CMPD on Mobile Scanner

[nloder]

I have been using a Uniden BCD436HP to monitor CMPD and Charlotte-Mecklenburg MEDIC, and the simulcast distortion is terrible! I live in south Charlotte, but the problem is persistent throughout the county.

Is there a better scanner model, perhaps with updated software, for monitoring P25 with simulcast distortion? I have tried different attenuation settings to no avail. I am considering installing an antenna and mobile scanner in my vehicle.. would that help? It seems like the handheld 436HP is sensitive to the way it is held- for example if I pick up the scanner during a transmission, it will drop out as soon as I touch it.

Any tried and true vehicle antenna and unit combinations for monitoring the Charlotte-Meck P25 system would be appreciated!

 

[JRush311]

Ive been through this already , I live in charlotte also
you wont be able to hear crap
and an antenna will not help

your only real solution is a motorola radio which is difficult
or a Unication G4 or G5 pager
the unication decodes LSM perfectly

 

[28056]

Ive been through this already , I live in charlotte also
you wont be able to hear crap
and an antenna will not help

your only real solution is a motorola radio which is difficult
or a Unication G4 or G5 pager
the unication decodes LSM perfectly

You forgot about the Relm KNG.


Not cheap, but if you need P25 phase II NOW, the only option.

 

[JRush311]

isnt charlotte phase 1?

 

[RF-Burns]

Sell the scanners and buy yourself a Unication G4/G5. Hands down it is a great preforming radio. I have mine programmed on the Charlotte UASI System and the NC Viper System. Absolutely zero multi-site distortion. Scanner manufactures have a lot of work to do because the vision of Unication doesn't stop at pagers for the future.

The other option is to buy a Harris P7100/P7200/P7300 with Option 39 (P25 Trunking) they work fantastic. Harris radios give you more control over a Unication Pager. For example on a Unication Pager you set the scan list in the programming software and you can't change it. Harris Radios you can control the scan list, turn scan on and off and so on right from the radio.

Another option is you can buy a Motorola radio. We can't talk about that on here but yes it can be done and yes they work very well. A little less control than a Harris Radio but yes it can be done.

EF Johnson 5100's are good and use all the same accessories as Motorola XTS3000s and XTS5000s so accessories are cheap. I've personally never used a 5100 for trunking but I do know people who do and they all work very well.

Lastly, if you can find a BK Radio they work very well. Very expensive and hard to find though.

All these options provide ZERO multi-site distortion. I have given up on scanners and have sold all of mine. Until Upman and Uniden step up to the plate and build what is really needed in this hobby then they will continue to fail.

(I blurred out my name on the Unication pic)

 

[28056]

isnt charlotte phase 1?

Probably.... For now. I was posting in general in case there were a phase II system that someone wants to monitor.

Be glad you can still monitor, out here the trend is moving towards heavy encryption. My city just switched over and so far all police and fire comms are 100% encrypted along with another city on the system.

 

[nloder]

Well I’m excited that there’s an option to at least allow clear reception of the Charlotte UASI. I just purchased a Unication G4 from Ray’s Pagers, and look forward to programming it! If anyone can share a program file for the Charlotte UASI system, that would be awesome...otherwise I assume there is enough info on Radioreference to program it myself.

Thanks again everyone, for the responses.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[G4guy5891]

I live in the same area and can confirm the G4 is fantastic for CMPD, CFD and Medic. You will not be disappointed with the pager. The only issue recently has been trying to connect to a Bluetooth speaker or wireless headphones. After many failed attempts I decided to purchase the amplified charger base as that has received some good reviews. Programming is pretty simple as well.

 

[RF-Burns]

Glad to hear you bought a G4. They are very easy to program, if you have any issues them please reach out.

Just a side note on the G4. I would suggest programming each site (county) as its own system. The UASI system does not use Omni-Link so if you are in Mecklenburg County and you want to listen to a call in Cabarrus County you couldn't because your G4 will be receiving the Mecklenburg County Site. Programming each county as its own system you can listen to Cabarrus County if you wanted to from Mecklenburg or another county that's within ranch of the G4. You will need to put in the System ID, RFSS (1) and Site ID for each Site.

Hope this info helps, enjoy your new pager.

Motoman55

Well I’m excited that there’s an option to at least allow clear reception of the Charlotte UASI. I just purchased a Unication G4 from Ray’s Pagers, and look forward to programming it! If anyone can share a program file for the Charlotte UASI system, that would be awesome...otherwise I assume there is enough info on Radioreference to program it myself.

Thanks again everyone, for the responses.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Soundman]

What antenna are you using on your BCD436HP ? I am using the radio shack 800 band antenna and mine work pretty good .I would love to get a g4 but don't have the cash.

 

[nwalshjr]

I have been using a Uniden BCD436HP to monitor CMPD and Charlotte-Mecklenburg MEDIC, and the simulcast distortion is terrible! I live in south Charlotte, but the problem is persistent throughout the county.



Is there a better scanner model, perhaps with updated software, for monitoring P25 with simulcast distortion? I have tried different attenuation settings to no avail. I am considering installing an antenna and mobile scanner in my vehicle.. would that help? It seems like the handheld 436HP is sensitive to the way it is held- for example if I pick up the scanner during a transmission, it will drop out as soon as I touch it.



Any tried and true vehicle antenna and unit combinations for monitoring the Charlotte-Meck P25 system would be appreciated!

I gave up on Uniden. I am now monitoring the USAI system with a Unication G5. It works almost flawlessly. There are no issues with the simulcast distortion.

It is designed more like a real radio. It has a normal volume button and a channel selector (eight positions). It also handles “priority” scanning with no problem. It beeps when you are out of range of a tower. I drove north on I-77 and was just getting to Statesville before being out of range.

I live in Huntersville. I can monitor anything in Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, and Mooresville with no problem. I have not tried to program other areas at this point.

 

[PJH]

The workaround for P25 simulcast systems (until the scanner community can make improvements) is to use a Yagi antenna at your closest site.

That seems to work very well on those system.

The Unications are great, but very pricey for single system listening.

P2 release will be awesome. I've seen demo's of it and its extremely well engineered. They are just working on some backend things to maintain the integrity of the product.

There is a major update to the USAI system that took place, with proper GPS ranges and locations set. It should be fully implemented in the next Uniden pull.

Counties outside of Charlotte were not ranged and potentially not loaded into the x36 or other location aware equipment.

 

[KD4UXQ]

The workaround for P25 simulcast systems (until the scanner community can make improvements) is to use a Yagi antenna at your closest site.

That seems to work very well on those system.

The Unications are great, but very pricey for single system listening.

P2 release will be awesome. I've seen demo's of it and its extremely well engineered. They are just working on some backend things to maintain the integrity of the product.

There is a major update to the USAI system that took place, with proper GPS ranges and locations set. It should be fully implemented in the next Uniden pull.

Counties outside of Charlotte were not ranged and potentially not loaded into the x36 or other location aware equipment.

I have setup a Yagi indoors to solve the simulcast issue in Rowan County. I receive one site full scale and transmissions are clear with 0 BER, or very close to it all the time. There are some really cheap 760 MHz ones on eBay right now, but supply is getting low The one I bought is 12dBi gain and I had to put a 6dB attenuator inline to reduce reception of the other sites. It receives 800MHz just fine as expected. The only drawback of course is not portable.

 

[nitroboie]

I've had decent luck with manually using a threshold of 7 on my 436. It's not VIPER clear but it holds an error rate in the teens at the most. Radio Shack 800mhz antenna. University Area.

 

[Baddad]

G5

I'm inside the 277 loop and get Central Division's main channel ok, but nothing else from CMPD. Which version of the G5 would ya'll recommend for stuff outside of UASI?

 

[RF-Burns]

I'm inside the 277 loop and get Central Division's main channel ok, but nothing else from CMPD. Which version of the G5 would ya'll recommend for stuff outside of UASI?

If you want to just listen to just trunked systems then the G4 is what I would recommend. If you want to hear anything on VHF or UHF then the G5 is what you would need. The trunking on both the G4 & G5 is the exact same the only difference on the G5 is the introduction of VHF/UHF

 

[kg4pbd]

I'm inside the 277 loop and get Central Division's main channel ok, but nothing else from CMPD. Which version of the G5 would ya'll recommend for stuff outside of UASI?

Which system are you monitoring? By any chance is it the old system 0F18? Central is the only CMPD division still carried on that system. If Central is all you are hearing you may be listening to the old system.

If you are monitoring the P25 UASI system, and you can hear Central, then you can hear all the divisions.

A G4 or G5 is what you would want for monitoring the P25 UASI system, as that is where you have the LSM distortion issues.

 

[Baddad]

I guess I misspoke. I'm listening to Central on the old Motorola system. I've let the P25 UASI run for hours at a time on my 396XT, but don't hear anything. LS distortion for sure. Therefore I'm looking at the G5 for the USAI system.

Other Other than UASI, I listen to the buildings & businesses around me, that aren't DMR, so I'm considering the 400-470 Mhz model.