Simulcast coming to Colorado Springs

[YoungMeezy]

Not sure if Fountain Valley is rejecting CSFD or if they removed the TG's from it. I don't know how that all works exactly. I am now able to pick up the Simulcast using my new Yagi 800 Mhz antenna indoors. I also removed Fountain Valley totally from my radio and am able to pick up City and County Fire, AMR, City PD and County SO on the simulcast but only with my Yagi antenna. Unfortunately, you may have to invest in a specialized antenna as I did.

Yeah I don't get it all either [emoji41] I do pretty good with the simulcast, in one specific location.

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[Mick]

In the last few hours TG 4620 has not shown up on DTRS Site 411 Fountain Valley when using Pro96Com.
TG 4620 has been active on DTRS Site 428.

Does anyone know if Fountain Valley is actually rejecting csfd traffic, and why?

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[icemantim8]

That is what I am experiencing as well. Now that I am able to receive the Simulcast tower(s), I am receiving all of the city and county emergency service agencies once again. I am also receiving the State Patrol, CDOT, Utilities and Roads/Streets on the Simulcast. So for right now, all is back to normal in the reception department for me.

 

[YoungMeezy]

That's awesome!

 

[YoungMeezy]

Weird. I stil get pd epso

 

[Spitfire8520]

Does anyone know if Fountain Valley is actually rejecting csfd traffic, and why?

That can only really be confirmed when someone logs the site and specifically sees that it is denying CSFD. If it is being denied, the main reason I can think of is to reduce the traffic load on the site so it can better serve the area during peak load conditions. I don't think CSFD TGs would be used in the areas the site primarily covers.

Another possibility is that is just doesn't have a radio affiliating to it. I believe radios tend to have preferred sites programmed that they try to affiliate to first. The simulcast covers pretty much the whole city where units are stationed, so it less likely that the radio will want to try to move to an adjacent site. Roaming might only happen if they are in an area that only Fountain Valley can cover well.

In the last few hours TG 4620 has not shown up on DTRS Site 411 Fountain Valley when using Pro96Com.

Any denials seen in the Affiliation Log?

 

[David628]

I’m on the north end near the chapel hills mall area and since the simulcast switch over my older BCD396T is now literally useless to monitor anything on this system at my location. It will stop on talk groups occasionally, but absolutely has no audio reception. My BCD436HP, I’m certain, isn’t picking up all the traffic either anymore. I’d say it’s only picking up around 80-90 percent of he cities transmissions. Before the switch this was the greatest area on the hill to receive everything citywide. Now, this location is absolutely horrible for digital scanner reception since the switch over to simulcasting.


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[speard]

I’m on the north end near the chapel hills mall area and since the simulcast switch over my older BCD396T is now literally useless to monitor anything on this system at my location. It will stop on talk groups occasionally, but absolutely has no audio reception. My BCD436HP, I’m certain, isn’t picking up all the traffic either anymore. I’d say it’s only picking up around 80-90 percent of he cities transmissions. Before the switch this was the greatest area on the hill to receive everything citywide. Now, this location is absolutely horrible for digital scanner reception since the switch over to simulcasting.


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Ditto. I have a several hundred dollar paperweight too. I live near East Woodmen and since the switch it get almost nothing on the simulcast.

 

[abqscan]

The folks with reception issues should try investing in a 800Mhz yagi antenna. I had the same issues when Aurora switched to a simulcast system and this simple antenna pointed in the right direction fixed my reception issue.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Altelix-80...484945&hash=item238be76dbf:g:Xo0AAOSwN6JY98AA

 

[radio]

Will this antenna work with more than 1 radio attached? And if so, what does one need to buy to accomplish that?

Thanks abqscan.

 

[abqscan]

Well, that depends if all the radios attached to the antenna are trying to listen to the same signal. If so, all you need is splitter. It can be as simple as a cable TV splitter or a multicoupler.

 

[radio]

Yes it will be monitoring Colorado Springs Simulcast. Any splitter will suffice? No amplifier needed?

Thanks

 

[abqscan]

Try a cable splitter first and find out how your results are. Far too often amplifiers are used when not needed and only cause more issues.

 

[radio]

Thanks abqscan.

 

[dakota91]

Yagi antenna

Before spending money on a yagi antenna, first map out the location of the towers in relation to your house. The only way a yagi will work is if you can point to a single tower without any other towers within +- 30 degrees. Also, if you have a nearby site that you don't point to then it can still be picked up by the yagi and cause problems. I have a yagi and it never helped me since there were other towers within the receive area further away. Also, with a yagi you will only hear broadcasts from that tower, so if no users affiliate with that tower then you might not hear their trunk group (I've read different opinions on whether or not this actually happens).

My first solution for simulcast was to install OP-25 on a laptop. It was difficult with the old method, but now it's pretty simple. If you have an old computer to use then the cost to do this is minimal. I also bought a Unication G4 once they offered the Phase II upgrade for free. I use OP-25 in my house and the G4 in my car. Both have perfect decodes and our local system uses a 10 site simulcast system.

I've attached a photo of the web front-end for OP-25. I bought a Dell 3179 hybrid laptop/tablet (on the Dell Outlet web site for $285) so the softkeys on the web interface work just by pressing on the screen with my finger. My only other expense was a RTL-SDR ($25) and a cheap omni-directional antenna ($10) In the display, Group Addr is the talk group number and the Source Addr is the radio ID of the unit talking.

 

[icemantim8]

Yagi Antenna

Hello Dakota91. Thanks for your input. I'm not sure where you are located but I'm thinking you are not in Colorado Springs. For our Colorado Springs simulcast system, I totally agree with abqscan. I invested $50 on a 4 element Yagi and it sits nice and compact on my desktop (inside my house) pointed toward the simulcast tower and it totally solved my reception issues. So for those who enjoy listening to the Colorado Springs simulcast system in particular, if you're still having reception issues you're welcome to come by my place and check out my simple setup and see if it works for you.

 

[icemantim8]

Yagi Setup in house

Here's a couple pics of my setup.

 

[Spitfire8520]

Also, with a yagi you will only hear broadcasts from that tower, so if no users affiliate with that tower then you might not hear their trunk group (I've read different opinions on whether or not this actually happens).

It depends on what your definition of a "tower" is. A simulcast site transmits the same traffic across all the physical towers that are part of that site. There is no affiliation to a specific tower within a simulcast site. That would negate the entire purpose of a simulcast being considered a single site, not multiple individual sites.

I'm not sure where you are located but I'm thinking you are not in Colorado Springs. For our Colorado Springs simulcast system, I totally agree with abqscan.

The suggestions in his post are still good to look at, especially if someone might be outside of the city to the east towards Ellicott. A yagi is a directional antenna, but it is not a laser.

 

[abqscan]

Hello Dakota91. Thanks for your input. I'm not sure where you are located but I'm thinking you are not in Colorado Springs. For our Colorado Springs simulcast system, I totally agree with abqscan. I invested $50 on a 4 element Yagi and it sits nice and compact on my desktop (inside my house) pointed toward the simulcast tower and it totally solved my reception issues. So for those who enjoy listening to the Colorado Springs simulcast system in particular, if you're still having reception issues you're welcome to come by my place and check out my simple setup and see if it works for you.

I'm exited to hear that the Yagi helped your Simulcast woes! I use a Yagi to also pick up the DIA Simulcast system. The sites are less than 5 degrees apart from each other and it works just fine to pick up this system.

 

[David628]

I bought two of these yagi antennas from eBay which solved my reception problem and both of my units work perfectly now. I live a few miles from Briargate parkway and union on the north side of town.

Search eBay for “ BR6283” and it should pop search results for the type I bought. It’s product description is “Yagi-Directional-Base-Repeater-Antenna-806-896MHz-3-Elements-6-dBd-800-BR6383”


Please note: I’m not a seller of these antennas and in no way am I affiliated with any eBay seller in any way. Just passing on my buying and scanning experience using this antenna. Buy at your own discretion.

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