<snip> I’m just using a SpectrumForce Mini Window Antenna UHF/800 With SMA in my car. It doesn’t seem to get me any better quality signal than the stock antenna although maybe it picks up signals farther off than I realize. <snip>
I tried that antenna and didn’t think much of it. That same company makes a wide band mag-mount that works maybe a
little better for 800 MHz, but definitely better for VHF/UHF which will come in handy when you travel to other parts of the state:
https://www.scannermaster.com/SpectrumForce_Wideband_Antenna_with_SMA_p/01-541327.htm
But remember, your 436 is a consumer grade scanner, meaning it lacks the sophisticated, expensive hardware and software that the radios used by public safety personnel have. Their radios are designed to work
only with their specific radio system, and work with it well. And their radios cost in the thousands of dollars per unit. Your Uniden scanner is designed to receive just about any type of radio signal or system that has ever existed, across a wide swath of the radio spectrum, and do so for a few hundred dollars. So it is a compromise receiver at best. It works particularly poorly with what is called Simulcast Modulation. Both the Washington County and PPD systems use some form of this. It just means that the same signal is being broadcast from a number of different towers, which provides a wide area of coverage. Trouble is, those signals don’t arrive at your scanner at precisely the same time because they’ve each travelled a different distance to reach you. Commercial grade radios are designed to deal effectively with this timing issue, your scanner is not. This is why the analog signal from Washington County can ‘flutter’ or ‘crackle’ or sound scratchy, even when you’re in Washington County. Or the digital signal from PPD can be garbled, broken, or just dropped altogether. This simulcast issue is highly location dependent. Sometimes a different antenna can help, particularly a Yagi type, but those aren’t usable while mobile. All I’m saying is, within the Portland Metro area where all agencies use some form of simulcast, you will struggle to consistently get a good signal with the 436 while mobile. A better antenna can help, but only so much. At home you might get a decent signal with the stock antenna. It depends on your location relative to the towers. If not then trying different antennas, such as a Yagi type, is your best bet. For digital systems like PPD there are some radio settings that can help as well.
<snip> I’m still new to having a scanner so at the moment I’m just using the zip code feature to find the channels I want and hold them. I notice even if I’m holding a certain channel it still seems to cut off the first second or two of transmission. Is this normal? I’m hoping to get the software on my computer and make my favorites list and learn a bit more about technical aspect like squelch and such.
I mainly listen to wash co sheriff since it’s my familiar territory. Do you know what makes them talk on channel one va channel two? I’ve tried to figure out what districts are but haven’t found out that info. Just would be cool to know what area they’re talking about when you hear the call signs and such.
When I work downtown I tend to listen to Portland and notice their signal has very little crackle compared to wash co. Just figured they sent a stronger signal.
You will enjoy your scanner a lot more once you’ve learned how to use the Sentinel software and created your own custom Favorites list. Zip Code scanning is just a marketing gimmick in my opinion. For one thing it relies on the location data in the Radio Refererence database, which can be horribly inaccurate. But also it causes the scanner to scan way more things than you are ever likely to want to hear, or even
can hear, causing an unnecessarily long scan cycle. You’re also likely, for instance, to be scanning both of the Portland P25 Simulcast systems (East & West), and maybe some of the fill-in sites. If you live west of say 82nd Ave, it does you no good to scan anything other than West simulcast. In fact if you live in NW Portland and you’re scanning East simulcast then you’re bound to have reception issues. These are the types of things you can easily control when you set up your own custom Favorites list(s). Not sure of the cause of your clipping issue, but scanning the wrong simulcast system for your area could be a factor. There are certain radio settings that might help as well. There have been a number of threads here on Radio Reference discussing clipped transmissions. Google is your friend there, as well as the Mark’s Easier to Read online scanner manual for the 436/537 which is a must read for a new scanner owner. You should set your squelch at 2, that seems to work well for most folks. Setting it higher could be causing clipping issues.
Mark’s Easier to read 436/536 manual:
Easier to Read BCD436/536HP Digital Scanner Manual
There’s some Washington County info in the RR Wiki:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Washington_County_(OR)
Hope that helps.
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