so hi again i'm very new to the hobby so please don't mind my stupid questions i've got my scanner set up and everything works great but the east bridgewater fire department comes in very noisey is the best way i can describe it and the female dispatcher volume is so low i can never understand anything se is saying now the fire depart is not far away from me prolly only a half a mile i gotta believe that they can hear each other better than i can hear them otherwise building would never survive this whole town would be a big charred graveyard lol. so can i assume that the problem is my antenna? i have my sdr dongle hooked up to my pc and it has a different set of antenna and its still so low and noisy i can't understand 90% of what they are saying.
east bridgewater fire department
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tvengr
Well Known Member
Which scanner are you using? Some scanners have a volume offset on each frequency and talkgroup to compensate for situations such as that. Is that 453.5375? Is the Mode set to NFM? It is often a dispatcher problem. A bad headset or the microphone gain set too low can cause that problem.
i have a whistler 1065 , and yes thats the frequency im pretty sure its set to nfm i know my sdr i set to nfm and it sounds the same. i guess what i'm asking is in general whether its the FD or the PD or whoever they seem to have no problem communicating and understanding each other and sometimes i struggle to tell if there even speaking english its distorted or low volume other times it comes in crystal clear so is it me or them? and if its me how can i fix it lol
tvengr
Well Known Member
Sounds like an intermittent headset problem. It is possible to use speech inversion to encrypt an analog signal. Can you understand the audio at all?
They're not using speech inversion.
ecps92
Member
Apparently their own customers don't have an issue. (ie: Fire Apparatus)
which is likely they are regularly adjusting their volume controls, where-as we hobby folk
tend to set and expect it to work in all noise environments.
ecps92
Member
See post #2 for the potential solution - it may/maynot work for you
I had something going on today that required me to be out of my house for a couple hours while work we being done. I drove down to E. Bridgewater with my trusty 325P2. EBFD is programmed in and I set it to hold on that frequency. I took the PL off and set audio type to "All." I also turned on Close Call.
Over the hour or so I was there, all I received was the unlicensed school department frequency which is 453.0375. Not a peep on the EBFD channel. Since I was sitting in a parking lot directly across from the station I'd have been able to see if they were going out on a call.
My conclusion is that EBFD isn't very busy.
Over the hour or so I was there, all I received was the unlicensed school department frequency which is 453.0375. Not a peep on the EBFD channel. Since I was sitting in a parking lot directly across from the station I'd have been able to see if they were going out on a call.
My conclusion is that EBFD isn't very busy.
so my buddy is a eb cop an i asked him about it and his response was that it is low and the fd actually broadcast from the police department wich isnt that far away but i told him to tell her to turn her volume up it sounds like we have a mouse doing the dispatching for the fire department
Reminds me of the dispatcher for that van pool group on the ICE system. One of them has a really high pitched voice, completely caught me off guard the first time I heard her LOL
It's funny the little quirks you pick up on, too. Attleboro FD sounds like they dispatch from the middle of an empty gymnasium (echooooo), Newton PD is loud as hell and has this metallic pinging noise in the background.(Wrentham PD too but not as bad) It could just be my scanner but I can immediately tell it's them without looking.I think they're the only negative volume offset on my scanner..
Newton PD is at a different level. Aside from the signal you can hear clear down to Fall River, the audio is loud and it is often distorted.
It is not setup well. I can't speak for Wrentham, but I remember Quincy Fire also being loud as well.
It is not setup well. I can't speak for Wrentham, but I remember Quincy Fire also being loud as well.
ecps92
Member
sometimes it can be that single dispatcher. Weymouth Fire the audio is generally fine, but from time-time on the overnight the dispatcher goes into Whisper mode. now many of us know that the Apparatus just up the volume as needed. Me? not getting out of the warm bed, to only have to re-adjust when the Dispatcher decides to NOT whisper
Newton's issue isn't a dispatcher. It is how their radio system is setup.
So back on topic here, listening to East Bridgewater fire, the dispatcher's mic gain is down some. Is it incredibly low? No, but it probably could be adjusted. To the poster, if your scanner allows, set the volume offset in the positive direction for EBFD and that should solve it for you.
EDIT So I just heard a second response and can hear what the OP is saying. The noise floor was high and the woman sounded like she was on the other side of the room.
They could probably stand to have their radio shop come and adjust the mic gain some.
EDIT So I just heard a second response and can hear what the OP is saying. The noise floor was high and the woman sounded like she was on the other side of the room.
They could probably stand to have their radio shop come and adjust the mic gain some.
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