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larrylock

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Hey Aridzona,

As stated in previous posts I am the proud owner of a RS Pro652 brick. Which can not be upgraded to the new Maricopa County freq changes.

But within this forum I see the Uniden BearCat Digital BCD325P2 is highly recommended. If anyone within Maricopa Co and listens to MCSO and has this scanner,
would you please review it here? Amazon has it in stock for $500.00.

There is some word that after the Covid problems are solved Maricopa Co or MCSO is switching again to another system.

Thanks
 

larrylock

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I did find it for your price on Amazon. And a friend actually has one. Her only draw back is the transmissions cut in and out too quickly.
Thank you for your fast response.
 

larrylock

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Do you have problems with transmissions beginning and immediately drop? Maybe 1 or 2 words at the most? Two people have told me that is a constant problem.
 
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Do you have problems with transmissions beginning and immediately drop?
No. It works great if you have a good signal. I use the stock antenna.

A common user error is to have a Priority Channel set up or have Weather Priority on.

VERY common Rookie mistake.
 

cfsimmont

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N9JIG

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The BCD325P2 is a great radio and for many people in the Valley it will work fine. Some areas however use simulcast, including many of the MCSO sites.

The 325, like most other scanners, has issues with simulcast so be sure to buy it from a dealer that has a good return policy. If it works for you where you want to use it then great! If not however you may want to save up for an SDS100/200 or Unication as these are much better on simulcast systems.

I have 2 325's and where I live they seem to work fine but when I go into town they are almost unusable in some areas. My SDS100 and SDS200 work fine everywhere I have used them in the Valley as does my G5. My BCD436HP seems to work better than the 325 on simulcast but still not as well as the SDS100.
 

N9JIG

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There is some word that after the Covid problems are solved Maricopa Co or MCSO is switching again to another system.

It is highly unlikely that MCSO would be switching to a new system anytime soon, they JUST switched to the new Phase 2 system last year and it will be at least a decade before any major change in system type would occur.

With 4 separate P25 public safety trunked systems in the Valley they really should consolidate into a single mega-system but I suspect politics may prohibit that. Even if they did the 325 and other Phase 2 capable scanners already support the technology.
 

Foresigt

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Larrylock....Now that comment about Maricopa County moving to another system is hilarious. They just spent like $80 Million building the new system. There won't be any tax money for quite a while because of COXID-19.

N9JIG...what 4 systems do you refer to? I'm curious of your vast knowledge of how things work.
 

N9JIG

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Larrylock....Now that comment about Maricopa County moving to another system is hilarious. They just spent like $80 Million building the new system. There won't be any tax money for quite a while because of COXID-19.

N9JIG...what 4 systems do you refer to? I'm curious of your vast knowledge of how things work.

RWC Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) Trunking System, Phoenix, Arizona - Scanner Frequencies
TOPAZ TOPAZ Regional Wireless Cooperative (TRWC) Trunking System, Mesa, Arizona - Scanner Frequencies
AZWIN Arizona Wireless Integrated Network System (Az Wins) Trunking System, AZ Statewide, Arizona - Scanner Frequencies
MCSO Maricopa County (P25) Trunking System, Maricopa County, Arizona - Scanner Frequencies
 

Foresigt

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I hope that you realize that AZWINS is a Statewide system and not limited to the valley. Why would Phoenix Fire need to be on a tower in Yuma and how about the cost for additional microwave capacity to do it. Also, sounds like you are not aware of the history of the RWC/TOPAZ relationship. At one time, they were linked together but it's doubtful that will ever happen again. It's all about politics and money.

Lastly, with just the amount of traffic that happens on RWC, it would make the possibility of combining the three systems together almost impossible as there are only so many frequencies to be used. They all have common Interop channels and that is all that is needed.

Maybe it would be easier for the scanner listeners if it was all on one system but I know it's hard to believe but the comms guys aren't interested in what the scanner users want. They are out there providing communications for those public safety personnel that serve the public and to help keep them safe.
 
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rpgaun

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As an FYI on the new MCSO System, I use a 996P2 (the base version of the 325P2) for MCSO. I do not use the Phx Simulcast site. I use White Tanks & Thompson Peak sites and receive all the Patrol Districts with no problem.
 

N9JIG

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I hope that you realize that AZWINS is a Statewide system and not limited to the valley. Why would Phoenix Fire need to be on a tower in Yuma and how about the cost for additional microwave capacity to do it. Also, sounds like you are not aware of the history of the RWC/TOPAZ relationship. At one time, they were linked together but it's doubtful that will ever happen again. It's all about politics and money.

Lastly, with just the amount of traffic that happens on RWC, it would make the possibility of combining the three systems together almost impossible as there are only so many frequencies to be used. They all have common Interop channels and that is all that is needed.

Maybe it would be easier for the scanner listeners if it was all on one system but I know it's hard to believe but the comms guys aren't interested in what the scanner users want. They are out there providing communications for those public safety personnel that serve the public and to help keep them safe.

PFD would not be heard on towers in Yuma, as these wide area systems only broadcast on sites that system radios affiliate on. See how the large statewide systems in Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado etc. work.

The systems mentioned are already networked systems (just not with each other), so a radio in Mesa would not transmit off a White Tanks site for example.

The tech is certainly there if they wanted to combine the systems, look at the other huge systems that carry many times the traffic that these systems do.

I am aware of the history of Topaz and RWC and agree that combining any or all of these systems would likely never happen. There could be savings in infrastructure, administration and maintenance if they did but the likelihood of it happening is slim to none. Any such combination should be undertaken if the financial and operational needs dictate it and the politics allows it, not because some scanner guy said it should be done, even such a special guy like me.
 

GlobalNorth

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..There is some word that after the Covid problems are solved Maricopa Co or MCSO is switching again to another system.

The MCSO system is relatively new and they are reasonably happy with the performance of the system. Some old timers miss the UHF system, but they're mostly opposed to the idea of GPS IDing when keying up. The County BoS is not going to spend millions more on another system or integration with Regional/Topaz/or another group.

MCSO is very parochial and they want their own academy, their own ranges, their own radio system, etc.

Source: I left County employment recently.
 

scannerizer

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I don’t mean for us to rant further, but why aren’t Simulcasts A and B combined ? I know one is for the PPD/DPW and the other for the PFD.

I know the RD dispatches tons of fire depts in the valley, but why isn’t there, then a separate site for each other FD ?

And doesn’t Mesa have two simulcasts for PD and FD?
 

Foresigt

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Why do they have A and B? One is for balancing and the other is for safety. If one simulcasts fails they can fall over to the other one. If you were around when the rebanding happened, the all moved to one and then the other before splitting back.

These things aren't done for the convinience of scanner listeners. We aren't even in the equiation.
 

KB7MIB

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Having the two simulcasts allows the communications load across the city to be spread across both. Police and city services on one, fire and public works on the other. (Some can also be heard on the various IR high sites.) If one simulcast fails, everything can fall back to the other, so it also provides a redundancy factor.

Mesa's TOPAZ RWC has one simulcast system, and 3 high sites: Shaw Butte, Thompson Peak, and near Florence.

Phoenix is the 5th largest city in population in the nation. The other cities around the Valley don't have the population that Phoenix does, however, a few cities do have their own simulcasts, such as Chandler and Maricopa on Simulcast C, Tempe on Simulcast F, and Scottsdale and Paradise Valley on Simulcast H. In the West Valley, Simulcast G serves most of the cities, with Simulcast J serving primarily Buckeye. (Goodyear PD can be found on both G and J.) Peoria PD, Surprise PD, and Buckeye PD can also be found in part on the White Tanks site. Additionally, Peoria PD can be found in part on the Towers Mtn and Quintero sites. Phoenix FD can be found on all of the other simulcasts, and in part on a few of the high sites. Some Phoenix PD precincts can be found on adjacent simulcasts, and at least one precinct can be heard on Thompson Peak, along with one of Scottsdale's PD channels. Some Phoenix DPW and city services can be found on other simulcasts and high sites.

It's all designed to spread out the load, and to provide redundancy in the event of a complete failure of any one site or simulcast.

John
Peoria
 

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I hope that you realize that AZWINS is a Statewide system and not limited to the valley. Why would Phoenix Fire need to be on a tower in Yuma
By this logic, why does Yuma need 4 towers in the Phoenix metro area? Does this mean all the AzWins towers in Phoenix should be transmitting Yuma PD and Yuma Fire? No, that's not how it works.

The 4 systems Rich mentions can be merged into one system to increase coverage and save money, but govt agencies won't play nice together.
 
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wlmr

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Politics and money definitely affect if radio systems are all together, connected together, or separate.

Mesa and Phoenix Politics
There was a disagreement on whether putting in a lot of money to start the system meant that those agencies would have a weighted vote or whether as each new agency came on board their vote would carry as much weight as the originators of the system.

Mesa and Phoenix Money
It costs money to install, maintain, and upgrade radio systems. One group wanted to charge by actual air time used and the other wanted to charge by number of radios an agency had on the system.
 
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