Suffolk County Police P25 Phase 2

[TLMP25]

Hi all,
I just programmed the Suffolk County P25 Phase 2 system into a BCD996P2. I connected the scanner to my computer with the USB cable and all data came from the RR page for this system. As far as the County Police talk groups, and MEDCOM talk groups go, when the scanner picks up a transmission, the audio cuts out making it impossible to follow the conversation. I hear the audio sounds "digital" so I know its through the system.

Does anyone know why this is happening? Close call and WX PRI are all off.

Thanks

 

[w2lie]

It's most likely due to Simulcast issues on the P25 system.

 

[TLMP25]

Oh okay, thank you. Should that resolve when the system comes off of simulcast? Also, is there anything that can be done programming wise to fix that? Thanks

 

[w2lie]

The system does not "come off simulcast". It was built with simulcast. This means that multiple transmitter locations are transmitting the same information at the same time. When you see 700 or 800 as the site in the RRDB, that is just a layer. These sites are made up of multiple transmitter locations that are synchronized and broadcast all the same info at the same time.

The problem is with propagation delay, reflection, etc, the signal from each tower does not make it to you at the exact same time. The older scanners (non SDS) have problems putting the pieces back together again if they show up in the wrong place. Too many zeros and ones in the wrong positions confuse the scanner and then the scanner can't decode the voice traffic. (This is a very simple way of putting the explanation).

Remember the days of analog TV, when you had ghosting of an image? Its kind of the same thing.

One way to overcome simulcast is to buy a radio that works well in a simulcast area, such as the SDS100, SDS200, or even a Unication pager. With your 996p2, the best options are to isolate the incoming signal so that you are only hearing one transmitter location. You can do this by only using an indoor antenna, not taking the radio mobile, and even using attenuators or even a yagi antenna to isolate the signal.

 

[w2lie]

More info:
www.scannerschool.com/session18
www.scannerschool.com/session95

Simulcast - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

 

[TLMP25]

Thanks for the information

 

[BabaDude77]

Hey everyone just a couple questions on this and the East Hampton system.
First off with this Suffolk P2 system per RR map I am within the 700 simulcast bubble being right on the CT shoreline in the Waterford/Newlondon area but can not get a signal not even one bar. I have a 325P2 with a Remtronix 800B antenna. Everything has been programmed using Freescan and the RR database with only the 700 site activated all other sites locked out due to being out of range but still not even one bar of signal.

Second is a quick one. How are fire and ems dispatched on the E.Hampton system? Are they dispatched on another system then sign on E.Hampton system? I have always wondered this as I hear them responding but never any tones or initial dispatch. As far as reception with this system its amazing I sometimes pick up E.Hampton's system better than the new CT State PD system. Sorry for the long message ran across the thread and thought I would ask.

 

[GTR8000]

First off with this Suffolk P2 system per RR map I am within the 700 simulcast bubble being right on the CT shoreline in the Waterford/Newlondon area but can not get a signal not even one bar.

The radius shown in the RRDB is not an accurate representation of actual system coverage. It's simply the only way that we are able to assign geographic coordinates and a range to cover the entirety of Suffolk County, as we are limited to using a circle. Since the county is so wide, that causes the circle to expand northwards and southwards further than the system would actually cover.

 

[nyscan00]

Second is a quick one. How are fire and ems dispatched on the E.Hampton system? Are they dispatched on another system then sign on E.Hampton system? I have always wondered this as I hear them responding but never any tones or initial dispatch. As far as reception with this system its amazing I sometimes pick up E.Hampton's system better than the new CT State PD system. Sorry for the long message ran across the thread and thought I would ask.

All East Hampton Depts are dispatched on the town wide paging frequency 453.42500 csq by East Hampton Village
After activation on UHF all comms are done on the trunk system