Uniden BCD536HP & Jersey City PD/FD

Danny37 · Jan 12, 2018

Picked a bcd536hp scanner recently and it can't seem to pick up jersey city PD or FD on their P25 trunking system. One in awhile it picks up a transmission but then it locks on the channel and no audio passes through. I'm not out of range as far as I know, what could be the problem?

W8RMH · Jan 12, 2018

You are probably experiencing Simulcast Distortion.

Danny37 · Jan 12, 2018

That's very possible unfortunately.

I miss the simplicity of analog conventional signals.

t13one12 · Jan 12, 2018

Far from an expert, so no disrespect intended, but isn't Simulcast distortion more common on multi-site systems? This system only has a single site.

Danny - I think I recall having similar problems a few years back. I followed the steps on this site to manually adjust the decoding threshold and that seemed to work wonders for me. Maybe give that a shot?

https://wiki.radioreference.com/ind...ment#Manually_Adjusting_P25_Decode_Thresholds

WQPW689 · Jan 12, 2018

t13one12 said:
Far from an expert, so no disrespect intended, but isn't Simulcast distortion more common on multi-site systems? This system only has a single site.

Danny - I think I recall having similar problems a few years back. I followed the steps on this site to manually adjust the decoding threshold and that seemed to work wonders for me. Maybe give that a shot?

https://wiki.radioreference.com/ind...ment#Manually_Adjusting_P25_Decode_Thresholds

I was puzzled about this as I'm currently in Bayonne and hadn't been listening to them but when I turned them on with a 436, I got dead silence for an hour. Never had that occur before. I checked back and then followed t13one's advice and turned the P25 Threshold to Manual, and I'm getting them OK again.

OP, try his suggestion and see what happens.

I have to stress, I didn't change any values, just switched to manual threshold.

W2SJW · Jan 13, 2018

Jersey City may appear to the end user as 'single site', but it's far from that simple.

These are the repeater sites on just the first license alone, so he is most definitely experiencing LSM distortion:

https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?fccCallsign=WQBL368

coolrich55 · Jan 13, 2018

I have a PSR 500 and JC comes in great at all locations I've been to mostly along the river on NJ and NY sides. Furthest out in NJ was probably Rutherford or Fort Lee. And near times square. I use software for all my scanners and the 500 is set for P25 auto.

coolrich55 · Jan 13, 2018

Danny37 said:
That's very possible unfortunately.

I miss the simplicity of analog conventional signals.

No kidding right? The analog trunked systems aren't bad either but the digital trunked ones are a pain sometimes. One thing to keep in mind also when it comes to P25 not all scanners are created equal.

Danny37 · Jan 16, 2018

I used to listen to jersey city before they went digital man what a madhouse it was. Reminded me of Brooklyn in 80s. Haven't got around to messing around with settings yet but I'll definitely change the threshold setting.

Just to manual? No preset number?

ansky · Jan 16, 2018

Danny37 said:
That's very possible unfortunately.

I miss the simplicity of analog conventional signals.

Where are you located? That would help determine if simulcast distortion is really the issue. I live 10 miles away in West Orange and I can hear JCFD and JCPD loud and clear, so the signal definitely gets out. If you're located within the JC city limits then I could see distortion being a potential issue.

Danny37 · Jan 16, 2018

ansky said:
Where are you located? That would help determine if simulcast distortion is really the issue. I live 10 miles away in West Orange and I can hear JCFD and JCPD loud and clear, so the signal definitely gets out. If you're located within the JC city limits then I could see distortion being a potential issue.

I'm in Queens by the Queens center mall.

ansky · Jan 17, 2018

Danny37 said:
I'm in Queens by the Queens center mall.

Ok, so you're likely too far away to be experiencing multicast distortion. The issue is likely that the tall buildings in Manhattan are blocking the signal into your area. So you're probably just getting poor reception.

ten13 · Jan 17, 2018

We assume you have the "Law Talk" and "Fire Dispatch" services selected, correct?

ansky · Jan 19, 2018

Is JC using a phase 1 or phase 2 system?

Uniden BCD536HP & Jersey City PD/FD

Danny37

Member

W8RMH

Feed Provider Since 2012

Danny37

Member

t13one12

Member

WQPW689

Member

W2SJW

Senior Member

coolrich55

Member

coolrich55

Member

Danny37

Member

ansky

Member

Danny37

Member

ansky

Member

ten13

Member

ansky

Member

Similar threads