Sporadic Provice Decoding - Setup Question

[DeKP]

Hello,
I have had some success decoding Provoice in my area, but the decoded transmissions I have received have been somewhat sporadic at best. I am thinking the problem lies in my set up. I am using a BCT15 with a discriminator tap and DSD Plus. My command line is as follows: DSD -fp -dr0 -dh0 -O PD.wav. I also have locked out all the TG in the system except for the dept that uses Provoice (3 TGs) and am only scanning the tower that the agency uses. My question is, does it even matter if you scan talk groups or should I just be scanning the tower frequencies?
Any advice on the subject would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Keith

 

[mmisk]

Provoice Decoding

Hi,

I have been listening to provoice for quite a while now, with very good results using DSD and Unitrunker to follow the talkgroups.

When starting out with provoice and DSD, I learned that I needed a very strong signal for good quality decoding.

Something else that caused poor decoding on one computer was the sound card. When I changed it everything decoded fine. I believe this to be rather rare, so start with your signal strength and go from there.
Sometimes a good multi-core computer can help but this is not always the case. I am listening to PV now using an older Celeron and old Win 2000, and it works 100% for PV decoding. That is all I use this computer for.

Let us know how you are doing.

Mike

 

[mmisk]

Hi,

What do you mean by sporadic? Are you referring to the quality of the decoding, or are you missing some of the TG conversations?

It would be best if you used Unitrunker so that you can actually follow the PV talk groups. This might be better.

Mike

Mike

 

[DeKP]

Thanks for the reply. I seem to be hearing only one side of the conversation. It doesn’t seem to be tracking the conversation or they’ll say “go to three” and I don’t hear anything. Sometimes I get a garbled transmission as well. I took your advice and hooked up my BCT 15 to my outdoor antenna. That took my SS meter to full bars; it had been at three before. So, I’ll give that a try. I think I’ll take a look at Unitrunker as well. I looked at it a few weeks ago when I started this project and it looked a bit complex, but it’s worth another look.
Question: Do I just scan the frequencies or do I have to include the TGs as well?

 

[mmisk]

your BCT15

Does your BCT15 track PV talk groups?
Manufacturers of scanners have blocked them from tracking PV TG's.
(Except for the PSR 600 with very early software. I am fortunate to have one of these.)

What system are you listening to?

Mike

 

[DeKP]

It probably does not track. It’s an analogue scanner. I am listening Palm Bay, FL. They only have one TG assigned to Provoice and use it in lieu of encryption. So, it’s not like they use it 24/7 which makes it harder to figure out.
Keith