BCD436 Rebanding in NC

[kg4pbd]

Are you using a Uniden BCD436 ?

Yes, a 436.

 

[LakeBoo]

Did you program it with Sentinel?
You can monitor Davidson/Cornelius and Huntersville through the Mecklenburg Simulcast site?
I have a favorites list for Davidson and then one for Huntersville and Cornelius combined.
I can see 4 bar signal strength and " DAT " bottom right on display.
I hear nothing.
Any suggestions?

 

[troymail]

Couple of thoughts...

I was in Davidson today, great reception on the Mecklenburg site all the way up to exit 30, in car with an 800mhz duck.

This implies you are not using the stock antenna - correct? I use RS 800 Mhz antennas on all radios which perform much better than any stock antenna for any radio I have.

Does this also imply the signal faded after exit 30 headed north or that you exited at exit 30 and didn't go further north.

It's also a stretch but I'm looking at the water just west of that exit which might play a role as well...

Did you program it with Sentinel?
You can monitor Davidson/Cornelius and Huntersville through the Mecklenburg Simulcast site?
I have a favorites list for Davidson and then one for Huntersville and Cornelius combined.
I can see 4 bar signal strength and " DAT " bottom right on display.
I hear nothing.
Any suggestions?

Aside from trying other than a stock antenna, I recommend trying to narrow what (specifically sites) you are trying to monitor while troubleshooting. Pick the Meck site or the Iredell site and program/enable/monitor ONLY that site for a bit. Load up ALL known talkgroups for the entire system in the database. Enable ID Search. Enable ALL service types. Don't use location control. Do you see a steady "DAT"?

Where are you in respect to Exit 30 mentioned above?

 

[LakeBoo]

I am using a Radio Shack Telescoping antenna. Tuned to 800MHz.
I am about 3 miles NW of exit 30. As the crow flys.
I am receiving Troop F HP patrol car to dispatch clearly from Hwy 321.
I have the service types enabled.
I have most of the IDs programed.
DAT is steady at times. I assume DAT means the control Freq. is valid ?

 

[troymail]

I am using a Radio Shack Telescoping antenna. Tuned to 800MHz.

"telescoping" antenna? Can you be more specific?
This>https://www.radioshack.com/products...alp_2VJUWY-NCGSzX5de2Ka6xtKE8Qp4aAheyEALw_wcB

Just for comparison, I use something like these (which work great)t>https://www.walmart.com/ip/800MHz-S...4359&wl11=online&wl12=470561087&wl13=&veh=sem
(funny - the first one of these I bought many, many years ago was about $15!)

I am about 3 miles NW of exit 30. As the crow flys.

Off Brawley School Road?

I am receiving Troop F HP patrol car to dispatch clearly from Hwy 321.

Troop F HP -- on VIPER or UASI? I'm getting confused over which system and site you are monitoring. You should avoid trying to compare reception from different systems and sites - they are not the same.

I have the service types enabled.

All?

I have most of the IDs programed.

Program all of them (for now).

DAT is steady at times.

If you're getting "sufficient" reception, the "DAT" symbol will blink on and off at a very steady rate -- not randomly "flicker". However, this assumes you are monitoring a single site or a single system (which you should be doing during troubleshooting) and don't have any other things like close call and/or priorities enabled.

I assume DAT means the control Freq. is valid ?

If means the radio is at least seeing "a" control channel - but it also might mean if is seeing multiple control channels for multiple sites and/or systems. Unless you reduce monitoring to a single system and site, you really don't know for sure which one. And again, if you aren't seeing a steady pattern (on and off) of solid DAT for the specific system and site you want to monitor, the radio probably isn't getting a clean enough signal to process the control channel well enough for good reception.

 

[troymail]

BTW - it's not as clean but another option for 'testing' or checking for a specific system and "site" reception with your existing programming --

Press FUNC and then the DEPT/Site button to HOLD on a (any) site. Once the radio holds on that site, press FUNC again and then rotate the volume knob to move through sites. When you see the site of interest, stop. It should then HOLD on that system and site.

For any given system/site that HOLD is applied, how does "DAT" look?

 

[LakeBoo]

I referenced the HP Anderson Mt. site as a reference to antenna range.
The Favorites List I have for Davidson College Police is just for them.
Mecklenburg Simulcast is the only site.
All service types are on.
The DAT Symbol comes on steady.
Yes. Off Brawley School Rd.

 

[LakeBoo]

At the moment for Davidson I have 4 bars flashing with no DAT symbol.

 

[LakeBoo]

DAT on sites I hear will hold fairly constant.
Today I have not seen the DAT symbol for Davidson or Cornelius on Mecklenburg Simulcast.

 

[troymail]

Can you export and upload your favorites list(s) so we can take a look?

File->Export to hpe file to create a file then ZIP it and then post it here.

 

[troymail]

I am not hearing either site. For now lets concentrate on Iredell/Mooresville.
I do see the " DAT " symbol but no voice.
Look at this RR page. It explains my concerns.
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=4171

Somehow I missed this post (or the link itself)...

https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=4171

What is your concern with this system? It doesn't appear to be in use anymore based on the information on the page itself (last updated as deprecated over a year ago?).

 

[LakeBoo]

Those are the same freqs. for the Mooresville site in the Uniden Dbase.
Is there a rebanding issue?

 

[LakeBoo]

For the Davidson/Hunt/Cor. issue.
I am not recieving the Motorola/Analog TGis.
I can receive the P25 TGis

 

[troymail]

Can you export and upload your favorites list(s) so we can take a look?

File->Export to hpe file to create a file then ZIP it and then post it here.

Are you able to do this?

 

[LakeBoo]

Not an easy task.
I am a MAC guy.
Was given an old Windows 7 machine for Sentinel.When time allows I will.

 

[troymail]

For the Davidson/Hunt/Cor. issue.
I am not recieving the Motorola/Analog TGis.
I can receive the P25 TGis

ok - maybe this is becoming clearer (somewhat).

Gone -> https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=4171

It appears that the old Mooresville Motorola system and it's frequencies were folded into the UASI P25 system.

When that happened (2016 or before), the old Mooresville system very likely went off the air.

Generally, you cannot use the same frequencies on two different systems.

Everything about the Mooresville system - including the list of analog talkgroups on the old Mooresville system, control channel, etc. are very likely gone. If the exact same frequencies for the Mooresville Motorola (analog) system are in use on the Mooresville site of UASI (as it appears it the case), that pretty much confirms that the Mooresville system is no longer in existence - hence the message on the system's page:

"This system is deprecated, and may no longer be in use or is superseded by another system"

 

[Soundman]

Start like you have a new scanner . Thy this put your zip code in . Then scanner to the UASI P25 . Forget the program you did . Also look in the section that you have that tell you what you have on like police fire ems ops police ops and so on .It seam like your program is missing something .Mine works fine to and I live in Davidson.

 

[LakeBoo]

Would the same be true for the Dav./Cor./Hunt Mecklenburg Simulcast sit. They were rebanded also.
If so, what are the P25 TGis for Davidson College police?

 

[troymail]

.
If so, what are the P25 TGis for Davidson College police?

If you don't see a talkgroup of interest listed in the database on VIPER or UASI, that would be a reason to put the radio into "ID Search" mode to find things that have not yet been identified.

Two important points though to consider when running "ID Search":

1. load ALL system talkgroups first and as you go lock out ("Avoid") talkgroups not of interest; undocumented talkgroups will appear as a TGID (number) vs. a name
   
   
2. if the talkgroups you are interested in are encrypted, you won't find them (and might be the reason they are not listed)

 

[LakeBoo]

Thank you.
I will do a little more research.