cant get a signal at my house

[Joshheartbrake]

i live in north beach maryland and i cannot get a signal on my uniden BCD325P2 around my house, but whevener i drive a few streets down . i get a perfect signal through out the rest of the entire county!!! i took my scanner to radio shack and he reprogrammed it for me and i even got a really good antenna and there is still no change!!!! evry where i get a perfect signal but that one spot,,,, but everyone else around my area says they get a fine signal with there scanner in north beach,,, what do i do ????

 

[troymail]

i live in north beach maryland and i cannot get a signal on my uniden BCD325P2 around my house, but whevener i drive a few streets down . i get a perfect signal through out the rest of the entire county!!! i took my scanner to radio shack and he reprogrammed it for me and i even got a really good antenna and there is still no change!!!! evry where i get a perfect signal but that one spot,,,, but everyone else around my area says they get a fine signal with there scanner in north beach,,, what do i do ????

What are you trying to listen to/not receiving at your house?

Is there a cell tower nearby?

 

[lou9155]

a handheld inside a home could cut down any transmissions... maybe try setting up an external antenna with good low loss coax...a diamond discone and lmr400 is a good combo

 

[byndhlptom]

No RX in house

possibilities....

1- Metal siding
2- Foil backed insulation/sheathing on exterior walls
3- something in house causing interference/desense

$.02

 

[Joshheartbrake]

What are you trying to listen to/not receiving at your house?

Is there a cell tower nearby?

Im listening to my own county ,,, but it won’t get s signal it gets all bard than faded to a complete dead zone and it’s not just my house either , it’s the whole dang neighborhood , and I was at my mothers house yesterday and I heard on the scanner the police said there is no radio reception in the beach that they tried Roger ahold of dispatch but could not , do they had to leave the area to get in contact! That is so bad guys. They need to fix this issue or the police can’t communicate in the beach area . It’s a safety issue .

 

[Joshheartbrake]

It’s not just my house it’s the whole area

It’s the whole area not just my house it’s outside in my yard and few streets over as well! No signal at any of these locations ... I only get reception half a mile out of town . Yesterday i heard the police say there is no reception in the beach , we can’t get ahold of you and had to leave the area to do so... so it must be my area ... it must be some thing blocking the tower in my whole neighborhood , which is bad becuase the police can’t communicate and this needs to be fixed .

 

[NC1]

Search up and down the bands and look for strong signals.
Depending on what you find, if anything, a strong meter reading on a particular frequency might be on a harmonic that could be the culprit.

Get a battery powered radio and set it on the AM band, then walk around and check for excessive noise. Those would be my first steps just for elimination purposes and then move on to the next phase of searching.

That is a very odd problem.

 

[troymail]

Calvert County? You're out there on the edge of the county at a pretty low point...

Older systems have lots of dead spots - some because of local interference.

 

[Joshheartbrake]

Search up and down the bands and look for strong signals.
Depending on what you find, if anything, a strong meter reading on a particular frequency might be on a harmonic that could be the culprit.

Get a battery powered radio and set it on the AM band, then walk around and check for excessive noise. Those would be my first steps just for elimination purposes and then move on to the next phase of searching.

That is a very odd problem.

Someone from radio shack drove down my areas of town and said there scanner isn’t picking up nothing either , they said there is something in that side of the town blocking signal . And I need toco plain to the town hall to fix it .

 

[WG3K]

Take a breath. Town Hall has nothing to do with the county's radio system. This is a known problem and the county is currently investing several millions of dollars into a completely new system including new towers and client radios that is supposed to fix this and other problems. The current system is many years old and technology has advanced since then.

If I were you, I'd put up an antenna outside your house that is designed for 800MHz (other bands are probably nice, too, if you want to listen to other frequencies outside the 800MHz spectrum). Otherwise, wait a few months and the new system should be coming online once the new client radios have been rolled out and the infrastructure is ready to go.

 

[WG3K]

Calvert County? You're out there on the edge of the county at a pretty low point..

Yeah, there are several ridges between the Sunderland tower and the Twin Beaches area that contribute to this problem. The new system will have a site just south of Chesapeake Beach (proper) that should provide better coverage.

 

[troymail]

You may want to consider trying one of these... no guarantees but they help alot. I used something like this on every radio I have.

https://www.scannermaster.com/REMTRONIX_800_MHz_Portable_BNC_Antenna_p/22-541122.htm

 

[Joshheartbrake]

Yeah, there are several ridges between the Sunderland tower and the Twin Beaches area that contribute to this problem. The new system will have a site just south of Chesapeake Beach (proper) that should provide better coverage.

So there putting up more towers? Sunderland is the closest one I believe as of now, but your saying they will deff be putting up a tower in the beach along with the new system?
And is it true that the county sheriffs will be encrypted as well ? I love listening to the county police . I hope they don’t encrypt .

 

[Joshheartbrake]

Take a breath. Town Hall has nothing to do with the county's radio system. This is a known problem and the county is currently investing several millions of dollars into a completely new system including new towers and client radios that is supposed to fix this and other problems. The current system is many years old and technology has advanced since then.

If I were you, I'd put up an antenna outside your house that is designed for 800MHz (other bands are probably nice, too, if you want to listen to other frequencies outside the 800MHz spectrum). Otherwise, wait a few months and the new system should be coming online once the new client radios have been rolled out and the infrastructure is ready to go.

You should come to where I live and try the scanner , I live right near the water and Mexico’s reastrusnt ,, there is no signal at all . But once you pass over to roses haven then you finally start getting signal again , really stupid and wierd I know .

 

[troymail]

So there putting up more towers? Sunderland is the closest one I believe as of now, but your saying they will deff be putting up a tower in the beach along with the new system?

Most of the newer systems end up putting up new towers to achieve the coverage required.

One of the licenses for the new system seem to be putting a tower at 3736 DARK STAR LANE, CHESAPEAKE BEACH, MD (looks like the top of a water tower there).

And is it true that the county sheriffs will be encrypted as well ? I love listening to the county police . I hope they don’t encrypt .

Only the system owners/county and the vendor/installer might really know that for sure -- at least, until the system goes live.

You should come to where I live and try the scanner , I live right near the water and Mexico’s reastrusnt ,, there is no signal at all . But once you pass over to roses haven then you finally start getting signal again , really stupid and wierd I know .

The "holes" aren't all that unusual. If I remember correctly, there was a time when Howard County actually used the Anne Arundel system towers to get good coverage in the Elkridge area (I think the talkgroup is still listed on the AA County system even though I think they resolved that long ago). Anne Arundel county uses PG County towers and their system to get coverage in the extreme SW corner of the county due to dead spots (see the AA County talkgroups on the PG system).

 

[WG3K]

Most of the newer systems end up putting up new towers to achieve the coverage required.

Yeah, Calvert is doubling down and replacing existing towers with new towers on basically the same site due to a bad licensing agreement with American Towers. Right now we basically have two towers up at every site...

There is a new site in Huntingtown, across from station 6.

One of the licenses for the new system seem to be putting a tower at 3736 DARK STAR LANE, CHESAPEAKE BEACH, MD (looks like the top of a water tower there).

Yes, that is my understanding.

 

[troymail]

I think the plan for St. Mary's county (completed now?) had them go from 6 to 13 towers for their current system.

It may be a mistake/misprint but one story on AA County's new system said they intend to have 22 towers....

http://forums.radioreference.com/ma...planning-new-radio-systems-4.html#post2863292

 

[cg]

How far from a cell site are you? I live fairly close to a tower and it kills my reception of 800 MHz. The RF power of the site desenses the entire band.
Without getting too far off topic, the rebanding of 800 MHz band that has been occurring for the last 10+ years was supposed to address these problems. However, Nextel (Sprint) wasn't the only one causing problems. I participated in a test at a location where we were direct line of sight, 5 miles from a tower and couldn't talk into the system with a portable. The techs from Verizon shut down the local tower and we had perfect conversations. They ended up turning the power down at the site a bit and it all but eliminated the issue.

chris

 

[Joshheartbrake]

Most of the newer systems end up putting up new towers to achieve the coverage required.

One of the licenses for the new system seem to be putting a tower at 3736 DARK STAR LANE, CHESAPEAKE BEACH, MD (looks like the top of a water tower there).


Only the system owners/county and the vendor/installer might really know that for sure -- at least, until the system goes live.



The "holes" aren't all that unusual. If I remember correctly, there was a time when Howard County actually used the Anne Arundel system towers to get good coverage in the Elkridge area (I think the talkgroup is still listed on the AA County system even though I think they resolved that long ago). Anne Arundel county uses PG County towers and their system to get coverage in the extreme SW corner of the county due to dead spots (see the AA County talkgroups on the PG system).

The county just told me there not putting up a new tower . Just going to a digital system but no new towers . I talked to Jackie of the public safety and communications management

 

[Joshheartbrake]

Yeah, Calvert is doubling down and replacing existing towers with new towers on basically the same site due to a bad licensing agreement with American Towers. Right now we basically have two towers up at every site...

There is a new site in Huntingtown, across from station 6.



Yes, that is my understanding.

Are you sure there adding a tower? Jackie from the county I called and complained too told me they are switching to a digital system phase 2 but no new tower in beach