The GRE PSR-500/600 Multi-Site Advantage No Other Scanner Can Compete Against?

[ScannerSK]

Multisite STAT is a great feature for monitoring large trunking systems however it only seems to work effectively if one limits the number of control channels that one is monitoring. This applies to the "Check all CC on each pass" setting. I found that monitoring six control channels with Multisite STAT check all cc seems to work quite well from a base station. Any more control channels than this and traffic will be missed.

This is only my experience monitoring a large P25 TRS (multicast) with a PSR-600 and PSR-500.

As for Multistite STAT being dropped in the PSR-800 and newer Whistler scanners - I suspect this is due to the fact that Multisite STAT introduces more latency when monitoring a number of control channels. With 32 control channels it becomes unweildy.

I think the Whistler scanners now default to a type of Multisite-ROAM mode when monitoring control channels. I could be wrong about this.

The flexibility of the PSR-500/600 is unmatched. On some systems it is best to scan every site with each scan cycle, on other systems it is best to scan a different control channel (site) with each scan cycle and on other other systems it is best to use any reliable control channel (site) out of a list of control channel (sites). All of these options are possible with the PSR-500/600 type scanners.

The missing option that is causing me issues is STAT with Check all CCs disabled. This feature allows the scanner to check a different control channel with each scan cycle to prevent spending too much time on a single system however still allow all control channels to be checked every 30 seconds or so (depending upon the number of control channels being monitored and amount of traffic).

The TRX-2 is slated to arrive Wednesday. My plans are to try out a ROAM setting of 99/99 to see if there is hope in that direction to enable the scanner to check a different site frequently on a given system.

Shawn

 

[ScannerSK]

TRX-2 Test

The TRX-2 finally arrived. I tested the idea of using 99/99 as the multi-site setting to mimic the STAT and Check all CCs disabled settings I use in the PSR-500/600 scanners. This work around may work with non-simulcast sites while a person is driving (which causes the signal strength to fluctuate a little and the site to change every once in a while however not real often). While stationary however the scanner may still lock onto a single site and not change even when set to 99/99. When it comes to simulcast sites, a setting of even 00/99 does not prevent the scanner from skipping over multiple simulcast sites. It's from one extreme to the other. If the two (simulcast sites and non-simulcast sites) are mixed together the non-simulcast sites will steal the show by a long shot. So, this idea will not work well on the TRX-2.

One possible bug I noticed in the TRX-2 (and presumably the TRX-1) is that ONLY the first frequency entered into any given site is ever decoded on a P25 system. In other words, if a person has the backup control channel frequencies entered below the main control channel they will never work!

My plans are to simply stay with the PSR-600 scanner presently and see if I can figure out some way to modify it to prevent the interference in the Denver area.

Overall, I would prefer the Uniden BCD996P2 scanner over the Whislter TRX-2 due to its quick start up, clean sound (without the faint hiss present on the TRX-2), it starts with the vehicle power and it does not stop unnecessarily on the first conventional channel each scan cycle when the squelch is set low.

Shawn

 

[ScannerSK]

One possible bug I noticed in the TRX-2 (and presumably the TRX-1) is that ONLY the first frequency entered into any given site is ever decoded on a P25 system. In other words, if a person has the backup control channel frequencies entered below the main control channel they will never work!

After a little more testing, I take back the above comment. If the first frequency in the site has an open carrier or strong interference it will prevent the scanner from moving on to the next control channels further down in the list. However, if there is nothing on the first frequency it will move on to the next frequencies.

Shawn