RF Overload? (Pro-2096)

[dwh367]

I am only 3 blocks away from the Central Dispatch in my county and 5 miles away from the Central Dispatch in an adjacent county. When either one of those agencies punches out Fire/EMS/Rescue, my scanner basically goes deaf. I can hear the A tone but when it goes to the B tone, it goes back into scan until the B tone quits and then it will stop on the channel again. Basically, I'm only able to hear to voice part of the transmissions.

Would I be correct in assuming that since the input is so close to me, and the repeaters are farther away, this is what's causing the problem? The Central Dispatch in my County uses Motorola group 4 tones and the adjacent county uses Motorola group 1 tones.

I don't have this problem with another adjacent county whose Central Dispatch is 23 miles away (they use Motorola group 3 tones.) Everything comes through loud and clear.

The antenna I'm using is a mag mount cell antenna (attached to an awning) to maximize reception our Statewide Smartzone system. If RF overload is indeed the problem, I'm glad my antenna is detuned on VHF or I wouldn't be able to hear anything.

David H.

 

[StinkyB]

Try to turn on the attenuator(ATT) on those close frequencies, that should help.

 

[Tom_G]

Most Radio Shack scanners are very sensitive in the VHF range.
Using the attenuator will definately help.
At my location, some VHF frequencies will actually sound distorted until I turn the attenuator on, and then they are as clear as ever.

 

[DickH]

Try to turn on the attenuator(ATT) on those close frequencies, that should help.

If it's still too strong with the Attenuator on, remove the antenna.

 

[DaveNF2G]

It might not be signal strength.

I notice something similar on my PRO-96, but it's related to the audio frequency of the paging tone. The very low tones (349.0 Hz and that range) send the scanner back into scan mode if they are long, or they just get muted if they're short.

I believe the lowest audio tones might be confusing the CTCSS circuitry in the PRO-96/2096 models.

 

[SLWilson]

PL tone

I am only 3 blocks away from the Central Dispatch in my county and 5 miles away from the Central Dispatch in an adjacent county. When either one of those agencies punches out Fire/EMS/Rescue, my scanner basically goes deaf. I can hear the A tone but when it goes to the B tone, it goes back into scan until the B tone quits and then it will stop on the channel again. Basically, I'm only able to hear to voice part of the transmissions.

Would I be correct in assuming that since the input is so close to me, and the repeaters are farther away, this is what's causing the problem? The Central Dispatch in my County uses Motorola group 4 tones and the adjacent county uses Motorola group 1 tones.

I don't have this problem with another adjacent county whose Central Dispatch is 23 miles away (they use Motorola group 3 tones.) Everything comes through loud and clear.

The antenna I'm using is a mag mount cell antenna (attached to an awning) to maximize reception our Statewide Smartzone system. If RF overload is indeed the problem, I'm glad my antenna is detuned on VHF or I wouldn't be able to hear anything.

David H.

What is actually happening to you is the PL tone being transmitted by the station is "a little off" and your scanner isn't decoding the off frequency part of the page.

This can be caused by them over-driving their tones or a couple of other things.

To verify this, simply set your scanner to FM instead of the CT setting which just allows the programmed PL to be received. See if the FM setting doesn't allow you to get the whole transmision, tones and all....

Let me know back if this corrects your issue!!! Thanks,

Steve/KB8FAR :wink:

 

[jehm1212]

I notice something similar on my PRO-96, but it's related to the audio frequency of the paging tone. The very low tones (349.0 Hz and that range) send the scanner back into scan mode if they are long, or they just get muted if they're short.

I have experienced this problem as well. Try turning the CTCSS code off and listening in regular FM mode. This should fix the problem unless you start getting interference from other users of the same frequency.

Now I feel stupid because between the time I typed my message and hit reply, someone basically said the same thing.

 

[dwh367]

Problem Solved

Thanks to everyone who posted their suggestions on how to resolve the issue I was having. All of them were very much appreciated. Switching the mode from CT to FM was the cure for the ailment my scanner was exhibiting.

David H.

 

[SLWilson]

No reason to....

I have experienced this problem as well. Try turning the CTCSS code off and listening in regular FM mode. This should fix the problem unless you start getting interference from other users of the same frequency.

Now I feel stupid because between the time I typed my message and hit reply, someone basically said the same thing.

No reason for you to feel stupid. We'd BOTH gone through the same exercise in futility trying to figure out wat was happening to "pages" on these scanner models.

I'd gone through that same situation with some commercial GE equipment and our repair guy had to go in and "loosen up" the PL (actually called guard tone on GE equipment) so the radio would hear paging tones on a low-band mobile....

I just used what I knew about THAT situation and you explained what YOU figured out on yours!!!! AND, either one of our suggestions would have fixed his problem....

We're all here (at least I am anyway) to learn from others and help others understand scanning and radio in general....

Steve/Gallia 911