Listening to IDPS outside of Marion Co

[KC9WWJ]

I live in Hancock County, just east of Indy. I would like to be able to clearly pick up IFD, IMPD, etc, out here. When I am actually in Indy, my Pro-106 hears them just fine. But as soon as i get home its nothing but distorted audio.
To my understanding, its the fact that there are so many towers in Indy, and that Im on the fringe of a couple of them, which is overloading my scanner. Now my question is: if I were to buy a directional/yagi antenna, and point it at 1 of the nearest towers, would that help to eliminate the distortion and choppiness? Or would i just be throwing money down the drain?

[W9BU]

It's probably not an overload situation if you are on the fringe of the towers.

The problem with IDPS and similar simulcast P25 systems is that if your receiver is hearing the data streams from two or more towers at relatively equal signal strength, the low-cost receivers and decoders we get in consumer-grade scanners can't sort out which data stream to decode. The usual solution in this situation is to use a directional antenna so you can improve your reception from just one tower.

On the other hand, it could just be your location. The nearest site to your home is at Southeastway Park, I believe. It may be that you just aren't receiving that site well enough to reliably decode the signal. If that's the case, an omni-directional antenna may solve your problem and improve your reception of other 800 MHz trunked systems, too.

What antenna are you using now? How high is it above grade? Are there any buildings or other obstructions in the near field of your antenna? What feedline are you using between the antenna and your radio?

[KC9WWJ]

Well I am northeast of that park. I actually built a yagi last night out of coathangers and a piece of wood. I went cheap on the coax though, RG6. But, im picking it up clearly about 1/2 of the time now. But since i know the location of the tower now, i may try getting it up above the roof, and point it southwest.

And, as far as obstructions go, I live in a fairly wooded area, with some good size hills too. But i live on the top of one of the hills. Ive got a ground plane antenna that i built, about 25 feet. Its in my shack photos. Thats now just for my 2 meter radio though, Indy was way too distorted with that. So I may try moving my homemade yagi up closer to the top of it, and if i still get some distortion after that, do you think buying an antenna would fix that? because i did just kinda throw this one together.

[KC9WWJ]

Just figured I would update you guys on my progress, i know it has been a while.

With overload and simulcast in mind, I ended up building a shield for this yagi. i made it out of 4x10 ductwork, coated inside with rubber sealant, one layer of foil, and another layer of rubber sealant. I have the yagi in there now, and as long as it is pointed at southeastway park, i pick up indianapolis clearly 100 % of the time. Im lovin it! I will eventually get this mounted up in the attic point southwest towards the tower.

You can see the results here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25cSHe8DSqM

[GTO_04]

It will be interesting to see if the new 396XT update improves reception of IDPS outside of Marion County. Since it improves P25 decoding it may actually help. I have not had a chance to apply the update but will be doing so very soon.

GTO_04

[W9NES]

Gentleman, I did firmware updte on the Uniden 396XT and it now does great on IDPS for IMPD,Fire, EMS along with Speedway and others. The update was very quick for the computer. Just waiting for updated firmware for the Uniden396Tand the 996T. Does great on the Northwest Side in the area of 79Th and MichiganRoad. No outside antenna needed. GTO04, You are welcome here anytime to hear the difference.

[milf]

Just my two pennies, but I was picking it up OK in Arcadia on 800 MHz rubber ducky with my PRO-96. From Westfield, and Noblesville GREAT.