Trunking Issue with 996

[werinshades]

Been an owner for about a month now, previously owned and still own a 796D. Purchased mainly for Illinois Starcom's system and must admit have been very dissapointed in the trunking performance so far. Been trying to monitor Starcom's Site 102 which is a 700 Mhz. simulcast site. Voices are cutting out, becoming garbled and even have the control channel dropping out. 996 is hooked up to an outdoor antenna and prior to any dropping, showing 5 bars, then it's gone..comes back. Doesn't appear the users expierience this from what I can tell. Their have been numerous discussions on the Illinois and Starcom forums and the general consensus is it's simulcast site related. It has been discussed the 996 doesn't do to well with simulcast sites for some reason. To me, not an acceptable answer, as i'm sure others. Been scanning/trunktracking a long time and have never expierienced this aggravation.
On to problem #2 now. Since i'm getting aggravated monitoring Starcom, figured i'd go back to monitoring the Midway Trunking System which is UHF-Digital. As with the 796D, programmed Base/Offset/Step and off I go. Finding out, 996 isn't trunktracking this system properly either. This isn't a simulcast site, and i'm about 3 blocks away from the airport. Never had any issue with the 796D, for some reason the 996 isn't tracking it properly. Had another 796D trunking the system at the same time, and the 996 was skipping over some transmissions. Had it in ID Scan Mode on both.
Sounds to me like we need a firmware upgrade soon. It would appear to me we have a serious Trunking problem with the 996. It came with latest firmware shipped. I can tell others are having trunking issues based upon previous posts. I do like the looks and features of this scanner, but right now wouldn't reccomend it to anyone looking to trunk as it appears their are some serious bugs to be worked out.

 

[Illinistripes]

I'm bumping this thread above water....over 80 views and no replies??? I'm experiencing the same thing as Werinshades #1 issue that he posted.

Paul O or someone else....can you shed any light on this subject????

 

[Illinistripes]

Bump...........

 

[rdale]

What's the purpose of bumping it? I think the numerous SEPARATE threads on the subject have been read.

 

[werinshades]

What's the purpose of bumping it? I think the numerous SEPARATE threads on the subject have been read.

Actually rdale, prior to posting this I did do a search of the forums as I always do when seeking information. I understand not all problems we expierience , will apply to all. What stripes was attempting to do was generate some interest as we are both monitoring the boards for some resolution. We're both hoping some sort of a firmware upgrade or maybe a change in our programming will resolve this. The 996 in general is a good scanner, but it appears to me each time a new one comes out, new problems seem to develop. 700 Mhz. Trunking is new ground for us. Trunking is not though. My UHF Digital Trunking has been flawless with the 796D, but for some strange reason transmissions are being missed on the 996. If I was miles from the airport, this post never would have been started. Since i'm so close, signal strength should not be an issue. The Atteneuator, and all kinds of different programming tactics have been exhausted, you can believe it. I'm not one to post before I do my research. I have found many little issues quickly resolved by using the search function. I still believe the 996 has a trunking issue..maybe a Motorola trunking issue only, but not sure of that anymore. If you can add links to where my issue was resolved rdale, feel free to link it to your reply. If not, please respect my attempt at resolving an issue which I feel may affect others...thanks.

 

[rdale]

It's not been resolved, I'm saying that there are many threads open just for 700MHz IL 996 operations...

 

[werinshades]

It's not been resolved, I'm saying that there are many threads open just for 700MHz IL 996 operations...

I have read these rdale, while it may be a slight fault of the system it appears it goes beyond that. This is why I brought up a UHF Digital trunking issue now. Both systems are Motorola, so this is why i'm posting. These forums seem to bring interest from Uniden, whether it's through Paul or others from Uniden who read the board. I'm hoping for a little trick or tweak to resolve this, or maybe a glimmer of hope that "Uniden is aware of this issue and are actively resolving to correct this" from a reliable source.

 

[Illinistripes]

Bumping back to the surface...................

 

[werinshades]

Back From Uniden and....

On to problem #2 now. Since i'm getting aggravated monitoring Starcom, figured i'd go back to monitoring the Midway Trunking System which is UHF-Digital. As with the 796D, programmed Base/Offset/Step and off I go. Finding out, 996 isn't trunktracking this system properly either. This isn't a simulcast site, and i'm about 3 blocks away from the airport. Never had any issue with the 796D, for some reason the 996 isn't tracking it properly. Had another 796D trunking the system at the same time, and the 996 was skipping over some transmissions. Had it in ID Scan Mode on both.
Sounds to me like we need a firmware upgrade soon. It would appear to me we have a serious Trunking problem with the 996. It came with latest firmware shipped. I can tell others are having trunking issues based upon previous posts. I do like the looks and features of this scanner, but right now wouldn't reccomend it to anyone looking to trunk as it appears their are some serious bugs to be worked out.[/QUOTE]


So my problem continues, and no resolution in site? I sent my 996 to Uniden in Fort Worth around Thanksgiving, and was just returned yesterday. Had a minor issue with the BNC connector being loose, so I figured i'd see if this UHF Trunking issue could be fixed. Sent along a long note explaining in detail what i'm expierincing . It comes back yesterday, set it up today and transmissions are still being skipped ! I have tweaked this over and over to no avail. P25 Threshold settings, checking frequencies, no priorities set, close calls all off etc. So I ask out here, is anyone monitoring a similar system with the 996? I'm trying to narrow it down to UHF Digital Trunking to be specific. I'm curious to know if transmissions are being skipped or if you have access to a different Digital scanner, anyone do a side-by-side comparison like I did? I know their are software upgrades in the works, is this issue being addressed? I suspected the Uniden Repair could not duplicate this issue, so sent it back ? I also compared a second 996 and the exact same issue with that unit. I bumped this post back up because I figured since it went all the way to Fort Worth and back, this must be an issue difficult to pinpoint.

 

[Illinistripes]

My 996 was tested along Werinshades....both lagged horribly, missing some if not all of the conversation on the Midway UHF Trunking. His 796 was rock solid catching every word. I also had to send my 996 in for repair to address the GREEN LED, bad speaker and this UHF trunking....below is what they wrote on my service ticket:

"UNIT WILL NOT SCAN IF ALL CHANNELS ARE LOCKED OUT AND/OR QUICK KEYS ARE OFF.QUICK KEYS 3,6,11,12, AND 14 ARE DISABLED. QUICK KEYS 11,12, AND 14 ARE YOURUHF SYSTEMS."

I have no idea what Uniden is saying here. As you can read, they are telling me the systems I have enable and disabled...SQK12 is the system that I wanted them to address per my letter to the service dept. (UHF Midway Airport) but instead they act like I have no idea how to operate this scanner.

With any hope, my 996 will be here tomorrow via USPS (err..why do they ship USPS when I shipped UPS??? Why can't they ship it back to me UP??). Anyway, I will test and report back to you all....if this UHF trunking is not been fixed and I'm hearing the same mis-communication from Midway, then the 996 is going back to Fort Worth!

 

[mikeATtleccdotnet]

I suspect that you are receiving Multi-Path from more then a few sites, Try turning on the Attenuator setting of the 996 for the CC you wish to pick up. It is a shot as it will attenuate the signal by 20 or so dB, I've had some success here in Colorado with this for a few of the 700 Simul-Crash systems on the State DTRS. You may also find that 20dB is not optimal for your situation. In this case, you would need to get some insertion type or even go to a yagi antenna to direct it closer to one site. It may even have to be swept to one side or the other of the true direction of the site you want to receive.

-Mike

 

[werinshades]

I suspect that you are receiving Multi-Path from more then a few sites, Try turning on the Attenuator setting of the 996 for the CC you wish to pick up. It is a shot as it will attenuate the signal by 20 or so dB, I've had some success here in Colorado with this for a few of the 700 Simul-Crash systems on the State DTRS. You may also find that 20dB is not optimal for your situation. In this case, you would need to get some insertion type or even go to a yagi antenna to direct it closer to one site. It may even have to be swept to one side or the other of the true direction of the site you want to receive.

-Mike

This is actually a UHF-T Digital Trunking System..all frequencies 476-479 Mhz. range. This is a single site system too. I had both sitting almost side-by-side today and watched as they trunked. The 796 had the external antenna on it, while the 996 did not. Both had all bars of signal strength on all frequencies. The 996 was catching the beginning of all transmissions, but intermittently would return to ID Scan Mode at the end of transmissions, while the 796 would hold until the 2 seconds were up. The 996 would take about 15 seconds to catch the transmission again, while i'd be hearing it the entire time on the 796. Their was no "pattern" to this, occured on different Talkgroups and different frequencies each time. No priorities or close call or weather alerts set, as I immediately checked them once again, coming back from the repair facility. I have the Starcom 21 (Illinois) system, plus a couple of other 800 Mhz. Trunking system, and this does not happen on those systems on the 996. I did try the Atteunator and made no change. I tried reprogramming again, P25 threshold, End Code and Staus Bit were both set to Detect then Ignore and even flip-flopped them around too. So i'm wondering, is this one of those "trunking flaws" that is tough to pin-point. This is why I ask others that trunk systems in that frequency range if they have seen this mirage of events. I have compared stripes 996 right along side of mine with same results. Anyone here of this before, or offer up some suggestion I missed?

 

[cpuerror]

If data skip is turned on, the 996 will skip to the next channel as soon as there is a pause in the conversation.

 

[werinshades]

If data skip is turned on, the 996 will skip to the next channel as soon as there is a pause in the conversation.

That would only apply to Close Call option...but thanks

 

[spooney]

What is your ERR: rate during these transmissions? Are you in DFLT mode?

 

[Illinistripes]

What are you referring to?? Where and how do you check this??

The issue is this....796 catches EVERY single word from Midway Airport.....the 996 misses the whole entire conversation or if it catches it, you hear a portion. What is going on here? A $500 scanner should not perform like this....agree????

Paul, do you have an answer from the factory on this issue yet? The repair department ignored two detailed letters (my 996 and Werinshades 996) describing this issue in full detail....both scanners in at the factory at the same time, both returned to us like the day we sent them out!!

 

[Illinistripes]

What is your ERR: rate during these transmissions? Are you in DFLT mode?

Spooney....I'm with you now in ERR, yea I know how to do this and have tweaked my Starcom 21 (IL State Police) quite a bit using this method...it's definitely a trial and error session! I'm on 4 auto, but ERR jumps all around.

 

[spooney]

Try setting it around 7 or 8 and see what happens, but if it is a signal strength issue it seems all the scanners on the market have issues with decoding P25 APCO when the signal is moderate to weak. Only solution is a better antenna or location of scanner. I do OK with outside antenna 40-50ft with pre-amp. Without it, it sucks. Also, 700 mhz is WFM as opposed to 800Mhz NFM therefore 700mhz is more likely to have interference issue than 800mhz.

 

[werinshades]

Try setting it around 7 or 8 and see what happens, but if it is a signal strength issue it seems all the scanners on the market have issues with decoding P25 APCO when the signal is moderate to weak. Only solution is a better antenna or location of scanner. I do OK with outside antenna 40-50ft with pre-amp. Without it, it sucks. Also, 700 mhz is WFM as opposed to 800Mhz NFM therefore 700mhz is more likely to have interference issue than 800mhz.

Manual threshold settings had no effect. Signal strength is not an issue, 3 city blocks west of airport (spitting distance..LOL). 475-479 Mhz. so WFM or NFM is not an issue with the Airport.
Starcom 21 has improved somewhat, more bearable listening, but still see problems. I know not to expect perfection, but i'm hoping another can do a side-by-side comparison on a UHF -T Trunking system to see his/her results.

 

[jthorpe]

Old thread here but I have yet to find any answers to this. My 996 used to be fine but ever since the upgrade to the new firmware, I'm having the exact same problem. when the scanner does stop on a p25 talkgroup (if I'm lucky), the audio is HORRIBLE. I really wish I could revert back to the old version but I guess that's not an option. I'm hoping Uniden will fix this problem. The scanner was great until now, and now it's a 700 dollar brick.