Reception is muted mid transmission randomly

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w2lie

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That's the next step.
I at least wanted to document this one how I discovered it.

My local FD isn't too busy. Believe it or not it took about a week just to get enough audio to create the video. Luckily they had a call long enough to finally put enough video together.
 

imd

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Understand i meant to put while parked in a favorites list.

I have the same issue while parked on a FL. Older radio next to this has no issues decoding. Frustrating that a good 30% of the time while someone is talking the audio goes away. What's strange is the audio goes away then when the transmission ends (it's muted, I can hear it on another radio), I can hear the speaker 'click' like it's really now muting the audio. Half the time with "LINK" being displayed.
 

jmulvihill

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I am just a novice user with the SDS100, but I am having the exact same issue on my unit. I came here searching for what I may have setup incorrectly. I will start to receive a transmission from a Motorola Smartnet system (Collin County TX Public Safety), then it cuts out, and then sometimes returns 1-3 seconds later. I have an old BC250D scanning the same Motorola system (rebanded, so not able to use the trunking), and it locks on the analog signal for the entire transmission, but the SDS100 randomly cuts out. Sorry for my lack of technical detail, but I am just learning the new scanner, and really scanning in general, so don't know all of the pieces/parts to specify here like the original poster. Trying to learn by reading all of the posts, but saw this and wanted to chime in as it describes exactly what I am seeing too. Thanks all! I will continue to search for more info, but it seems as if it is something that some others have seen. I hope that Uniden fixes it soon, as it is really irritating. Now I just need to find out why I seem to routinely miss the initial part of some transmissions. More Forum searching is ahead!!
 

jmulvihill

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Just to add some additional detail to what I am seeing on my SDS100. When I get the audio drops, it lasts for 3-10 seconds. Have noticed that sometimes it will cut off during one transmission, that radio stops transmitting then dispatch responds and the scanner still does not pick up the new traffic for a period of time. So sometimes it will drop audio and pick back up on the same transmission if it is long enough, but sometimes the drop spans multiple transmissions. Again, not sure if this helps or not, but the video seemed to show that it was just on single transmissions.
 

hiegtx

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I am just a novice user with the SDS100, but I am having the exact same issue on my unit. I came here searching for what I may have setup incorrectly. I will start to receive a transmission from a Motorola Smartnet system (Collin County TX Public Safety), then it cuts out, and then sometimes returns 1-3 seconds later. I have an old BC250D scanning the same Motorola system (rebanded, so not able to use the trunking), and it locks on the analog signal for the entire transmission, but the SDS100 randomly cuts out. Sorry for my lack of technical detail, but I am just learning the new scanner, and really scanning in general, so don't know all of the pieces/parts to specify here like the original poster. Trying to learn by reading all of the posts, but saw this and wanted to chime in as it describes exactly what I am seeing too. Thanks all! I will continue to search for more info, but it seems as if it is something that some others have seen. I hope that Uniden fixes it soon, as it is really irritating. Now I just need to find out why I seem to routinely miss the initial part of some transmissions. More Forum searching is ahead!!
Are you canning just by using your location, range, and the main database? Or are you using a Favorites list? If a Favorites list, did you add your Collin County system by appending from the main database, or was it entered manually.

If you are using a Favorites list, can you attach it to a post? That way, someone can see if something was set incorrectly or overlooked.

Attaching an *.hpe file to a post

Use Sentinel to "read from scanner" if you have made changes on the scanner that were not also made in Sentinel.
Then, export the resulting Favorites list(s) into an *.hpe file. Then, attach that to a post and upload so that we can take a peek & see if anything is out of place. The Export function is listed under the File drop-down menu. If you have more than one list, export each Favorites list separately.

Note: To upload an *.hpe file, to the Forums, you must change the file extension to one acceptable per forum requirements. To do that, note where your exported *.hpe file is saved on your PC.
Using Windows Explorer, find the file.
There are two ways to do this. You can either change the file extension itself, or compress the file using 7-Zip or another file utility. The *.zip file extension can be attached to a post and uploaded to the Forums.

Or, using Windows Explorer, rename your file one of these two ways:
For illustration, let's call your exported file 'MyFile.hpe' (without the quotes).
<Right><Click> on the file & choose Rename from the pop-up menu.
You can then rename your file to MyFile.txt, or MyFile.hpe.txt in order to attach it to a post. Whoever views the file will need to reset the file name back to MyFile.hpe, then it can be imported into Sentinel for viewing.
 

jmulvihill

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Are you canning just by using your location, range, and the main database? Or are you using a Favorites list? If a Favorites list, did you add your Collin County system by appending from the main database, or was it entered manually.

If you are using a Favorites list, can you attach it to a post? That way, someone can see if something was set incorrectly or overlooked.

Attaching an *.hpe file to a post

Use Sentinel to "read from scanner" if you have made changes on the scanner that were not also made in Sentinel.
Then, export the resulting Favorites list(s) into an *.hpe file. Then, attach that to a post and upload so that we can take a peek & see if anything is out of place. The Export function is listed under the File drop-down menu. If you have more than one list, export each Favorites list separately.

Note: To upload an *.hpe file, to the Forums, you must change the file extension to one acceptable per forum requirements. To do that, note where your exported *.hpe file is saved on your PC.
Using Windows Explorer, find the file.
There are two ways to do this. You can either change the file extension itself, or compress the file using 7-Zip or another file utility. The *.zip file extension can be attached to a post and uploaded to the Forums.

Or, using Windows Explorer, rename your file one of these two ways:
For illustration, let's call your exported file 'MyFile.hpe' (without the quotes).
<Right><Click> on the file & choose Rename from the pop-up menu.
You can then rename your file to MyFile.txt, or MyFile.hpe.txt in order to attach it to a post. Whoever views the file will need to reset the file name back to MyFile.hpe, then it can be imported into Sentinel for viewing.

Hey Steve -

Thanks for the reply. I am scanning this system from a FL. I originally had the scanner programmed by Zip Scanners, but I have added new F lists to include only the agencies that I wanted to listen to. In this case, the only system in this FL is the Collin County Public Safety Motorola Type II Smartnet with a few of the departments deleted (Jail, roads, etc). There is nothing set to priority as best as I can tell.

I have attached the FL entry for the only one I am scanning. All other FLs are OFF. As you outlined, I renamed the file from .hpe to .txt.

Thanks so much for your help. Hopefully I can at least fix the lag I see at times with the start of the transmission. I have checked a number pf things I have read about here on the Forum, but nothing seems to be set wrong as best as I can tell. But I am in NO WAY any sort of genius with Sentinel or scanners. I think that the other issue
 

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UPMan

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What are the RSSI and NOISE values when you are scanning that system?

(BTW: The FL looks fine.)
 

jmulvihill

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What are the RSSI and NOISE values when you are scanning that system?

(BTW: The FL looks fine.)

Well, when I turn on the detailed display mode, I get RSSI of -70dbm to -90dbm. As for noise, I do not see that in the detailed display values... Can you point me to it? I will check the users manual also to see if I can find it first... ;-) Thanks UPMan
 

jmulvihill

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You need to add it to the view.

I will have to grab that later, as I have to go find out where it is. I looked on the scanner menus and didn't see it in any of the options, so assume that I need to set that in Sentinel. Unfortunately, I won't be able to do that until later. One thing I have been noticing is that when I get the audio dropout, it usually lasts ~5 seconds before coming back on. That said, earlier I had some instances where it was approaching 10 seconds and crossed transmission begin/end points...

Again, thanks all for your help. I appreciate the assists, but will always try to try to search for clues here on RR before bothering y'all..!!

Joe ....
 

hiegtx

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I will have to grab that later, as I have to go find out where it is. I looked on the scanner menus and didn't see it in any of the options, so assume that I need to set that in Sentinel. Unfortunately, I won't be able to do that until later. One thing I have been noticing is that when I get the audio dropout, it usually lasts ~5 seconds before coming back on. That said, earlier I had some instances where it was approaching 10 seconds and crossed transmission begin/end points...

Again, thanks all for your help. I appreciate the assists, but will always try to try to search for clues here on RR before bothering y'all..!!

Joe ....
The default location for Noise is in the upper right quadrant of the Digital Trunk display.
Noise.JPG
 

sparklehorse

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Are these audio drops always on analog signals? If so, are they always on a channel that does not have a CTCSS/DCS tone assigned? Or on a channel that is not designated as either analog or digital? It seemed really odd in that guy's video from the other thread that the radio was indicating a found CTCSS code for the signal but was also displaying 'LINK' at the same time.
.
 

jmulvihill

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Hey Sparkle -

Yes, the system I am listening to is shown as a Motorola type II Smartnet analog system. I do see that there is one digital department that is encrypted... as for the CTCSS, I have to be honest and say that I don’t know what that means or where to go looking for it... yet. I will look at the manual and see what I can find to answer your questions and will respond later after the Sheriff’s Citizen Academy here tonight.

Thanks so much!!

Joe...
 

sparklehorse

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Hey Sparkle -

Yes, the system I am listening to is shown as a Motorola type II Smartnet analog system. I do see that there is one digital department that is encrypted... as for the CTCSS, I have to be honest and say that I don’t know what that means or where to go looking for it... yet. I will look at the manual and see what I can find to answer your questions and will respond later after the Sheriff’s Citizen Academy here tonight.

Thanks so much!!

Joe...

Don't worry about it. My question was aimed at folks who are having this issue while parked on a conventional analog channel. Smartzone is a different beast altogether.
.
 

imd

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I resolved my issue! Apparently with the modulation type set to AUTO, it sets it to NFM and the system should be FM. I guess the modulation type (NFM vs. FM) isn't an attribute in the dB so it's imported and defaulted to AUTO and AUTO isn't smart.
 

imd

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Well, it resolved the issue of the distorted audio, it's much better audio but still getting the audio being muted.. Very annoying when you hear the start of dispatch about something in your neighborhood then the audio cuts out 1/2 the way into it.
 

w2lie

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Glad to hear you resolved the issue.
I'm still seeing it and posted the video of the problem on page 1 of this thread.
My noise level can be seen in the video. I'm not sure what a good noise level should be, but it is in the 40's to mid 200's when the transmission is muting.

I'm going to monitor the spectrum with an SDR at the same time to see if I can 'see' anything and also monitor if the SDR mutes. So far, for me, this has only been a problem on the SDS200.

Additional steps for me is to monitor this as a FL instead of a Quick Search and see if I still have the same problem when the frequency is defined as "Analog" in the scanner and it is not up to the scanner to decide if this is Analog of Digital.
 

sparklehorse

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<snip> Additional steps for me is to monitor this as a FL instead of a Quick Search and see if I still have the same problem when the frequency is defined as "Analog" in the scanner and it is not up to the scanner to decide if this is Analog of Digital.

That's what I think may be happening. When the radio doesn't know whether its looking for an analog signal or a digital one, and the signal it happens to be monitoring is analog, maybe it is getting confused by an image of a digital signal, or a digital signal on a nearby frequency. I have not seen this issue on my SDS200, but then again almost all of my analog channels either have a CTCSS or DCS tone programmed, or the radio is set to search for a CTCSS/DCS tone, meaning that channel is essentially defined as being analog. I primarily scan my custom Favorites Lists. I rarely use search mode and have not used it at all yet on the SDS.
.
 

sparklehorse

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The older analog scanners used to have a 'Data Skip' feature that forced the scanner to resume scanning if it detected a digital signal. If I recall it was so the radio didn't lock on to a pager transmission or something like that. I don't know if the SDS200 has this feature, but if not I wonder if some vestige of it is in play here.
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