P25RX Firmware Updates / Testing

W0RS

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 9, 2003
Messages
338
Location
Nixa, MO
I am running ver 0743, under the Advanced tab I have “P25 Mode: Re-init P25RX after 3 minutes of not receiving a P25 sync word” checked I was running in roaming mode, but it’s not holding for 3 minutes but rather about ten seconds. Perhaps I am just not seeing how this is supposed to work....🤔
 
  • Like
Reactions: btt

btt

Banned
Banned
Joined
Mar 11, 2020
Messages
2,585
Location
Wa State
I am running ver 0743, under the Advanced tab I have “P25 Mode: Re-init P25RX after 3 minutes of not receiving a P25 sync word” checked I was running in roaming mode, but it’s not holding for 3 minutes but rather about ten seconds. Perhaps I am just not seeing how this is supposed to work....🤔
That is an old option that isn't needed anymore. I'll get that removed in the next release.
 

turnpike61

Ham and Electronics hobbyist since 1977.
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Aug 15, 2010
Messages
181
Location
Virginia
The new version (0603-2157) is distorting for me on P2. The 0527-1909 was better and am reverting. No changes to BW or anything between versions, just audio dropouts on P2 on my local simulcast system.
 

btt

Banned
Banned
Joined
Mar 11, 2020
Messages
2,585
Location
Wa State
The new version (0603-2157) is distorting for me on P2. The 0527-1909 was better and am reverting. No changes to BW or anything between versions, just audio dropouts on P2 on my local simulcast system.
Yeah I noticed that too, I am going back to 1909 - very solid for me.

I made version 05-27_1909 the new stable version based on your feedback. I can't test P2 here yet, so I'm not sure what the cause would be except possibly the new MCU drivers. Did either of you happen to test the versions between 05-27_1909 and 06-03_2157? I may have to give up on the new driver code for now.
 

Mike_G_D

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
1,241
Location
Vista, CA
06-03_743 seems to work for me P1 and P2 mixed system, 800 MHz.

Just now installed 06-03_2157 so will see how it goes.

-Mike
 
  • Like
Reactions: btt

btt

Banned
Banned
Joined
Mar 11, 2020
Messages
2,585
Location
Wa State
Thanks Mike. The only difference between _0743 and _2157 was the removal of the "p25_reinit" command. That shouldn't cause any issues. One thing that did change recently is the re-use of the last known good audio frame if there are irrecoverable errors in the voice data. This can really help to keep the speech understandable when you have a burst of errors while mobile. (vs replacing with silence). I could make this feature an option.
 

Mike_G_D

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
1,241
Location
Vista, CA
Hmm, all I can say is that the audio, which has been a serious PLUS in the P25RX from the start just seems to keep getting better! In the last several builds it seems even better than...better...?! Anyway, I have always found most compressed digital audio from digital LMR modes to be, well, less than pleasing, let's say, but this device seems to reproduce the audio so well that I do find times that it is super close to a strong full quieting analog FM narrowband (as opposed to FM broadcast wideband) signal! Of course it does vary with sources - some agencies/users are better than others just as with analog systems. But with good well adjusted subscriber sources...wow!

Anyway, 2157, so far, as you expected, seems the same as 0743 so far. I also have noticed more robust and consistant USB connectivity as one would expect with the better drivers.

Have to go to work now, sorry!

-Mike
 
  • Like
Reactions: btt

Cheeseburgers

Active Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2018
Messages
629
I dunno what it is with CLMRN but if you look at the graph, when monitoring the 700mhz site, its like this constantly fluctuating wave... the 325p2 on that site (Troop H), just simply could not handle it - the constant up / down and would not really pick up much - even the SDS100 struggled. The P25rx can pic stuff up but even still calls get interrupted occasionally.. it seems to be a very troublesome location (Southington/Plainville line). FWIW the G4 would also have issues here and there.

When I am at home I monitor a different site, an 800mhz site, and on 1909 its super clear no issues. I have the filters at 12.4khz
 

btt

Banned
Banned
Joined
Mar 11, 2020
Messages
2,585
Location
Wa State
I dunno what it is with CLMRN but if you look at the graph, when monitoring the 700mhz site, its like this constantly fluctuating wave... the 325p2 on that site (Troop H), just simply could not handle it - the constant up / down and would not really pick up much - even the SDS100 struggled. The P25rx can pic stuff up but even still calls get interrupted occasionally.. it seems to be a very troublesome location (Southington/Plainville line). FWIW the G4 would also have issues here and there.

When I am at home I monitor a different site, an 800mhz site, and on 1909 its super clear no issues. I have the filters at 12.4khz

When you see the RF agc moving all over the place, that most likely is being caused by multi-path fading or "simulcast distortion" or a combination. Once the delay spread is large enough, it eventually becomes impossible to decode. Simulcast systems should be very carefully designed to keep the delay spread below a certain level for the desired coverage areas. In this case, a receiver designed to handle simulcast (quadrature-QPSK / relative phase changes vs FM absolute phase changes) will have no issues with the decode. The area you are monitoring the 700 MHz site may be in one of those areas where the delay spread is getting large enough that it is approaching the limit of what can be decoded. If this is the case, the antenna may be the thing to experiment with.
 

Cheeseburgers

Active Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2018
Messages
629
Todd, what is happening here? 1622835861212.png

This is a part where the reception was great and then all of a sudden the call stopped and then came back a few seconds later
 

btt

Banned
Banned
Joined
Mar 11, 2020
Messages
2,585
Location
Wa State
The MAC_END_PTT is a signal sent by the P2 system that indicates that the call has ended for the TG indicated by the grpaddr (group address). The transmitting radio let up on the push-to-talk button. The listening radio (P25RX) then returns to the control channel. It appears to be working exactly as it should.
 

pcman67

Radio and electronics enthusiast since the ‘70’s
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 28, 2021
Messages
138
Location
Florida
I've been evaluating 2021-06-03_2157 and everything works as it should across all OS platforms.
Audio on P1 and P2 talkgroups on the Illinois STARCOM21 system (850 Mhz system) sounds identical compared to another P25RX I have that is running version 2021-05-27_1909 with the same exact settings.
 
  • Like
Reactions: btt

btt

Banned
Banned
Joined
Mar 11, 2020
Messages
2,585
Location
Wa State
I've been evaluating 2021-06-03_2157 and everything works as it should across all OS platforms.
Audio on P1 and P2 talkgroups on the Illinois STARCOM21 system (850 Mhz system) sounds identical compared to another P25RX I have that is running version 2021-05-27_1909 with the same exact settings.
Thank you!
 

Cheeseburgers

Active Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2018
Messages
629
The MAC_END_PTT is a signal sent by the P2 system that indicates that the call has ended for the TG indicated by the grpaddr (group address). The transmitting radio let up on the push-to-talk button. The listening radio (P25RX) then returns to the control channel. It appears to be working exactly as it should.
That's what I thought, it was a female dispatcher too for Litchfield Country Fire / EMS :-/ so that explains that
 

turnpike61

Ham and Electronics hobbyist since 1977.
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Aug 15, 2010
Messages
181
Location
Virginia
I've been evaluating 2021-06-03_2157 and everything works as it should across all OS platforms.
Audio on P1 and P2 talkgroups on the Illinois STARCOM21 system (850 Mhz system) sounds identical compared to another P25RX I have that is running version 2021-05-27_1909 with the same exact settings.
Maybe I didn't give it a good try, or I had mobiles with problems. I'm trying again and will eval for a few days.
 
  • Like
Reactions: btt

turnpike61

Ham and Electronics hobbyist since 1977.
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Aug 15, 2010
Messages
181
Location
Virginia
I made version 05-27_1909 the new stable version based on your feedback. I can't test P2 here yet, so I'm not sure what the cause would be except possibly the new MCU drivers. Did either of you happen to test the versions between 05-27_1909 and 06-03_2157? I may have to give up on the new driver code for now.
I tested on both. As I said above, I'll retry 2157 and let you know.
 

turnpike61

Ham and Electronics hobbyist since 1977.
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Aug 15, 2010
Messages
181
Location
Virginia
2157 looks good. Over a longer period, I think I just had a few spotty transmissions, but quality is as good as before. It's hard to be empirical when I can only spend so much time in front of the computer listening each day, so had to spend some time this past weekend and early this week monitoring several systems. Thanks.
 

dispatchgeek

Control channel goes "brrrrr"
Joined
Feb 29, 2004
Messages
259
Location
Between the cornfields and the pastures, Michigan.
I've noticed a bug with the skip function from the panel button. I tried the 2157 and 1909 builds, but the device seems to ignore skip commands. I can hold on TG and enter BT pairing just fine, but skip no longer seems to work. I have not tried from BTConfig yet.
 
Top