InterceptRadio.com Forums

Is anyone else using this scanner to listen to WSP?

I noticed that it has a serious bug with respect to WSP's VHF P25. I have a conventional group with the (4) D2 channels. I seem to miss about 40-50% of the transmissions.

At first, I thought this was a typical scanning issue, but then I held on a single channel. Sure enough, I was still not getting certain transmissions. There was no obvious pattern. I would miss the dispatcher or units at times. The length of the reply didn't seem to matter either.

You might ask how I knew I was missing audio. Well, I had my XTS 5000 Motorola right next to me. BTW, both had rubber duck antennas. (I'm about 1.5 miles from WSP HQ.)

Is there anything unusual about WSP's implementation of their P25? I believe they are using Motorola hardware, correct?

Looks like this is the NFM bug. If I set modulation to FM instead of NFM then it decodes exactly as the XTS 5000. Interesting...

Listen to it on the 700 MHz band or IWAN system and you will hear District 2 just fine.

I think you're missing the point.

I also have a 436HP and I am scanning District 2 with the Conventional freqs/P25. I am not having any issues with missing parts of transmissions. I wonder what settings you are using for P25?

Default settings.

I just enabled NFM back on the 436HP and it's not exactly a decode issue. It's missing (usually) conversations. For example: Dispatcher has message to Unit X. Short Pause. Unit X responds. Dispatcher confirms and gives message to Unit X. The 436HP is missing the Unit X response. It seems to miss those short, 3-5 second transmissions.

Also, I'm now noticing more of a "sync" issue with the 436HP. There will be short crackles or a half-second delay on the 436HP side. The XTS is much quicker and there's zero delay.

I'm not sure a 436HP user would notice anything wrong unless the user listened extremely carefully -- and knowing that they're missing parts of the conversation.

It's very noticeable with two radios.

Hopefully Uniden will fix the mode issue.

I do notice some "clipped" responses. I don't have the comparison to a standard like the XTS so like you indicated its hard for me to know what I'm missing. Just listened to a high speed WSP pursuit and stopped scanning. I believe the "clipping" decreased without scanning.

I am listening to the WSP on the 700Mhz trunked system successfully except for WSP North. I hear South fine but no North. I am using TGID 59209 for the North WSP. I hear the South WSP P25 conventional signal fine.
Thoughts?
Jim
ka7gzr

WSP is usually patched... and the 436 doesn't do patches well. Program all possible WSP talkgroups, or use 'search' instead.

Yeah the repeaters are just not reliable. I only listen to them on their direct channels now. The BCD436HP will also miss some brief transmissions on trunked systems as its just too slow to restart searching. It's much faster to just scan their VHF channels directly.