Problem with decoding P25 on 396T

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geoff5093

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Before anyone starts telling me to search, I read through most of the stickies here about the V2 update, but didn't find much that helped me.

I just got my 396T and performed the firmware update on it before really trying it out on the factory firmware. But I have a RS Pro-2096 side by side with my 396T, and I've swapped antennas so both radios use the same antenna, and I can not decode ANY P25 transmission on the 396T.

They are coming in loud and clear on the Pro-2096, and all analog transmissions come in great on the 396T. I found a thread which talked about the P25 wait time, and I tried adjusting it to 0ms, 600ms, and 800ms, which didn't help at all. The issue I'm having is that the 396T shows that it has a strong signal (4-5 bars), but all I can hear is a faint static, while my other radio is coming in great on a worse antenna.

Is there a known fix to this problem? I tried messing with AGC, trying to optimize P25 according to the manual, but still no luck.

I'm wondering if I should sell this thing and get a PSR-500 :(


BTW, off topic but is it just me or does the 396T scan through the channels much slower then the RS/GRE scanners do? It takes about 3 seconds to scan through each system, ones that only have 3 groups and 20 channels, as well as ones with 10 groups and 50 channels.
 
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Viper43

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Set the HOLD time to zero it will scan faster.
As to not decoding P25, first check your squelch as it occasionally changes doing the update, second reload your programing, that occasionally fixes it. If those don't help joing the unidenflash group on yahoo groups.

Also did you read the posr update thread here? it's long but you may find something that helps.
 

Viper43

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BTW, the agc wont help decode P25, it is only for audio. Read the PDF that was with the update download, it has directions at the end of it to set P25 wait time which is 400 after the update, changing it lower or higher may help you.
 

geoff5093

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Viper, thanks for the tip on the hold time, i'll try that. I set the squelch to 1 and still didn't help, I also did read the PDF and saw the hold time, but I tried setting it to 0ms and 200ms, as well as higher without any difference.

I did see that Yahoo group earlier, so I'll join that. I'll try reloading the V2 firmware (if it lets me), and see if that does anything. I've deleted and re-uploaded the programming several times already though.
 

shaft

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Are you trying to decode P25 trunked or conventional system? If conventional, make sure you dont have any CTCSS/DCS settings programmed in as they will override the P25 decoding.
 

geoff5093

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shaft said:
Are you trying to decode P25 trunked or conventional system? If conventional, make sure you dont have any CTCSS/DCS settings programmed in as they will override the P25 decoding.
They are all conventional.

Which brings me to my second question, is there anything special that you need to do with P25 frequencies that you don't do with analog frequencies? (Assuming they are both conventional)

And no, there are no CTCSS/DCS tones, and all this info was downloaded via RR's online database.
 

Viper43

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no, nothing special to select for conventional, make sure though that the software used to program the system didn't set "search" in the tone box as that will cause problems just as if you had tones setup. If search is selected in the software just set them all to none and reload programing.
 

geoff5093

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Hopefully this will clear it up a bit, the NHSPD group that is selected is all APCO25.

The two frequencies with the tones are part FM part P25, it's the Troop D however that is in my county, and thats the one that I am having issues with, as well as the city police.

NHSPD.jpg


NHSPD_2.jpg


EDIT: Ignore the 1300MHz frequency, that was a typo.
 
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Viper43

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I think your problem is the two frequencies at the bottom with the tones. Take the tones out and see what happens.
 

shaft

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Thats exactly the problem, I ran into the same situation trying to monitor the St. Charles Sheriff's office here in Missouri. I had CTCSS/DCS on two frequencies (the non P25 channes) and couldnt pick any of them up. Once I removed the tones, I could hear them clear as day.
 

Highpockets

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shaft said:
Thats exactly the problem, I ran into the same situation trying to monitor the St. Charles Sheriff's office here in Missouri. I had CTCSS/DCS on two frequencies (the non P25 channes) and couldnt pick any of them up. Once I removed the tones, I could hear them clear as day.

I'm not crazy about that, you can't mix apco 25 conventional with analog with pl/dsc, that's something Uniden should look into. I don't see why you should have that problem.
 

geoff5093

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Thanks for the help guys!

I actually got a great deal on the PSR-500 at the local HRO, and I love that thing! I'm just really used to programming the RS/GRE scanners and using the WINxx software. I'll be posting this radio up for sale, along with the USB and DC cable if anyone is interested, the unit it like new.
 

geoff5093

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Viper43 said:
did you get it working though?
Well TBH I haven't really tried it since, but it seems like it's just an issue on my end, there shouldn't be an issue with the scanner. I may try to program a few P25 only frequencies though just to be sure, because I'd really hate myself to sell something this expensive if I'm not 100% sure it will work.
 

Viper43

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geoff5093 said:
Well TBH I haven't really tried it since, but it seems like it's just an issue on my end, there shouldn't be an issue with the scanner. I may try to program a few P25 only frequencies though just to be sure, because I'd really hate myself to sell something this expensive if I'm not 100% sure it will work.


Thats pretty much why I asked the question :), I'd hate to see you get a bad rap by selling a faulty scanner....at least you figured out what I meant.
 

geoff5093

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Viper43 said:
Thats pretty much why I asked the question :), I'd hate to see you get a bad rap by selling a faulty scanner....at least you figured out what I meant.
I know what you mean, I still hope that it's not an issue with the scanner, I don't see how it could be. But as you said, I should probably wait and try to get this P25 thing figured out before selling it. Maybe it's just my location, I'll try bringing it into the city with me and see if that helps at all.
 

geoff5093

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Still no luck :(

I've tried everything, I've re-installed the V2 firmware, reset all the settings back to default, tried listening to just one P25 frequency, tried using my 2M/440 antenna thats out in my car, but I still can't decode any P25 stations!

The signal bar know shows a constant 5 bars, and "P25" shows up on the main display when someone is transmitting, but even with the squelch all the way down and volume all the way up, I still only hear a quiet static. I checked the error report and it's almost always 0. I've messed with the P25 wait time (set it to 0ms, 200ms, and 400ms), I've done a few of the "unofficial" tests, but to no avail.

I also set a system with only P25 channels, but that problem still happens.

And to make matters worse, my PSR-500 now doesn't pick up any frequencies, unless I am extremely close to the transmitter. This just isn't the day for me, lol.
 

UPMan

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Use UASD to read out and save the contents of your scanner (after you put in the simplest example systems) and post the "usd" of the system having the problem. I see you use ARC, but I don't...and there are a couple of settings that have been reported to not match what ARC says it is putting in on occasion that could cause a problem like this.
 

geoff5093

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I think this is what you are asking for:

UASD_1.jpg


UASD_2.jpg



I upgraded to the new firmware, but the problem still exists. I tried directly entering the frequency to the scanner but that didn't work either. I put in only one P25 frequency using ARC.



This is what the scanner looks like when it's receiving a digital transmission, keep in mind though that there is no audio.


UASD_3.jpg
 
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n4yek

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In your first UASD pic, it shows your ' CTCSS/DCS Search' in ON, try shutting it off.
P25 will not decode if it is searching for tones.
 
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