Another question from the noob

[drew5250]

First, I would like to thank the RR community for giving me advice/words of encouragement on my last post. I have my Pro-668 up and running. I'm scanning Oceanside/Carlsbad/CHP frequencies on a Motorola Phase II trunked system. Here's the link to the RR page.

San Diego County, California (CA) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

The problem I'm experiencing is my scanner audio cuts out every second or so while I'm receiving transmissions. It makes scanning rather pointless because I cant make out what's going on. If anyone has a solution to this problem, or can direct me to a thread that will solve this problem, I'd really appreciate it. I've searched online and have yet to come up with anything. I've also read Mark's easy guide for the pro-668 and haven't found anything that helps. Thanks!

 

[marksmith]

Turn off all priority settings. That is priority and weather priority.

If that does not solve it, your problem is simulcast distortion. Turn on attenuation to reduce reception to one site, or use directional antenna.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

 

[drew5250]

Turn off all priority settings. That is priority and weather priority.

If that does not solve it, your problem is simulcast distortion. Turn on attenuation to reduce reception to one site, or use directional antenna.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

Thanks Mark, I really appreciate the speedy reply and the help!

 

[marksmith]

By the way. I did not see any phase 2 in the systems you linked. All Motorola Type 2, some with phase 1 digital.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

 

[drew5250]

By the way. I did not see any phase 2 in the systems you linked. All Motorola Type 2, some with phase 1 digital.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

Ok, thought the Type two indicated Phase. I guess I was wrong, which is not surprising considering I'm on day three of the hobby. Thanks for the clarification!

 

[marksmith]

If it is phase 1 or phase 2 it will say Project 25 Phase 1 or 2.

No "Motorola" systems are phase 1 or 2 by setup. type IIIs simply a Motorola system type. Yours is the most common. However, some may use APCO digital voice over the Motorola system, which now makes them a digital system on those talkgroups identified with a D, and analog on other talkgroups.

Sent from my LG-V410 using Tapatalk

 

[drew5250]

If it is phase 1 or phase 2 it will say Project 25 Phase 1 or 2.

No "Motorola" systems are phase 1 or 2 by setup. type IIIs simply a Motorola system type. Yours is the most common. However, some may use APCO digital voice over the Motorola system, which now makes them a digital system on those talkgroups identified with a D, and analog on other talkgroups.

Sent from my LG-V410 using Tapatalk

Got it. I appreciate the clarification, the world of scanners is way more complicated than I anticipated. I'm slowly but surely learning the terminology and how to properly set up my scanner. It's working great now, thanks for the help.

 

[marksmith]

It's actually much simpler than it used to be, now that the RR database has come along


Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

 

[drew5250]

It's actually much simpler than it used to be, now that the RR database has come along


Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

That's good, otherwise I would be seriously screwed. I bought my first scanner 24 years ago when I was eight years old using money I earned mowing lawns. I forget the model number, but it was a Realistic that I got on sale from Radioshack in 1992 for $225. It was as simple as dialing the frequency, I bought a companion book with California frequencies. Radios have come a long way.

 

[kmi8dy]

try lowering the antenna by half, if that dont work lower it some more.

 

[drew5250]

try lowering the antenna by half, if that dont work lower it some more.

By lowering the antenna, are you referring to lowering the db level? I know where that is in the settings menu. I believe I have it set at the factory setting -24db? Sorry, I require patience because I'm such a noob.

 

[kmi8dy]

no, your supplied antenna when scanner was new is most likely a telescoping antenna, shorten the antenna by calapsing (sp) the segments to a shorter length. it worked for me.

 

[drew5250]

no, your supplied antenna when scanner was new is most likely a telescoping antenna, shorten the antenna by calapsing (sp) the segments to a shorter length. it worked for me.

It came with a rubber duck antenna. I replaced the factory pro-668 antenna with a BNC type antenna from an old Uniden SC200 that I had laying around. The Uniden antenna gets much better signal strength and is a bit longer.

 

[kmi8dy]

oh, ok my bad. there are really short antennas fore sale out there, like 1 or 1 and 1 1/2 inches long. there called "stubby " antennas that might work, they are like rubber duckies but rigid. it your having symocast problems sometimes it helps by using smaller antennas so you don't pick up as much signal.its explained in rr wiki.