Connect Plus Repeater Monitoring

[4MR_NST]

I'm looking for help programming a XPR6580 with conventional digital channels on the repeater TX frequencies of a MotoTRBO Connect Plus system. When I tried, the radio showed full bars when the repeater was active, but it didn't unsquelch to hear the audio. I'm doing this with the MotoTRBO CPS, and matched the color code parameter to what's set in the Connect Plus Option Board CPS frequency file.

For instance, I programmed a conventional digital channel for Repeater 1, slot 1, color code 1. Then programmed another channel with Repeater 1, slot 2, color code 1, etc. Still, the radio won't unsquelch when the repeater was assigned for a Connect Plus talk group session.

I'm trying to find the cause of very intermittenct "missing audio" where the source radio's audio is not heard by any target radios in the talk group. But the next call will work fine. Being able to monitor the repeater transmit audio independant of the assigned talk group would be useful, as we have too many talk groups to simply scan with the XPR6580 in a Connect Plus zone...

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[Forts]

I don't believe you can do that. Without using the proper Group ID's the radio will just ignore everything else... There is no digital CSQ that will allow you to hear everything. You will have to program in the Group ID's of the calls you want to monitor then assign them to a contact list, then assign that contact list to your conventional channels. It should work as I'm using that method to monitor a Connect+ system near me (using a radio without the option board).

And I know of a LOT of users around here that are experiencing that same problem and they are all pretty frustrated by it.

[4MR_NST]

That makes sense. I was hoping I was missing something in the CPS as MotoTRBO is quite a switch from Smartnet Type II and I'm still learning... With that system, I could assign a test talk group to a given repeater and listen to an individual transmitter that way. That would help me quickly hear a transmitter with noisy TX when the MSF TX VCO grew whiskers... I've poured through the latest system planner, but haven't seen any way to steer a talk group to an individual repeater slot.

I'm going to try your suggestion to see how it works.

Your comment about other users experiencing missing audio is discouraging. I going nuts trying to half-split the problem between IP and RF. I'm leaning towards RF and suspect it has something to do with interference on the repeaters. The MTR3000s have a RSSI threshold set at -100dBm and I'm seeing sporadic interference detected indications with Network Manager Real-time display. With a spec analyzer (sampling between the RX antenna and multicoupler) it seemed like the noise floor would jump 5 to 10dB across the band and trigger the interference detect indication on one or more repeaters. So now I'm thinking intermod and will need to go back with a second spec analyzer so I can see the activity across the TX band while looking at the RX band.

If all else fails, can I still blame Nextel?

[com501]

Check your admit criteria in the newest firmware, too. Make sure it is not set to 'Always', as users can tailgate each other and the proper handshake sometimes doesn't occur.

Been there, done that.

[FatBoy]

In the capacity plus part of the system planner, there was a feature that allowed you to set the "priority" level of each repeater. Basically, you are assigning a level in which the system favors certain repeaters. I presume this feature was added to help if you have a system with a mix of exclusive and shared channels, then you could set your system to favor the exclusive or less-interfered-with channels. I am unsure if Connect Plus has this feature (it might require reprogramming the repeaters, I do not know). FB