RCS - North Cell all choppy!

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CODE3QB

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San Diego, CA
Hello Everyone!

I am utilizing a Uniden 396xt scanner to monitor SD sheriff and a few other talkgroups on RCS. The P25 decode on these channels is awful! I pull up the brodcastify.com website and listen to others who are broadcasting the same channel and it sounds great on their scanner, but mine sounds awful! I have full bars and good reception, however the decode is so choppy and very often skips over transmissions.

Any advice from the San Diego Scanner community on where to start?
Is my Uniden 396xt not suited for this RCS System?

Thanks!!
 

seh911

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Hello Everyone!

I am utilizing a Uniden 396xt scanner to monitor SD sheriff and a few other talkgroups on RCS. The P25 decode on these channels is awful! I pull up the brodcastify.com website and listen to others who are broadcasting the same channel and it sounds great on their scanner, but mine sounds awful! I have full bars and good reception, however the decode is so choppy and very often skips over transmissions.

Any advice from the San Diego Scanner community on where to start?
Is my Uniden 396xt not suited for this RCS System?

Thanks!!
We had the same problem after updating firmware. You likely have the latest firmware, version 1.11. You need to revert back to 1.10 to fix this issue.

Check out post #298 in this thread on how to revert to the prior version:
http://forums.radioreference.com/un...-11-01-firmware-available-15.html#post2070306

If you don't have 1.11, post more details about your location, etc. to see if we can help. Other than this issue, the 396xt works great on the RCS.
 

CODE3QB

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I was using 1.11 on the 396XT.
I just downgraded firmware to 1.10 and I will report back with my findings.

Thank you!
 

jmarshl

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Your 396XT should work fine. RCS is not P25 so program it as Motorola. Law Enforcement talkgroups are digital but most of the rest are analog.
 

CODE3QB

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According to the RR database, RCS is APCO-25 / Mot type 2. When I import from RR.com onto freescan it defaults to Mot2 / P25. When loaded onto my scanner it shows as decoding P25. Not sure what I am missing. I am scanning SDSO which is digital. What am I doing wrong?
 

K6CDO

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The RR download is correct. The control channel / system is Mot type 2. The digital audio is Astro-25.
 

CODE3QB

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San Diego, CA
Interesting findings, when monitoring CHP Talk groups it appears to be a much better decode then SD Sheriff talk groups. Not sure what would be causing this. However, I am still missing quite a bit of the initial transmissions and missing all of the very short "10-4", "code4", transmissions. Not real happy with my new Uniden 396XT Purchase. Any other ideas from the scanner community.
 

P25Radio

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Same here. Missing the short transmissions too. Sometimes the audio goes into digital mode and dispatchers are asking for 10-9 more often. Sounds like your scanner is working fine.
 

KI6AOK

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Same here. Missing the short transmissions too. Sometimes the audio goes into digital mode and dispatchers are asking for 10-9 more often. Sounds like your scanner is working fine.

Same here (but on a 996XT). Frustrating, but glad to know I'm not the only one with this problem. We should start a support group : )
 

Anderegg

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Full signal with choppy P25 and staticy analog is indicative of getting heavy cell phone tower interference. I think of it as the bits of RX you want to decode are being replaced in large part by bits that are simply altered phased out of place bits by the interference, which is why your signal strength shows so strong. The RCS is a simulcast system as well, so even under optimal conditions, you can still receive P25 chop or analog warbling depending on your location in relation to the multiple towers.

Paul
 

mpinsd14

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CODE3QB - Did you downgrade the firmware? Did it help? My reception is as you described and I'm wondering if I should perform the downgrade. Thanks!
 

SCPD

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I just bought a new 396XT it is running the 1.10 firmware version and it at times is doing the same choppy digital sound issue
 

CODE3QB

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mpinsd14 - Hey sorry I have not been monitoring the forum, I did downgrade my firmware to 1.10.00 and I am not convinced it did much of anything to improve my decode. I got this advice from a fellow scanner user (seh911) who happens to be in a similar area as me. He is also using the 396xt with excellent results, so we need to drill their brain for how to achieve this result :)
 

K6CDO

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Are your scanners being used fixed or mobile?

If fixed (and you can), try moving the radio or the scanner a few inches and see if it changes. There are typically two transmit antennas at each site, with the channels split between the two antenna systems. With the report that the problem is on certain channels, you may be in a place where the signals from one of the antennas are out of phase with the signals from the adjacent site, causing the choppy effect on digital talkgroups.
 
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