PSR-600 slowly stops hearing trunk traffic?

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someone2000

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Hi all. I've got a weird problem with my PSR-600. It has occurred under the previous firmware (1.7) and the latest (both CPU 1.8 and DSP 1.8). I have a scanlist for San Francisco PD (defined by RR's DB). What happens is that I'll listen to it for a while, and have other scanlists active (some which share the same trunking system, some which do not). After a few hours, it will stop tracking, and just stay "scanning". If I either turn off and turn on the scanner, *or* disable and re-enable *other* scanlists, it'll start reciving calls normally.

It is somewhat unpredictable when it will stop tuning into calls. I'll just notice that it's been quiet for a while. It's especially noticeable on "busy" nights, like weekends, when SFPD is *definitely* busy. Has anyone else experienced this, or knows what I steps I should take to troubleshoot this? Thanks!
 

DaveIN

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I would re-initialize the radio to make sure there are no memory gremlins, then re-download the database information. See page 97 of the manual.

I understood what you meant, but the DSP update is 1.4, not 1.8 as you posted.
 

RadioDaze

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I used to have a similar problem with both my Uniden BR330T and my (ex) Pro-96. Turned out that I had control channels for too many different sites entered, and I believe it would eventually lock on to the wrong one. Turning it off then back on again caused it to rescan the CCs and I'd start getting traffic again. It was solved when I got rid of the excess CCs.

But it looks like SF doesn't have nearly as many CCs at the system does here in OC.
 

gmclam

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I am not exactly sure how to drive the PSR-600, as it is a digital OO scanner. If I experience this condition with an analog scanner, like the PSR-300, I press MAN. Ideally the scanner should be at the active control channel (because that is the only thing I am scanning). If not I'll navigate through all of the programmed control channels to find the active one, and see what signal strength and decode rate I am getting.

If no control channel is found, there is the problem. Is it programmed? Is the ATT on for that channel?

If the control channel is found; is is locked out? Is the mode set correctly? Is the ATT on for that channel? Lots of possibilities.

As pointed out by RadioDaze you might have another active control channel in that bank programmed/enabled as well. I was just in the bay area yesterday, and because it is not where I listen all the time, I programmed Alameda County and San Francisco in the same bank. I just made sure to lock out one set of control channels or the other. I manage the TGs with sub-groups.

I should also note here that I found a bug in GRE scanners that goes back to at least the PRO-92. The bug is in every trunk tracker I have from GRE. I do not know if it is in the digital models, but I don't see why it wouldn't be. My simple explanation is this; when you press a key during certain conditions, the scanner 'forgets' the active control channel. The result can be that it will stop on a control channel and you hear the data or it fails to decode data on the active control channel. The condition will persist until you power cycle the scanner, the control channel frequency changes, or some other conditions of key presses. Now if your situation happens even though you have not touched the scanner, then this is not what you are experiencing. But if you're pressing a key......
 
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RadioDaze

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Wouldn't it be nice to have a button that initiates a CC re-scan?

I'd call it... I don't know... how about "CC re-scan"?

If a procedure already exists to do that, I'm sure someone will pipe up shortly and point it out.
 

gmclam

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Wouldn't it be nice to have a button that initiates a CC re-scan?

I'd call it... I don't know... how about "CC re-scan"?
Oh the comments about this issue ... wouldn't it be nice if this bug that has been there since v0.00 was fixed? wouldn't it be nice if these scanners handled control channels in a much more INTELLIGENT fashion? wouldn't it be nice if we did not need to do this 're-scan'?

BTW, RadioDaze, I couldn't help but notice your picture. I wonder if you are as big of a fan of Peter Graves as I am. I was greatly saddened (upset) by the loss of him last week. :(
 

RKG

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In my view, this isn't the result of a "bug." It is the result of trying to give folks some features that, perhaps, aren't fully understood and, therefore, may not be used properly.

GRE made an effort, I perceive, to give the -500/-600 something akin to "SmartZone" functionality, without masking for the SysID (which may have presented IP issues).

My advice to folks is to always program one trunked "Zone" (my term, which means combination of SysID and control channels; sometimes akin to what some folks refer to as a "Site") per scan list, and always program it for "Multi-Site Mode" = "Off." Then by judicious use of the scan lists, one can achieve as much of SmartZone function as is possible, without running into the "system aground" phenomenon.
 

RadioDaze

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BTW, RadioDaze, I couldn't help but notice your picture. I wonder if you are as big of a fan of Peter Graves as I am. I was greatly saddened (upset) by the loss of him last week. :(

Yes, sadness on this end too. I've been rotating my avatars with different humorous pics from Airplane, Family Guy, etc., but I think I'll stick with our good friend Mr. Graves for a while.
 

mancow

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Is it possibly set to roaming mode? If you set it to stationary it will check every control channel every scan rotation.
 

diskmonger

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I have this issue when I pause on a talkgroup. After 15-20 minutes I look up and there is no signal on the display. Hit scan and it picks right back up again.
 

gmclam

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I have this issue when I pause on a talkgroup. After 15-20 minutes I look up and there is no signal on the display. Hit scan and it picks right back up again.
I'm not sure if you are using a PSR-600 or not, but on the analog GRE scanners, when you HOLD on a TG and the control channel changes, the scanner is clueless.
 

Sideline

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Hi all. I've got a weird problem with my PSR-600. It has occurred under the previous firmware (1.7) and the latest (both CPU 1.8 and DSP 1.8). I have a scanlist for San Francisco PD (defined by RR's DB). What happens is that I'll listen to it for a while, and have other scanlists active (some which share the same trunking system, some which do not). After a few hours, it will stop tracking, and just stay "scanning". If I either turn off and turn on the scanner, *or* disable and re-enable *other* scanlists, it'll start reciving calls normally.

It is somewhat unpredictable when it will stop tuning into calls. I'll just notice that it's been quiet for a while. It's especially noticeable on "busy" nights, like weekends, when SFPD is *definitely* busy. Has anyone else experienced this, or knows what I steps I should take to troubleshoot this? Thanks!
I have a psr-500. I diswcovered this by accident. My trunking channels are silent when my computer is turned on. as soon as I shut down the computer the scanner comes to life. It is like magic, computer on no scanner computer off scanner works. I have the scanner about 5 feet away from the computer. if i relocate the scanner it works ok. I suspect there is a frequency from the computer messing up the scanner. The T for trunk goes away when the computer is on also. maybe there is something in your environment that is having the same effect.
 

gmclam

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I have a psr-500. I diswcovered this by accident. My trunking channels are silent when my computer is turned on. as soon as I shut down the computer the scanner comes to life. It is like magic, computer on no scanner computer off scanner works. I have the scanner about 5 feet away from the computer. if i relocate the scanner it works ok. I suspect there is a frequency from the computer messing up the scanner. The T for trunk goes away when the computer is on also. maybe there is something in your environment that is having the same effect.
I have this problem when using my laptop near my PSR-300 and running on the rubber antenna. If my antenna is remote from my laptop, no problem. It's a 2003 HP laptop but apparently spews out all kinds of RF noise.
 

gmclam

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This control channel doesn't change, it's constant.
Do you have good constant reception of the control channel? If the scanner loses it for a moment, that could cause the condition. I do agree however that it should not work this way.
 

someone2000

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(Huh, I didn't get e-mails alerting me to replies.) Wow, lots of folks have this odd behavior. While some of you seem to be saying "get a clue; learn your radio", others are thinking it's a long-standing bug. But, for the cluebat brandishers, my question is: what am I doing wrong? Better yet, how do I tell that I'm doing something wrong when the radio isn't telling me something is wrong? Not even a "Abort/Rety/Fail?"... just, zombie mode.

One thing that seems very odd is that while I can sometimes "wake it up" by adding and removing other scanlists, if I only have the SFPD scanlist active when it goes into zombie mode, even deactivating and re-activating that scanlist does nothing to resolve the problem! Shouldn't removing a scanlist "reset" any "temporary" information that the scanner has gained regarding it?

Yeah, I just fix it by powercycling the radio. But, if I want to have it as a feed source at some point, I think I'll need to run this bug down...

And, thanks for chiming in on this thread! :)
 

someone2000

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GRE, where are you?

So, I'm not sure where to go with this ongoing problem. It is kinda annoying that a ~$500 scanner has this problem, and that apparently the problem seems to exist across GRE's model lines. Does GRE lurk on these forums? If I were them, I would, since their customers seem to congregate here... :) If so, can a GRE person comment on this problem, and perhaps give us some guidance on how to proceed with a fix (or at least hear of some method of assisting GRE in better tracing the problem)? Is there some "debugging-enabled" firmware that I can use to send trouble reports to GRE?

Cheers!
 

JoeyC

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Many scanning troubles can be attributed to programming. It is very possible to program these scanners and get them to work fine today and then find out tomorrow they aren't performing the same as they were. Many variables in programming are available and many hobbyists do not understand the ramifications of using some settings versus not.

Without knowing EXACTLY how your scanner is programmed and with which settings, multi-site mode, trunking tables, the effects of rebanding, control channels, which site, just to name a few, you cannot accurately say there is a bug in the radio.

Have you posted your programming file so that other forum users can review it and possibly see where a problem may exist? Have you tried clearing and resetting the scanner to defaults then programming the MINIMUM of data to try to troubleshoot?

I wouldn't be so quick to blame GRE for making a buggy product. After all the reading I have done on this website over the years, it is clear, that many of us are not experts when it comes to understanding these new age scanners and the complicated radio systems we are trying to listen to.
 
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