Pro-2096 Listening issues

[keithalmli]

Hello all

I have two Pro-2096, they are both programmed with the same frequencies and talkgroups/programming.

The only difference I have is one firmware is 1.3 and the other is 1.4

When P25 is active, the scanner with 1.3 works perfectly and does not skip a beat.
When P25 is active on the 1.4 all it does is is mimmic poor signal and you can actually hear the Digital noise from the tower, and not the decoded transmission.

I've tried different antennas, flashing the firmware. Copying the profile from the working scanner and uploading to the one that isnt.. Took it apart didn't see any obvious solder issues.


I've been combing the internet to see if theres a firmware download, was thinking maybe i could downgrade the firmware? Just cant seem to locate it..

Appreciate any insight or tips.

 

[Swipesy]

From 1.4 Pdf update file

DSP APP Firmware Version U1.4 provides the following enhancement to your PRO-96/2096 Digital
Trunking Scanner:

Improved digital decoding
After upgrading to DSP Application firmware version 1.3 (DSP-APP 1.3), some users reported
increased instances of the scanner failing to decode the beginning of digital transmissions on
certain systems. DSP-APP 1.4 improves the performance of initial digital voice decoding and
should result in fewer instances of undecoded digital noise at the beginning of transmissions.
Under certain circumstances, such as when weak or distorted signals are present, the scanner
may occasionally fail to decode the beginning of a digital transmission even after upgrading to
DSP-APP 1.4. If a radio consistently fails to reliably decode digital transmissions, users are
advised to reposition the radio, utilize antennas designed for the specific band being monitored,
such as the RadioShack 20-283 800 MHz BNC antenna, or take other steps to improve the
quality of the received signals.

I have 1.3 if you would like it. Just PM me an email address.

 

[Ronaldski]

Nothing I could do either when I had a pro96 the portable version of your 2096. Your best bet is to go back to firmware 1.2 which all regard is the best actually. no matter what I did and also did a lot of searching on here essentially your stuck with it, chalk it up to being a first generation digital.

Seeing your in MI as I so it's same issues.
The 1.2 firmware will lessen the digital you hear but not eliminate it. Maybe by 1/3 or so I figure.

See it mentioned here https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/PRO-96_FAQ

You can join the 2096 Yahoo group undoubtedly they will have 1.2 firmware for download.
I have it 1.2 as well and can send it if you have a programming cable to your registered email address used here.

If you or someone else upgraded the firmware you can revert to the original firmware as mentioned in that wiki link above if it shows if I recall 1.4U.when you push the 3 key on power up.

 

[keithalmli]

Thank you, for the information..

I did a firmware downgrade to 1.3, and seems to be more spot on when finding the signal. It still seems to not decode. What would we call this the Silicone Lottery? Lol

I was able to obtain the 1.2, trying that now will advise if the downgrade was a success.

:12:37 Downgrade was not a success. Same issue.

 

[ScannerSK]

I believe the PRO-96 was the handheld version of the PRO-2096. The PRO-96 was notorious for drifting slighly off frequency which would prevent decoding digital 800 MHz systems.

You might try tuning in a specific frequency (with a continuous signal) into both scanners in the 800 MHz band and then try monitoring one frequency step above and one frequency step below that frequency on both scanners to see if you notice any difference. They should act identically. If not, one scanner may be out of tune.

In the PRO-96 scanner I believe VR4 was used to adjust for the frequency drift.

PRO-96 Internal Adjustments - The RadioReference Wiki

https://forums.radioreference.com/r...rrect-step-800-moto-type-2-a.html#post2738073

This is one possibility which could explain the issue.

Shawn

 

[keithalmli]

Thank you all for the insight. I took the scanner apart, and found that the solder was fine on the connector for the antenna. I flashed to 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 without issue, the issue continued to happen regardless of firmware.

Here is a dropbox link to video of issue: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ro68qbscwtczv3y/IMG_6696.MOV?dl=0

I then took advice to adjust VR1 I found that the adjustment was a fair amount off. At first I had done the adjustment with the digital control channel on the scanner. It was down in the weeds, not indicating a signal strength. However it was clear that there was static in the audio/transmission. I tuned it by hand to a near 85%, started receiving audio decoded without problem. I then went to the WX to see if i could still hear the weather frequency, I could not, so i tuned the VR1 back a little until i could hear the WX, went back to the digital control, listened it decoded, and left it at that.

Works great now and does not skip a beat. I will likely still do an adjustment down the road with the analyzer, but at this time it works good.

I attached a photo of the adjustment. Notice the red lines. Was - Where the adjustment was before i touched it. Now - where it works for both WX and Digital.

Please note do not wildly change anything unless you mark it first!

Thanks to all for the ideas.

 

[lou9155]

I believe the PRO-96 was the handheld version of the PRO-2096. The PRO-96 was notorious for drifting slighly off frequency which would prevent decoding digital 800 MHz systems.

You might try tuning in a specific frequency (with a continuous signal) into both scanners in the 800 MHz band and then try monitoring one frequency step above and one frequency step below that frequency on both scanners to see if you notice any difference. They should act identically. If not, one scanner may be out of tune.

i actually am waiting for my 2096 to come back from g+g communications for repair and tweaking. i have that exact issue on 800mhz trunking. i have fw 1.4. programmed with arc96 and used rebanding option. frequencys loaded fine but audio was heard a step below when i manually tuned. weird cause my 500 mhz digital trunking is spot on . nice radio but scans a bit slow. when i get it back it will go in my woodshop with its own discone.....

 

[keithalmli]

Whats crazy is this scanner sat on my desk for months thinking it wasn't digital capable . A customer brought me the exact identical scanner to program. Boy the confusion started.. Lol needless to say it was helpful to have the second identical scanner present to trial and error stuff to compare.

Wish you luck, glad this was an easy fix. Hope my notes help others.

 

[Ronaldski]

I was glad to "hear" it come in as I talked to him on the phone, besides emails to another I figured as much it was off frequency as also mentioned above by ScannerSK when I was sent a video where the bad one showed 851.8750 and the good one had 851.900. No 851.75 exists in the county.
As I mentioned on the phone we don't know exactly what each of the VR's did so accordingly when I heard it come in suggested to tune in noaa since the adjustments can affect other frequency bands when I have tuned in pro96's and it did.

All in all this thread can help others in the same situation and their 2096's as they are long in the tooth and the components can and do drift in values. Apparently the designers knew of this and put in the VR's. -Variable Resistors.

 

[Swipesy]

Yes and a picture or two is worth a thousand words when I sent the OP pictures of how to adjust the VS that I had saved from posts many years ago on RR. Proves once again on valuable RR is to us hobbyist.

 

[Swipesy]

Deleted Dup

 

[Nasby]

Just to add to this very informative post:

A month ago I bought a PRO-2096 at a local Ham meeting. The owner was upfront and said it no longer received the digital trunked sites.

The price was right and I planned on just using it for analog listening.

I found this thread and figured I had nothing to lose by giving the tuning a try. I couldn't make it any worse than it already was.

So I took the unit apart and locked it onto a local APCO P25 control channel. It displayed "00" decode.

I began turning each of the three pots, one at a time and ever so slightly while watching the decode display increase / decrease.

After about 20 minutes of tweaking and turning I was able to get a 93% decode rate!!

I actually had to turn ALL three of the pots (not just one pot) at various times in order to achieve this.

So I'd really like to than everyone who took the time to post this information.

 

[keithalmli]

Perfect! Success stories is what we like to hear

 

[1Rustle]

Tuning PRO-2096

Did not expect the pots to be that small, LOL. Thanks for posting, it cured my problem, able to get my
% up from 0% fluctuating to 25% to between 80% to 96%.