Just wanted to give a little explanation to this system and issues monitoring. This is in fact a Linear Simulcast Modulation (LSM / CPQSK) system. What that means is that all of the towers are broadcasting the exact same data at the same time. The Harris radios that work with the system are set to only listen to whatever tower they're closest to. The problem with any scanner is that it hears all of the towers that are close enough to your location simultaneously. The scanner ends up hearing the data from multiple towers at a slightly different time and it has no idea how to decode that. (Think of being at a indoor concert and hearing the sound coming from the stage and the backwash off the walls at the same time) Because of that, the scanners (even the new ones) aren't able to figure out the signal clear enough to decode it. The only way to overcome this is to do one of two things. 1. Get your scanner near 1 tower only. (you can look on RR and see the actual tower locations I believe) 2. get a YAGI antenna for the scanner and point it at 1 tower. I have tested things and when close to a tower, my BCD396XT decodes this system flawlessly. The problem is that I don't live next to a tower. Bottom line, if you want to monitor this system with a scanner, you have to be near a tower site or get a YAGI directional antenna. The problem with this system isn't lack of signal, it's actually an abundance of signal that arrives at the scanner milliseconds apart.
Franklin County, NC P25 Banding
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kc4jgc
Member
Agree 100%!
Gcom
Member
Thank you for reply and explanation NC91. I for the most part understand the simulcast topography. The issue at hand is that the newer Uniden BCD436 /536 that is supposed to improve reception of simulcast systems will not receive the Franklin County sytem at all except for a few seconds after a change is made in the various settings that I have experimented with. Others have experienced this with the 436 & 536. I can receive it fine from my location with a GRE scanner. We were hoping to get some assistance from.Uniden associates as they were on the forum where I posted a few months ago. Another Harris system I attempted to monitor also presented what I believe to be simulcast issues with my 436 even when in close proximity to the tower.
Thank You
Thank You
I've tried a Pro-197, and a 106....no go.I tried every mobile antenna I could find, even built a Yagi to try to reject some of the other towers.....no go. I bought an HP436...Love the scanner..still couldn't get Franklin County. Totally deaf.
Good news!!!! The Uniden SDS100 is working for me! I can finally monitor my home county again. If you're experiencing simulcast issues, and are considering the new Uniden as a fix, it worked for me. YMMV.
Good news!!!! The Uniden SDS100 is working for me! I can finally monitor my home county again. If you're experiencing simulcast issues, and are considering the new Uniden as a fix, it worked for me. YMMV.
That's great news! I have had ok luck with my BCD396XT in the Youngsville area in a few spots in the house since they put in a new tower over here. Still not good and took a little tweaking. Have you tried using the new SDS100 mobile at all? I would be very interested to know if it works on the go or just stationary.
Let's just say that the 100 was tested extensively in Central NC both portable and in mobile environments to hopefully eliminate as many issues as possible.... Or so I hear [emoji1]
Marshall KE4ZNR
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Thanks Marshall (for all the hard work of whoever did that...) Do you happen to know if it was tested mobile with the LSM system we have in Franklin CO. That has been particularly difficult for all of us. I've never ever ever had issues like this with other systems. I've traveled nationwide with numerous brands of equipment but this Harris P25 LSM system has been a bear. I think it's just the LSM piece that's such a problem for Uniden and GRE stuff. Hopefully the new SDS100 has the logic needed to help. Now to start selling some stuff to fund that purchase... 
Rumor has it that Franklin Co still provided some challenges while mobile but while portable or stationary it had very few issues.Thanks Marshall (for all the hard work of whoever did that...) Do you happen to know if it was tested mobile with the LSM system we have in Franklin CO. That has been particularly difficult for all of us. I've never ever ever had issues like this with other systems. I've traveled nationwide with numerous brands of equipment but this Harris P25 LSM system has been a bear. I think it's just the LSM piece that's such a problem for Uniden and GRE stuff. Hopefully the new SDS100 has the logic needed to help. Now to start selling some stuff to fund that purchase...
Some Systems are just headaches regardless of the manufacturer name on the radio.
Marshall KE4ZNR
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I did use it mobile today, but mostly in Wake and Durham County. I did make a couple of passes between US 1 and 401 on 96. I seemed to have solid copy the whole way. I'm on the SW fringe of the county, and my other radios have all been almost completely deaf on the Harris system, so I am very happy to be hearing FC again. The difference in the display from the 436hp is also very nice for these old eyes.
I'm just west of Youngsville, so, if you'd like to check it close to your domicile, PM me your contact info. I'm sure we can work it out.
BTW, off topic but, Marshall.....I've silently absorbed and appreciated your expertise for 12 years. You, Sir, have been invaluable to my (and I'm sure thousands of others') lifelong monitoring hobby. Thank you, for all you do.
So first of all, thanks gretsch for the offer to check yours out in action. I still may take you up on that.
**HOWEVER** I have really good news. On a whim I ordered an RTL-SDR usb adapter from Amazon. (SDR stands for Software Defined Radio)
I proceeded to follow the guide at OP25 For Dummies – Or how to build a police scanner for $30 (Part 1) | John’s Tech Blog after installing Ubuntu 14 on an old laptop that I had. I will give you that the set-up isn't real straight forward but it does work if you take your time.
I now have a fully functional scanner for this dreaded P25 LSM system and I am hearing everything beautifully!
I'm sure that this may be more advanced than some want to take on but I now have a scanner that I paid $30 (plus the old laptop that I had sitting around) that rivals my xts1500 or other provisioned radios much less a $600 scanner. No it's not portable but I only really needed a base station. Feel free to reach out to me if you want to take this on yourself. It's not that hard and I would be glad to help.
**HOWEVER** I have really good news. On a whim I ordered an RTL-SDR usb adapter from Amazon. (SDR stands for Software Defined Radio)
I proceeded to follow the guide at OP25 For Dummies – Or how to build a police scanner for $30 (Part 1) | John’s Tech Blog after installing Ubuntu 14 on an old laptop that I had. I will give you that the set-up isn't real straight forward but it does work if you take your time.
I now have a fully functional scanner for this dreaded P25 LSM system and I am hearing everything beautifully!
I'm sure that this may be more advanced than some want to take on but I now have a scanner that I paid $30 (plus the old laptop that I had sitting around) that rivals my xts1500 or other provisioned radios much less a $600 scanner. No it's not portable but I only really needed a base station. Feel free to reach out to me if you want to take this on yourself. It's not that hard and I would be glad to help.
reconrider8
Member
Op25 was a beast to get running for me to say the least but I have it also and it works well I've yet to try it on a phase 2 system but good luck on the Franklin county system guys
That's fantastic. I purchased two of the dongles myself, about 3 or 4 years ago, and enjoyed playing with/learning the SDR setup. However, at that time, I believe it required 2 dongles to follow a trunked system, the learning curve was steep and constantly/rapidly changing, and the dongles suffered from drift. That option, while inexpensive and even a lot of fun if you like to tinker, wasn't the turnkey/portable solution I was looking for. The sds100 not only fit the bill for portability, and ease of use, but the upgraded display was a Godsend for these old eyes. It has gotten to the point that I just really can't see the display on my 436hp, except in the brightest light.
One of the best things about the monitoring hobby, to me, is the way that our community helps to drive the industry by continually exploring and sharing workaround options to the challenges we face with rapidly changing systems and technology. While I have no inside knowledge, I feel certain that the Software Defined Radio forum on this site had to have had an impact on the current offerings from Uniden and Whistler. I know that a large number of members here are industry insiders, and I think it's really cool that, as laymen, we get to see and even share in that development.
I guess the TL;DR to this thread is that if you are currently frustrated with LSM issues in Franklin County, SOME of your options for POSSIBLE solution are;
The (currently one) scanner feed for Franklin County PS,
A directional antenna system,
An SDR Dongle setup,
A Unication Radio,
A Uniden sds100 (CAUTION, it worked for me, may not work for you. My offer to come by and see if my radio works at your location still stands, and is extended to any one local.
Hey, I sent you a PM, let me know if you can't see it. Thanks!
SquirrelRehab
Member
Which explains why the feed has gone silent I bet. Where is the FCC page? Perhaps I need to send the link to the person that runs the feed for Franklin County.
The feed over the last few months has been so garbled... I keep hoping something will fix it...
SquirrelRehab
Member
Anyone else not able to get a signal from Franklin County since the update? The broadcast feed has this note:
Status: No signal was received from Franklin County. I will start back broadcasting when the system seems stable.
Just wondering if anyone else that monitors Franklin County is having this same issue?
Status: No signal was received from Franklin County. I will start back broadcasting when the system seems stable.
Just wondering if anyone else that monitors Franklin County is having this same issue?
I just drove through Franklin county and before I left I got all the frequencies from the fcc page. They are phase 2 now. Looks like all the talk groups are the same. I think you only need to add the frequencies 151.4675 and 155.355 to the site. They were using 155.355 as the control channel today. I added these 2 frequencies and my sds100 was picking up great.
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SquirrelRehab
Member
Thanks for that update. Glad someone is able to get the broadcast. I sent a message to the feed provider with the info you provided but he never replies to messages, so not sure if he will see it or not. The Report A Problem link is now gone since he has taken the feed offline... I guess we are out of luck for getting a broadcast feed back.
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