I have 12-24-0755 up and running with AUTO gains, Model 4; we are getting closer to audio being produced by a "control" source configured with identical tgs and using the same antenna system. The signal looks really good, defined and segmented. Target Gain graph is flat with only a few spikes here and there. I am hearing some distortion in voice reproduction over most talk groups compared to the audio in my "control" source which is very clean (mostly.) Swapped the speakers with the same result. Overall an improvement.
P25RX-II P25RX-II Firmware Updates / Testing
- Thread starter maus92
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Thank you for testing the latest! Glad to hear it is getting closer for you. The gain line will have spikes in it whenever there is a frequency change. With the changes to the firmware, on a frequency change, the gains that are set to auto are set to the lowest gain and then ramped up until the incoming signal matches the AGC target value +/- the hysteresis value (6dB default). You will be able to select some different hysteresis values in the next release. The spikes are where the gain is lowered (upward when the gain is lowered to zero), and then as it ramps up the spike will decrease until the target is reached. I think this method is going to work much better for systems with very strong signals. In previous versions, the gain would shoot up during a frequency change.
Merry Christmas to everyone that has been testing the firmware releases for the P25RX II. Things have come together rather well within the past month and for my area (though everyone's is different), I say it's in line with Unication receivers lately. I got another G4 recently and they are very much in line with each other as far as reception. Todd has done some excellent work with improvements and I know things will continue to improve!
Thank you sir! Merry Christmas.
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Over the past few days I finally got some time to play with the P25 TDMA control channel sites in my area and I have noticed on the 'search DB' tab that the secondary and neighbor frequencies are rather slow to populate, is this expected? I'm using version 2021-19_0654 if that matters.
I have also noticed that many times it will only display either the primary and secondary frequencies OR the neighbor frequencies and at times will only show one neighbor. The times for which it does this seem very random and don't seem to be site/location specific. I do know a few of the other software's that will decode TDMA CC data also had issues with this and I'm not exactly sure what caused it or how they fixed it.
I have not seen voice traffic on any of the sites yet but the P25RX-II is definitely pulling in more site control channels than my other TDMA CC setups.
I have also noticed that many times it will only display either the primary and secondary frequencies OR the neighbor frequencies and at times will only show one neighbor. The times for which it does this seem very random and don't seem to be site/location specific. I do know a few of the other software's that will decode TDMA CC data also had issues with this and I'm not exactly sure what caused it or how they fixed it.
I have not seen voice traffic on any of the sites yet but the P25RX-II is definitely pulling in more site control channels than my other TDMA CC setups.
I also tested the audio directly to speakers, and the distortion in the voice is still present. As the voice gets "stronger" / louder, it begins to distort / clip. Quieter voices don't seem as affected. I also adjusted the Windows mixer input, and cut back the device's output level to 80% with no change in the distortion / clipping observed. Might be an audio AGC issue - not sure if that can be made adjustable. Note that the control receiver does not exhibit this behavior. Another data point is the traffic channels are sometimes 10-15 dB hotter than the control channel.
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I know there is one other person monitoring the same system. I haven't seen any feedback yet on how well the P25RX-II does with TDMA CC. I believe it should decode all the TDMA CC messages for primary, secondary, and adjacent correctly. The other person also has not received any voice on that system. I don't think it is an active system. I can only verify that the P25RX does receive TDMA CC voice fine (or at least it did in previous versions) on the AEP system. As of now, the P25RX-II and P25RX code for TDMA CC should be nearly identical. I haven't heard of any recent issues aside from what you are bringing up. If you want to send a few IQ file recordings, I'll take a look.
The only recent change made that would affect audio levels is the bt_gain setting for Bluetooth gain. You mentioned it was too low, so I bumped it from 0.8 to 1.0. It seems fine here when listening on Bluetooth. This wouldn't affect line-out, so it probably isn't the issue you are having. I will add some parameters that you can adjust for the audio AGC. Is this a new issue for you? or was it always like this? It may be the users of the system getting too close to the mic. The RSSI readings don't having anything to do with the audio levels. With the latest firmware, the RSSI is indicating too high in some cases with the new AGC. This appears to be due to a non-linearity in the mixer gain controls. I will get that fixed. It won't cause an issue with performance (only display accuracy).
Although there are always user issues wrt to proper mic usage, that is pretty much ruled out by comparing the audio to the "control' source I'm using (which is not suffering this issue, generally.) I don't *think* the distortion on loud voice / high rssi is a new issue per se as it may have been hidden within the warbling issue that the most recent fw seems to have squashed. When I hear it with loud talkers, I lean to an audio AGC issue; not sure if the comparatively high rssi on traffic channels wrt control channel rssi has anything to do with it. But if the distortion was fixed, the audio quality would be the best I've heard from this receiver. I am not using a BT speaker; it is either from the audio jack, or usually through the USB connection.
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Been using 12-24_0755 since Christmas Eve. Love that I can set the status display preferences. Love having the Hold & Skip buttons available in the status area, too.
It seems to me that the previous version I was using (11-24_2226) received better. I started with the default settings and tried to tweak it from there with not much success. The voice gets choppy at the end of some of the transmissions. This happens on weaker signals (Roaming multiple sites) but the PRX25-I that I didn't update using 11-05_0501 isn't doing it with the antennas for both in the same area. It seems that once I get over 100 dBm, it gets choppy. Another thing I noticed is that the RID will sometimes show "ENCRYPTED" on talkgroups that are not encrypted. Again, the PRX25-I on an older version isn't doing that either.
Not sure if this is helpful but I'm trying to contribute. I can't talk the technical language you smarter guys are using but I tried to describe it best I can.
It seems to me that the previous version I was using (11-24_2226) received better. I started with the default settings and tried to tweak it from there with not much success. The voice gets choppy at the end of some of the transmissions. This happens on weaker signals (Roaming multiple sites) but the PRX25-I that I didn't update using 11-05_0501 isn't doing it with the antennas for both in the same area. It seems that once I get over 100 dBm, it gets choppy. Another thing I noticed is that the RID will sometimes show "ENCRYPTED" on talkgroups that are not encrypted. Again, the PRX25-I on an older version isn't doing that either.
Not sure if this is helpful but I'm trying to contribute. I can't talk the technical language you smarter guys are using but I tried to describe it best I can.
Thank you for the description! I may revert some things back to 11-24_2226 based on that. Be sure to set aside any versions that work well for you. It seems that it may be impossible to get everyone working well with a single version although almost everyone has reported that it worked well at some point. I'll keep working at it.
I'm running the 1704 release now. The RSSI on both control and traffic channels is reduced from what it was in the previous installed release 24-0755 which has resulted in cleaner audio for me. Still evaluating the overall performance, but it seems promising do far. Good work.
Wasn't able to find 12-30_1317 but I updated to 12-31-0700. Working much better for me. Not getting the choppy at the end and the RIDs are updating right away. Will monitor it throughout the night. Happy New Year!
Thank you for testing and reporting back! There have been a couple more changes today.
The updates for encryption, RID, and TG priority interrupt appear to be working great. I think both the P25RX and P25RX-II firmware / software are in a good state now. I'll plan on labeling the releases as "stable" on the web site within the next couple of days. There are still new features that need to be added (like scanning, TG zones), but I think we have hit a milestone for stability and completeness. I will also start working on assembling some more P25RX-II hardware. Thank you all for the continued feedback.
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