psr500/win500 nfm or auto setting for conv PD channels?

ever since my local pd went to nfm, they sound 'quieter' on my psr500.

i have to turn volume up.

i recently noted the 'mode' setting for this 'object' in my win500 programming lists it as 'FM'

its my understanding many conventional channels have went to NFM ....

obviously i have the wrong mode and perhaps thata why it sounds quiet.

should i set my mode to NFM or AUTO for these conventional channels?

i have a few conv VHF channels and am not sure which ones are NFM and which are FM ...
so if i put it on 'AUTO' , will that cover all my bases?

next, i have some govt VHF channels that now broadcast in P25 - what mode should i set those to ???

lastly, what about UHF ? i can set to am fm, nfm, or auto.

any help is appreciated !!

I have found that Narrowbanding is softer than wideband. When the railroads switched to narrowbanding there was a drop in volume on scanners. Regardless of what you set your scanner to will not change the fact that narrowbanding will be quieter. You can still listen to a frquency that is narrowbanded using the FM designation but it won't change the transmitting radio strength. You can try checking the audio boost button for the NFM frequency but I have never found that button to do anything as far as boosting.

Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV)
Experiment and find what works for you. That is only the real true TEST

The RRDB FM/NFM only gets updated when/if someone makes a DB submission and how do we as Scannists know if a Dept did go NFM or Not, low audio could be a quiet Dispatcher, or a poor configuration by the Radio Tech's

Just because they updated their FCC license, doesn't mean they use that mode or not.

I've got some NFM agencies that it works best for me to use FM, and then others as NFM


As for Agencies who are Full-time P25, set it for P25, but do keep in-mind, there might be
a. Old Radios out there, for the Big one, where they go Analog
b. Some Frequencies are Shared. You might have P25 at One Agency, and Analog at the other...
c. Don't (Unless you need to) lock down to a Specific NAC as, see A and B above, due to multiple NAC's in use across the country on some channels, and maybe, just maybe you get that Tourist in-town for an event and you missed it, because of the wrong NAC

dizwiz said:

ever since my local pd went to nfm, they sound 'quieter' on my psr500.

i have to turn volume up.

i recently noted the 'mode' setting for this 'object' in my win500 programming lists it as 'FM'

its my understanding many conventional channels have went to NFM ....

obviously i have the wrong mode and perhaps thata why it sounds quiet.

should i set my mode to NFM or AUTO for these conventional channels?

i have a few conv VHF channels and am not sure which ones are NFM and which are FM ...
so if i put it on 'AUTO' , will that cover all my bases?

next, i have some govt VHF channels that now broadcast in P25 - what mode should i set those to ???

lastly, what about UHF ? i can set to am fm, nfm, or auto.

any help is appreciated !!

Click to expand...

noticed something oddball.

in win500 i can select fm, am, nfm, or auto for modes

howver on the psr500 i can only select fm, am - there is no nfm when i push the mode button.

obviously i use fm mode for vhf pds (even if nfm)

dizwiz said:

noticed something oddball.

in win500 i can select fm, am, nfm, or auto for modes

howver on the psr500 i can only select fm, am - there is no nfm when i push the mode button.

obviously i use fm mode for vhf pds (even if nfm)

Click to expand...

That is unusual. So the scanner itself is not allowing NFM selection. In tune mode, I don't believe it allows the NFM selection however when programming a CONV TGRP it should allow NFM as a selection.

in tune it's only FM/AM or AUTO... AUTO would be for anything else like NFM...

programming a conventional you can choose NFM or FM