Bartlett, TN P25 Sound issues

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Ralphc28

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New scanner seems to work but on some channels one side seems to be scrambled. Dispatcher side is clear, but Car to car, seems to have strange issue, sound is garbled beyond recognition. Is there some setting I can change to help this out.

Second issue, the sound in general seems overdriven, any help for this?

New to digital, and encryption. It was my understanding that encrypted would not make any sound, and not sure it would even be possible to encrypted only one side of conversations on a channel. So I am sort of lost.

Thanks
 

marksmith

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If it is clear with one transmission and not another, you have it set as good as possible. Some scanners will silence encrypted transmissions and others dont, especially if they are phase 2.

536/436/ws1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others
 

marksmith

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If it is clear with one transmission and not another, you have it set as good as possible. Some scanners will silence encrypted transmissions and others dont, especially if they are phase 2.

536/436/ws1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others
You might just be heating simulcast distortion.

536/436/ws1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others
 

rbrtklamp2

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Dupage County, Illinois
New scanner seems to work but on some channels one side seems to be scrambled. Dispatcher side is clear, but Car to car, seems to have strange issue, sound is garbled beyond recognition. Is there some setting I can change to help this out.

Second issue, the sound in general seems overdriven, any help for this?

New to digital, and encryption. It was my understanding that encrypted would not make any sound, and not sure it would even be possible to encrypted only one side of conversations on a channel. So I am sort of lost.

Thanks
What model scanner are you using? That info will help us answer your questions a bit better.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 

Lifesafer

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The Car to Car is scrambled. The dispatch and and fire department are in the open. On some transmisions they audio is distorted. It's a new system so i figured they were still working the bugs out.
 

Ralphc28

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What model scanner are you using? That info will help us answer your questions a bit better.
Sorry was in title, BCD325P2
 

Ralphc28

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You might just be heating simulcast distortion.

536/436/ws1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others

This sort of what I was picturing, It's like first part of transmission, might have been missed.

What is Simulcast distortion?
 

W4EMS

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It does happen not infrequently that dispatch is clear and mobile(s) are encrypted. And car to car would then be encrypted. Just depends on how the shop programmed them.

And as mentioned with simulcast units the mixed off phase signals hitting your rig often are garbled especially when approaching equidistance from two simulcast transmitters.
 

dw6118

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Hi! I just got my Uniden BCD436HP yesterday. I programmed Memphis police, Shelby Co Sheriff's Office, Germantown Police and I can hear them fine. However I cannot hear Bartlett PD or Collierville PD. I have them in Favorites and also Quick Key and ensured Monitor is on. I also downloaded the latest Sentinel software and updated the HPDB yesterday. Any suggestions?
 

Ralphc28

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Well Bartlett just went digital in the spring. It's not at all like it was in analog. PD and fire dispatch is there but they don't talk very much. If your scanning all those, it will be lost in the clutter. The car to car comes across mine as scrambled type noise, and on the info channel (C) the dispatcher is clear but the cars all seemed to be scrambled. I don't know if that's a set up issue on my part or the way they now have it set. I thought encrypted channels were supposed to be silent.
I used to listen to the whole city, but really quiet, DPW (waste management) used to talk constantly, but only hear every how and then, same for codes, just not as much traffic.
Seems like the ambulances might have moved, because I can hear a dispatch, but most other talk from them seems to be to the hospitals on the county systems.
I haven't even tried Collierville as it's a ways away from me.
 

Airdorn

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Bartlett's Motorola system used to be among the strongest and clearest for me. I'm about 6 miles from the eastern edge of Bartlett along Hwy 64.

Now, I can't even detect the control channel(s) for their P25 system, nor can I hear their Motorola system at all. I'm assuming the old Motorola analog system was switched off.

I thought they simply didn't exist anymore... maybe using conventional for the time being while their digital system is being built, but it's nice to know they're out there with their P25 system!
 

Ralphc28

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Old analog system has been gone for months. New Freq's not in range of most old analog scanners.
Still learning my new BCD325P1, but FreeScan has made it a lot easier.
 

Airdorn

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Oh, my scanner is a BCD996T and it covers the freq. range of the new Bartlett P25 system. I just don't hear anything. I'm only like 9 miles away.
 

Airdorn

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Yes, it does digital.

As for P25 Phase II, does the control channel sound radically different from Phase I? I get nothing but static on Bartlett's CC freqs. I know I can't decode the voice of Phase II, but I'm pretty sure I can at least hear the control channel sitting on a frequency.

In this case, I can't!

Weird stuff.
 

Ralphc28

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I can't hear the control freq's at all, like I could under analog. That may just be me and this new scanner.
But as I understand it, if you can't do P25 Phase II, then your just wasting your time.
Also, I thought encrypted channels were supposed to be silent. They may be, but PD car-car and PD info, make terrible noises that I would call scrambled, Car-car is totally useless, and PD info the car side is useless though you can hear the dispatcher side, but the noise eventually will just force a person to lock it out.

There is a second set of new frequencies, that show on the antenna sites, but I can't hear anything, or find out anything about them. Can't seem to find that list at the moment.
 

hiegtx

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Oh, my scanner is a BCD996T and it covers the freq. range of the new Bartlett P25 system. I just don't hear anything. I'm only like 9 miles away.

Yes, it does digital.

As for P25 Phase II, does the control channel sound radically different from Phase I? I get nothing but static on Bartlett's CC freqs. I know I can't decode the voice of Phase II, but I'm pretty sure I can at least hear the control channel sitting on a frequency.

In this case, I can't!

Weird stuff.
The identified talkgroups on the system are flagged with a 'T' in the mode column, designating then as P25 Phase II. You already realize your 996T can receive the frequencies the system is using, but it cannot decode Phase II traffic. You would only hear them if they reverted to Phase I, usually because an affiliated radio on the talkgroup is only Phase I, not II, capable.

I hear no discernible difference between Phase I and Phase II control channel sound.

Oh, my scanner is a BCD996T and it covers the freq. range of the new Bartlett P25 system. I just don't hear anything. I'm only like 9 miles away.

I can't hear the control freq's at all, like I could under analog. That may just be me and this new scanner.
But as I understand it, if you can't do P25 Phase II, then your just wasting your time.
Also, I thought encrypted channels were supposed to be silent. They may be, but PD car-car and PD info, make terrible noises that I would call scrambled, Car-car is totally useless, and PD info the car side is useless though you can hear the dispatcher side, but the noise eventually will just force a person to lock it out.

There is a second set of new frequencies, that show on the antenna sites, but I can't hear anything, or find out anything about them. Can't seem to find that list at the moment.
If you cannot hear the control channel, then you're not going to hear the system traffic. You may be running into the same issue that I'm seeing on several local (to me) systems. Previously, Grand Prairie and Arlington were on Motorola Type II systems, and Irving on an EDACS one. All three were receivable at my location with a handheld and it's antenna (R/S 800MHz).

However, now that they've converted to P25 Phase II, I can only get reception, often spotty, by using an external, rooftop, antenna. Part of the conversion process to Phase to was changing the pattern covered by their sites, to focus on their jurisdiction, with much reduced signal outside that. Grand Prairie is so more focused that I lose it, when driving, about two miles outside the city limits (my residence is maybe 5-6 miles from the GP/Dallas border).

While most of the Uniden scanners skip encrypted talkgroups on P25 Phase II, they do not reliably skip encrypted Phase II traffic. For the ones that I can receive, I use a negative delay on the encrypted TGID's. That way, I'll pick up anything that reverted to Phase I and/or is not secured, and the scanner will not be stuck on the scrambled voice on Phase II, moving on after five seconds.
 

Airdorn

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The identified talkgroups on the system are flagged with a 'T' in the mode column, designating then as P25 Phase II. You already realize your 996T can receive the frequencies the system is using, but it cannot decode Phase II traffic. You would only hear them if they reverted to Phase I, usually because an affiliated radio on the talkgroup is only Phase I, not II, capable.

I hear no discernible difference between Phase I and Phase II control channel sound.




If you cannot hear the control channel, then you're not going to hear the system traffic. You may be running into the same issue that I'm seeing on several local (to me) systems. Previously, Grand Prairie and Arlington were on Motorola Type II systems, and Irving on an EDACS one. All three were receivable at my location with a handheld and it's antenna (R/S 800MHz).

However, now that they've converted to P25 Phase II, I can only get reception, often spotty, by using an external, rooftop, antenna. Part of the conversion process to Phase to was changing the pattern covered by their sites, to focus on their jurisdiction, with much reduced signal outside that. Grand Prairie is so more focused that I lose it, when driving, about two miles outside the city limits (my residence is maybe 5-6 miles from the GP/Dallas border).

While most of the Uniden scanners skip encrypted talkgroups on P25 Phase II, they do not reliably skip encrypted Phase II traffic. For the ones that I can receive, I use a negative delay on the encrypted TGID's. That way, I'll pick up anything that reverted to Phase I and/or is not secured, and the scanner will not be stuck on the scrambled voice on Phase II, moving on after five seconds.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Bartlett has probably cleverly arranged their broadcast antennas and whatever else so that not much spills out of their jurisdiction.

I have a pretty nice set of rooftop antennas, though... they're elevated about 10 feet above the highest point of my roof and I can pick up some pretty distant goodies.

I just feel like I should hear SOMETHING from the control channel even if it's faint and hissy. I get nothin'.

I'm going to put my scanner in the truck and drive into Bartlett this weekend and see what's up.
 

Airdorn

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Cordova, TN
So I loaded up SDR# and Airspy with my little mag mount antenna and I was able to pick-up Bartlett P25 enough to get DSD+ and Unitrunker both to decode it.

Now I know for sure it's there and that you all haven't been participating in a grand conspiracy to mislead me! :)
 
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