Monitoring Lake County P25 system with BCD325P2

[radiotec117]

I am trying to monitor the Lake County P25 X2FDMA system using a new Uniden BCD325P2 scanner. I initially programmed the radio using Freescan and the Radio Reference data import, but am not hearing much traffic on the system at all. I hear some Hammond traffic and I hear the automated fire paging announcement system, but am not receiving any other talkgroups. I suspect I am hearing the couple of limited talkgroups because they are transmitting in P25 Phase 1 mode. I have messed around with reprogramming the system as a Mot/P25, P25 Standard, and P25 one frequency control, but am not having any luck at all. What am I missing? I know radio reference has this system listed as a P25 system exclusive, but programmed this way, the couple of talkgroups I am getting are very garbled. I have previously monitored this system with a BCD436HP with no issues at all. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!!!

 

[INDY72]

No X2 at all. It is Phase II TDMA. X2 was an early attempt at TDMA by Motorola before TDMA standard for P25 was finalized by APCO. It is P25 Standard. It is an multi tower LSM system. Simulcast distortion is your problem I am 99 percent sure. In this you will have to play around with antenna, location, attenuation, and digital settings. Good luck.

 

[MarkBradley]

Same issues

Hello,I live in cedar Lake,and been messing around with my BCD536HP for over a year now,and still having problems receiving my town and the local towns,some can't get at all,or some can get one message and that is it,like they shut off. I am about to book this scanner and try another brand as I never had any issues with Uniden.
Really disappointed in this new overly expensive paper weight,as that is what it is doing now.I cannot figure the scanner out either,antenna is the same as when I monitored the Phase I with my other scanner,but nothing comes through on this one,have you figures it out yet????I am curious as you are having the same issues as I,in Cedar Lake,can't get St. John,barely Cedar Lake on Digital,like one call,and no response from the officer and that's it,silence,have you figured your out yet,
Hope to hear if you had any luck,I even bought the Provoice,no luck. So here I am,lost,even the Zip code aint worth a crap,pick nothing but Illinois crap.Thanks,Mark

 

[INDY72]

P25 LSM Simulcast Multipath Distortion. ... You will never get a perfect fix with a scanner. Check out the wiki, and literally HUNDREDS of form threads on this issue. There are several tricks that help to a point.

 

[radiotec117]

Success with BCD436HP

Mark,

The BCD325P2 was a gift for a family member and we ended up sending it back because we never could get it to receive well with this simulcast system. I have a BCD436HP and it does very well with this system. What kind of antenna are you using? I would try turning on the attenuator to reduce the amount of interference you may be receiving from competing towers. I wish I had a perfect answer for you, but unfortunately MILF is right. You will have to continue to fiddle with your audio settings, antenna type/placement, and attenuation to solve this problem. You may also try pointing a yagi antenna towards your nearest tower and try toggling your attenuation on/off to experiment for the best setting. I've heard the new Unication G5 is expected to be very good for this type of system when they come out with Phase 2 support later this year. These G5 radio/pagers are not cheap, but are built to be used by public safety, and are reported to be much better than consumer grade scanners. I don't own one, and cant offer any real world experience. Good luck and let us know if you come up with a working solution.

 

[AK9R]

I've heard the new Unication G5 is expected to be very good for this type of system when they come out with Phase 2 support later this year. These G5 radio/pagers are not cheap, but are built to be used by public safety, and are reported to be much better than consumer grade scanners.

I have a Unication G4 which is the 700/800 MHz only version (the G5 adds VHF or UHF coverage). It works very well with Indiana Project SAFE-T simulcast sites and IDPSC simulcast sites. Neither of these systems are P25 Phase 2 at this time, but it may be coming in the future. Also, Unication has P25 Phase 2 capability in active development. The Unications are paging receivers which can be used to monitor P25 systems. They are not the same as a scanner.

 

[radiotec117]

Good results with BCD436HP

I was in St. John today with two BCD436HP's and they worked flawlessly on the simulcast system. I also had an SDR running Unitrunker and was able to monitor all of the control channel traffic to make sure I wasn't missing any talkgroups. I'm happy to report that the audio was excellent and I did not miss any active talk groups. So far, I have only been successful in monitoring this system with Uniden BCD436HP radios.

 

[Ed6698]

I can confirm also the that I have been monitoring the Lake County system from the 1st day that the system came online I believe 3 years ago with both the Whistler WS1080 and 1095 flawlessly from my location, only time I have a problem is when I hear they have a problem.

 

[PGoddardSVL]

I am trying to monitor the Lake County P25 X2FDMA system using a new Uniden BCD325P2 scanner. I initially programmed the radio using Freescan and the Radio Reference data import, but am not hearing much traffic on the system at all. I hear some Hammond traffic and I hear the automated fire paging announcement system, but am not receiving any other talkgroups. I suspect I am hearing the couple of limited talkgroups because they are transmitting in P25 Phase 1 mode. I have messed around with reprogramming the system as a Mot/P25, P25 Standard, and P25 one frequency control, but am not having any luck at all. What am I missing? I know radio reference has this system listed as a P25 system exclusive, but programmed this way, the couple of talkgroups I am getting are very garbled. I have previously monitored this system with a BCD436HP with no issues at all. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!!!

Trying to get my uniden home patrol here in Munster to pick up all the channels and I am not hearing anything but one person in cedar lake once. I have updated and and turned on the groups. This scanner is brand new to me today and solely bought it to listen to Lake County and I’m frustrated.

 

[Ed6698]

Trying to get my uniden home patrol here in Munster to pick up all the channels and I am not hearing anything but one person in cedar lake once. I have updated and and turned on the groups. This scanner is brand new to me today and solely bought it to listen to Lake County and I’m frustrated.

I can help a little bit, however I am not familiar with the Uniden models. Are you trying to listen to the Lake County P25 Phase II system or the state SAFE-T P25 Phase I system that is in use in Lake County? These are 2 separate systems. Also Cedar Lake and Schererville are on the State SAFE-T system, they did not go on the Lake County consolidated system for the county.

First we need to know which Control Channel you have programed in for the Lake County P25 Phase II system. In the RR database they have a primary CC and a couple alternate CCs. I would make sure you only have the Primary CC programed in to start with, as this is the only CC Lake County has used as far as I know. I use the Primary CC of 744.71875 in my scanner. For the State SAFE-T P25 Phase I system I use the Primary CC of 853.375

Try to make sure you have these CCs programmed for each system as each system is different.

Hopefully someone that is more familiar with the Uniden scanners will also be able to provide you more guidance.

 

[LS101]

I have the BCD966P2 on the countywide system i have mine set to "ID Search" and it picks up everything,all of the Lake County towns except Cedar Lake and Schererville which is on the SAFE-T (P25) System and on that one i have it set to "ID Scan. I live here in Cedar Lake and everything comes in really clear. might just need to change your settings ?