SRRCS Weird Reception?

[clanusb]

I have been listening to the regular system on a BC436hp for about a year now with just the standard rubber duck antenna. I am using the preloaded systems that came in it, have not changed anything. Just typed in the zip code.
Soo....I am listening from the Rancho Cordova area near St 65. Anything that comes over on the county side is extremely scratchy but still audible. Anything that comes from the City side is crystal clear. Why is that? I would expect it to be reversed, as it is with my BCT15. County is crystal clear, city is pretty noisy.

I am about to double check if the new Folsom site has been included or not. I am also going to program in the P25 system and see how that sounds.

Thanks for the input and help!

 

[gmclam]

I am listening from the Rancho Cordova area near St 65. Anything that comes over on the county side is extremely scratchy but still audible. Anything that comes from the City side is crystal clear. Why is that?

It depends on your physical location. It sounds like you are closer to a city site than you are to a county site.

 

[roma]

I'm also getting really bad reception on my Pro-164 listening from a couple miles south of downtown Sac. I've been scanning for years without much problem. But now I can pick up the fire dispatch VHF simulcast, but only very rarely the trunked version (e.g., dispatch A or B, or any of the command or tac channels). Ocasionally I'll pick up Sac PD or Sac Sheriff or Sac Fire (what I mostly listen to) on the trunked side, but it is very rare and mostly broken.

The fact that I can hear some trunked traffic occasionally makes me think it's not a programming problem, but something else. Has something changed in the system?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

[clanusb]

It depends on your physical location. It sounds like you are closer to a city site than you are to a county site.

I used to have a list of where the 13(?) different sites are. Had no idea City sites would be closer than county sites along the 50/Sunrise and 50/Hazel corridor. The 3 closest County sites, to me, that I know of are at Station 21, the one up on Carpenter Peak in Folsom, and the one at dispatch that is near Mather.

I have also noticed that the system in general seems harder to pick up regardless of where I am. I know that my BCT15 has been subject to front end desense and needs to be replaced anyways, but the 436 and 246 from home are acting the opposite. I programmed the 246 and 15 myself. The 436 is from the RR database. I think maybe programming the system in myself might, for some reason, work. I'll let you know what I find.

 

[gmclam]

I monitor both systems constantly and haven't had any issues. If you can't pick up the VHF channels (or not as good as you used to), it makes me wonder how well your scanner picks up NOAA. Press the WX key. Is that working great? With an outside antenna I pick up stuff on 6 of the 7 frequencies. I'd expect you to get full scale on at least 1 with a rubber antenna. If you're not getting WX, that indicates an "antenna issue" (broken connection in the scanner?).

 

[clanusb]

Noaa is no issue to listen too. Everything else is able to be heard as expected with the rubber duck stock antenna. Like i said. I would expect to be able to hear the county talk groups crystal clear, being deep in county terrority. But the reverse is happening. I get city talk groups perfectly clear, while the county talk groups are broken and filled with white noise.

Im still working on programming a new sd card for the 436 to see if that makes a difference. Could just be a problem in programming that came with the unit.

 

[gmclam]

White noise!

I found a clue in your reply:

I get city talk groups perfectly clear, while the county talk groups are broken and filled with white noise.

White noise. Are you saying that the scanner display shows the TG but you hear white noise? That is typically being caused by a cell tower nearby. Figure out where the tower is and shield the scanner from it.

 

[clanusb]

White noise. Are you saying that the scanner display shows the TG but you hear white noise? That is typically being caused by a cell tower nearby. Figure out where the tower is and shield the scanner from it.

Yes, the 436 will show the county TG and you can hear some audio, but its broken with static/white noise. However, when the 436 picks up a city TG its perfectly clear.

On my 246T and BCT15, in the same exact location mind you, the county tg's are pretty clear while the city tg's are the ones broken with white noise.

 

[gmclam]

On my 246T and BCT15, in the same exact location mind you, the county tg's are pretty clear while the city tg's are the ones broken with white noise.

Different models of radio will handle this issue differently. You might be able to enable the ATTenuator on the site that gets white noise to overcome the issue.

 

[roma]

"If you can't pick up the VHF channels (or not as good as you used to), it makes me wonder how well your scanner picks up NOAA. Press the WX key. Is that working great?"

I CAN pick up VHF fire dispatch and also CHP Capitol Office (and the "300" field units) communications. Oddly, I haven't been able to get any NOAA weather for quite some time...I'd say at least a year. It's just the trunked system that has virtually disappeared (but not completely). I've taken my Pro 164 (rubber duck) in the car mostly around downtown and gotten slightly better reception on the trunked channels, but not much. Reception used to be perfect at home and driving. I'll take it to other areas to test it out.

I hadn't thought of an antenna issue ("broken connection in the scanner"). The scanner is sort of old and I have dropped it a few times.

Clanusb...I hope I'm not hijacking your thread. When I saw your subject of "Weird Reception," I thought: yeah, me too.

 

[clanusb]

I don't think that you hijacked it at all. Its not just about me. Glad to know that there is someone else who has noticed that there seems to be a change in the reception too.

No idea, I guess that's just how the different models are. Of course the subscriber units at work work perfectly fine, but that is an entirely difference animal.