member
Working great for me also on a P1 system.
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Todd everything has been working EXCELLENTLY over the last few days... I did notice an issue though. Every now and again I am getting random TGs butting into active calls.. Now I have it set to about 20 TGs, autopopulate is disabled, and allow unknown TGs is also disabled... so theoretically it should only be working from my list...
But it appears that that is not always the case because I will hear traffic from CT Fastrak and other municipalities occasionally.
Any thoughts on why?
Also, when this happens the TG Log stops working.
But it appears that that is not always the case because I will hear traffic from CT Fastrak and other municipalities occasionally.
Any thoughts on why?
Also, when this happens the TG Log stops working.
Give 05-20_0817 a try. I think this should fix the issue with new talk groups being added when you have "allow unknown" disabled. I'm not sure that will fix "TG log stops working". It might help if you can send a console log file along with description of where it happened in the log.
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Sounds good Todd, aside from that very minor issue the new iteration of the software is really fantastic. Excellent excellent work.
I can't participate and its killing me!!! :-( but could this be the same issue I reported back in March or so? when a transmission ends but the TG timeout is set to say 2 seconds, another transmission can be heard at times. If I set the TG delay to 100ms I would miss a response sometimes but the errant transmission wasn't heard. Most of mine were P2 systems in So FL. I wouldn't see a new TG in the log but it was certainly not the same transmission, I only listen to fire and the errant was police usually as they are more active
Could be related to my on-going issue as well - mostly P2 transmissions getting interrupted by P1 transmissions (priority NOT used and Roaming NOT selected!) that are completely unrelated to the desired selected talk group. Did notice that RID would always go to 0 when this occured but am unsure if that is significant. Was still having this problem at least until the recent versions which now include the selectable bandwidths. Haven't encountered it yet post bandwidth selectable versions being made available but haven't really had a chance to use much either.
REALLY like having the selectable bandwidth ability though!!
-Mike
REALLY like having the selectable bandwidth ability though!!
-Mike
2021-05-21_1313 version available. Based on the new TG priority interrupt feature, I was able to simplify the TG priority code significantly. I'm hoping this will finally get rid of the issue with TG bleed-thru. I understand that it was happening even when the feature was turned off, but I believe it is related. Let me know if you still have this issue.
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