Trunking

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xusmarine1979

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Hello all. I have a question in regards to some trunking issues. When I listen to the mix-trunking systems I notice that when a TG is done talking somehow it picks up audio from another TG. It does not change on the display, and it only seems to happen when the TG is digital. It isn't just my PSR 500, it happens on my Pro 96 as well. Does anyone else have this issue or know how this can me solved? I wasn't sure if I needed to put this in the Ohio Forum because it isn't just one particular system that this occurs on. Thanks for any help.
 

randyK

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On my PSR500 & PRO-197, under expert settings, I changed the motorola endtone threshold to (10) instead of the default (250). This reduced the amount times it would hang up, but didn't eliminate it. Nothing I know of would help the PRO96. Hope this helps out.
Randy
 
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xusmarine1979

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That's what I figured. I'll give it a try and see what happens. It's quite annoying when all of the sudden you are getting encrypted traffic or you are hearing analog... Thanks for the help.
 

mdulrich

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Well I gave it a try and it doesn't seem to help. Anyone else have these issues?

The only trunked system in my area is MARCS, but my 2096 has the same problem. Listening to a talkgroup and the conversation ends and one of the area prisons comes booming in on the frequency that was used by somebody else.

Mike
 

xusmarine1979

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For the PSR 500 the EndTone setting of 3 seems to help, and so far I haven't noticed the audio cut out or anything. Before on some days it seemed to never stop.
 

RoninJoliet

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A friend here monitoring the ILL-Starcom Digital system just told me in the "special global menu he changed the setting "Noise threshhold valu" from "20" to "10" and that helped his dropouts on digital...If you change this let me know if it helps....
 

xusmarine1979

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A friend here monitoring the ILL-Starcom Digital system just told me in the "special global menu he changed the setting "Noise threshhold valu" from "20" to "10" and that helped his dropouts on digital...If you change this let me know if it helps....


I'm not quite refering to the drop outs. This is more of when a digital TG is done transmitting, all of the sudden you'll hear another TG (digital or analog from the same system) come through that same TG. As if the current TG is being held open.

I'll give this setting a try and any more suggestions are welcome.
 

scannerhead

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Here's the Fix...

Turn OFF SuperTrack for any MOT3600 system that you have this problem with. SuperTrack is found in the TSYS menu for the trunked system under the "Expert Below" line.

I've had my PSR-500 since the day it was introduced. I was having the same problem as you. I tried every setting you could try. After days of frustration I found the fix, for the MOT3600 system I listen to and probably any other MOT3600 system. After turning off SuperTrack I never heard the problem again.

It appears SuperTrack has an extra delay built in (that effects digital transmissions) and that causes the scanner to "hang" or wait a fraction of a second longer before releasing the talk frequency and going back to the Control Channel. On a busy system you can end up with another talkgroup jumping on that frequency before the scanner leaves it, therefore, a totally unrelated talkgroup is now being heard and the display still shows the old Talkgroup ID. As you found, this can aggravate you to no end. Give this a try and let us know how it works.

Keith

PS Had same problem with PRO96. With the DSP firmware v1.2 I was able to leave the squelch turned completely open (where you would usually hear static) and be able to TrunkTrack without the problem. After firmware V1.3 and later, that trick did not work. I went back to v1.2. That trick only worked well if only Trunked systems were being scanned. With the squelch open and trying to scan conventional channels you will either stop on the conventional channel or if you have PL/DPL codes on the conventional channels it will slow down scanning while checking for codes.
 

scannerhead

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Sorry that didn't work for you Jon.

Now I suggest you go into the Global Expert Setings (PGM-Func-F3) and start lowering the "RF SQ Fade" number from the default setting of 10 down to 9. Then 8. Keep lowering until the problem stops. You will not want to go below 1.

As I understand it, The P25 transmissions don't have the end-tone like the analog transmissions. (So changing the EndToneMot setting probably did nothing to help.) Now, if you change the "RF SQ Fade" number it does have an effect. For instance, try turning it up to 99. After a P25 transmission ends you'll notice how long the scanner hangs on the freq before returning to the CC. (But after an Analog transmission ends it will instantly return to the CC if the end-tone is detected correctly.) So if you lower the "RF SQ Fade" number, it shortens the delay after the P25 transmissions.

The possible problem with setting this too low, like 1 or 2, is that weak "picket-fencing" signals can cause the scanner to prematurely move on to another transmission... such as a weak Weather Radio signal then jumping to another Weather Radio station. Still, not a big issue if it means you can stop the annoying problem you're having. I keep mine at 3. You probably still want to go with the SuperTrack OFF but you could try it both ways. It may be that I had already lowered the "RF SQ Fade" number before trying the SuperTrack setting. Let me know if this works. If not, I would contact GRE directly.

I really hope that helps. After someone says "Here's the Fix" you really figure it's going to work. Sorry for the disappointment.

Keith
 
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xusmarine1979

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No preamp Frank, Just the RS 800 antenna. But I will admit that while at work it is very noisy. There is a cell tower less that 1/4 mile from me but I usually hide the radio from it quite well. But even at home where there are no cell towers I still have the same problem.

Keith, I think you are on to something. I will try the fade and see it that works and will try it today and give it a day or so to see what happens. Thanks again for the help guys.
 

scannerhead

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Hi Jon,

It's been a couple of weeks and I was wondering if changing those settings completely solved that problem?

After I tried turning SuperTrack back ON I noticed the delay I spoke about and it occurs randomly after a P25 transmission. Not sure if noise or intermod is causing it but it does not occur when I set SuperTrack OFF.

Keith
 

xusmarine1979

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Hi Keith,
After changing the SQ Fade to 9 I haven't had a single problem. Not one. I knew you were on the right track, it was just a matter of time to discover what would have solved it. Thanks to all of you for your help.
 
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