None of the talkgroups are listed as encrypted and I have Full Spectrum Scan turned OFF. My previous scanner was a Uniden handheld so I'm sure your right it skipped the noise. I noticed tonight that a radio that has been broadcasting all evening in the clear had two transmissions that were garbled and then resumed clear transmissions. Kinda weird.
Mike seems familiar with this problem so maybe it's just not me.
Clearly seems like one-sided (possibly user enabled) encryption. While not on the Unication, I used to see this alot on a federal fire department talkgroup - the dispatcher would tell the user they've enabled encryption - probably by accident.
On a non-P25 system back in Maryland I monitored daily, there were some law enforcement talkgroups that were always believed to be full time encryption and were listed as such. However, occasionally, the dispatcher was in the clear and the cars on the street remained in encrypted mode. However, most times, the talkgroups were fully encrypted.
I was briefly (like < 5 minutes) listening to the Horry County SC system yesterday and heard some one-sided encryption which surprised me. I am pretty much on the fringe of that system (actually about 27 miles ENE of the closet tower but along the water). I know they use some encryption on the system but I have none of those programmed into the G4. The comments regarding weak/fringe coverage and sounding like encryption are curious so I'll have to do a bit ore close watching and see.
As far as "None of the talkgroups are listed as encrypted" -- if you're basing this on the RRDB, it isn't necessarily basing it on factual information. Primarily, I've found lots of talkgroups that are partially or full time encrypted that are not listed as such on RRDB. This could be simply because the submitter didn't provide that info, or because the TG is "capable" (user driven) to encrypt (even one-sided), and/or has changed over time.
Funny thing about most of these new systems and they way various things are handled - between systems being broken down from large "countywide simulcast" coverage (you'd hear everything everywhere) into some cases that I am very familiar with multiple "cells" over the same area of coverage (which may only carry activity on some talkgroups when a user is affiliated and on that talkgroup), and partial or "on-demand" user riven encryption capabilities, there are many many opportunities for users to believe that their radio (Unication, Whistler, Uniden, etc.) is not function properly. Not a whole lot you can do about the "cell" aspects - if the talkgroup isn't being carried on your local site and you aren't receiving others, there ain't much you can do about it. However, having the
option to enable or disable your radio to receive encrypted (garbled or otherwise) transmissions goes a long way to helping to troubleshoot and learn what is really happening.
EDIT: one last item I forgot to mention -- the information displayed on my G4 isn't always 100% accurate - sometimes the radio ID doesn't appear, other times the radio ID doesn't change (fast responses). I've even seen cases where the G4 gets "overwhelmed" with what I'll call "screen updates" and the screen refreshes lag behind the actual voice calls. In a case last month while monitoring the Philadelphia PA system, the radio fell so far behind because there was so much activity that it essentially locked the G4 up for a couple of hours (probably partially caused by me trying to program too much into the radio).