Somerset County

[TylerD38]

II have a APX 7000 and 8000 radio and it works flawless and receives properly using NAS correctly. No affiliating at all. It was programmed professionally but I have issues to where the radio when I switch it from a zone that is on 700 mhz trunking for PD it works great. Then I switch it to the next zone in UHF trunking for Fire and it doesn't work. Only the 700/800 works. I have to re load the code plug and immediately go to UHF for UHF to work and then 700/800 doesn't work.

Its not the radios that have a hardware issue because it does the same thing with the 7000 and 8000 radios. Is there anybody that lives in my area of Somerset County that is using a Motorola radio for NAS listening only that is working with no issues? Can you P/M me and we can exchange contact info and possibly look at each others code plugs to see if it’s a setting or some minor issue. I am tired of carrying two APX’s around for both 700/UHF when I have my quad band 8000 radio.

Thanks for any help for someone that lives in my same area of town

 

[GTR8000]

The issue is that the APX doesn't care about preferred sites when scanning a multi-site system using Multi-System Talkgroup and/or Intelligent Priority scan lists. If you have it setup as a single trunked system with the UHF and 700/800 control channels mixed together, and have it set to SmartZone coverage type, the radio is going to lock onto the first control channel it comes across regardless of band, and will dwell there until/unless it decides to move on to a different control channel due to low RSSI or whatever.

If you really want to ensure that it goes to the correct cell, you're going to need to create two separate systems; one for UHF, the other for 700/800, and disable SmartZone coverage. Once you have them separated, make sure the correct personalities are assigned to the correct system. You can still add talkgroups from either cell to a single scan list, but of course it's a crapshoot as to what you're going to hear depending on which control channel/cell the scan is dwelling on.

 

[TylerD38]

It is actually set up as two different systems. One for 700/800 and one for UHF

 

[TylerD38]

Also you say disable smart zone coverage. So you mean both smart zone and omnilink? Right now they are both on.

 

[GTR8000]

Set coverage to disabled if you want to ensure that the personalities assigned to each system remain on the specified cell, and of course make sure the control channels aren't mixed between systems.

 

[rr60]

Forgive the following question as I do not have any APX.

Would the radio then follow only one or the other sub sites or spend a programmable set amount of time on each and roll between sub sites?

Of course when on one subsite in NAS then it is possible to miss a favorite TG it is on the “other” site, correct ?

Thanks.

 

[GTR8000]

Subsites are the physical sites that make up a simulcast cell. The radio doesn't follow any particular subsite, it follows the entire cell itself.

The radio is going to follow whatever site you program into the radio. If you enable SmartZone, it can roam to an adjacent site if it's being announced as a peer. There are multiple variables to consider, too many to go through here, especially if you don't have a basic familiarity or understanding of APX CPS.

And of course scanning multiple sites/cells can and will always result in missed activity. If the radio is on a control channel where talkgroups aren't being carried, it has no awareness of what is occurring on other sites/cells. Basic logic.

 

[TylerD38]

Set coverage to disabled if you want to ensure that the personalities assigned to each system remain on the specified cell, and of course make sure the control channels aren't mixed between systems.

So your best guess based on what you know you think disabling that will fix my issues with being able to switch back and forth between 700 and UHF

 

[GTR8000]

If you want the radio to lock to a particular site/cell in NAS mode, the only surefire way to accomplish that is to make sure SmartZone is not enabled, otherwise it's going to look at the adjacent site messages and may roam.

 

[rr60]

That would mean two APX’s for me. Thanks for all the Intel @GTR8000

 

[GTR8000]

Do the two Somerset cells announce each other as peers? If yes, it's not documented in the database.

If no, then it's strange that an APX setup for two separate band-exclusive trunking systems, with no mixing of the control channels between the two in the codeplug, would be roaming to the other cell. Assuming each personality is correctly assigned to the proper system, they should be unaware of each other if they aren't peers in the zone controller.

If they are peers, then it makes sense why the radio would occasionally leave one cell for the other with SmartZone enabled (the OmniLink is pointless, that only comes into play if an ASTRO 25 system has more than one zone/RFSS).

 

[FT752]

Do the two Somerset cells announce each other as peers? If yes, it's not documented in the database.

Yes, they do.

 

[GTR8000]

Yes, they do.

Thanks, suspected as much and will update the database.

 

[TylerD38]

Just wanted to thank you guys for the help. Turned off SmartZone and Omnilink. Started to have an issue with it not picking up every transmission. Switched it to Smartzone on only and Omnilink off and it is working perfect. I can switch back and forth 700 to UHF no problem. Thanks guys. Really appreciate it.

 

[GTR8000]

Keep in mind that when you set coverage to Disabled, it's going to default to Site ID 1. Unless you change that to the actual Site ID, results will be unpredictable. That said, if you feel that changing to SmartZone has fixed the issue, then leave well enough alone I guess.

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

The issue is that the APX doesn't care about preferred sites when scanning a multi-site system using Multi-System Talkgroup and/or Intelligent Priority scan lists. If you have it setup as a single trunked system with the UHF and 700/800 control channels mixed together, and have it set to SmartZone coverage type, the radio is going to lock onto the first control channel it comes across regardless of band, and will dwell there until/unless it decides to move on to a different control channel due to low RSSI or whatever.

If you really want to ensure that it goes to the correct cell, you're going to need to create two separate systems; one for UHF, the other for 700/800, and disable SmartZone coverage. Once you have them separated, make sure the correct personalities are assigned to the correct system. You can still add talkgroups from either cell to a single scan list, but of course it's a crapshoot as to what you're going to hear depending on which control channel/cell the scan is dwelling on.

Awesome. This is great information when using NAS and creating the Trunking System. Thank You

 

[TylerD38]

So I guess I spoke too soon. Last night all was working great. Today we are back to the same problem. Turned the radio on and 700 only worked, UHF not working. Reload the codeplug and it works fine until I shut the radio off and turn it back on. Any other ideas as to what could be causing this besides smartzone/omnilink?

 

[GTR8000]

So did you follow my advice to set coverage to Disabled, then change the Site ID to the correct value for each system/cell?

 

[TylerD38]

I did not change the site ID since I didn't see that response until right now. They are set to 1-1. Not sure if that is correct.

 

[GTR8000]

No. Go back and read my earlier reply. You must set each system's Site ID to the actual Site # for each cell.