P25RX-II P25RX-II Firmware Updates / Testing

[btt]

That clip is clean and well balanced. The audio is solid mid range to my ears. The large state NJICS system I listen to is all over the map with audio. Different subs having different radios from different manufacturers and all having different audio profiles. Even see this with different departments within the same city.

I only wish the audio could ever sound like that. Most do not.

That clip is an un-edited wav file recorded with the latest BTCFG-II software/firmware on the local P1 system. I am lucky to live in an area where the quality of audio for most departments on that system sound very good.

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There is a new stable version available. 2021-11-01_1625. Today's release adds the ability to pop-out the Display View tab into a separate window. The window can be maximized such that your entire display becomes the "display view". Closing the window pops it back into the tab area of the main application.

 

[btt]

Version 11-02_1606 is available. There are many improvements. The scrolling text in the console window is now a binary transfer with crc32 error detection / re-transmit. There is still more to do along these lines for command/response. There were also improvements related to DUID processing that should result in better audio in noisy environments (VHF) as well as other bands. There is a new option in the advanced tab: "Enable AGC minimum peaks mode". Please give it a try and see if it makes things better or worse for your area. In some instances, it will make a difference in receiver sensitivity. The RSSI readings will tend to be lower when this option is enabled. (min peaks vs rms). In this version of the software, the AGC BW and VGA Target level will be overriden based on the selection of this option. I was able to receive some P2 activity on a local system today! I think I made some improvements while they were active. Hopefully the new system is finally online and will become more active now.

 

[freqseeker]

I just wanted to chime in on 11-02-1606.
I enabled AGC minimum peaks mode and I must say this is the best reception yet. Excellent audio and stable signal -98dBm.
This is the WSP 700 P2 system that runs BLKS in the low to mid 20's. My other systems run in the 40's even with much weaker signal.
I am falling behind on all the improvements, but hopefully things settle down so I can monitor more.

Is your P2 system being tested WSP? Just curious.
Great job! Thank you for your hard work.

 

[btt]

I just wanted to chime in on 11-02-1606.
I enabled AGC minimum peaks mode and I must say this is the best reception yet. Excellent audio and stable signal -98dBm.
This is the WSP 700 P2 system that runs BLKS in the low to mid 20's. My other systems run in the 40's even with much weaker signal.
I am falling behind on all the improvements, but hopefully things settle down so I can monitor more.

Is your P2 system being tested WSP? Just curious.
Great job! Thank you for your hard work.

Thanks for testing and feedback! There are some more audio improvements available today. There is also a new keyword $ERR_RATE$. This will show the voice error rate. 0.000 is what you want to see. This will be useful for determining if audio issues are due to the java software, firmware, or actual errors in the received bits. The $LCN$ keyword now works for the CC (after the first voice grant). Not as much P2 activity today on the WADOT system as yesterday. I'm not sure how P2 is doing on the current version yet. (11-03_1050)

 

[consys]

Something went wrong here.
Was updating to 11-03_1050. Program stuck got on Discovering device for over 5 min with SIG & TG lights flashing maybe in groups of three with a pause- SOS...? I had minimized BT config and moved a shortcut during the update, maybe shouldn't have.
Powered down, rebooted pc (win 10 home), same result.
Power down, reboot, attempted 11-01_1914 (last one used OK). agian stuck on Searching for device with SIG light red.
Is there a do over reset?

 

[btt]

Something went wrong here.
Was updating to 11-03_1050. Program stuck got on Discovering device for over 5 min with SIG & TG lights flashing maybe in groups of three with a pause- SOS...? I had minimized BT config and moved a shortcut during the update, maybe shouldn't have.
Powered down, rebooted pc (win 10 home), same result.
Power down, reboot, attempted 11-01_1914 (last one used OK). agian stuck on Searching for device with SIG light red.
Is there a do over reset?

This is a flash memory error detected by the flash ECC controller. Hold the TG button on the device for a second or two until the leds go off. Then wait. After about 10 seconds for the flash to erase., the bootloader will resume at this point and the leds will be flashing rapidly. At this point, you should be able to resume the firmware update. You will need to re-load your talk groups from a backup.

 

[btt]

Found a bug with the $LCN$ keyword for control channel. It is fixed in 11-03_1139.

 

[consys]

This is a flash memory error detected by the flash ECC controller. Hold the TG button on the device for a second or two until the leds go off. Then wait about 10 seconds for the flash to erase. The bootloader will resume at this point and the leds will be flashing rapidly. At this point, you should be able to resume the firmware update. You will need to re-load your talk groups from a backup.

Thank you!!!! Up & running. Really enjoying this radio. JS

 

[btt]

New version available 2021-11-03_1732. This version allows you to edit the format of the TG log display and output file using the new display view keywords. Two new keywords added: $DATE$ and $TIME$. By default the existing format is used because there are people who are parsing that format with other software. Here is the current format I'm using. You can cut-and-paste it into the format editor and save it.

$DATE$ $TIME$, $TG_NAME$, TG_$TG_ID$, RID $RID$, $RID_ALIAS$, RSSI $RSSI$, VFREQ $V_FREQ$, CCFREQ $CC_FREQ$, SYS $WACN$-$SYS_ID$, NAC $NAC$, SITE $SITE_ID$, RFSS $RFSS_ID$, ERR_RATE $ERR_RATE$

 

[iascanguy]

Updated to 2021-11-03_1558.

Using Err_rate what are acceptable levels above 0 before audio issues occur? I’m seeing a lot of .002 and .003, and higher. I have enabled AGC Minimum Peak Mode, not sure how much it helps, but I still get a lot of choppy audio.

 

[btt]

Updated to 2021-11-03_1558.

Using Err_rate what are acceptable levels above 0 before audio issues occur? I’m seeing a lot of .002 and .003, and higher. I have enabled AGC Minimum Peak Mode, not sure how much it helps, but I still get a lot of choppy audio.

Please send a screen capture of the signal insights tab. It may help to get an idea of what might be happening. In some cases, the minimum peak mode may make things worse. It is an option that some will find useful. It may not be a good mode for mobile.

 

[btt]

Updated to 2021-11-03_1558.

Using Err_rate what are acceptable levels above 0 before audio issues occur? I’m seeing a lot of .002 and .003, and higher. I have enabled AGC Minimum Peak Mode, not sure how much it helps, but I still get a lot of choppy audio.

Please give 11-03_2030 a try. This has improved voice frame error handling that I have been working toward this past week. I think frame repeats, muting are finally implemented correctly for both P1 and P2. P1 is working well with lost frames. I haven't been able to test P2 yet.

 

[Vermonster]

Just a note for those wondering how the P25RX-II does on the Maine state MSCOMMNET system (Harris P25 Phase I):
I spent last weekend testing on various trunked sites and the RX-II performed well.
I also used the mobile roaming approach described in this thread, which seemed to work well as I drove south and needed to switch sites.

 

[pcman67]

@btt I am testing the latest "alt testing version" BTCFG-II-2021-11-04_0645 and in my testing, it appears that "enable BCH correction of DUID" will not stay checked when I write the config to the P25RX-II. It automatically unchecks itself after writing the config.

Also, in my particular listening area, checking the "Enable AGC Minimum Peak Mode" actually makes P1 and P2 reception worse for me. I am sure this option can improve reception in certain areas for certain folks, but for me in my present listening location, it definitely degrades the transmissions received. It's nice to have this option though, as I think this could help with weak signals.

 

[btt]

@btt I am testing the latest "alt testing version" BTCFG-II-2021-11-04_0645 and in my testing, it appears that "enable BCH correction of DUID" will not stay checked when I write the config to the P25RX-II. It automatically unchecks itself after writing the config.

Also, in my particular listening area, checking the "Enable AGC Minimum Peak Mode" actually makes P1 and P2 reception worse for me. I am sure this option can improve reception in certain areas for certain folks, but for me in my present listening location, it definitely degrades the transmissions received. It's nice to have this option though, as I think this could help with weak signals.

Thank you for testing the latest. There is another update with more fixes. The "enable BCH" option has been removed and replaced with something that performs better. I took 11-04_1334 for a test drive. It appears all the work on improving the voice decoding / v-frame repeats this past week was worth it. It sounded great everywhere on the drive via Bluetooth. I'm not surprised that the "AGC Minimum peak" mode doesn't work well for you. It works better in some fixed-location instances (probably not simulcast) and is possibly a good option to enable for DMR reception. I'm not sure how the improvements have affected P2 reception yet, but it should be improved now that the v-frame repeats are implemented correctly. Same for DMR.

 

[iascanguy]

I took the RXII to work today and it worked fine. Back home tonight the audio is about like it was last night, maybe a little better. Updating to 11-04_1623 is a definite improvement, signal insights is from this version. Another problem started today while listening this afternoon, before I updated this evening. Audio from both the line out and Bluetooth ‘ripples’ while audio from the pc is normal.

 

[btt]

I took the RXII to work today and it worked fine. Back home tonight the audio is about like it was last night, maybe a little better. Updating to 11-04_1623 is a definite improvement, signal insights is from this version. Another problem started today while listening this afternoon, before I updated this evening. Audio from both the line out and Bluetooth ‘ripples’ while audio from the pc is normal.

You are in a bad spot! I'm glad to hear it is improving for you. Can you send me a sample of your P25-P2 audio issues with the line-out / Bluetooth via email? or you can post it here if you prefer. Line-out and Bluetooth are basically ideal now for P25 P1 with this version. I suspect it is probably approaching subscriber quality, but I'm waiting to hear back from those having issues. For testing, I've added 20dB of attenuation in front of a -96dB to -100dB signal (-116 to -120 dBm input). I'm seeing error rates with peaks up to 0.03 with very good audio. (note that is 0.03, not 0.002 like we were talking about yesterday). I think I may know why P2 is has a new issue for you (due to a change made), but it would help to hear a sample.

 

[Vermonster]

There are some reports of TG Log weirdness in the RX-I firmware thread.
I am also seeing disfunction in the RX-II:

For Con+ the TG Log is still having issues...but not the same ones reported for the RX-I. Only the first TG after firmware upgrade to 0302 is captured, then nothing else shown on the TG log tab. But new TGs do keep getting added to the TG Editor, and TGs are shown correctly in the console log and on the display tab. After fooling around with this for a while (maybe opening the editor??) I can get the log to show another line or two, but most calls are missed.

Updated to add: when I click edit in the TG Log tab, I see a box "Log Trigger"; this is grayed out so can't be changed, and RID Update is selected. If that helps???

 

[btt]

There are some reports of TG Log weirdness in the RX-I firmware thread.
I am also seeing disfunction in the RX-II:

For Con+ the TG Log is still having issues...but not the same ones reported for the RX-I. Only the first TG after firmware upgrade to 0302 is captured, then nothing else shown on the TG log tab. But new TGs do keep getting added to the TG Editor, and TGs are shown correctly in the console log and on the display tab. After fooling around with this for a while (maybe opening the editor??) I can get the log to show another line or two, but most calls are missed.

Updated to add: when I click edit in the TG Log tab, I see a box "Log Trigger"; this is grayed out so can't be changed, and RID Update is selected. If that helps???

Thanks. I'm working on the DMR logging issues now.

 

[Vermonster]

2021-11-05_0536 seems to have fixed the TG logging on DMR on the RX-II.

But, the auto scroll to bottom of TG log makes it appear the log is blank until enough rows are completed to fill the screen (ie: each time a new row is entered, it auto-scrolls to the bottom so you see black screen, but if you scroll up you will see the initial rows.)