Severe Inconsistency with TRBO Capacity Plus

[Firebuff880]

Is enhanced CSBK supported by the SLR5700 series repeaters? I looked into it because reducing our window size to 1 or 2 will greatly improve our current packet capacity. I know that SmartPTT (the dispatch program we use to send out location requests) supports CSBK, but I can't seem to find any settings for the repeater within CPS.

Yes, I believe enhanced CSBK is supported in all three of the SLR series repeaters Be careful with the Windows Size, as I said we like 6 but refer to the planning guides for an explanation of what you get with the various window sizes as well as through put estimates.

 

[Firebuff880]

@sjaltavilla

Any update ?

 

[sjaltavilla]

Update-

Bearcom came out on Monday to help us install a receiver setup in one of our troubled coverage areas. We set the repeaters up for digital voting and it works like an absolute charm! We are now able to talk in from areas on the mountain that we have never been able to before.

The guy from Bearcom got us set up with a copy of GenFit TRBO which is one of the greatest tools I have ever used. Being able to monitor what transmissions are going where is a great feature that we never had before. We did in fact confirm that there is RF interference on our third repeater which seems to only be intermittent. We temporarily fixed this issue by turning the sensitivity RSSI down slightly.

The new Telewave ANT-450D that I ordered came in yesterday, and I am going to put it up this weekend. I am hoping that it will fix the remainder of our coverage issues on the hill.

In terms of the inconsistency with the abilityy to key up, we have 100% confirmed through testing that it is caused by data packet collision. To ease this effect, I set our GPS capable radios to only send location data once every 2 minutes which should be fine for now. That setting has definitely reduced the amount of data that is being sent between the subscribers and the repeaters. I also changed location data to be unconfirmed in order to eliminate the handshake between the radio and the repeater (not sure if this is feasible or not).

We still have a lot of data being sent over the air, and I really think it would be best to set our third repeater to Data Revert on both slots with Enhanced Channel Access for GPS data to reduce collisions. Do y'all think that will be worth my time to do? If so, what are the proper steps to set this up? If possible, I want to get all of the subscribers programmed correctly on the first try...

Thank you to all of you for the help up to this point!

 

[R8000]

That's awesome you made progress. Sounds like y'all did some great tweaks and fixes.
If your organization wants to rely on GPS heavily, you may want to consider the data only repeater idea.
Even with only two repeaters for voice, you still have a lot of capacity.
Glad you got the Genwatch software, it's good stuff!

 

[com501]

These are all fixes that Bearcom should have done as part of your package, and they should cover this. Sorry you have to deal with this.

 

[Firebuff880]

In terms of the inconsistency with the abilityy to key up, we have 100% confirmed through testing that it is caused by data packet collision. To ease this effect, I set our GPS capable radios to only send location data once every 2 minutes which should be fine for now. That setting has definitely reduced the amount of data that is being sent between the subscribers and the repeaters. I also changed location data to be unconfirmed in order to eliminate the handshake between the radio and the repeater (not sure if this is feasible or not).

We still have a lot of data being sent over the air, and I really think it would be best to set our third repeater to Data Revert on both slots with Enhanced Channel Access for GPS data to reduce collisions. Do y'all think that will be worth my time to do? If so, what are the proper steps to set this up? If possible, I want to get all of the subscribers programmed correctly on the first try...

You should always have at least one revert slot that is set for "Normal" channel access verses "Enhanced" for the ARS and other transactions. Which is why we normal try to design a GPS system with at least four slots of Data Revert. Also, it's important to note, as many don't realize this, that Data from the Application Host(s) to the Subscribers (one to many) is always on the Voice Slots while the Revert Slots are just that that reverse flow, Subscribers to Host (many to one). So how you setup LRRP outbound initialization instructions is important. Not sure how you made the change to unconfirmed ? I honestly, didn't think that was adjustable at the LRRP(GPS) only level and can have negative system impacts for ARS and OTAP among other transactions when disabled !

I have to agree with COM501, setting this system up and properly configuring your repeaters and subscribers code plugs is the dealer's (Bearcom in this case) responsibility and they should be working with / for you to get this right.

 

[Firebuff880]

@sjaltavilla

Before the snow flies and you really get busy, as if you aren't already. Can you do a quick update here and let us know how you made out with the new Antenna and changes you were undertaking.

TIA --

 

[sjaltavilla]

@sjaltavilla

Before the snow flies and you really get busy, as if you aren't already. Can you do a quick update here and let us know how you made out with the new Antenna and changes you were undertaking.

TIA --

We got the antenna up on Sunday. Angled about 25 degrees pointing down the hill. So far, we are experiencing a great improvement when standing under our first major pitch. I believe that we have adjusted the horizontal radiation pattern to be too narrow, as we lost some coverage on the northernmost and southernmost sides of the mountain. I am hoping to play around with it some more this weekend as we are currently pretty quiet with only one department depending on their radios.

We are experiencing way less random bonks now. Pretty much everywhere on the hill we can key up the first time with no problems. In fact, almost 100% of the time, our dispatch software picks up the transmissions loud and clear. The only struggle we are having anymore is receiving audio on the portables in certain areas. Certainly better than before. Still looking into Data Revert but at this point there's no shot I get it set up before the winter.

I'll keep y'all updated regardless.

 

[sjaltavilla]

Not sure how you made the change to unconfirmed ? I honestly, didn't think that was adjustable at the LRRP(GPS) only level and can have negative system impacts for ARS and OTAP among other transactions when disabled !

On the TRBO 2.0 models, this is adjustable. I have Data Call Confirmed set to true which applies to OTAP and ARS, and I have Location Data Confirmed set to false, as it only applies to GPS transmissions. Seems to be working much more efficiently, as our system is no longer clogged with LRRP request retries.

 

[Firebuff880]

We got the antenna up on Sunday. Angled about 25 degrees pointing down the hill. So far, we are experiencing a great improvement when standing under our first major pitch. I believe that we have adjusted the horizontal radiation pattern to be too narrow, as we lost some coverage on the northernmost and southernmost sides of the mountain. I am hoping to play around with it some more this weekend as we are currently pretty quiet with only one department depending on their radios.

We are experiencing way less random bonks now. Pretty much everywhere on the hill we can key up the first time with no problems. In fact, almost 100% of the time, our dispatch software picks up the transmissions loud and clear. The only struggle we are having anymore is receiving audio on the portables in certain areas. Certainly better than before. Still looking into Data Revert but at this point there's no shot I get it set up before the winter.

I'll keep y'all updated regardless.

Remember you can put a Subscriber into Diag mode and look at the talk out RSSI and in the GPS from MNIS you can see the Site, Peer and RSSI for the Talk in --

 

[kayn1n32008]

Bearcom? I'm not surprised. Some of my subscriber agencies used them as their radio shop so I had to deal with them from the system end; it was not a happy experience.

As soon as they were mentioned, I'd say that is a lot of the OP's issues.

He needs to get someone with real expertise to get this sorted.