• To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:

    Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.

    If you are having trouble legally obtaining software please state so. We do not want any hurt feelings when your vague post is mistaken for a free request. It is YOUR responsibility to properly word your request.

    To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

    The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online (i.e., Kenwood). Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. Often the Kenwood software is less than $100 so don't be a cheapskate; just purchase it.

    For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).

    This is a large and very visible forum. We cannot jeopardize the ability to provide the RadioReference services by allowing this activity to occur. Please respect this.

TRBO Sound Quality?

Status
Not open for further replies.

BaLa

Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2004
Messages
1,539
Location
4GRC+83; Temple, TX 76502
Was delivering a load the other day at Nestle in Mt Sterling Ky.

They had a shiny new
XPR 4350 on the Desk.
And a Handheld I didn't notice the Model #.


Anyway Security called the guy in receiving.
And I noticed...it sounded like CRAP.

Way worse than any P25 I've ever heard.
Anyways, just wondering do they all sound bad? LOL
Or are there maybe some adjustments that need to be made?


Just curious really..I don't plan on buying any TRBO Radios anytime soon.

DB Page for it.
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=4349
 

kayn1n32008

ØÆSØ
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
6,601
Location
Sector 001
Was delivering a load the other day at Nestle in Mt Sterling Ky.

They had a shiny new
XPR 4350 on the Desk.
And a Handheld I didn't notice the Model #.


Anyway Security called the guy in receiving.
And I noticed...it sounded like CRAP.

Way worse than any P25 I've ever heard.
Anyways, just wondering do they all sound bad? LOL
Or are there maybe some adjustments that need to be made?


Just curious really..I don't plan on buying any TRBO Radios anytime soon.

DB Page for it.
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=4349


Must be how the system is set up. I use a clients TRBO system for my work, and the audio from it is good. People are easily identifiable, and while it is digital sounding, it is pretty good audio. Compared to other digital formats I have listened to, it is as good or better.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

spanz

Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2013
Messages
14
All the DMR and MotoTRBO radios I've ever used could be said to sound a bit crap when compared to something decent like analog radio but generally you get used to the digital sound, but it IS different from old analog. The DMR standard all sounds much the same, fairly consistent but often quoted by users as sounding 'underwater' and 'a bit drunk and slurring'

I've recently been trialling different radio brands and there's no doubt analog sounds the best in most conditions but digital has far better noise cancelation when used in those noisier enviroments.

However, we're basically stuck with how it sounds until they bring our a replacement codec that can work on existing DMR and maybe the next 'MotoTRBO HD' models (I've just made that name up by the way!)
 

kayn1n32008

ØÆSØ
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
6,601
Location
Sector 001
All the DMR and MotoTRBO radios I've ever used could be said to sound a bit crap when compared to something decent like analog radio but generally you get used to the digital sound, but it IS different from old analog. The DMR standard all sounds much the same, fairly consistent but often quoted by users as sounding 'underwater' and 'a bit drunk and slurring'

I've recently been trialling different radio brands and there's no doubt analog sounds the best in most conditions but digital has far better noise cancelation when used in those noisier enviroments.

However, we're basically stuck with how it sounds until they bring our a replacement codec that can work on existing DMR and maybe the next 'MotoTRBO HD' models (I've just made that name up by the way!)


While analog Issue superior at saturation, It holds nothing to DMR when the received signal strength is so low all you hear is static, DMR will continue to decode. With a 4w UHF portable, I have been able to use the system when there is no bars(but signal present) on the portable. Compared to the analogue system it will eventually replace, analogue audio levels are all over the place, and weak signals are so noisy , that a lot of the time they can not be understood.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

spanz

Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2013
Messages
14
While analog Issue superior at saturation, It holds nothing to DMR when the received signal strength is so low all you hear is static, DMR will continue to decode. With a 4w UHF portable, I have been able to use the system when there is no bars(but signal present) on the portable. Compared to the analogue system it will eventually replace, analogue audio levels are all over the place, and weak signals are so noisy , that a lot of the time they can not be understood.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That's no doubt a very good feature (that I overlooked!) - most of the areas I use radio tends to have fair to excellent coverage and rarely get very low signals so haven't had much direct experience of digital vs analog on fringe reception.

One Mototrbo system we installed (to replace an analog trunk) was hard going to convince the users it was better, in some respects it wasn't actually much better from a voice comms point of view - stupidly the customer didn't take up GPS option despite it being a transportation company with over 500 vehicles! so that feature might have won them over especially as they bought dispatcher software that was already for GPS!....anyway, for about a year they grumbled about voice sounding like the users were underwater but eventually they got used to it and now seem quite happy and the Moto equipment is much more reliable than their old ancient analog gear.
 

kayn1n32008

ØÆSØ
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
6,601
Location
Sector 001
That's no doubt a very good feature (that I overlooked!) - most of the areas I use radio tends to have fair to excellent coverage and rarely get very low signals so haven't had much direct experience of digital vs analog on fringe reception.

One Mototrbo system we installed (to replace an analog trunk) was hard going to convince the users it was better, in some respects it wasn't actually much better from a voice comms point of view - stupidly the customer didn't take up GPS option despite it being a transportation company with over 500 vehicles! so that feature might have won them over....anyway, for about a year they grumbled about voice sounding like the users were underwater but eventually they got used to it and now seem quite happy and the Moto equipment is much more reliable than their old ancient analog gear.


Sorry I forgot to add that on DMR the audio levels are very consistent and I have yet to hear any garbled transmissions. All in all I am sold on DMR. Price is reasonable, Motorola build quality is good(XPR-6550) and it is far superior to the mess of VHF analogue repeaters it is replacing.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

com501

Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2003
Messages
1,617
Location
127.0.0.1
That's no doubt a very good feature (that I overlooked!) - most of the areas I use radio tends to have fair to excellent coverage and rarely get very low signals so haven't had much direct experience of digital vs analog on fringe reception.

One Mototrbo system we installed (to replace an analog trunk) was hard going to convince the users it was better, in some respects it wasn't actually much better from a voice comms point of view - stupidly the customer didn't take up GPS option despite it being a transportation company with over 500 vehicles! so that feature might have won them over especially as they bought dispatcher software that was already for GPS!....anyway, for about a year they grumbled about voice sounding like the users were underwater but eventually they got used to it and now seem quite happy and the Moto equipment is much more reliable than their old ancient analog gear.

You should consider updating the firmware in the repeater and subscriber units and re-optimizing the audio settings. There have been significant improvements in the audio codec in the last year as they have worked on customer complaints.
 

spanz

Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2013
Messages
14
You should consider updating the firmware in the repeater and subscriber units and re-optimizing the audio settings. There have been significant improvements in the audio codec in the last year as they have worked on customer complaints.

Thanks for that info which is something I can look into.

While a bit off topic, do you guys upgrade firmware at any oppotunity or only when a major firmware upgrade imrproves / rectifies a fault or if something else needs doing like a fleet reprogram etc?

The last big firmware upgrade I was involved with was for the 500 vehicles that needed firmware updates while the vehicles were out of use overnight in depots..... what a job that was :D
 

N4KVE

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2003
Messages
4,103
Location
PALM BEACH, FLORIDA
I update at least a month after new fw is introduced. This way, if there's a problem, I will hear about it before I upgrade. Some upgrades can actually fix old problems, but start new ones.
 

Gadget

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
7
Location
Norfolk, Va.
I am the Radio Administrator of a 10-site statewide UHF MotoTRBO system connected via IP Site Connect with almost all XPR6550 portables in use. It's quite a solid system & performs well but I can tell you that the BIGGEST downfall has been what appears to be what we call "muffled" audio quality. What we did determine almost accidentally was the remote speaker/ mics themselves were causing the issue & the problem disappeared when either the mic was removed or the user keyed up & spoke directly into the portable radio. Not sure if this helps but it answered a big issue we had but didn't really solve anything since the users need the speaker/mics.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top