Bristol scanning

[keys]

As a past scanner guy from Bristol I know the PD is encrypted but are all the other talk groups now P25 and not able to be received on a traditional old school scanner. I thought the non PD talk groups were conventional. Any suggestions on a basic scanner for new technologies

 

[Reconrider]

With Bristol trunk system being simulcast, you're going to need something that can handle it well.
Since they have a few sites all near each other, the only thing that would work the best is going to be the Uniden SDS series(100 or 200) which run about 650-700.

If you're techy, you can get a couple of $40 rtlsdrs from amazon(rtl-blog) and set those up to listen to it on your computer.

 

[900mhz]

Unication G4 would work as well.

 

[nhfdcadet]

As a past scanner guy from Bristol I know the PD is encrypted but are all the other talk groups now P25 and not able to be received on a traditional old school scanner. I thought the non PD talk groups were conventional. Any suggestions on a basic scanner for new technologies

yes, the talkgroups on the p25 system are all p25...
i've monitored bristol fire successfully with a unication g5 as well as an apx radio, i don't recommend the apx since you arent a legit system user

 

[n1chu]

The entire system is P25, with just the PD encrypted.

 

[scottb908]

i provide the stream for bristol. i am using a $40 usb dongle on a windows computer. i also use sds100 ver successful. I have a trx and couldn't handle the simulcast

 

[n1chu]

i provide the stream for bristol. i am using a $40 usb dongle on a windows computer. i also use sds100 ver successful. I have a trx and couldn't handle the simulcast

Interesting… about the Trx not handling the simulcast… I believe you as I never owned one, just found it interesting that I’ve never heard of the simulcast issue associated with Bristol. I live just over the line in Farmington and have never experienced simulcast issues with my 536/436, 325P2. But I’m probably only receiving the closest site stronger than the rest. I have not omitted or avoided any sites either. I run the SDS200 mobile and have had no simulcast issues… but like you say, that’s what the SDS200/100 was designed for. (I used to kill time outside Rodd’s Restaurant in good weather with the SDS100 too, but again, it’s supposed to handle simulcast, I never had an issue.)

thanx for the input.

 

[scottb908]

Interesting… about the Trx not handling the simulcast… I believe you as I never owned one, just found it interesting that I’ve never heard of the simulcast issue associated with Bristol. I live just over the line in Farmington and have never experienced simulcast issues with my 536/436, 325P2. But I’m probably only receiving the closest site stronger than the rest. I have not omitted or avoided any sites either. I run the SDS200 mobile and have had no simulcast issues… but like you say, that’s what the SDS200/100 was designed for. (I used to kill time outside Rodd’s Restaurant in good weather with the SDS100 too, but again, it’s supposed to handle simulcast, I never had an issue.)

thanx for the input.

The TRX is horrible about simulcast issues. A quick search will show you hundreds of people with the same issue. I also have the same issue with the CTSP. Even with ATT I still cant get it to reliably scan. The only way I could get reception was by dummy loading the antenna to a paperclip so it could only pick up 1 tower. That obviously killed everything else.

 

[900mhz]

With Bristol trunk system being simulcast, you're going to need something that can handle it well.
Since they have a few sites all near each other, the only thing that would work the best is going to be the Uniden SDS series(100 or 200) which run about 650-700.

If you're techy, you can get a couple of $40 rtlsdrs from amazon(rtl-blog) and set those up to listen to it on your computer.

It is a 4 site simulcast, with 2 of the sites rather high up...South Mountain and the water tank on Chippens Hill