TRX-1 Spectrum Sweeper

[markgrutz]

Good Day All,

I am not sure if I should report this as a bug or if is something that I am doing wrong. I got in early on the TRX-1 mainly since my PSR-800 is a bit older and I wanted to monitor some DMR stuff without lugging around the computer... so this is my first Whistler product. (so far so good)

I was playing with the spectrum sweeper to see if there was anything near where I was today and was letting it run... and run... and run... and despite seeing someone talking on a radio, the scanner didn't ever seem to stop. So I got to wondering what was up.

I got home and turned the spectrum sweeper function on the PSR-800 and TRX-1 both to the same settings (and same antenna) and low and behold, the 800 picked up every radio I keyed up, while the TRX-1 remained silent. Now to be fair, it did seem to slow down and briefly pause, and maybe 300ms or so pause, but never locked on and opened the speaker like the PSR-800.

Anyone that has a Whistler scanner or more specifically the TRX-1 have this problem? I'd hate to put in a bug report and have it be me that had done something wrong, although I can't see what it would be that is set wrong.

Thoughts?

Mark

 

[Comp-100]

Does the TRX-1 have a DND feature where it just stores the hit?

 

[SCPD]

Call Whistler and tell them,I too have the same issue,the spectrum sweeper is not working like the older PSR-800 ,I have yet to hear anything with this mode. No,Comp,this is more like a search feature,you can set the TRX-1 to record search and yes it will save these search frequencies.

 

[markgrutz]

Call Whistler and tell them,I too have the same issue,the spectrum sweeper is not working like the older PSR-800 ,I have yet to hear anything with this mode. No,Comp,this is more like a search feature,you can set the TRX-1 to record search and yes it will save these search frequencies.

I sent them a detailed bug report with the testing parameters I undertook. I only had 2m and 70cm ham bands and an older VHF business band radio to test with. I wanted to verify it was at least in two bands and not a fluke in the 70cm band. I tried with different power outputs (1w, 2w, 5w) all from the same 10 foot distance... nada.

It does slow down like it is trying to zero in on the frequency, but it only pauses on it for a fraction of a second. The scanner will pick up the test frequencies in the limit search mode, leading me to believe its a firmware issue with the Spectrum Sweeper specifically. And so far I have no problem when the frequency is programmed as a conventional frequency or anything that is a trunked system.

Hopefully the right team gets the email, I used the one Wendy posted.

Mark

 

[kikito]

Did you enabled all the bands within the Sweeper settings? I know by default, not all the bands are enabled. Just checking, sometimes the obvious escapes us, I know I forgot the first time I used the feature on my TRX-1.

Either way, I'll continue checking if mine seems to be working properly on the Sweeper function.

 

[markgrutz]

I am going to add one more thing that may or may not be a feature of the Spectrum Sweeper. Upon doing some more playing, when the sweeper stops for that brief second, it appears to write that found frequency to some temporary location. When you go to the Program Menu -> Add Conv Freq, that found frequency is loaded waiting to be written to a memory location.

I can't compare this to the PSR-800 or any of the other Whistler scanners, since the TRX-1 is the only one I have, and the program menu is not an option in the PSR-800.

I have to assume that in part it is working as intended, since the pause actually seems to be doing something other than just a quick pause. I would hate to think that you have to write to a memory location just to see what you found.

Mark

 

[markgrutz]

Did you enabled all the bands within the Sweeper settings? I know by default, not all the bands are enabled. Just checking, sometimes the obvious escapes us, I know I forgot the first time I used the feature on my TRX-1.

Either way, I'll continue checking if mine seems to be working properly on the Sweeper function.

Yep, I had just the 137-174 and 406-470 selected. I had zeromatic ON, Attenuator OFF, Delay ON, and Special Mode OFF on both scanners.

I did fiddle with the Special Mode, and Attenuator and Delay functions with no change in the bug.

Mark

 

[kikito]

OK, so far I've been able to confirm most of your findings from the "slow down" near the target frequency to the actual frequency being at the "Add Conv Freq" prompt.

It definitely looks like there's something not letting it stop when it gets a hit or something.

 

[kikito]

I can confirm that the Sweeper on the PSR-800 does work correctly and stops on the target frequency, even decoding P25 with RadioID and TG ID.

So there's something about the Sweeper on the TRX-1 not working correctly or a new setting we don't know about or something.

 

[nd5y]

Maybe a radio transmitting in the same room is overloading the scanner. Try it with a dummy load on the radio or moving 100 feet or more away from the scanner and see what happens.

 

[kikito]

Maybe a radio transmitting in the same room is overloading the scanner.

That could be but the PSR-800 is picking up right away while the TRX-1 goes through 3 cycles of Sweeping and only slows down at the target frequency. Sometimes it seems like it slows down enough to briefly see the frequency but continues sweeping. While the PSR-800 within 2 minutes picked up paging frequencies and other stuff, the TRX-1 didn't pick up anything for almost half-hour when I stopped the sweep.

 

[TAbirdman]

Mark,

What is the firmware and DSP versions on your TRX-1?

 

[markgrutz]

Mark,

What is the firmware and DSP versions on your TRX-1?

DSP 2.2
Build 093
uP Appl u3.5

Mark

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[WhistlerWendy]

Hi Everyone -
I have our engineer looking at this as we are not aware of any issues with the Spectrum Sweeper on the new TRX models.

The squelch setting is very critical to the Spectrum Sweeper, if it is too high, it will miss unless signal is very very strong.

Try adjusting the squelch to see if that has any affect on your issue.

-WW

 

[eorange]

This is probably zero help, but under certain circumstances I had a similar issue with my PSR-500. FYI only.

http://forums.radioreference.com/gre-scanners/92149-psr-500-super-slow-spectrum-sweeper.html

 

[markgrutz]

Hi Everyone -
I have our engineer looking at this as we are not aware of any issues with the Spectrum Sweeper on the new TRX models.

The squelch setting is very critical to the Spectrum Sweeper, if it is too high, it will miss unless signal is very very strong.

Try adjusting the squelch to see if that has any affect on your issue.

-WW

Wendy,

Thank you for looking into this. I did try the squelch both low (off) and in the recommended zone with no noticeable difference.

I am currently in Western Maryland for the day where it is a virtual RF dead zone (very rural and mountainous) and the same lack of lock on any signal vs the PSR-800. It was just with my 2m and 70cm frequencies.

For me personally, I can't be in a much more RF free zone than I am right now. So this about the limit of my testing short of building a Faraday cage to test in.

Mark

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[prcguy]

I've been playing with spectrum search with no luck. I have tried full band and public service bands generating various levels from a few uV to several thousand uV into the scanner using a service monitor. When adjusting the squelch I can see an "S" icon appear when the squelch is nearly fully CCW and I assume that's when the radio is unsquelched.

I've set the squelch knob in every position with various RF levels into the scanner and nothing ever comes out of the speaker. When I get above about 50uv I see the scanners S meter briefly show a signal on my test frequency but it never stops and no sound is heard. It seems like the scanner is permanently in a tone squelch mode while in spectrum search.

My understanding of this feature is it will search and stop on nearby strong signals that break the squelch and you will then hear the traffic. If that's not how it works then please let me know.
prcguy

 

[kikito]

I tried with several different settings on the squelch with no difference. The fact that the PSR-800 sitting next to it picks up stuff, tells me something is not right with the TRX-1.

I did noticed and can duplicate again and again that it slows down enough (for half-second) for me to see and confirm the frequencies it should be picking but it never stops on them. Including my local NWS weather channel. So it's recognizing the transmissions, it just never stops.

 

[TAbirdman]

ok, throwing this out there.... are all the freq groups turned on in spectrum sweeper mode ( or at least the freq you're trying to pick up)? I was testing my 1080 and it wasn't picking some close signals up. I poked around in the sweeper menu and noticed that the group of frequencies I was monitoring wasn't selected. Turned that group on and it worked.

Just seeing if this may be a possibility with the TRX's.

 

[prcguy]

I tried all bands with all and some selected and also public service. I generated signals within each selected band and can see the spectrum sweeper scrolling through the frequencies I generated and I see the S meter briefly show a signal level. All of this without the scanner stopping or anything from the speaker. The feature is not working or there is tone squelch enabled or something else that is not apparent in the menu.
prcguy

ok, throwing this out there.... are all the freq groups turned on in spectrum sweeper mode ( or at least the freq you're trying to pick up)? I was testing my 1080 and it wasn't picking some close signals up. I poked around in the sweeper menu and noticed that the group of frequencies I was monitoring wasn't selected. Turned that group on and it worked.

Just seeing if this may be a possibility with the TRX's.