Low Audio XTS/XTL Series - AGC???

[contrak10]

Hello,

I am having a severe hard time getting good audio clarity from an XTS/XTL series radio when compared to an warris series radio on 12.5 spacing. All of the astro series radios are so low in volume and exaggerates static in poor coverage areas. My next option is to start from the default setting again. I had AGC enabled but it was worse.

The astro radios are set to the following. ANALOG/DIGITAL Gain -3 from the internal mic and -9 from the external mic.

Digital/Analog Balance = Enabled
Attenuation = Advanced
Noise Suppression = Enabled

Any advice on good setting?

[Jim202]

Hello,

I am having a severe hard time getting good audio clarity from an XTS/XTL series radio when compared to an warris series radio on 12.5 spacing. All of the astro series radios are so low in volume and exaggerates static in poor coverage areas. My next option is to start from the default setting again. I had AGC enabled but it was worse.

The astro radios are set to the following. ANALOG/DIGITAL Gain -3 from the internal mic and -9 from the external mic.

Digital/Analog Balance = Enabled
Attenuation = Advanced
Noise Suppression = Enabled

Any advice on good setting?

Your not exactly explaining what the issue is here. Are you saying that you have a fleet of radios and they all have low transmit audio?

Are you saying that the radio your using to listen to a fleet of radios has low receive audio on all the radios your listening to?

If the problem is on your receive side, then there is a good possibility that you never rest your radio to narrow band operation. The VHF and UHF channels for most users were required to move to narrow band operation some months ago.

Jim

[contrak10]

Hey Jim.

This is transmit audio on the radio itself, I know for a fact wide-band is not a factor as all the receivers are changed over on a system level. There has been some coverage reduction on the system I am working with since narrowbanding but I am finding AGC and low gain making the problem worse in high static areas at the coverage edge.

I did change the gain to +3 on internal and external mic in the CPS, Digital/Analog Balance = Enabled Noise Reduction = Enabled and Set to Advanced. -24 on Treble on RX audio. This setting is working much better, audio is crisp, loud and clear.

Looking to see if anyone else has had a similar issue. On simplex no problem but when combined on a system AGC or negative gain is causing a lot of headaches.

[Jim202]

Hey Jim.

This is transmit audio on the radio itself, I know for a fact wide-band is not a factor as all the receivers are changed over on a system level. There has been some coverage reduction on the system I am working with since narrowbanding but I am finding AGC and low gain making the problem worse in high static areas at the coverage edge.

I did change the gain to +3 on internal and external mic in the CPS, Digital/Analog Balance = Enabled Noise Reduction = Enabled and Set to Advanced. -24 on Treble on RX audio. This setting is working much better, audio is crisp, loud and clear.

Looking to see if anyone else has had a similar issue. On simplex no problem but when combined on a system AGC or negative gain is causing a lot of headaches.

I work with and around a good number of the XTL series radios all the time from many agencies around the country. My work with radio interoperability does cause me to do extensive travel all over the place. Don't think I have ever seen a problem with the local mic audio.

By any chance have you tried a different mic on the radio?

Normally the default audio settings work just fine. If your having to change them, I would start looking for the most likely cause. A good service monitor does wonders in helping to make sure you have the correct deviation. Too much AGC and mic gain will cause problems. Once you get done, see how far away from your mouth you can move the mic and still have good audio. If it's more than about 4 to 6 inches before the audio starts to drop off, you have way too much gain. This will just cause the background noise to come up and make it hard to understand you when the vehicle is moving.

If your using a repeater and have low audio, I would question if the repeater audio through put is set correctly. Many radio techs today have a hard time setting the RX audio input level to TX audio output level without getting the repeater into audio compression. Before rebanding, the secret was 3.0 KHz in for no more than 3.5 KHz out. Haven't played around much since everything went narrow to find the magic number.

Jim

[CalebFireD]

Was there a document floating around a while back that listed off the ideal settings for audio on the XTS series. I recall seeing something like this somewhere...

[60EMT15]

https://www.p25.ca/threads/75-Motorola- ... o-settings.


There is lots of good info in that link.

[FMROB]

Not so much with the mobiles, the portables, despite actually going thru and changing levels and settings generally have garbage audio, this issue magnifies in narrow.

Never really been too impressed with this series of radio. The mt/mts/ht had better audio.

However, I do agree that you just can't and shouldn't use the brand new xts right out of the box without optimizing and tailoring the audio settings.

Of course, that is just my 2 cents.

Rob

[Willco]

Goodafternoon I am currently using an motorola xts 1500 and my co workers tell me I sound like a robot when I am transmitting on the radio. The radio is brand new and a few technicians told me over the phone it may be the audio configuration agc settings.What audio configuration setting and agc levels should I have with me being a patrol officer utilizing an xts 1500 on analog. Everyone else in my department are using motorola ht1000/750/1250 so it's not like I can clone it off another. Please help

[Jim202]

Goodafternoon I am currently using an motorola xts 1500 and my co workers tell me I sound like a robot when I am transmitting on the radio. The radio is brand new and a few technicians told me over the phone it may be the audio configuration agc settings.What audio configuration setting and agc levels should I have with me being a patrol officer utilizing an xts 1500 on analog. Everyone else in my department are using motorola ht1000/750/1250 so it's not like I can clone it off another. Please help

Just as a suggestion, the more AGC gain you have the more background noise the radio mic tends to pick up.

As for the mic gain, it really should be set using a service monitor. If you get it too high, you again bring up the background noise. Takes a little skill to find the right sweet spot to set it at. One trick you can use is to see how far away from the mic you can talk before the transmit deviation starts to fall off. you shouldn't be able to go more than about 2 inches before it drops off. More than that, and your mic gain is set too high.

Good luck on your efforts.

Jim

[Jim202]

Goodafternoon I am currently using an motorola xts 1500 and my co workers tell me I sound like a robot when I am transmitting on the radio. The radio is brand new and a few technicians told me over the phone it may be the audio configuration agc settings.What audio configuration setting and agc levels should I have with me being a patrol officer utilizing an xts 1500 on analog. Everyone else in my department are using motorola ht1000/750/1250 so it's not like I can clone it off another. Please help

Just as a suggestion, the more AGC gain you have the more background noise the radio mic tends to pick up.

As for the mic gain, it really should be set using a service monitor. If you get it too high, you again bring up the background noise. Takes a little skill to find the right sweet spot to set it at. One trick you can use is to see how far away from the mic you can talk before the transmit deviation starts to fall off. you shouldn't be able to go more than about 2 inches before it drops off. More than that, and your mic gain is set too high.

Good luck on your efforts.

Jim

[60EMT15]

Goodafternoon I am currently using an motorola xts 1500 and my co workers tell me I sound like a robot when I am transmitting on the radio. The radio is brand new and a few technicians told me over the phone it may be the audio configuration agc settings.What audio configuration setting and agc levels should I have with me being a patrol officer utilizing an xts 1500 on analog. Everyone else in my department are using motorola ht1000/750/1250 so it's not like I can clone it off another. Please help

What i found to work really well is Enable AGC, and set your output to 0 and your total to 6. Enable standard Noise suppression. I've programmed law enforcement radios to this and they sound really good.

[motorola_otaku]

My recommendation for XTS/XTL radios: disable AGC completely for analog, leave it enabled for digital, use -3 output and +12 total as recommended in the P25.ca thread. You can adjust the fixed gain up or down a click on analog as needed.