Returning newby

[griswob]

Hi, I'm sort of a returning newby. I've had radio scanning as a hobby for about 25 years. I've been away for several years and the new Pro96 sat around for about 3 years doing nothing. Now that I'm retired I decided to take up the hobby again. Rebanding came as a suprise. I re-programmed the Pro 96 and was able to receive most of the cities around me ( I live in Thornton ). However no matter what I try I can't receive Thornton.
In looking through the forms I ran across info on a possible shift to 700 mhz. Is this true? Will I have to buy a new scanner? If so what do you reccomend for my area?
Thank you for your help.

 

[jimmnn]

Yes Thornton is simucast 700MHz site but you can still receive most of the Adams County and Thornton traffic using Mtn Thoroton, Lookout Mtn or Mead control channels which all remain 800MHz.

Welcome back to the hobby!

Jim<

 

[griswob]

Returning Newby

Thanks for the fast reply. The only site I have'nt loaded is Mead. I'll give that a try, le know back.

 

[griswob]

Returning Newby

Jimmnn I loaded Mead and still no Thornton. I fear they have gone 700 mhz except for overflow traffic. Recomend any 700 mhz radio? GRE psr500 or Uniden BCD 396T? By the way I do get the bulk of Adams county. Commerce City, Adams Sheriff, Northglen etc.

 

[captaincraig44]

I'm getting Thornton PD off of Mt. Thorodin (853.975 CC) on 800MHz channels right now.

 

[scanlist]

There are areas of Thornton where Thorodin is completely trashed by cellular interference especially along N. Washington street and, Ironically, around the Thornton city and PD complex at Thornton Parkway.

Unfortunately you will NOT hear Thornton anything on Mead, Lookout or Squaw sites as the CCNC folks have blocked them from those towers again after rebanding was completed.

Personally I would go with the PSR-500. One for the fact that the radio is not deaf. The other is that it will track Denver public safety when they switch over to EDACS ESK in the coming months.

Phil.

 

[griswob]

Returning Newby

Hello again, The cell problem might be the problem. My location is near 120th and Colorado blvd. I have Mt Thoroden CC 853.975 loaded also TG's 11, 12, 13, 29,30 still no Thornton. I'm puzzled?

 

[captaincraig44]

Hello again, The cell problem might be the problem. My location is near 120th and Colorado blvd. I have Mt Thoroden CC 853.975 loaded also TG's 11, 12, 13, 29,30 still no Thornton. I'm puzzled?

I don't remember if the 96 will give you a % of decoded data if you hold on a CC or not. Or, have you taken a look at Win96 to see what your decode rate is? That could tell if there is a problem with reception due to a nearby cell tower. Have you tried it while mobile, away from your home location? Try to do what you can to determine if there is cell interference or if by chance it's a bad radio. It can happen my PSR-500 went completely deaf a month ago. It acted like the attenuator was on, even though it wasn't. Sent it off and got a new one and it's rockin once again.

 

[Todd-NG]

Hello again, The cell problem might be the problem. My location is near 120th and Colorado blvd. I have Mt Thoroden CC 853.975 loaded also TG's 11, 12, 13, 29,30 still no Thornton. I'm puzzled?

I have problems with my Pro-96 and Pro-2096 when I am in the area of 120th and Colorado Blvd. I'm real sure that the interference is from the cell phone site on top of the bank building that is just north of the Arby's in the Mission Trace shopping center. I live in Northglenn and monitor both Northglenn and Thornton PD's. The addition of the 700Mhz sites in the area has not made much (if any) difference in the amount of radio traffic that I receive from the Mt. Thorodin 800Mhz site. One thing that you might want to try is locking out all of the CC's except for the Mt. Thorodin site. This will force the radio to monitor just the one CC which has worked well for me. Using one radio with 4 CC's being monitored and a second radio with just 1 CC, I found that the radio monitoring just one CC out performed the other by a big difference. At times the radio with 4 CC's would miss up to the first 8 to 9 words of a transmission, (which in some cases is the entire radio transmission). Also, as Craig suggested, try the radio away from your home area to see if it works any better. If you are still having problems and would like to meet up with me just send me a PM with your phone number so we can make arrangements. I'm not too far away, I'm here in the area of 118th and Washington.

 

[utlchris]

Griswob,

Probably just a location thing. I'm just a little east of 128th/Colorado and have a real hard time with Thorodin. As a mater of fact the 700's are not much better. They show a great reception level but cut out quite a bit. Sometimes wonder if the front end of the radio might be over powered from the tower at 136th/Colorado.

I also found it to be true to just program in one or two CC's. If I had any more I really missed a lot of traffic or did not receive any at all.

If you decide to go with a new radio you might try the PSR-500. If I were looking to buy know I think that would be the one I would go with. Not only because it can do ESK, but I would also like to see how it handles Thornton on the 700 MHz system.

You can also monitor the North East Metro agency feed at www.scancolorado.net I feed that and Thornton is always on.

Good Luck!

 

[griswob]

First I want to thank all of you for your kind help. I've basically done every thing you've suggested and your all correct. My digital conversion for Thorodin was 0% or 52%. As I moved around the house I found a location that I could get 80% to 96% an lo and behold Thornton services. It would however drift after awhile and lock onto Squaw Mtn. I locked out all CC's but Thorodin and it's worked well ( Conversion % still wavers occasionally ) Again thanks for your help!!