LAPD Monitoring+question

[tman4000]

So I have a Bearcat 996T scanner capable of picking up digital. Here is my problem, when listening to the LAPD, SOMETIMES it comes in, crisp, loud and clear and its great. THen other times, like tonight, on and off, its impossible to hear anything. The bars don't totally light up and the voice transmissions cut in and out. I know for fact that in the field the officers/dispatchers don't have this problem. Anyone have any advice for fixes or explanations on this inconsistency? Do I need a better antenna? Is the scanner itself just not yet up to P25 standards since this whole digital thing is new? I've tried everything, turning the squelch, P25 optimizing, putting the scanner out on balcony (I live up hight) and lining the speakers indoors, when its a bad day, nothing helps. Any info would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[mattfox27]

Whats weird is i live in the SFV and i have 2 scanners one is a uniden bc296d and the other a bcd396t when i have them both on the local west valley freq right next to each other my 296 gets full bars and always comes in loud and clear but the 396 which is right next to it on the same freq gets like 1 bar and a crappy signal. I think its the antenna i just bought a new antenna for the 396 it should be here today or tommorow...i will post if it makes any diffrence...

Is your P25 set to auto?

 

[Mountain343]

mattfox27, Has the new antenna made any difference? I'm considering purchasing either the 396 or the PSR500/106 and reading your post has me concerned since I'm in the SFV as well.

 

[mattfox27]

ya the new antenna has made a good improvement...I live in encino and i get all lapd digital loud and clear it doesn't break up or anything even all the way out to like rampart and pacific divison...my 296d still gets better reception for some reason but the 369t with the new antenna is working good. It sounds like you have a problem with the scanner its self i have found when i try to optimize the p25 on my 369t it just makes it worst...i was messing around with it last nigh trying to "optimize it and then it started breaking up and not working good at all, so i did a hard reset on the scanner put it all back to stock and set p25 to auto and everything is good now...

 

[mattfox27]

this is the antenna i bought...its for a portable though
WSMA-801 Regular Gainer SMA Portable Antenna

 

[mattfox27]

on my 396t even with stock antenna i still really had no problems with lapd until i started messing with p25 levels, i would suggest doing the reset and just leave it at auto. Also have you upgraded the firmware at all? I just upgraded the firmware on the 396t and it made a noticeable difference in p25 performance.

 

[Astrak]

So I have a Bearcat 996T scanner capable of picking up digital. Here is my problem, when listening to the LAPD, SOMETIMES it comes in, crisp, loud and clear and its great. THen other times, like tonight, on and off, its impossible to hear anything. The bars don't totally light up and the voice transmissions cut in and out. I know for fact that in the field the officers/dispatchers don't have this problem. Anyone have any advice for fixes or explanations on this inconsistency? Do I need a better antenna? Is the scanner itself just not yet up to P25 standards since this whole digital thing is new? I've tried everything, turning the squelch, P25 optimizing, putting the scanner out on balcony (I live up hight) and lining the speakers indoors, when its a bad day, nothing helps. Any info would be appreciated!

Thanks!

P25 is nothing new, been around since the mid 90's. You might need a better antenna or using a directional type antenna pointed towards the tower you're trying to listen to.

 

[cousinkix1953]

P25 is nothing new, been around since the mid 90's. You might need a better antenna or using a directional type antenna pointed towards the tower you're trying to listen to.

Factory antennas are just barely serviceable. Even some of the cheapest replacements are better than these original rubber duckies. Commercial two-way antennas will even fit on some scanners with the right connector on them.

An outdoor UHF antenna would vastly improve your reception. A 450 mhz ham antenna should work like gang busters on the LAPD's 480-500 mhz systems. Point that beam at their repeaters on Mt Lee or Mt Wilson and you should hear everything but a few low power simplex walkie-talkie channels.

And old TV antenna might even work; because the LAPD is using old reallocated UHF channels. Flip that beam to the vertical polarization and point it at those repeaters.

Some of those LAPD scanner feeds sound like crap too. It reminds me of the cheap SSB CB radios with a locked clarifier. Good luck trying to get more than two people on the same frequency. Many of the mobiles sound like they're out of tune from each other. P-25 sucks. Most of the city police departments up in San Mateo county went back to using their 488 mhz analog radios...

 

[Radio_Lady]

An outdoor UHF antenna would vastly improve your reception. A 450 mhz ham antenna should work like gang busters on the LAPD's 480-500 mhz systems. Point that beam at their repeaters on Mt Lee or Mt Wilson and you should hear everything but a few low power simplex walkie-talkie channels.

Some of those LAPD scanner feeds sound like crap too. It reminds me of the cheap SSB CB radios with a locked clarifier. Good luck trying to get more than two people on the same frequency. Many of the mobiles sound like they're out of tune from each other. P-25 sucks. Most of the city police departments up in San Mateo county went back to using their 488 mhz analog radios...

I agree with just about everything you say, cousinkix, except for the Mt Wilson part. LAPD doesn't have anything on Mt. Wilson that I'm aware of. The primary dispatch and bureau and citywide tac frequency sites are Oat, Lee, Baldwin Hills, San Pedro Hill, and Elysian, and the mis-named division "simplex" repeaters are at the division stations in most cases. All of just about everything has alternate sites available too.

Here is my problem, when listening to the LAPD, SOMETIMES it comes in, crisp, loud and clear and its great. THen other times, like tonight, on and off, its impossible to hear anything. The bars don't totally light up and the voice transmissions cut in and out. I know for fact that in the field the officers/dispatchers don't have this problem.

Oh yes, they most certainly do have that problem, but usually not quite as bad as with some scanners. But after eight years of putting up with it daily, one's ears get somewhat attuned to it when the sound goes to pot like that. BT, DT

I've heard that the new XTS5Ks and XTL5Ks being phased in have better overall signal quality than the Astro Sabers. And it doesn't hurt any to have a real mobile radio with 10 to 45 watts instead of a 2-watt portable that's been slid in and out of ConvertaComs for ten or fifteen years!

 

[cousinkix1953]

From just looking at the RR map, it sounds like he's gonna be better off with an omni-directional ground plane instead of a beam. Those repeater sites are in too many directions for his general location. Hitting them all would require an array of beams and several feeds of coax cable. Those could be hooked to an antenna switchbox; but he can only listen to one site at a time...

 

[todd818]

LAPD doesn't have anything on Mt. Wilson that I'm aware of. The primary dispatch and bureau and citywide tac frequency sites are Oat, Lee, Baldwin Hills, San Pedro Hill, and Elysian, and the mis-named division "simplex" repeaters are at the division stations in most cases. All of just about everything has alternate sites available too.

100% correct RL. Nothing on Wilson.