Weak reception of Madison County 800MHz on Pro 651

[AD227529]

I'm hoping someone on here can give me some suggestions. I recently purchased a Radio Shack Pro 651 handheld scanner, basically a newer version of the old Pro 106. I live in Richmond and wanted to monitor the Madison County 800MHz digital trunking system. Reception where I live is terrible! The signal to the scanner on the Madison County system is almost unreadable. Horribly choppy audio to the point of not being understandable. I live just off of Bogg's Lane about a mile from the EKU campus, and not far from the hospital. I can monitor the system perfectly when I am at work (I work just off Lexington Road in Richmond, not far from the EOC tower). I can pick up the Kentucky State Police digital system on 450Mhz clear as a bell from Bogg's Lane, but not the Madison County system. Any suggestions? From Lexington Road, the signal strength is at 99%, but at Bogg's Lane it's more like 50%. I have tried a telecoping antenna and the Radio Shack 800MHz handheld antenna, and neither one made a bit of difference in the readability or signal strength over the stock antenna that came with the scanner. Are the Uniden scanners better than the GRE/Whistler/Radio Shack scanners for monitoring the Madison County digital system? I'm not sure what to try short of putting up a directional antenna on the roof, and I'm not sure that would fix the issue.

 

[unitcharlie]

Try loading just the Richmond Site into your radio (851.0375 851.3750 851.6500 852.1500 852.4000 852.8875 853.5000 853.9000 856.4875 857.4875). Make sure you enter all of the freqs , it will scan a little more slowly, but sometimes this system does strange things to scanners... The system tracks well for me on both an old 396T and a PSR 500 this way...

 

[AD227529]

Thanks! Should I turn the attenuator off, or leave it on? Are there any other tweaks to the settings I can try that would improve the reception?

 

[unitcharlie]

If you use Win 500 to program your radio, plz download what you have in your scanner and let me take a look.... If you have the Madison TRS loaded in it's own "bank" you might try Attenuation and see if that helps any....

 

[josh2484]

I have the EXACT same problem monitoring this system on my 651, I've programmed the entire system, then both sites separately (north and south), no luck at all yet KPS is no problem at all.

 

[josh2484]

Well, I've had some luck programming the above frequencies manually, reception is still poor, sounds "digital" sometimes still. Still not convinced I'm picking up all traffic

 

[josh2484]

Update- I've programmed the control frequencies manually as conventional and I've had some luck. I can hear quite a lot of traffic, but sometimes it is still very "digital" I mean it cuts in and out so much you cannot understand what is being said. Getting closer! Not sure why programming as a P25 does not work. This system is very difficult. ALSO had to turn the squelch way down to receive more transmissions.

 

[AD227529]

I've not had any luck improving my reception of this system. Anybody else got any ideas? Do I just need to chuck the 651 and go with another scanner?

 

[RonnieUSA]

Copied from the database.

This system utilizes two DIFFERENT P25 (9600 Baud) Custom Trunking Tables depending on which zone is being monitored.

This requires the two zones to be programmed as two DIFFERENT SYSTEMS for most scanners.

The PSR-800 and PRO-18 can be programmed as one system, but each ZONE must have the appropriate Trunking Table entered.

The NORTH ZONE is a 10-channel Linear Simulcast Mode (LSM) system that consists of eight sites utilizing the same frequencies.
For the NORTH ZONE, use the following Trunking Table:
Base Freq: 851.0125 Mhz
Offset: 0
Spacing: 12.500 KHz
Lo Channel = 0
Hi Channel = 4095

The SOUTH ZONE is a 10-channel multi-cast system that covers the south central section of the county around Berea.
For the SOUTH ZONE, use the following Trunking Table:
Base Freq: 851.0625 Mhz
Offset: 0
Spacing: 12.500 KHz
Lo Channel = 0
Hi Channel = 4095

The Multi-site setting should be set to OFF.

It is also recommended that ONLY the control channel frequencies be programmed for each individual zone being monitored (NORTH or SOUTH).

Give this a try, and see if it helps.

 

[AD227529]

Tried that, Ronnie. It didn't make a difference in the reception. I can't believe that I'm right in the city, about a mile from EKU, and can't pick up this system, yet the KSP digital system comes in clear as a bell. Very disappointed in this scanner!

 

[RonnieUSA]

Sorry to hear that, if anyone could help You it would be unitcharlie, I would try what he suggested in post 2, and if that doesn't work try what he said in his next post.

 

[josh2484]

I've not had any luck improving my reception of this system. Anybody else got any ideas? Do I just need to chuck the 651 and go with another scanner?

I programmed the frequencies manually like unitcharlie suggested, I live further away than you, Madison Hills, and the reception is crystal clear. The problem is that sometimes the transmission sounds "digital" its broken up, kind of like 2 people trying to talk at the same time. I'm at a loss as to why this system will not work when programmed as a P25 system with the site(s) and talkgroups.

 

[josh2484]

I've finally got a good setup for this system, thanks everyone for your advice!

 

[josh2484]

I've not had any luck improving my reception of this system. Anybody else got any ideas? Do I just need to chuck the 651 and go with another scanner?

Send me a private message with your email address and I'll send you my setup using WIN 500. We live pretty close so it should work for you too.

 

[bulldog123456654321]

wendellhollon@yahoo.com

realy need the Richmond freq

 

[bulldog123456654321]

wendellhollon@yahoo.com