Thought it was the weather but for a week now the (154.220) F-1 dispatch channel has been weak & scratchy on two different scanners in different rooms in Burlington Twp.
Anybody else notice that?
Anybody else notice that?
Burl. Co. F1 Dispatch sounding bad.
- Thread starter howie38
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ACADEMIContractor
XE Services/Academi Contractor
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- Sep 25, 2015
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I’m hearing the same and I’m in Mercer Co, and with multiple scanners, just now still scratchy
Maybe one of the transmitters is out in the northern end of the county? I monitor F-1 daily from NE Philly, Western Burlington and into Camden County and I have not noticed any difference over the past week. I do notice that it appears when different companies are dispatched the frequency comes in at different strengths. For example when 229, 221 or 258 are dispatched i receive it very weak from Berlin Voorhees or Evesham. Yet somehow then 909 or 339 get dispatched, it comes in way better from the same locations. For the record F-1 has had issues since the switch to the new system. In the first weeks of the switch there were several reports of pagers not going off in the Cinnaminson - Palmyra area. When the Cinnaminson tower (behind the Rt 130 Walmart) came online that alleviated some of it but I'm sure there are other deadspots.
It's funny, I get the same thing in reverse. I'm in Dist. 30 & 90 but receive the trucks better down in Dist 22 &25 and south & eastern Burl Co.
w2xq
Mentor
The 154.22 comes off a number of different towers in the county. Garbled and noise: about a month ago the Burlington tower was found to have a bad jumper cable--feedline to antenna--at the top of the tower. I don't know if someone has yet climbed the tower.
Septa3371CSX1
Member
I monitor this channel with a VHF XTS5000 and it does come in a bit choppy but otherwise understandable.
w2xq
Mentor
For what it is worth, your blue type is unreadable.
It's fine on the standard white background, but for those of us who use dark themes it doesn't play well
I'll get my tools, you get the ladder!
Actually the voice part sounds stronger than what I get. With the exception of the static the tones come over loud & clear, but the voice volume is lower. I'm in an apartment so I try to keep the F1 volume down so the tones won't bother the neighbors, but that means that I can hardly hear the dispatcher. I'm now using a 30yr old analog to monitor the F1 without tying up the 996 digital. I'm waiting on the UBC355CLT I ordered last weekend. Maybe there's been some circuitry upgrades in the past 30 yrs that will bring in a better signal.
jaymatt1978
Member
I wonder what tower I get when I hear them in Cape May???
Got the new BC355N running now. A pain to program but sounds great. Guess the fresh, up to date electronics did the trick. Maybe not having to handle all that digital stuff helped too.
Just so you're all aware, as of this afternoon F-1 is also being simulcast on a dedicated talkgroup on the Burlington County P25 system.
w2xq
Mentor
Probably Bass River. W2XQ.com : Burlington County NJ Central Communications Towers
But it's going in and out on digital right now, analog is fine. May need some tweaking.
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