Post-V2 Update Performance for BCD396T and BCD996T

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Mikek

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I'm going to take a minute to update my recent post related to the 396 performance after the firmware upgrade. After I posted, I had the opportunity to drive to Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Police utilize a P25 conventional system and I immediately noticed a major improvement in audio clarity on all channels, even those with low signal strength. The Err rate hit 5 once or twice, but was essentially 0 over the 45 minutes I listened regardless of channel/signal strength. about Prior to the upgrade, error rates were in the high teens audio was not as crisp as it is now. I dialed up some other local city PD's that also are P25 conventional and had about the same results. Well done here.

I traveled around Orange County quite a bit as well. Since the OC CCCS is the primary reason I own a 396, I paid careful attention to performance here. After several hours of listening, I conclude now that the digital performance is well below what it should be. Error rates hover around 60-80, audio is choppy and drops out on voice peaks. While moving at freeway speed, the error rate shows "---" and audio is garbled. The CCCS is comprised of multiple simulcast systems and testing each of the major systems yielded the same results.

I would gladly revert back to the prior firmware version if that's an option or help Uniden test a fix for this one so that it's usable.

Is there anyone else around Orange County (CA.) that can add their thoughts on performance?
 

Statevillian

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ERICMYERS,

Check your Radio Reference Personal Messages...I sent you one regarding Will County EDACS Control Channel.....Since that would be off-topic here.
 

Baker845

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Did the update yesterday and it was fast and had 0 problems, the Uhf freqs audio sounds much better and same with VHF is sounds much better as well. This is the First firmware update on my 396t and its sounds much better then before. I don't have any p25 systems in my area yet so i have to test that next time i out of town.
 

ravthree

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396t upgrade

while the upgrade went smooth i have found a great improvement w/ apco 25 in plainfield and il state pd dist 5 w/ better sound quality and almost no adjustments needed.

i have now had extreme degrading of signal strength with the joliet and napervile trunked and kendall co uhf kencom signals.

pre upgrade signal strength showed 2-3 bars on joliet and naperville and maxed out signal on kendall co, now the three systems are recieving poorly with waves of static comming in almost as though high winds were prevailing. signal strength 0-1 bars on all three systems.

my biggest disapointment is with the way the scanner is recieving will co edacs. pre upgrade maxed out sinal strength and clear recieve. after upgrade 1-2 bars on meter and waves of static (the type you get from distant transmitters) although no beeps and mini grrs. i have checked squelch position 2, end code , attun ect.
need to know if this has happened to anyone else , is a rollback to the previous version possable and what can be done to correct this problem using this new version.
 

jkahn

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3 days of evaluation

Paul:
I did the 396 update on Friday and have been giving the unit lots of office time on several DC metro area systems with the outside antenna. DC still motorboats, not quite as often, and with a "deeper" tone than before. (motor deeper in the water?) I am now getting occasional motorboating on Montgomery CO MD where I almost never did before.

On the conventional side, like with PG County MD I have noticed no change whatever, and on their EDACS I have not heard one "beep" !

The only really disturbing problem is now I get quite a bit of "chattering" where I never did. By this I mean that on digital trunked Montgomery County MD it is like I have the squelch set all the way up on a conventional system. This happens even where I used to get solid audio on a solid 5 bar signal. , Now the signal is still 5 bars, but the audio sometimes chops in and out (like I have the p25 setting a couple of notches off of the best setting). I wonder if Dewey is getting the same thing?

I'll be going to Bethany Beach DE this weekend and, if I can "borrow" our neighbor's wireless signal to get the new D/Ls, I do the 2- 996's there and let you know about them next week.

No update problems on the 2 396's at all- to the ESN update or up to version 2. No mid-update crashes or blinkie green screens this time!

Thanks for the good work. I hope you get to do some 'toy' shopping while you are away. You can sleep for 14 hours on the plane!
 
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Mikek

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jkahn said:
Paul:
The only really disturbing problem is now I get quite a bit of "chattering" where I never did. By this I mean that on digital trunked Montgomery County MD it is like I have the squelch set all the way up on a conventional system. This happens even where I used to get solid audio on a solid 5 bar signal. , Now the signal is still 5 bars, but the audio sometimes chops in and out (like I have the p25 setting a couple of notches off of the best setting). I wonder if Dewey is getting the same thing?

Interesting note here - the Montgomery County system and the Orange County CA. system (which I'm having similar issues with) are both Analog and APCO-25 Common Air Interface...
 

RoninJoliet

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I was also hearing that last nite on PLFD Digital vs Shorewood, i have even heard the dispatcher calling a PLFD digital car over the analog system then laughing about it, guess you can't blame them...Last nite Will Co was doing fine with many calls altho i do live about six blocks from the Cchannel...That is a problem sometimes as the Will Co data channel on Provena Hospital will wipe out Naperville and Aurora here using a rubber duck..On my outside antennas that never happens (wierd)...So far i have NOT done the upgrade on my 396 and most likely will not on "Statevillian's and others advice...My GRE500 has hardly any dropouts especially on the Grundy T125, but on T113-D5 that tower here is not good loosing the CC constantly....Using aChannel Master5094A triband antenna (discontinued)with 60' of 9913 coax is a very good match for T125 in Grundy Co=98% coverage, i wish PLFD would use that tower...
 

Bote

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Mikek said:
Interesting note here - the Montgomery County system and the Orange County CA. system (which I'm having similar issues with) are both Analog and APCO-25 Common Air Interface...

There are many such systems, as this allows the jurisdiction to upgrade police and fire to digital radios while leaving the dog catcher and building inspectors on analog. Boca Raton and Delray Beach, Florida are both like that and I have good performance on those systems, for example.

The more important piece of information might turn out to be what version they are running on the trunked system, although good luck finding that out. I suspect that there are some tweaks related to a particular release of Big-M software that can make or break the decoding algorithm in the scanner. Simulcast might also be giving the scanner fits.
 

SCPD

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Uniden's firmware update test: in Calgary Alberta Canada

I put 5 radios side-by-side. A 996T with firmware update and one without. A 396T with firmware update and one without and for a real comparison a GRE DSR 500

The first test I performed I had all radios scanning a list of 20 CPS (Calgary Police Services) P25 talkgroups monitoring site 004 - Fishcreek. I basically counted 100 transmissions.
Only Apco P25 tranmissions without any hiccups or burbs or warble were counted as successful

Radio 1) 996 without firmware update 73 out of 100
Radio 2) 996 with firmware update 92 out of 100
Radio 3) 396 without firmware update 62 out of 100
Radio 4) 396 with firmware update 89 out of 100
Radio 5) PSR 500 95 out of 100

My second test I put a CPS talkgroup on hold and counted 100 transmissions and...

Radio 1) 996 without firmware 81 out of 100
Radio 2) 996 with firmware update 96 out of 100
Radio 3) 396 without firmware update 76 out of 100
Radio 4) 396 with firmware update 92 out of 100
Radio 5) PSR 500 98 out of 100


My two cents worth. I did a similar test In Edmonton Alberta Canada following an EDACS system. I posted my findings in the Western Canada forum

OUT
 
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Overseas1

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Up here in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada the upgrade went well with a small
little bump on my head that is. And new Glasses.
No more motorboating sound on p16 OPP.
fleetnet area number 2. Even with One out of 5 for reception works very well.
Rob
 

Viper43

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kb9sxk said:
What little Hoosier Safe-T i am hearing sounds awesome. However, I think I am missing 75% of the traffic.

396T


Ok, tomorrow let Upman know, he has a fix for it :) he's on a plane about now though. Sounds like the problem I had, SAFET went poof, but the fix brought everything back to life :)


V
 

LEH

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Well, I have been playing with the upgrade and I have mixed emotions. The VA VHF P25 9600 baud STARS system seems to be working better. I have placed it next to my PSR 500 and they both seem to be catching the same signals.

However, reception of the Langley AFB P25 3600 baud system seems to have become much worse. Where I could pick them up easily in the house, now I hardly get a lock on for the control channel. My PSR 500 works like a champ right next to it.

When I do get a signal, I get a lot of motorboating that wasn't there previously.
 

HIP

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Simulcast

996 Upgrade went smooth.Audio on Ohio MARCS is better but the Toledo,Ohio Lucas County simulcast system still is not good it is choppy and error rate is very high and slow to process in most cases.I hope somehow this can be addressed.
 

GTO_04

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Viper43 said:
Ok, tomorrow let Upman know, he has a fix for it :) he's on a plane about now though. Sounds like the problem I had, SAFET went poof, but the fix brought everything back to life :)


V
How is the motorboating for you? I still have a considerable amount sometimes. If I get too aggressive the P25 waiting time it seems like I miss more traffic.

GTO_04
 

Ems6

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Hoosier Safe-T sounds much more clear, however I've noticed alot more motorboating then before the updated.
 

Viper43

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It motorboats but not as much as before, and it doesn't hang on an ICALL and just motorboat on SAFET.
 

loumaag

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I mentioned last week that I was going to New Orleans and would see how the update affected the LATIE Simulcast reception on my 396.

I must say that I am impressed. It is by no means perfect but it is readable most of the time. Occasional burps interfere occasionally but all in all the comms are readable. This is in contrast to prior to the update when it was not readable at all.

Let me add a couple of comments about some previous posts that I just read through:
  • I too notice that while performing a custom search that the 396 may lose the CCh unless I press <HOLD> on it. I am not sure it is squelch related.
  • In relation to using the CTCSS or DCS settings to keep an analog conventional signal from interfering with a P25 conventional, it is not (never was) possible as using the tone functions disables the P25 decode on a 396T.
  • As for the noise that precedes voice on P25, a lot of that may come from the users holding the key down on the microphone before speaking. That is an idle noise and irritating but not necessarily a scanner problem; but to be truthful, I guess I don't notice it nearly as much since the upgrade but it is still early days.
  • Early (years ago) on it was always advised to back up your systems before applying any update. I didn't notice any problems with changed settings or missing systems, but I wouldn't have, since I reloaded my radio (adding systems for the Louisiana trip) right after I updated it. In any case, this update has been shown to affect some settings on the radios, so it would only make sense to reload the radio from your backup before passing judgement on the update (other than the fact that it messed up settings that is. ;) )
 

Casey

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I reported earlier in the thread that the new upgrade as well as the firmwares after 1.11.03 on my 396t produce a digital voice stutter/chop out whenever the signal is degraded slightly...where as with 1.11.03 and earlier the scanner handles the reduced signal strength more gracefully (voices are more naturally able to be understood when signal level changes). UPMan has been absolutely great in working to resolve the problem i'm having on P25 personally. My request was to just go back to the old firmware (which is now not automatically easy to do with the current loader). Again thanks to UPMan for helping out the little guy in working through some of the troubles...hope to have a solution soon from you either getting back to 1.11.03 or a fix on the new firmware. CG
 

Viper43

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I did find that my FTO's were back to factory after the update, that and 3 systems switched from ID SCAN to ID SEARCH, otherwise it didn't seem to affect the programming
 
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