BCD396T/EDACS Issue

[Pipetoad]

Upon receiving my BCD396T, I programmed it using RadioReference and the ARC 396 Basic software. All of the systems worked fine, including the City of Allentown PA’s EDACS system. I actually deleted the Allentown EDACS system and re-entered it without any problem at least twice. Last Sunday I added a number of talk groups to the Allentown system using ARC software. As soon as I did so, the scanner stopped receiving the Allentown EDACS system in trunking mode. If you manually step through the channels, the scanner is receiving signals conventionally. So far I’ve done the following without success in resolving the problem:

• Deleted the system from the ARC profile, recreated it and uploaded back to the scanner.
• Initialized the scanner’s memory and then uploaded a new version of the Allentown EDACS sight.
• Verified that the correct frequencies are loaded in the scanner and that the LCN assignments are correct.
• Display shows NFM.
• The system is not locked-out.
• I increased the channel delay time to 4 seconds.
• Changing from ID scan to ID search had no effect.
• I-Call is set to “on”
• EDACS ID format is set to Decimal whish is the format for the talk groups I imported.
• None of the frequencies are lock-out.
• None of the call groups are locked out.
• Proper quick key is selected.

I’m baffled and would appreciate any suggestions. Note that the radio is receiving a Motorola trunking system in the adjacent town with no problems, so I don’t think the radio is the problem. I think it's the user!

Many thanks!

 

[Skud]

if you manually hold on the Primary control LCN, does it show the Site infomration on the screen? That would show if you are receiving a signal.

 

[karldotcom]

I had a similiar problem in CA.....I figured out that I loaded my new trunk system without deleting the old one...and it was tracking both and giving me no results at all. Double check what systems are in your scanner....

 

[RoninJoliet]

Just thinking out-loud, my Edacs here is a "Edacs Standard"=Wide not narrow, so it shows "FM", if i set my ID hold time to "4" sec then i miss calls cause Edacs is not like Motorola it skips to freqy after freqy on transmissions, just some thoughts....

 

[Pipetoad]

I checked last evening and the Allentown EDACS system is not loaded twice. I changed the ID hold time to the default - no success. However, I've discovered via manual mode that the radio is not recognizing the control channel, even though all of the correct frequencies are being scanned. If you scroll to a talk group ID, it continuously attempts to acquire the control channel without success. Further thoughts will be appreciated and thanks for your suggestions!

 

[loumaag]

I checked last evening and the Allentown EDACS system is not loaded twice. I changed the ID hold time to the default - no success. However, I've discovered via manual mode that the radio is not recognizing the control channel, even though all of the correct frequencies are being scanned. If you scroll to a talk group ID, it continuously attempts to acquire the control channel without success. Further thoughts will be appreciated and thanks for your suggestions!

It is not clear from the above quote if you are actually receiving the control channel. When you step through the programmed frequencies in <HOLD> mode, do you actually hear the CCh? And if you do, does it report being the correct LCN (does it match what you have it programmed as?) If you don't hear it recheck the frequencies one more time comparing them to the DB entry here on RR. If they still match, then perhaps it is time for a custom search through the 800 MHz band looking to see if they have added a frequency, it would not be first time a system has changed.

 

[Pipetoad]

I'm can "hear" the data channel but the scanner does not recognize it as a trunking system and it is not showing any data. I can hear the Allentown EDACS system on my old scanner so I don't think the problem is related to a frequency change. Thanks!

 

[Pipetoad]

Looks like we fixed it! When you download Allentown EDACS from RadioReference, it assigns it a system type of EDACS Narrow. It's apparently EDACS Standard! Thanks, everyone, for your help!

 

[loumaag]

Looks like we fixed it! When you download Allentown EDACS from RadioReference, it assigns it a system type of EDACS Narrow. It's apparently EDACS Standard! Thanks, everyone, for your help!

You should notify Butel of this problem.