P25RX Firmware Updates / Testing

btt

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Version 2021-03-21_2028 is available. This version fixes a large issue that I did not realize existed. When programming a large number of talk groups (4915 groups), I found that the audio was very choppy. This was due to hw interrupts being disabled during the talk group related lookups. I plan on making this version the new stable version sometime tomorrow morning.
 

relicwr

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On 2028, did it take forever to flash? It feels like it's doing a low level format.
 
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kruser

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On 2028, did it take forever to flash? It feels like it's doing a low level format.
I noticed the same thing. I didn't notice which version started taking forever to update into the P25RX but mine's also slow as molasses now.
What used to take just a few seconds not takes up to two minutes or so.
 
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btt

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On 2028, did it take forever to flash? It feels like it's doing a low level format.

I noticed the same thing. I didn't notice which version started taking forever to update into the P25RX but mine's also slow as molasses now.
What used to take just a few seconds not takes up to two minutes or so.

This is probably due to recent changes to improve performance on the Mac OS platform. Linux and Mac OS java seem to use the time related functions correctly in Java. It appears Windows does not (not surprised by this). I will see if I can get this fixed with different calls based on the OS.
 

btt

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Version 2021-03-23_1938 has different delay functions when running on the Windows platform. This may improve not only flash time, but audio functions as well (audio was working fine on the latest stable with Windows 10 here). Please let me know if this didn't help. If it works well, I will move this testing version to replace the stable.
 

kruser

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Version 2021-03-23_1938 has different delay functions when running on the Windows platform. This may improve not only flash time, but audio functions as well (audio was working fine on the latest stable with Windows 10 here). Please let me know if this didn't help. If it works well, I will move this testing version to replace the stable.
I didn't test the audio yet due to low traffic but the time to flash was much faster with this version 1938. Maybe not quite as fast as in the past but still a big improvement.
I also noticed I only had to power cycle the P25RX one time instead of three to get this version onto the P25RX. That was a first for this Win 7 machine for me!

Edit: I saw you posted a newer version 2027 that must just update the app but no firmware update.
I'm testing it now but so far, it's working fine.


I have been messing with figuring out what causes some machines to require three power cycles to complete a FW update. I'm not done testing yet but I've found that when using Win 8.1 or Win 10, the P25RX flashes to new firmware without needing any power cycles. That test is not complete though as both the 8.1 and 10 machines use a newer Intel USB chipset than the one used in my main machine which also runs Win 7 Pro.
I'll get back to testing this when I find another machine here running Win 7 Pro but with an Intel USB chipset of the same version as those on the Win 8.1 or 10 machines.
At this point, I'm not sure if it's the Intel USB chipset that makes me power cycle the P25RX three times each FW update or if it's something with the OS version. All my OS's are 64 bit and updated with the latest security patches including the Win 7 machines which are under the ESR update program so they still get update each month.
I'll post my findings if I ever confirm which is responsible for causing the need for three power cycles per FW update!
 
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rbjzx9

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Updated to 0442. Upgrade went good, no issues.

I've also had to unplug and restart three times to complete the upgrade using Windows 7.

Next time I upgrade, I'll try it on my Windows 10 machine.
 
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epersson

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@btt You may know already, but don't jump to fix it, its no the end of the world... but with a TG timeout of 1 second I get false TG audio still. I set it to 100ms and don't get it but miss more responses when it continues scanning. It definitely seems to be when something is held to allow the TG to timeout to expire it allows a different TG in but displays the original TGID and voice pattern lines in the console.
 

Mike_G_D

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@btt You may know already, but don't jump to fix it, its no the end of the world... but with a TG timeout of 1 second I get false TG audio still. I set it to 100ms and don't get it but miss more responses when it continues scanning. It definitely seems to be when something is held to allow the TG to timeout to expire it allows a different TG in but displays the original TGID and voice pattern lines in the console.
Yeah, I think you may be seeing the same thing I have flagged in the past. It's probably the last big annoying issue I experience with the unit. For me, I need to keep the delay to at least 2 seconds in order to hear replies so I experience this issue and it is a serious concern for me. In my case, up until the last few versions, it looked like the P2 talkgroups were getting preempted by P1 traffic as the system I monitor has a mix of both. But lately, it seems to have gotten more erratic as if the delay seems to move all over the place regardless of what it is set for so traffic can abruptly halt in the middle of transmissions and other traffic pops in on both P1 and P2 traffic. But I am not 100% sure of this - need to watch the console screen and monitor more closely.

And no - NOT USING ANY PRIORITY SETTINGS - in case that question needs to pop up again - I know it sounds like a priority issue but I have all of my TG's set for 1 and do not use the priority function.

-Mike
 
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epersson

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Yeah, I think you may be seeing the same thing I have flagged in the past. It's probably the last big annoying issue I experience with the unit. For me, I need to keep the delay to at least 2 seconds in order to hear replies so I experience this issue and it is a serious concern for me. In my case, up until the last few versions, it looked like the P2 talkgroups were getting preempted by P1 traffic as the system I monitor has a mix of both. But lately, it seems to have gotten more erratic as if the delay seems to move all over the place regardless of what it is set for so traffic can abruptly halt in the middle of transmissions and other traffic pops in on both P1 and P2 traffic. But I am not 100% sure of this - need to watch the console screen and monitor more closely.

And no - NOT USING ANY PRIORITY SETTINGS - in case that question needs to pop up again - I know it sounds like a priority issue but I have all of my TG's set for 1 and do not use the priority function.

-Mike
To add to yours. Mine is a full P2 and the wrong traffic is other not programmed TG. Not the priority channel. I have only fire TGs programmed. When I hear the wrong audio it’s generally after a fire TX ends and is a PD transmission. They are much busier so there is a better probability they will be talking.
 

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Switched to the new stable (3/25 0703) yesterday. A P25 mixed Ph1/Ph2 system that I had been monitoring successfully has now gone silent. In an effort to troubleshoot this, I tried enabling log to file. But I can't seem to get this latest firmware to create a logfile. I had successfully created logfiles with prior firmware.
Any commands I can give in the console to try and figure out what's going on, so I can get logging working?

Thanks
 

btt

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Switched to the new stable (3/25 0703) yesterday. A P25 mixed Ph1/Ph2 system that I had been monitoring successfully has now gone silent. In an effort to troubleshoot this, I tried enabling log to file. But I can't seem to get this latest firmware to create a logfile. I had successfully created logfiles with prior firmware.
Any commands I can give in the console to try and figure out what's going on, so I can get logging working?

Thanks
Creating a log file doesn't depend on the firmware. I'm not sure what would have changed recently in the BTConfig software to cause "enable log to file" to quit working. What should happen when "enable log to file" is selected, is that any text scrolling by in the console window should be written to a file with "_conlog_xxxx.txt" in the same folder where the BTConfig-xxxx.exe file is located. Did you already check this folder?
 

pdhall54

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My console logs have never worked since when I started using P25RX last October. Have always stored downloaded BTConfig-XXXX-XX-XX_XXXX files in a different folder than the default \Documents\p25rx. I moved the latest BTConfig-2021-03-25_0703 into the \Documents\p25rx folder, started the app and am now seeing console logs!

Looks like the other three logs have always written to the \Documents\p25rx folder regardless where the BTConfig-XXXX-XX-XX_XXXX exists.
 
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Vermonster

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@pdhall54 got me to thinking about how I organized files once more stable versions started being issued. I move the current stable version to a subfolder. It turns out, when I run BTConfig from a subfolder, like: D:\BlueTail\Current Stable then it will not create a log file if the appropriate checkbox is checked.
However, if it is run from a directory called simply D:\BlueTail then the logfile is created as expected and contains appropriate information.

I don't have a ton of time for further testing, but it turns out it will create a logfile (with contents) if the directory is (note underscore) D:\BlueTail\Current_Stable
I know it's probably crappy practice to have spaces in directory names, but I probably won't be the last person to do it.

Regarding the system I could not receive, I was receiving the CC and was seeing some grants, but never any voice. After running for about an hour, I started to get voice. I am sort of on the fringe of this system (signal indicator mostly blue), and I wonder if it just took time to...obtain sufficient system information...adjust gain...not sure. Also possible something was wrong with the system this morning. Now that I have figured out how to get logging to work consistently, I will have the log to reference is something strange happens. Hard to diagnose as the console scroll goes screaming by.
 

ka3jjz

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If you are running your P25RX on Linux, we could use a writeup for our wiki on how to accomplish this. Same goes for Macs. I know this was discussed earlier in this thread. Such details are always welcome

Mike
 

pdhall54

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@pdhall54 got me to thinking about how I organized files once more stable versions started being issued. I move the current stable version to a subfolder. It turns out, when I run BTConfig from a subfolder, like: D:\BlueTail\Current Stable then it will not create a log file if the appropriate checkbox is checked.
However, if it is run from a directory called simply D:\BlueTail then the logfile is created as expected and contains appropriate information.

I don't have a ton of time for further testing, but it turns out it will create a logfile (with contents) if the directory is (note underscore) D:\BlueTail\Current_Stable
I know it's probably crappy practice to have spaces in directory names, but I probably won't be the last person to do it.

Regarding the system I could not receive, I was receiving the CC and was seeing some grants, but never any voice. After running for about an hour, I started to get voice. I am sort of on the fringe of this system (signal indicator mostly blue), and I wonder if it just took time to...obtain sufficient system information...adjust gain...not sure. Also possible something was wrong with the system this morning. Now that I have figured out how to get logging to work consistently, I will have the log to reference is something strange happens. Hard to diagnose as the console scroll goes screaming by.
Didn't investigate the sub folder angle but I know under the PC Audio tab the default audio file path is set to the current users Documents folder.

I have similar issues trying to monitor a fringe system as well, found that when the signal gets below -120 dBm it simply can't decode the voice.
 

krokus

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@pdhall54 got me to thinking about how I organized files once more stable versions started being issued. I move the current stable version to a subfolder. It turns out, when I run BTConfig from a subfolder, like: D:\BlueTail\Current Stable then it will not create a log file if the appropriate checkbox is checked.
However, if it is run from a directory called simply D:\BlueTail then the logfile is created as expected and contains appropriate information.

I don't have a ton of time for further testing, but it turns out it will create a logfile (with contents) if the directory is (note underscore) D:\BlueTail\Current_Stable
I know it's probably crappy practice to have spaces in directory names, but I probably won't be the last person to do it.

Have you tried using underscores instead of spaces?
 
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