Signal issues

[Dafe1er]

I've noticed that after having the last update on the TRX-2 scanner for a little while now it is having a hard time keeping the signal.

I use to have the S with 4-5 bars for a P25 system and they were coming in loud and clear. Now, on the same system I am finding that is shows the S with 2-3 bars. I have tried switching antennas (three to be exact) and even when using the stock antenna. I've even played with the unit in different areas of my home, vehicle and garage.

When the people are keying up, they will start off clear then turn garbled. Then sometimes it will come in garbled and go clear.

I have also noticed that there are times the screen will show a transmission but act like someone is hitting and un-hitting the key making a constant open key then non open key noise. While doing this the signal flashes on and off with the S and full bars.

What am I missing here?

 

[radio3353]

Is it a P25, Phase 2 simulcast system?

You need to give us more details about what you are listening to.

 

[Dafe1er]

No, phase 1. Virginia state police and I have maybe 7 sites out of the many scanning. Even if I only have one site selected (closest to me) it does this.

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[eddie8965]

sometimes deleting and reloading the system , and I know its a pita ,helps....mine gets corrupted sometimes if I do a lot of channel editing,and I have to reload before I get ANY signals on p25 phase 1...I monitor starcom21 system

 

[Dafe1er]

I'm planning on doing a factory reset and redoing it all tomorrow. I noticed it more after creating a v-scan folder the other day.... That might have mucked things up a bit when I was adding and deleting things. I will report back. Thanks

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[Ed6698]

Make sure the SD card is good and just do a Prepare Scanner Memory/SD Card for use, under the Scanner/SD Card tab. If you don't have one already, get a USB card reader in the future, I have a USB 3.0 sd card reader and it sure makes updating the sd card so much easier and faster.

I would also just go ahead and redo the last update. EZScan will let you update the cpu and dsp again, it won't hurt anything to do it again, you will need to be connected to scanner with USB cable then.

 

[Kel]

I also notice the same thing on my TRX-1 compared to my GRE 800 which will pick up a system 40 miles away with 5 bars where the TRX-1 struggles to pick up signal,I tried reformatting card and every other option,just my thoughts and if anyone can give me some advise would be appreciated.

 

[Dafe1er]

So, I'm back with what I am thinking is a signal issue with the TRX-2 scanner. Please see the video for what I'm experiencing.

I have had this happen since owning the scanner. Right out of the box it was doing this on the Virginia Stars P25 system. It happens at home, in the car and with any antenna I put on it. No other system has acted like this at all. DMR-Good, Motorola Type II SmartZone- Good, EDACS Networked Standard- Good but, P25 Phase 1& two sucks for signaling.

I have the most up to date firmware and database. I have the DSP level set to 72 ADC gain set to -2 and DAC gain set to +0 Squelch level does not matter. I had it set to low and all the way up to max and it still does it.

The data decode thresholds are set to 88 low and 95 high.

I only have 13 sites scanning in total, with all but the culpeper channels and ABC channels locked out from scanning.

Now, my undone 436 is catching all traffic with no issues when this is going on with my TRX-2. The TRX will catch the bottom end of some of the transmissions going on when doing this flashing as I'll call it. It will also catch a transmission at the beginning and go garbled when starting the flashing.

Any suggestions?

https://youtu.be/G5-S7eOUIgk

 

[bg_nashville]

I just got a TRX-1 last night and I am having the same problem. It isn't simulcast distortion, because it is happening on single site systems. Distance from the site doesn't matter either.

So far I am very disppointed with my purchase.

 

[N8DRC]

After watching your video doesn't the S mean its decoding a DMR system? I don't have my manual in front of me so off the top of my head. Do you have it set to decode a Motorola system? I also have the trx2 and have done the same thing. Just a thought.

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[Dafe1er]

After watching your video doesn't the S mean its decoding a DMR system? I don't have my manual in front of me so off the top of my head. Do you have it set to decode a Motorola system? I also have the trx2 and have done the same thing. Just a thought.

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The S located in the box means Squelch circuit (or "gate") is open DMR FOund that on page 23 of the manual.

Which does seem funny since this is a P25 Phase 1 system and in my video where I loaded the scanner out of the box (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21LKdsc5uCI), it scans this same system and shows a "t" when locked onto a transmission. in that same video it shows this same flashing as current and also from T to S up top around the 53 second mark. I think the angel of my camera distorts that in the current video.

The system I am monitoring is located here;
Virginia Statewide Agencies Radio System (STARS) Trunking System, Statewide, Virginia - Scanner Frequencies

What is funny to me is that after looking at the video I decided to look up the frequency of 161.9500c. It is only listed for Beamer Knob located in Carroll. over 250 miles away. So, I then went into the scanner via the SD card and EZscan and I do not have this frequency located in any of the 13 sites I have programed in. Matter of fact, it is nowhere to be found on the sd card. How does that happen?

 

[Gilligan]

What is funny to me is that after looking at the video I decided to look up the frequency of 161.9500c. It is only listed for Beamer Knob located in Carroll. over 250 miles away.

That frequency is actually listed on four different sites for the VSTARS system.

 

[Dafe1er]

Sorry, I should have said only. One shown as a control channel. The scanner shows it as a vc voice channel. However, it is listed as one of the channels for fork mountain, which I have as a site. I'm going to remove that site and three others and see if that clears it up.

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[Dafe1er]

Actually, I'll keep that site and l/o the one freq and see where that will take me.

Would this just be a small sign of a weak signal for that channel?

 

[Gilligan]

Sounds like a good possibility. VSTARS can be a bit tricky sometimes since they re-use control channels across counties, if you happen to be somewhere in the middle. You are likely receiving one of those towers from a distance and that's why the signal is so faint, in my opinion.

 

[Dafe1er]

So, I first locked out just the freq on Fork Mountain and it still was showing up, I then locked out the entire Fork Mountain site and it still appeared. I have now fully deleted Fork Mountain out of the sites and it seems to be working better.

Would that mean the L/O option is not working correctly on this type of system for the TRX-2 scanners? Maybe we need a future update to fix that?

 

[Dafe1er]

Well it is still doing it. I have only seven sites loaded in total. Gordonsville, mineral, Thornburg, edgehil, Fairfax, independent hill and dumfries. Not one of them have the frequency listed for the site nor is it showing anywhere in the scanner or on ezscan.



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[bg_nashville]

The S located in the box means Squelch circuit (or "gate") is open DMR FOund that on page 23 of the manual.

Which does seem funny since this is a P25 Phase 1 system and in my video where I loaded the scanner out of the box (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21LKdsc5uCI), it scans this same system and shows a "t" when locked onto a transmission. in that same video it shows this same flashing as current and also from T to S up top around the 53 second mark. I think the angel of my camera distorts that in the current video.

The system I am monitoring is located here;
Virginia Statewide Agencies Radio System (STARS) Trunking System, Statewide, Virginia - Scanner Frequencies

What is funny to me is that after looking at the video I decided to look up the frequency of 161.9500c. It is only listed for Beamer Knob located in Carroll. over 250 miles away. So, I then went into the scanner via the SD card and EZscan and I do not have this frequency located in any of the 13 sites I have programed in. Matter of fact, it is nowhere to be found on the sd card. How does that happen?

I was getting a similar problem on systems here in Middle Tennessee. I noticed that under the Site Options menu, the Trunking Tables Type field was set to standard. I changed it to Auto Fill and that eliminated the strange frequencies given on the VC/CC line.

Changing the Auto Fill setting did not eliminate the problem that sounds like someone repeatedly keying and unseeing their mic. That problem was eliminated, at least for non-simulcast systems, when I accidentally set the DPS Level Adapt to 255.

 

[Dafe1er]

I was getting a similar problem on systems here in Middle Tennessee. I noticed that under the Site Options menu, the Trunking Tables Type field was set to standard. I changed it to Auto Fill and that eliminated the strange frequencies given on the VC/CC line.

Changing the Auto Fill setting did not eliminate the problem that sounds like someone repeatedly keying and unseeing their mic. That problem was eliminated, at least for non-simulcast systems, when I accidentally set the DPS Level Adapt to 255.

The settings in the site options was already set to the auto fill option. I will however kick the DSP up to the 255 and see what that does. For my gain setting below the DSP I have nothing selected for this run. What might you have for settings in this area?

 

[Dafe1er]

So, I'm back.... Lol

I've taken each site out of the scanner and once again redid everything. Guess what? It's still happening.

I'm going to once again reset the entire scanner and card then one by one test each site. This is only happening on the Culpeper 2 channel from what I have seen. It is really driving me batty.

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