PRO-197 R2 D2 noise all the time!

[kf4mnd]

I have a PRO-197 digital scanner located in Savannah, Ga which I'm currently using to provide a feed here on RR. The problem that I'm having is that the scanner seems to be having a hard time decoding the digital signal, and all I hear most of the time is the signal breaking up, along with the R2 D2 noise. I get 5 signal strength bars, and the "T" pretty much stays on steady. The system that Savannah is using is a P-25 digital 700Mhz system, with several tower sites around the Sav area. I figure since the scanner is located right in the city of Savannah, that the telescoping antenna would suffice, but it didn't. The next step I took was purchasing a 800 mhz rubber duck antenna, and hooking it in line with a RS 6 db gain signal amplifier which covers the 700 mhz band. Same thing, no dice. Do I just simply need to use an outdoor discone ant or something at about 25ft? I currently have the PRO-197 set up to where it looks at all the towers instead of locking on to the one tower with the strongest signal. Is that hurting me? Maybe the 197 just does a marginal job decoding this type of system, and I just have to put up with it. Can anyone offer any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[StinkyB]

Might have some encrypted talk groups? Or the scanner is being overloaded, try turning on the ATT function, your scanner might be too close to a transmitter, that will cause some problems.

 

[fredva]

I just saw this thread. I think your problem is that you're trying to listen to a digital simulcast system. Instead of a lack of signal, you're probably getting a strong signal from multiple towers for every radio transmission. Simulcast digital distortion - The RadioReference Wiki