Antenna Recommendations

[AreDeeIndy]

Hi all, purchased Uniden BCD996P2 for wife for Christmas, since we're new to this I found Radio Reference in an attempt to get started, also purchased ARC-XT software to program the scanner, SEEMED to have everything in place but it seems I cannot receive a thing due to the factory antenna being inadequate. I live in Indianapolis (Marion County) about ten miles from the center of the city...looking for a good antenna but our housing association frowns on tower antennas, I'm assuming a portable one would work, if so, which ones? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

 

[popnokick]

Not certain what “tower antenna” means to you but I know the way it is going to be taken by most RR readers here. But first a more basic question: Can you or not have an antenna outdoors? The answer to that wiil produce more appropriate responses to your request in this thread.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Hi & welcome to the RR forums:
Assuming the Indianapolis Department of Public Safety TRS is of interest, this system contains simulcast cells & the antenna is most likely not the issue here. With that being the case you may experience a phenominon known as simulcast distortion while monitoring with your 996p2, perhaps the most discussed issue on these forums. In a simulcast system, a site is not a single transmitter at a specific location, but rather a collection of transmitters spread out over a certain area that all transmit on the same frequency at the same time. It's all those signals coming from different transmitters in close proximity on the same frequency and out of sync with each other that cause most scanners to lock up, stutter, miss transmissions, etc. Ultimately the only scanners designed to mitigate the effects of simulcast distortion are the Uniden SDS100 (portable) or SDS200 (base). Yes they are the most expensive but they do the job right. There are a number of workarounds for other scanners mentioned in the wiki I linked but they work in very few cases

 

[Ubbe]

The standard procedure are to begin checking the NOAA reception. If that's bad then you are in a bad spot and need a lot better antenna higher up above ground.

/Ubbe

 

[bearcatrp]

Not knowing much of that radio, best thing is to shut off all services but one, say police, and see what you hear. othersise, see if you can hear WX transmissions. I have a SDS200 and don't know if the menu is the same.

 

[AreDeeIndy]

Not certain what “tower antenna” means to you but I know the way it is going to be taken by most RR readers here. But first a more basic question: Can you or not have an antenna outdoors? The answer to that wiil produce more appropriate responses to your request in this thread.

Thank you for your reply, here’s what I’d like to have but the housing association would probably frown on it as I’d have to mount it on a pole presumably.
Harvest Wireless D130 25-1300MHz Discone Wide Band Base Antenna https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010N3UI2S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_JEBVD9MTDDYZ77809EAN

 

[AreDeeIndy]

The standard procedure are to begin checking the NOAA reception. If that's bad then you are in a bad spot and need a lot better antenna higher up above ground.

/Ubbe

I can get NOAA, and I’ve picked up some air traffic, but otherwise not much.
Another issue is I know there’s a way to monitor only the freq’s I’ve programmed but after it goes through those it continues scanning outside what I’ve programmed.
I’m totally new to these scanners, been reading the manual and am a bit frustrated but that’s fine because trial and error is how you learn…I just don’t know anyone personally that I can lean on for guidance.
Thank you for replying.

 

[AreDeeIndy]

Not knowing much of that radio, best thing is to shut off all services but one, say police, and see what you hear. othersise, see if you can hear WX transmissions. I have a SDS200 and don't know if the menu is the same.

Thanks for the info, I’ll give that a try!

 

[trentbob]

Hi, welcome to radio reference. As has been said here, the system of Interest for you is a simulcast system and will be difficult to pick up with a non simulcast capable radio. If you look at the system itself that W3JMC linked to it even says if you are having a problem picking up the system read this. It's an article about simulcast distortion that he provided also.

A better more efficient antenna might even complicate the problem even more as you will be picking up more sites that are simultaneously transmitting what's your radio is calling for interfering with picking up anything

I assume you are past the 30 day return policy, otherwise you could return the radio and pay more money for a simulcast capable radio.

Use your favorite search engine to help you with this, one of the things you might be able to do is mount a directional or yagi antenna on a floor lamp or hat rack or tripod, using about 25 feet of low loss coax or cable you would be able to move this antenna around near a window. The idea is to point the antenna and try to isolate one site. Can be very tricky and it does receive behind the antenna also a little bit.

It's kind of a costly experiment but it could work because of the mobility of the antenna.



This is not a yagi antenna or directional antenna, this is a ground plane but I am showing you this picture to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, this is an old picture when I had a backup antenna for my rooftops that I could move around anywhere near the window to improve reception.

 

[popnokick]

For a relatively inexpensive yet directional antenna, you may want to try one of these $15-$20 TV antennas mentioned in this thread. The last poster in the thread wrote that they are even getting good results with simulcast transmissions -
Best $15 Scanner Antenna - By Accident

 

[AreDeeIndy]

Hi & welcome to the RR forums:
Assuming the Indianapolis Department of Public Safety TRS is of interest, this system contains simulcast cells & the antenna is most likely not the issue here. With that being the case you may experience a phenominon known as simulcast distortion while monitoring with your 996p2, perhaps the most discussed issue on these forums. In a simulcast system, a site is not a single transmitter at a specific location, but rather a collection of transmitters spread out over a certain area that all transmit on the same frequency at the same time. It's all those signals coming from different transmitters in close proximity on the same frequency and out of sync with each other that cause most scanners to lock up, stutter, miss transmissions, etc. Ultimately the only scanners designed to mitigate the effects of simulcast distortion are the Uniden SDS100 (portable) or SDS200 (base). Yes they are the most expensive but they do the job right. There are a number of workarounds for other scanners mentioned in the wiki I linked but they work in very few cases

Well isn’t THAT a bummer! 🤦‍♂️
I didn’t know this would be an issue, I tried to read a lot of reviews from those who purchased various scanners and this one SEEMED to be a good bet…hey, I know very little about all of this but ya gotta start somewhere…I doubt I can send this one back as I purchased it in early December for a Xmas gift for my wife…she loves listening to a scanner app on he iPad but felt she was missing out on things that a proper scanner would offer.
I really appreciate your commenting, I don’t have anyone who is into this hobby to lean on so…
Thanks again!

 

[AreDeeIndy]

Hi, welcome to radio reference. As has been said here, the system of Interest for you is a simulcast system and will be difficult to pick up with a non simulcast capable radio. If you look at the system itself that W3JMC linked to it even says if you are having a problem picking up the system read this. It's an article about simulcast distortion that he provided also.

A better more efficient antenna might even complicate the problem even more as you will be picking up more sites that are simultaneously transmitting what's your radio is calling for interfering with picking up anything

I assume you are past the 30 day return policy, otherwise you could return the radio and pay more money for a simulcast capable radio.

Use your favorite search engine to help you with this, one of the things you might be able to do is mount a directional or yagi antenna on a floor lamp or hat rack or tripod, using about 25 feet of low loss coax or cable you would be able to move this antenna around near a window. The idea is to point the antenna and try to isolate one site. Can be very tricky and it does receive behind the antenna also a little bit.

It's kind of a costly experiment but it could work because of the mobility of the antenna.

View attachment 115824

This is not a yagi antenna or directional antenna, this is a ground plane but I am showing you this picture to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, this is an old picture when I had a backup antenna for my rooftops that I could move around anywhere near the window to improve reception.

Thanks much for the info…yep, bought the scanner in early December for a Xmas gift, thought it would be a good fit…talk about a humbling deal, I’ve been trying so many things and researching fixes meanwhile my better 1/2 continues to listen to her free scanner app on her iPad 🤦‍♂️🤣

 

[AreDeeIndy]

For a relatively inexpensive yet directional antenna, you may want to try one of these $15-$20 TV antennas mentioned in this thread. The last poster in the thread wrote that they are even getting good results with simulcast transmissions -
Best $15 Scanner Antenna - By Accident

Thanks much, I’ll consider all avenues at this point!

 

[Nascar18]

Do you have the Hoosier trunk system or the Indianapolis Department of Public Safety trunk system programmed in your 996P2?
Some times less antenna is better in a simulcast area.

 

[Nascar18]

Looking over the Indianapolis Department of Public Safety trunk system it has 2 sites for the Marion County.
Marion County Public Safety (System 1) is the one I would try to receive. They transmit 100 watts so you should hear something. Is your programming correct??

 

[AreDeeIndy]

Do you have the Hoosier trunk system or the Indianapolis Department of Public Safety trunk system programmed in your 996P2?
Some times less antenna is better in a simulcast area.

Yes, along with the “Talk Groups”

 

[Nascar18]

Do you know if you are hearing the "control channel" in the Safe-T sites or Marion County Public Safety (System 1) site?
Because the control channel is everything to receiving a trunk system. Everyone like to blame "Simulcast distortion" for most of the scanner problems today but if your not receiving a 70% decode on the control channel your not going to hear that site.
Just because you import a system with Radio Reference it doesn't mean your going to receive most of the sites. A lot of trunk systems have "statewide TG's" in a site so you don't need to receive a bunch of system sites.

 

[AreDeeIndy]

Do you know if you are hearing the "control channel" in the Safe-T sites or Marion County Public Safety (System 1) site?
Because the control channel is everything to receiving a trunk system. Everyone like to blame "Simulcast distortion" for most of the scanner problems today but if your not receiving a 70% decode on the control channel your not going to hear that site.
Just because you import a system with Radio Reference it doesn't mean your going to receive most of the sites. A lot of trunk systems have "statewide TG's" in a site so you don't need to receive a bunch of system sites.

Thank you for replying, sorry I’m just seeing this, apologies.
As a newbie to this I’m not sure if I’m hearing what you’re asking…I’m Seeing things like “Indianapolis Metro Tactical” which has several channels like “IMPD - East 1A Tactical”…I also have ”Marion Fire/EMS/Homeland Security IDPS Paging”…in addition I have Indiana State Police, Beach Grove PD, and Hendricks County programmed.
Someone mentioned using a simple TV antenna which we have one, had to purchase an “F” connector to attach it to the scanner, just did that this evening and no help so far.
wondering if a call to Uniden for direction might help as I’m beginning to see this unit as a $400 paper weight, LOL!

 

[Nascar18]

Do this start the scanner put the scanner in manual and scroll through all the channels. When you get to a trunk system control channel look for a SID number and how many signal bars you get. You can also turn down the squelch and listen for the machine gun sound when hitting a control channel.

 

[AreDeeIndy]

Here’s an example of what I’m seeing on a trunking channel