Baltimore County P25 Fresh Start

[ka3jjz]

Well changing the site type and putting in the band plan certainly made a difference - I'm hearing traffic when I didn't before.

Some of it was completely clear, others were under water - no doubt partially due to multipath issues. Now it remains to be seen whether we're dealing with an implicit P25 system or not. I wlll modify my profile tonight to drop the tables and see what happens. If I don't get any traffic, that ought to be enough to at least guess that the County is using an implicit type system

Mike

 

[bwhite]

DP, Thanx for that info. I'm glad that the actual equipment is working well with great clarity. My point of reference has been York Co., even listening to them on THEIR equipment provides audio intelligibility that is far inferior to what they had previously.

 

[bwhite]

Mike, keep us posted. I'm sure you've already tried the attenuator at work, if not, go for it just for giggles.

 

[ka3jjz]

Yeah I went through the menus and turned the attenuator on for this system. It did improve things somewhat...slow but sure progress...Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

This may very well be a FreeScan bug - I just dumped the contents on my 396 which I changed last night to include the APCO band plan - and it's not there.

It doesn't seem to be hurting anything, though - I was receiving traffic this afternoon. So it appears that this is an explicit P25 system.

I've posted a report on the FreeScan forum.

Mike

 

[powerhouse]

Mike, can you reiterate again what the correct settings should be in freescan and/or add this to the wiki for this system? I'm encouraged about this development and can't wait to reprogram my 396xt to see if it makes a difference from my perspective. I'm up in Manchester/Carroll Co. during the day and can't get them at all. At work in Linthicum, (near BWI), on the night shift I can hear them but it's hit or miss.
Thanks

powerhouse

 

[ka3jjz]

Read message 12 of this thread - and don't bother with the APCO band plan form. Since you're driving up from Manchester you'll likely need both north and south sites - and remember, since the 396 doesn't do multi site, you must program each as separate systems.

You will not be able to get them very well in Linthicum, I suspect - I find that I don't start getting the system reliably until I get to the Wilkins area and completly lose them if I'm on the beltway heading out toward Glen Burnie. That's the way this system is configured...a better antenna may help but it's a stretch for sure...Mike

 

[riveter]

I don't know why I'm different, but I'm kinda confused by all these reports of coverage dropping off only a mile or two away... I fairly consistently hear BCo from Arundel Mills-type distance or south of BWI, and often even further. Ironically, because at that distance I'm only usually picking up one antenna site above threshold, audio is often way clearer when I'm outside BCo than when I'm in it.

 

[ka3jjz]

2 words immediately come to mind - location and antenna. If you have a clear shot to one of the towers and have a better antenna then the crappy duckie the chances are that you will hear it (how well is certainly another matter - there are several other factors involved here that I didn't mention).

It would be interesting to see which site you are hearing..our wiki has the tech details on the system here...

Baltimore County (P25) System Information - The RadioReference Wiki

I can see why I lose the county when I'm on the beltway - it's probably a bit of desense (that big tower at the Rte 40 junction doesn't help matters) along with something to do with the Wilkens tower - maybe the power is reduced a bit to create just enough of an overlap to cover into Howard county. Hard to say...by the time I get to Linthicum I'd probably do much better with the attenuator off, but fooling around with the knob and keystrokes while driving on the beltway is asking for trouble...

Mike

 

[pratzert]

I'm think of buying a small yagi antenna like this:

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It's small enough to sit on top of a tabel or maybe even the window sill. It has that tripod too.

The only problem is it has a USB connection, so I'd have to find ther proper USB to BNC adapter.

Plus, I'm not sure it is "tuned" to the 800Mhz band. Of course, the built-in WiFi is not needed, but may come in handy for something else.

What do you all think ? Good idea ?

Some people who have set up yags have reported better reception as they can zero in on just one tower and help ease the simulcast problem.

 

[ka3jjz]

The horizontal mounting would give me pause - and if you don't need the wifi amp, you can do better with a little searching...but yes, it might well work just fine to point at one site...Mike

 

[pratzert]

Hi Mike.

I'll do some google searching to see what else I may find.

I have found some 700-2500 MHz Yags, but they are larger than this one. I was attracted to it due to it's pygmy size.

Is there an actual updated location map of all of the Towers to see where I am in in relation to the towers so I can pick the closest one ?

 

[ka3jjz]

I don't know of any map - the only thing we have as to tower locations is posted in the wiki linked at message 29 of this thread.

Heck I don't know why you couldn't throw something together yourself for a lot less money...Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

and here' s even a forum discussion on that topic...

http://forums.radioreference.com/scanner-receiver-antennas/45999-yagi-antennas-under-5-a.html

HTH...Mike

 

[pratzert]

Thanks !

 

[ka3jjz]

I've added some basic FreeScan pix to the programming sub page of the Baltimore county P25 wiki - and that should be good enough to guide folks that are using the other packages such as ARC996, ARC396, ProScan, BCProgTool, BcTool and ARC-XT

The only omission would be a Sentinel set of screens for Home Patrol. Anyone got something for that?

Mike

 

[powerhouse]

Thanks Mike!

powerhouse

 

[riveter]

A map, you say good sir? Well it just so happens...

It's a rudimentary map off a BCo powerpoint, but it gives the basic idea.

 

[ka3jjz]

I think that map might be missing one or two stations - Woodlawn and Halethorpe, for example. I'm going by the list of towers as listed in our wiki...

Baltimore County (P25) System Information - The RadioReference Wiki

Still an interesting reference. It would be generally useful to see where each of the towers are...Mike

 

[pratzert]

A map, you say good sir? Well it just so happens...

It's a rudimentary map off a BCo powerpoint, but it gives the basic idea.

Thanks dpcain. That's exactly what I was looking for.

I see there is a tower in Kingsville and that is where I am located. I right around Belair Rd & Mt. Vista and I see a very tall tower from my house.... I wonder if that is it ?

Oddly.... I would have thought that being right on top of a tower, my reception at home would be good. But it,s not that great. I am still fighting simulcast distortion. Makes me suspect even more that if I get a yagi and point it at that tower... it should help a lot.