Volume Levels

[fmalloy]

In monitoring the City of Santa Clara (trunked 800MHz), I get a solid carrier signal for the PD TGs, but I notice that the dispatcher always comes in significantly louder than the mobile units. The mobiles are generally clear and without noise, but the audio volume is reduced. Of course cranking the volume to hear the mobiles makes the dispatcher too loud.

I understand the mobiles transmit with much less power, but I would think the repeater would address this on the listening side. Or perhaps I'm not understanding things correctly.

The other conventional systems (MV, Sunnyvale, Milpitas, etc.) tend to come in at higher volumes.

Is this just the way things are? I'm using a Uniden BC346XT, and "Enable Analog AGC" is checked for the site. Also have a +3 Volume Adjust. Without it, I really have to crank it up.

Thanks for any insight.

 

[davidgcet]

dispatch is a wired connection to the site or to the link radio system. the console has it's own mic level set and many times is set hot so that quieter dispatchers are heard. the problem with this is exactly what you are seeing. the real solution is to set the console mic to a mid level and properly train dispatchers to speak into the mic. but realistically this never works. even when they use headsets each person speaks at a different level.

also units in the field have a bad habit of not talking directly into a mic, resulting in them having much lower audio. i had a unit sent to me multiple times with the complaint that dispatch could not hear them. each time i checked it everything was well within spec. finally i saw the guy driving down the road and heard him answer dispatch, sure enough he was low as could be. i watched him close and he was never even picking up the mic, just reaching up and holding the PTT down while he drove.

basically, you will just have to find a happy medium and live with it.

 

[fmalloy]

dispatch is a wired connection to the site or to the link radio system. the console has it's own mic level set and many times is set hot so that quieter dispatchers are heard. the problem with this is exactly what you are seeing. the real solution is to set the console mic to a mid level and properly train dispatchers to speak into the mic. but realistically this never works. even when they use headsets each person speaks at a different level.

also units in the field have a bad habit of not talking directly into a mic, resulting in them having much lower audio. i had a unit sent to me multiple times with the complaint that dispatch could not hear them. each time i checked it everything was well within spec. finally i saw the guy driving down the road and heard him answer dispatch, sure enough he was low as could be. i watched him close and he was never even picking up the mic, just reaching up and holding the PTT down while he drove.

basically, you will just have to find a happy medium and live with it.

Thanks for the fast and detailed reply.

Makes sense, and it's a logical explanation. And here I thought there was some heavy, techy reason behind it...

 

[Stealthguy05]

On the Santa Clara Fire 1 VHF it's the exact opposite. The gain and compression on the mobiles is almost unbearable when the unit has it's siren on or an engineer is standing next to the pump.