PDW and it's bad case of bipolar

[wesky]

Guys,

I love PDW and I love what it does... most of the time...

I've run into a problem with it (3.1).

It's almost as though it gets tired after running for a period of time. What I mean -

Start PDW, Switch on scanner.
PDW decodes a good 98% of messages for approx' an hour.
after that, its strike rate reduces to 50%, and then within another further 60 minutes, it's strike rate is down to about 14% - with the majority of messages scrambled and unintelligible. Now, the hour/60 minute steps are not so accurate - sometimes its 2hrs, 3hrs etc.

During the time; as the quality deteriorates, the laptop running PDW & the scanner (UBC355XLT connected via 3.5 stereo audio cable into line-in on the laptop) remained untouched.

This does not happen at certain times during the day - it happens at all times.

I've tried a reinstall of PDW - this temporarily fixes the problem. I've also deleted the pdw.ini config file - which does nothing.

The laptop is Windows XP Pro SP 3 running the onboard soundcard.

I'm absolutely at a loss. Any ideas, fellas?

Cheers,

Steve

[Stretch]

I had the exact same problem...except I gave up.....

[alinco21]

go back to 2.6 version.

[Comint]

. . I've run into a problem with it (3.1).

I'm absolutely at a loss. Any ideas, fellas?

Have you actually bothered contacting the PDW author about your problems.

It is impossible to fix a problem, if you don't know it exists.

--
Comint

[wesky]

Thanks guys!

I'm thinking it's a problem with this particular laptop. I've connected it up to a completely different laptop and nothing but 100% decode rate since my original post.

I'm wondering if it has to do with how the onboard power supply is managed to system components...

Cheers,

Steve.

[Scannersplitterguy]

Your scanner may be drifting slightly off frequency.
How does the audio sound when the decoding starts playing up?

[wesky]

The audio sounds just the same - the tones are really clear and almost crisp (as crisp as the scanners speaker can get). I had given you're suggestion some thought yesterday and have spent a few hours testing the theory - and as far as my ear is concerned, there has been no change in the audio quality, but the complete reverse in decode quality over a period of time.

I've been running the new laptop now with PDW for about 4 hours now and it has not slipped up once! The lowest I've seen the quality percentage drop too as 98.2%. So, I'm putting my money on this laptop having an issue.

Thanks!

Steve

[wesky]

PS Scannersplitterguy - are you able to do discriminator outputs on the 355XLT? According to Google, it can't be done lol & plus, I don't trust myself with a brand new scanner :-/

[bodyguard]

I've seen the quality percentage drop too as 98.2% thats pretty good,
I have one that runs at 95% and another at 96%, looks ok to me
one has done 275012 messages the other 225480 messages so no complaints here
I am running taps on both radios & fsk decoders

[Scannersplitterguy]

PS Scannersplitterguy - are you able to do discriminator outputs on the 355XLT? According to Google, it can't be done lol & plus, I don't trust myself with a brand new scanner :-/

Yep, it can be done. I've modded two of the 355XLT's this year.
Send me a PM if you want to know cost etc.

[wesky]

I can't win!

Now the separate laptop which has been running perfectly (lowest so far is 98%) has now developed the exact same problem as the old laptop that was having the trouble!

I've been running it perfectly, non stop, untouched since the last post re the new laptop being successful.

I now have to ask - is PDW killing the laptops? I've tried a second scanner and still the same problem.

Ahhh jeepus! haha can't win!

[OIC_Napster]

I'd say it's to do with the volumes and or your aerial.

I kinda had the same problem but highly recommend you get the tap done through Dave (scanner split) very professional

As bodyguard said his has decoded 1000's of pagers and I haven't had a problem for 6+ months

[wesky]

Cheers. It has me bummed, regardless!

On a positive note, Dave should have the scanner next week to have a tap put in! I'm sure this will resolve the problem - fingers crossed, anyway!

While we're on the subject of PDW - and with me being such a rookie - is there a trick in translating capcodes - ie for ambulance, how do I know the actual name of the car getting the page? Or will I just have watch the pager messages and listen to the scanner and put two and two together?

[OIC_Napster]

Where abouts is home for you? PM me I maybe able to help u out a little

[holdensupporter]

I have this same problem with mine. Sometimes it will work for between 1 to 12 hours fine and then slowly decreases down. I've had it as low as 60%. I have to close PDW 3.1 and reopen it and then it is fine for a while again. I have a descriminator tap on my UBC93xlt. Just running into the soundcard. Not sure wether getting a 2 Level FSK would make any difference. I suspect it is a problem with PDW 3.1 as when it gets closed and reopened it starts working fine for a while.