BCD536HP and P25
- Thread starter arlo
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troymail
Silent Key
It should say
'P25' - for Phase 1
or
'PT0' or 'PT1' - for Phase 2
See: http://new.marksscanners.com/536/436_536.shtml#display
'P25' - for Phase 1
or
'PT0' or 'PT1' - for Phase 2
See: http://new.marksscanners.com/536/436_536.shtml#display
ok here is a question I would like to know why is it on the home patrol 2 when you enter a P2 TXDMA FREQUENCY IT shows up as such but when you add one into the 536 and 436 it just shows in the software as a p25 plain system.
marksmith
Member
What do you mean when you say "it shows up as" a P2 TDMA frequency?
It's just a frequency. Any kind of transmission type can take place.
Mark
536/436/ws1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others
Let me see if i can express this with out making it look like a book, in the software where you have your systems it shows weither its a p25 or conv.
With my 436 it will show lakeland fla as a p25 system but it is a phase 2 system. And when i add it to my home patrol 2 unit it will show up as a phase 2 txdma in the systems line in the software.
With my 436 it will show lakeland fla as a p25 system but it is a phase 2 system. And when i add it to my home patrol 2 unit it will show up as a phase 2 txdma in the systems line in the software.
marksmith
Member
Ok. So we are not talking frequencies, but systems. Different question.
Not sure why the difference, as I have both radios. They get this info from the RR database, and convert it to the different Sentinel applications. Apparently different for each.
Both Phase 1 and Phase 2 systems are both P25.
However, any phase 2 P25 system is also a Phase 1 P25 system. It depends on how the system is set up.
Many of the P1 systems are really P2 capable systems where the agencies just have not acquired the upgraded equipment yet. Some operate as both P1 and P2. So depending on the system, there could be different ways to describe it. Not sure why this difference would occur however.
A Phase 2 system can be set up so that any talkgroup goes to phase 1 for those radios, and reverts to phase 2 when no phase 1 equipment is associated.
It can also be set up so that only phase 2 can associate with certain talkgroups.
None of these things explain why the same system would necessarily be described differently in the two Sentinel apps.
Mark
536/436/ws1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others
troymail
Silent Key
You may or may not be aware but there was something (mostly history now I think) called "X2 TDMA". It was "a thing" (from Motorola) before the P25 Phase 2 standard was agreed upon.
I just did an import of some Polk FL systems including Lakeland P25 into the Home Patrol (not x36) Sentinel...
It looks like when Uniden implemented Phase 2 in Sentinel, they coded it in the software/firmware that P25 Phase 2 systems as 'separate' from P25 Standard.
The reason for this might be that the initial P25 "Phase 2" capability that was released was a Motorola product before the true "standard" for P25 Phase 2 was agreed upon. This initial release for Motorola was called "X2 TDMA". I believe most system owners (Prince George Maryland being one of them) that implemented "X2 TDMA" were told by Motorola that once the official Phase 2 standard was available, they would be converted to the P25 Phase 2 standard and the "X2 TDMA" would be a thing of the past.
It would appear this never changed in the Uniden Home Patrol code and every "Phase 2" system that is imported (based only on my quick test of Lakeland FL and Maryland FiRST) still gets set to "X2 TDMA".
I believe that the 436/536 scanners were released after the P25 Phase 2 standard was on the street.
I'm really curious what would happen on the Home Patrol if the system actually has Phase 2 talkgroups but you program it into the radio as a "P25 Standard" system.....
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I would agree with you on this. Some of the earliest P25 systems in my area were entered in the database as 'X2 TDMA' in the original HP-1 database.
Even some of the newer systems here, including GMRS (Garland, mesquite, ...) that went live in the past few months, are listed in the HP-1/HP-2 Sentinel as X2 TDMA.
Yep. The same systems that the HP-/2 Sentinel shows as X2 TDMA are in the x36HP series Sentinel as P25 standard.
Actually, I'd already tried this, manually creating a duplicate system, but labeled as a P2 Standard, or P25 Phase II, and then compared reception with the listed X2 TDMA. I saw no difference in performance, regardless of which system name was used. That was also the result whether on the HP series scanners or the newer x36HP series.
troymail
Silent Key
Ah, that's what I was looking for. It seems like the Phase 2 systems are being incorrectly set to X2 on import but perhaps it was felt it didn't matter if, in the end, P25 Standard and X2 TDMA point to the same functionality/code in the Home Patrol firmware now and the system type doesn't matter (in the case of P25). I suspect there is enough known about how to parse the CC data to determine which is really is.
marksmith
Member
So it really comes down to just the code interpreting the RR database and what that code does when loading and converting that data as a description of the system type between the x36 and home patrol Sentinel apps, since the actual radio firmware functionality appears to handle either interchangeably.
Mark
536/436/ws1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others
troymail
Silent Key
Probably - but I'm sure it's confusing to users who have never heard of "X2 TDMA"....
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