Digital Scanning Question
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- Posts: 25
- Joined: 12 Jun 2021 20:02
Digital Scanning Question
Hi all!
With all the agencies that have gone to P25 on the south shore, and many that are going to be moving to P25 or are in the process of going to P25, I am looking at ways to listen without missing transmissions. I primarily will be listening to Hingham, Weymouth, Braintree (still analog), Scituate, Cohasset, Quincy (in process of moving to P25), Milton (analog), and a handful of others. I have a BCD325P2 and while it does the job, I have noticed some missing transmissions (could be the location of the unit when trying to listen). Would a XTL 2500 or 5000 work for something like this (RX only of course)? Or am I better off getting a 996P2?
Any help is appreciated!
With all the agencies that have gone to P25 on the south shore, and many that are going to be moving to P25 or are in the process of going to P25, I am looking at ways to listen without missing transmissions. I primarily will be listening to Hingham, Weymouth, Braintree (still analog), Scituate, Cohasset, Quincy (in process of moving to P25), Milton (analog), and a handful of others. I have a BCD325P2 and while it does the job, I have noticed some missing transmissions (could be the location of the unit when trying to listen). Would a XTL 2500 or 5000 work for something like this (RX only of course)? Or am I better off getting a 996P2?
Any help is appreciated!
Re: Digital Scanning Question
Scanners, in both Analog Mode and P25 Mode would likely need to ensure "DELAY" is on, for each of those channels, otherwise when the transmission ends, it begins scanning again
vs a hang/dwell/delay to hear the next transmission.
what makes you think or know you are missing transmissions ?
vs a hang/dwell/delay to hear the next transmission.
what makes you think or know you are missing transmissions ?
TheCoolMatrix wrote: ↑21 Nov 2021 22:00 Hi all!
With all the agencies that have gone to P25 on the south shore, and many that are going to be moving to P25 or are in the process of going to P25, I am looking at ways to listen without missing transmissions. I primarily will be listening to Hingham, Weymouth, Braintree (still analog), Scituate, Cohasset, Quincy (in process of moving to P25), Milton (analog), and a handful of others. I have a BCD325P2 and while it does the job, I have noticed some missing transmissions (could be the location of the unit when trying to listen). Would a XTL 2500 or 5000 work for something like this (RX only of course)? Or am I better off getting a 996P2?
Any help is appreciated!
Bill Dunn N1KUG
Cruise Ship Frequencies
http://scanmaritime.com
"The tougher it is to find a frequency, the more it makes me want to work to find it. - I've learned to use the SEARCH Button"
Cruise Ship Frequencies
http://scanmaritime.com
"The tougher it is to find a frequency, the more it makes me want to work to find it. - I've learned to use the SEARCH Button"
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- Super Idiot
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Re: Digital Scanning Question
If you'd like to pay less money in my opinion Whistler scanners do a better job with P25 than Uniden. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/whistler-d ... =212&loc=1 No P25 Phase 2 with this but I don't think you need it for what you have mentioned.
Re: Digital Scanning Question
An XTL2500 or 5000 is overkill for what you're accomplishing. The 996P2 is the same scanner as the 325P2, so if you miss transmissions on a 325, you're going to on a 996. You could be suffering from a number of items.TheCoolMatrix wrote: ↑21 Nov 2021 22:00 With all the agencies that have gone to P25 on the south shore, and many that are going to be moving to P25 or are in the process of going to P25, I am looking at ways to listen without missing transmissions. I primarily will be listening to Hingham, Weymouth, Braintree (still analog), Scituate, Cohasset, Quincy (in process of moving to P25), Milton (analog), and a handful of others. I have a BCD325P2 and while it does the job, I have noticed some missing transmissions (could be the location of the unit when trying to listen). Would a XTL 2500 or 5000 work for something like this (RX only of course)? Or am I better off getting a 996P2?
We don't know your location, so some of this is assumption. But you may be near another strong UHF transmitter? When it comes up, it overloads your front end and you don't receive what you want.
Some users have had good luck turning off the NAC decode and switching to "search", so the scanner picks up P25 transmissions regardless of the NAC.
And still, sometimes officers don't reply by the radio but rather through messaging programs on their in cruiser laptops.
Mike Fitzpatrick
Broadcast Engineer - RF Enthusiast - Municipal Fire Alarm Collector
Owner: Scan New England - NECRAT.US
Broadcast Engineer - RF Enthusiast - Municipal Fire Alarm Collector
Owner: Scan New England - NECRAT.US
Re: Digital Scanning Question
If it's for your car, an XTL may be a better option as far as Rx, but it's a long step and if you're not programming it yourself, much more cumbersome.
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Re: Digital Scanning Question
I appreciate all of your responses. I am going to be installing into my vehicle. I have heard that the XTLs work well with P25 in the conventional manner and if the brick is put in the trunk, there isn't much in the way. I will be sure to send pictures of my finished product once it's complete.
I thought that something was missed one day when one agency was talking about something over the air, and I went to Broadcastify where it came out perfectly fine. It could have very well been my position at that point in time (driveway under trees between two houses).ecps92 wrote: ↑22 Nov 2021 06:33 Scanners, in both Analog Mode and P25 Mode would likely need to ensure "DELAY" is on, for each of those channels, otherwise when the transmission ends, it begins scanning again
vs a hang/dwell/delay to hear the next transmission.
what makes you think or know you are missing transmissions ?
Re: Digital Scanning Question
or your radio [just like an XTL will] had already gone back to Scan and was already locked onto another frequency when the reply occured. [Nothing can fix that issue]
TheCoolMatrix wrote: ↑22 Nov 2021 13:24 I thought that something was missed one day when one agency was talking about something over the air, and I went to Broadcastify where it came out perfectly fine. It could have very well been my position at that point in time (driveway under trees between two houses).
Bill Dunn N1KUG
Cruise Ship Frequencies
http://scanmaritime.com
"The tougher it is to find a frequency, the more it makes me want to work to find it. - I've learned to use the SEARCH Button"
Cruise Ship Frequencies
http://scanmaritime.com
"The tougher it is to find a frequency, the more it makes me want to work to find it. - I've learned to use the SEARCH Button"
Re: Digital Scanning Question
Major drawback for an XTL5000 or any ASTRO25 series radio is the scan list is limited to 16 channels. So you could only scan 16 channels at any given time compared to the thousands you could with a scanner.
Jeremy
KB1REQ (DMR-MARC: 3125125)
KB1REQ (DMR-MARC: 3125125)
Re: Digital Scanning Question
It’s also possible that at least some of these systems are using linear simulcast technology, which is phase modulated and not frequency modulated. I do see multiple transmitters licensed for almost all of these communities. Traditional scanners cannot decode this properly and will suffer from the problems you are having. The solution is to get a receiver that properly decodes QPSK, such as Uniden SDS, Whistler TRX, Unication pagers or P25 LMR receivers (such as XTL). Read more here:
https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.p ... Distortion
John
https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.p ... Distortion
John
Re: Digital Scanning Question
Good explaination John
So far the only Phase modulated one, still in testing is Quincy - all others come in fine [YMMV]
So far the only Phase modulated one, still in testing is Quincy - all others come in fine [YMMV]
JohnRugg wrote: ↑23 Nov 2021 05:01 It’s also possible that at least some of these systems are using linear simulcast technology, which is phase modulated and not frequency modulated. I do see multiple transmitters licensed for almost all of these communities. Traditional scanners cannot decode this properly and will suffer from the problems you are having. The solution is to get a receiver that properly decodes QPSK, such as Uniden SDS, Whistler TRX, Unication pagers or P25 LMR receivers (such as XTL). Read more here:
https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.p ... Distortion
John
Bill Dunn N1KUG
Cruise Ship Frequencies
http://scanmaritime.com
"The tougher it is to find a frequency, the more it makes me want to work to find it. - I've learned to use the SEARCH Button"
Cruise Ship Frequencies
http://scanmaritime.com
"The tougher it is to find a frequency, the more it makes me want to work to find it. - I've learned to use the SEARCH Button"
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- Posts: 25
- Joined: 12 Jun 2021 20:02
Re: Digital Scanning Question
This is exactly the problem that I am having. I appreciate your insight in this. I have been reading into the XTS/XTL series radios, and I have one question. It may be stupid, but I want to cover my bases. I have heard that non-affiliate scanning needs to be enabled on the radio in order to keep it from trying to affiliate with the system. Is that only for trunking systems? Or are conventional P25, and some analog part of that as well?JohnRugg wrote: ↑23 Nov 2021 05:01 It’s also possible that at least some of these systems are using linear simulcast technology, which is phase modulated and not frequency modulated. I do see multiple transmitters licensed for almost all of these communities. Traditional scanners cannot decode this properly and will suffer from the problems you are having. The solution is to get a receiver that properly decodes QPSK, such as Uniden SDS, Whistler TRX, Unication pagers or P25 LMR receivers (such as XTL). Read more here:
https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.p ... Distortion
John
Re: Digital Scanning Question
That is for Trunking. For conventional (analog or P25), just check off Receive Only in the conventional personality.TheCoolMatrix wrote: ↑24 Nov 2021 19:54 This is exactly the problem that I am having. I appreciate your insight in this. I have been reading into the XTS/XTL series radios, and I have one question. It may be stupid, but I want to cover my bases. I have heard that non-affiliate scanning needs to be enabled on the radio in order to keep it from trying to affiliate with the system. Is that only for trunking systems? Or are conventional P25, and some analog part of that as well?
John
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