246t Unhapppy with Reception

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jmmmb248

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Joined
Jul 18, 2006
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10
Location
Plymouth Meeting, PA
My old Bearcat Sportcat finally died and I replaced it with the 246T. I'm very unhappy with the reception. With the original antenna my old scanner picked up local pd (458.8750) no problem. The 246 only picks up local cars, and will not receive dispatch at all. I do not live in a large township, so range is not an issue. I've tried different antennas, the latest being Diamond RH77CA. No real change on reception. I also listen to local fire 33.70, no problem there.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, or should I consider another scanner?
 

n3ncn

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Joined
Dec 19, 2002
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310
Location
Trinity,North Carolina
I have a 246 for over a year now. My only thought is to look on the screen where you have the 458.8750 and look for ATT if you see that take it off. I have had nothing but great reception on mine and have friends that thiers work great,.\
Being fire works and close cars check the attuner ATT to make sure it's not on,.
 

hiegtx

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Dallas, TX
jmmmb248 said:
My old Bearcat Sportcat finally died and I replaced it with the 246T. I'm very unhappy with the reception. With the original antenna my old scanner picked up local pd (458.8750) no problem. The 246 only picks up local cars, and will not receive dispatch at all. I do not live in a large township, so range is not an issue. I've tried different antennas, the latest being Diamond RH77CA. No real change on reception. I also listen to local fire 33.70, no problem there.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, or should I consider another scanner?
jmmmb248, what city are you trying to listen to? City/county/state location. Link to the database page would be even better.

Normally, the frequency you list, 458.8750, is the input side of a repeater. The output is the stronger signal, and in that area of the spectrum is 5mhz lower. So if they use a repeater, the output should be 453.8750. In some cases, some departments do use what should be an input frequency as a car to car (some call it talk-around) in the simplex mode, without going through a repeater. But normal dispatch, in most areas, use the repeater system for better coverage. Specify the location involved for clarification on this issue. Since you are only hearing the local cars, not dispatch, that's why I suspect you are on the input side, only hearing the ones close to you.

As far as the scanner goes, I've owned a 246 for almost 2 years. While there are some other scanners that are somewhat more sensitive, I have not found found it to be what I consider deaf by any means. The Uniden BR330T is more sensitive, and also adds mil-air coverage, among other features. The Pro-97 is also reportedly more sensitive than the 246 (I own a 330, not a Pro-97). But with the Diamond RH77CA, you should not have a reception problem under normal conditions. That's the antenna I use on my 246 with good reception.
 

W4KRR

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Apr 1, 2001
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Location
Coconut Creek
jmmmb248 said:
My old Bearcat Sportcat finally died and I replaced it with the 246T. I'm very unhappy with the reception. With the original antenna my old scanner picked up local pd (458.8750) no problem. The 246 only picks up local cars, and will not receive dispatch at all. I do not live in a large township, so range is not an issue. I've tried different antennas, the latest being Diamond RH77CA. No real change on reception. I also listen to local fire 33.70, no problem there.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, or should I consider another scanner?

You appear to be monitoring the input side of the repeater (458.875). This explains why you're only hearing the cars and not the dispatch. Try monitoring the repeater output on 453.875 and that should solve your problem.
 

jmmmb248

Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2006
Messages
10
Location
Plymouth Meeting, PA
hiegtx said:
jmmmb248, what city are you trying to listen to? City/county/state location. Link to the database page would be even better.

Normally, the frequency you list, 458.8750, is the input side of a repeater. The output is the stronger signal, and in that area of the spectrum is 5mhz lower. So if they use a repeater, the output should be 453.8750. In some cases, some departments do use what should be an input frequency as a car to car (some call it talk-around) in the simplex mode, without going through a repeater. But normal dispatch, in most areas, use the repeater system for better coverage. Specify the location involved for clarification on this issue. Since you are only hearing the local cars, not dispatch, that's why I suspect you are on the input side, only hearing the ones close to you.

Thanks for your help (and everyone else who responded with helpful suggestions). I did enter the 453.8750 and this finally did the trick! As you can tell, I'm not very experienced at this. It's nice to have members of this forum to turn to for assistance.
 

ajaxguy

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Joined
Jul 28, 2006
Messages
8
At least your getting stations, I have had this radio for over 1 year and still have not programed anything into it, except 2 or 3 freq.

Looking for free software to program it for me.
 

pathalogical

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Joined
Sep 24, 2005
Messages
1,305
Location
Toronto, Canada
ajaxguy said:
At least your getting stations, I have had this radio for over 1 year and still have not programed anything into it, except 2 or 3 freq.

Looking for free software to program it for me.
You've had it over a year ! C'mon dude, get programin' ! I've had mine almost a year and programmed it by hand...no software and I'm at 51% full. Got all kinds of stuff jammed into it. Did you buy it new ? used ? Where's your manual ? If it's your first scanner, it can be overwhelming compared to the older scanners. There is software, Uniden has it's version and also Butel ARC246. I believe they offer a trial version, but then you have to pay for the full version. I don't know for sure since I don't use either one. If you've had it this long how come you haven't posted for help earlier ? Go through the manual, it's not that difficult.
 
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