Any help would be appreciated

[irishman75]

t’s been a minute since I’ve been on here. I’m in Maryland and a few years ago I was able to use a BCD 396t to listen to Baltimore city and various surrounding jurisdictions. I don’t know if things have changed to the point when’re I won’t be able to hear things through that particular scanner again. Anyone wanna help me out?

 

[josephdurnal]

Depending on how long ago you may need to update your firmware. The 396 doesn't support P25 phase 2 TDMA like is used on the Maryland First system, but many of the jurisdictions around Baltimore City are still using phase 1 so there will still be plenty to listen to

 

[irishman75]

What scanner would you recommend?

 

[josephdurnal]

I like the Whistler TRX-1 because it includes DMR & NXDN out of the box, digital modes that are becoming more popular by the day. That is the handheld scanner I use. It takes a second to learn but I don't think I'll ever have it mastered, but I've been able to get it set up just right for me. That being said, simulcast systems are its nemesis, especially while out and about. It doesn't deal with that well.

The SDS-100 from Uniden is supposed to handle simulcast systems much better than scanners that came before them, it was very much hyped before it was released but I haven't yet found anyone providing a lot of real world examples of how well it works compared to other scanners.

Your lowest cost traditional scanner to listen to P25 phase 2 TDMA digital systems is the Uniden Bearcat BCD325P2.

 

[ka3jjz]

Your problem with Baltimore county, and if you use it in the City, you'll see it here too, is what we call simulcast distortion. No firmware fix will ever address it. Simply put, you are receiving the same data from multiple towers at the same time and this condition is something consumer scanners can't handle. It's been discussed here in the past a lot.

Having worked in the County and had a 396 with the latest firmware, the only solution - and it's very far from perfect - was to have the attenuator on the system. I haven't heard of any reports using the newer scanners on this system....Mike

 

[boatbod]

Cheapest solution is a RPi3 with a $25 rtl dongle and op25 software.

 

[maus92]

Cheapest solution is a RPi3 with a $25 rtl dongle and op25 software.

I just bought one for this very reason - any particular Linux build for this?

Also, what is the command that updates a current working installation, and what dir do you run it from?

 

[maus92]

What scanner would you recommend?

SDS100 hands down for Baltimore City and particularly Baltimore County. Older scanners that are capable of decoding P25P1 and the newer P25P2 standard don't handle simulcast LSM very well, thus are sensitive to multipath interference / distortion. Don't waste your money on any other scanner ATM if you listen primarily to simulcast systems - you will be unhappy with anything else (except op25, but it is a PITA to set up if you are unfamiliar with Linux.)

 

[boatbod]

I just bought one for this very reason - any particular Linux build for this?

Also, what is the command that updates a current working installation, and what dir do you run it from?

Raspbian works fine.

OP25 installation is pretty simple, its configuration that's harder

sudo apt-get install git
git clone https://github.com/bondcar/op25 ~/op25
cd ~/op25
./install.sh

config files go in the ~/op25/op25/gr-op25_repeater/apps directory

 

[maus92]

Raspbian works fine.

OP25 installation is pretty simple, its configuration that's harder

sudo apt-get install git
git clone https://github.com/bondcar/op25 ~/op25
cd ~/op25
./install.sh

config files go in the ~/op25/op25/gr-op25_repeater/apps directory

Hey man, the above command sequence chokes at the github pull (see below)

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ git clone https://github.com/bondcar/op25 ~/op25
Cloning into '/home/pi/op25'...
Username for 'https://github.com': maus92
Password for 'https://maus92@github.com':
remote: Repository not found.
fatal: repository 'https://github.com/bondcar/op25/' not found
pi@raspberrypi:~ $


I think it's supposed to be "boatbod" and not "bondcar" (although bondcar sounds more exotic 007ish)

 

[boatbod]

Hey man, the above command sequence chokes at the github pull (see below)

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ git clone https://github.com/bondcar/op25 ~/op25
Cloning into '/home/pi/op25'...
Username for 'https://github.com': maus92
Password for 'https://maus92@github.com':
remote: Repository not found.
fatal: repository 'https://github.com/bondcar/op25/' not found
pi@raspberrypi:~ $


I think it's supposed to be "boatbod" and not "bondcar" (although bondcar sounds more exotic 007ish)

Yeah you're right... Autocorrect at its finest!
(bondcar is my domain name)

github.com/boatbod/op25