996P2 and CLMRN

[sefrischling]

I asked this in the Uniden group, but maybe local help will be more effective.

I have two 996P2s that have been working just fine on CLMRN. I have now programmed three new 996P2 units for a station in town, and they seem unable to pick up CLMRN.

I program using ARC XT, I just moved two of them from the station to my house, about 10 miles away, and have played with four antennas … and I am dumbfounded. Troop E has a tower in East Lyme, I am in East Lyme, and there is a tower in Old Lyme, and I am near Old Lyme.

Waterford’s system is simulcast also, it comes in loud and clear, the CLMRN system is not picking up at all with either of these two 996P2 radios. I have a Unication G5 monitoring alongside it, it picks up. I have a portable on the state system, set to Troop E, it picks up.

What the heck am I missing? This is not simulcast distortion, I have heard the distortion on the two units I got about two years ago, but they are receiving. These three are not receiving.

Don't say get an SDS200, it is not happening ... there has to be something I am missing since a set of other 996P2 radios are monitoring CLMRN and I know other people using the 996P2 successfully on the CLMRN system.

 

[seagravebuff60]

Get an SDS200

 

[doctordialtone]

I use a 996P2 and a 325P2 along with an SDS200 to monitor CLMRN.

No problem. They all work flawlessly in Central CT.

 

[sefrischling]

I use a 996P2 and a 325P2 along with an SDS200 to monitor CLMRN.

No problem. They all work flawlessly in Central CT.

As stated, I have two that work just fine, and three that won't receive anything on CLMRN.

 

[cg]

All the issues I have with 996P2 & 325P2 is not related to the simulcast. It is related to being Phase 2. They worked fine before the switch.

I would suggest downloading each, the good and bad, including all the settings & options you can download. Save each and go through both together as a text file and try to find anything that is different.
There are free text comparison programs available online you could try

You can also try programming one strong site by hand with just the control channel and use ID search to see if that works.

 

[sefrischling]

All the issues I have with 996P2 & 325P2 is not related to the simulcast. It is related to being Phase 2. They worked fine before the switch.


You can also try programming one strong site by hand with just the control channel and use ID search to see if that works.

I tried locking onto a single control channel, that gets 5 bars, and nothing. My Unication G5 and Viking VP5000 were crystal clear.

 

[W1KNE]

On your behaving scanners, Go to Menu->Settings->P25 Threshold->, and Menu->Settings->P25 LP Filter->.
Make sure the settings on the misbehaving scanners are the same as the ones behaving.

Also another trick that has helped with problematic reception can be if there is a NAC programmed into the trunking site, you can try to remove that too.

Dropping of the signal meter on a Phase II system control channel is normal, I wouldn't read much into that.

 

[wtp]

again, you are describing a simulcast problem.
with my 325 and a 700mhz system i get every other word.
if i drive 1/8th of a mile, it works fine from then on.
you have to find a sweet spot or get one of the SDS units.

 

[sefrischling]

again, you are describing a simulcast problem.
with my 325 and a 700mhz system i get every other word.
if i drive 1/8th of a mile, it works fine from then on.
you have to find a sweet spot or get one of the SDS units.

The two units that work have experienced simulcast distortion, but they pick up the system and then distort at times. These three are deaf to the system, so it is entirely different.

 

[wtp]

if i put my 325 up at the top of my desk, i also get nothing.
on the desk i get every other word.
in a cell phone holder pushed to the edge of an aluminium window and horizontal, i get most of the conversations. with a 1 inch race antenna on it. more signals make it worse.
every radio receives differently and every spot has a different signal to it.
timing is everything. take all the radios for a ride and see what happens.
and around my house i get 5 bars, it might be 2 or 3 towers and i hear nothing, better can equal worse.

 

[wtp]

on a different note.
simulcast means the same thing on all the towers transmitted at the same time.
so in one time segment the radio is looking for a digital signal that is like this
11001001
but with a little offset in time it could look like this
1l1l0o0o1o0o0o1o
and the radio can not make sense out of it and shuts up.
think of it as a little echo.
there are so many little different thing that can cause this, it is probably astromomical.
the SDS radio have a computer that looks at the signal and pick out the right ones.

 

[W1KNE]

I love how the tips I gave were ignored. lol

 

[tvengr]

I love how the tips I gave were ignored. lol

sefrischling refuses to accept the fact that simulcast distortion with the BCD996P2 on CLMRN can be a problem. He insists that it can't be since a mobile with a 996P2 parked outside the firehouse works fine. A 996P2 inside the firehouse with a rooftop antenna is dead where the same model works fine at another firehouse with a rooftop antenna. It sure sounds like typical symptoms of simulcast distortion to me. I asked sefrischling to swap scanners with the mobile parked outside the firehouse without moving the vehicle, but I never received a response.

 

[sefrischling]

I love how the tips I gave were ignored. lol

I have not ignored them. I am trying a variety of things and I appreciate your insight.

 

[cg]

Correct me if I am not understanding it correctly...
My impression is that you have 2 older 996P2 radios and 3 newer radios. You get some traffic with the old radios, not 100% but gets traffic.
The programming is exactly the same. An old 996P2 is removed from a fixed location and a new one placed in the same location with the same antenna connection. None of the new radios pick up anything. The old one is replaced. It picks up some traffic, not 100% but gets traffic.

chris

 

[sefrischling]

sefrischling refuses to accept the fact that simulcast distortion with the BCD996P2 on CLMRN can be a problem.

I am not refusing to accept it is an issue. I have two that have been in service about two years. I have tried them side by side with the new ones, same location, same antennas being swapped back and forth. The two original radios pick up the system, the three new ones do not. I now have two of the new ones with me, trying them in different locations and mobile, along with the two original ones, and the two older ones pick up the system, the two newer ones do not. This makes no sense to me at all.

The older ones have displayed simulcast issues with distortion but receive the CLMRN system. The two newer ones do not receive the system with or without distortion.

As such, your comment here makes no sense what so ever.

 

[sefrischling]

Correct me if I am not understanding it incorrectly...
My impression is that you have 2 older 996P2 radios and 3 newer radios. You get some traffic with the old radios, not 100% but gets traffic.
The programming is exactly the same. An old 996P2 is removed from a fixed location and a new one placed in the same location with the same antenna connection. None of the new radios pick up anything. The old one is replaced. It picks up some traffic, not 100% but gets traffic.

chris

As I move the two older 996P2 radios around, they consistently RX CLMRN. I have brought them to the same location as the newer ones, the original radios RX, the newer ones do not. I have now brought two of the newer ones to the location the original ones most commonly reside and they receive nothing while the two older ones consistently receive. I have been driving around with one of the newer ones attached to an antenna that was used by an original one, and the original radios RX the newer one does not.

The settings, the best I can see, are identical.

 

[Nascar18]

Did you update the firmware in the newer 996P2???

 

[cg]

How do they do on other signals for quality comparison between the 2 vintages of 996P2? Weaker NOAA WX, various control channels in regular mode (not trunking) (217MHz, 400, 700, 800, 900) etc?

All 10 of my 996P2s are older vintage with the last one bought at least 4 years ago. I have one that does non-CSP CLMRN about 2 miles direct line of sight from the Talcott Mtn tower with B, H, & L simulcast. I probably get 80% of the possible traffic. Some of the recordings are blank. A SDS200 at the same location gets 90% although I suspect 1 or 2 of the frequencies are not as good as the rest.

Shoot a PM if you want me to look at the files or even try my spare 996P2 or 325P2 on Wednesday or Thursday. I will be heading to the Sun.

 

[tvengr]

The older ones have displayed simulcast issues with distortion but receive the CLMRN system.

I would try reprogramming the old scanners with the same file you are using for the newer ones. Do they continue to receive? That will tell you if it something is wrong with the programming. What happens if you do a factory reset on the new scanners? In scanner menu settings, is P25 threshold the same for all scanners? The P25 LP Filter should be off. That should be used only if you hear a 4 KHz whistle while receiving a P25 system. The filter takes up a lot of the computer time and can degrade decoding of signals. Please attach your ARC-XT RSF programming file so that I can take a look at it.