Finding system details

[N0BDW]

I made a video to show what it is currently doing.

https://com-agilebits-users.s3.amazonaws.com/tmp/ben/IMG_1378.MOV

 

[troymail]

... the DAT indicator only blinks on briefly occasionally. It never gets sold. Does that sound like a simulcast issue?

Yes - but it could mean other things as well.

If you are only scanning it as a single system/site (or holding on the site), you should see a fairly steady pattern of DAT - like, on for a second and then of and then right back on again. If not, the radio just isn't receiving the signal steadily enough to work well.

The first thing you need to accomplish is finding a way (location) to receive the system/site consistently. From my experience, the best/easiest way to do that is move/drive towards a transmitter site. The idea here is that if you're much closer to one transmitter tower, you are manually reducing the simulcast effects. Once you are able to do that and receive something then you can start considering options (antennas, etc.). I'm just not convinced yet that you have things configured properly yet - but it sounds like you're getting close.

 

[N0BDW]

Reviewing again it is actually the LNK indicator, not DAT that is flashing on occasionally.

I plan on hunting for a DC adapter and driving to one of the tower sites today. Will keep this thread updated. Thanks for all the help so far.

 

[N0BDW]

It works!

I drove up to the area of one of the tower sites and it picked up perfectly. Going to start working on an antenna solution so we can hear it from the fire hall.

 

[troymail]

It works!

I drove up to the area of one of the tower sites and it picked up perfectly. Going to start working on an antenna solution so we can hear it from the fire hall.

Great to hear --

So it sounds like the 536 isn't handling the simulcast very well (at all?) in your (home?) area - is that correct?

Also - which site, tower, and frequency did you determine to be the one that is working? (just curious)

 

[N0BDW]

Correct, it isn't decoding well (at all) from either the fire hall or my home (I have BCD536HPs at both locations).

Tower: https://www.google.com/maps/place/J...2!3m1!1s0x89d1418ed18cea0b:0x363045b45422bd45
Fire hall: https://www.google.com/maps/place/4...2!3m1!1s0x89d169e17ea4efcf:0xab5b80e2936da1d0
My house (close to): https://www.google.com/maps/place/L...m2!3m1!1s0x89d1684a29f9ae47:0xc1fdffafafc4121

The frequencies are 158.8275 (primary) and 155.7975 (backup).

 

[hfd26]

Hi ben, I had the same problem u did with my 436. I set mine up on a singal freq p25 system and it work on different talkgroup but no voice. I set it up on the p25 x2 tdma and got different talkgroups to work from different zones and got voice. I only programmed the control channels and it automatically updated the band plan.

 

[N0BDW]

We set up a yagi (temporarily) at the fire hall today and the decode quality meter in analyze mode went from 20-25% to 80-100%. So it seems that'll be the solution for stationary scanners. Mobile is going to be more of a challenge... Haven't figured out how to improve that yet.

This is the antenna we're using, though I'm not sure I'd recommend it:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AR0CEX4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It isn't particularly well built (holes aren't drilled straight, as an example) and it doesn't have an RF connector on it so you have to wire the coax feedline directly to it. Never seen anything like that before. But with some elbow grease it works, and seems to work quite well.

 

[N0BDW]

Much better.