BCD436HP/BCD536HP: BCD436HP Missing or Delayed Transmissions

[teebee]

I have an SDS200 and a Portable BCD436HP running side by side using the same channels. I noticed most of the time my SDS 200 will pickup a transmission musch faster than the 436. I am missing the first part on the 436 and sometime the complete transmission. Same thing is happening when I hold on an ID. I have seen times when scanning and or searching IDs on a site the 436 will not stop on that ID while the SDS200 is receiving the dept talking. Both scanners are monitoring a very close site both with full bars of signal.

Could it be my Threshold setting is wrong. They are both set to 8, or is there some other setting that needs to be adjusted. After noticing this I am realizing I am missing traffic on my 436HP scanner when just monitioring it alone

 

[trentbob]

It can depend on many factors, including if we are talking about simulcast systems where you are encountering simulcast distortion on the 436.. the SDS radio has an SDR chip and is designed to pick up simulcast distortion well.. the 436 will struggle with simulcast systems resulting in broken transmissions, clipped transmissions or missing them all together.

What is your hometown, County and State. What is the system that you're having the problem with?

 

[teebee]

Louisiana LWIN - Lake Charles, LA- Calcausieu Parish
I am monitoring several sites in my Parish/area. Mostly locked in to the Lake Charles Site when this happens, however it does also happen when scanning all the local sites (6 of them) All are strong signals. I have not been able to determine if the Lake Charles Site is Simulcast or not. About a year ago or so it was on the local news the Sheriff annouced that they were going to be upgrading that site to help with better communication. That site had just been rebuilt a year before after being distroyed by a Hurricane. When that was announced I wondered if they were upgrading to Simulcast. I have no way of knowing or able to determine this for sure. Its not in the RF Database as Simulcast. I will try holding on a different site today to see if its doing the same just in case the Lake Charles Site is Simulcast. I an sure all the other area sites are not Simulcast

 

[buddrousa]

As odd as it may seem the SDS may just be a better receiver, and you will not hear that from the normal non-Uniden Fans.

 

[trentbob]

I saw your location is this the system you are having a problem with?

 

[trentbob]

We are simulcast posting here LOL.

 

[buddrousa]

It is odd I have 2 TG's on the TACN System that all my X36's will not open on traffic but my SDS's 996p2's 325p2's pass traffic on just fine.

 

[teebee]

I saw your location is this the system you are having a problem with?View attachment 182209

Yes

 

[trentbob]

If I could make a suggestion, go to your state forum, not to repost your question but just to read about the system and what the reactions of other listeners of that system and what radios they use and if they complained about simulcast distortion or not.

 

[teebee]

It may very well be the SDS200 is out performing the 436. Then it may be the site is Simulcast, I need to try and find out. I have read in the past that the 200 was better for simulcast than the 436

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

We are simulcast posting here LOL.

I'm stealing that from you from hereonin

 

[trentbob]

It may very well be the SDS200 is out performing the 436. Then it may be the site is Simulcast, I need to try and find out. I have read in the past that the 200 was better for simulcast than the 436

Yes that is correct, it's mostly phase 2 simulcast that is the big offender. When the x36 radios came out around 2014, new simulcast systems were popping up everywhere and people were encountering problems.

That was the reason that they designed and built the SDS 100 and 200. See what the reactions are on the State forum, if it's a big complaint and people suggest the SDS radios work better then that pretty much answers your question.

 

[trentbob]

I'm stealing that from you from hereonin

You go right ahead John LOL, God knows we do it all the time.

 

[trentbob]

Okay original poster I got curious so I asked artificial ignorance and they confirmed it.

It's not a solution but it is an answer.. back in the day when this became a problem with the 436, all types of gimmicks were attempted to compensate like using a paperclip or a less efficient antenna like a racing scanner UHF stubby, Comet makes the miracle baby ch-32 that some people were using but it didn't work for me because it was still too good of an antenna.

The idea is to isolate what you hear to one tower. Some people used directional antennas but often it would pick up a tower beyond the target tower.

My favorite was.. the empty paint can.. drill a hole in an empty paint can and put the rubber duck in the hole so as to compromise reception enough to isolate one tower.

As far as making adjustments on the radio itself there isn't one adjustment that I have not tried. It's tomfoolery, I remember publicly saying that somebody's going to have to make a similcast capable scanner and Uniden did, using the SDR chip.

 

[K9KLC]

It is odd I have 2 TG's on the TACN System that all my X36's will not open on traffic but my SDS's 996p2's 325p2's pass traffic on just fine.

Odd you mention that. I had a 996XT gifted to me to program up for my son, and here, at my location, on StarCom21 which is simulcast in my area, the 996XT actually works "somewhat better" than the 536 does. it's all phase 1 here yet so honestly the 996XT works pretty good.

 

[kc2asb]

Odd you mention that. I had a 996XT gifted to me to program up for my son, and here, at my location, on StarCom21 which is simulcast in my area, the 996XT actually works "somewhat better" than the 536 does. it's all phase 1 here yet so honestly the 996XT works pretty good.

The 996 series does seem to be a more solid "platform" than the x36hp models. It certainly was not plagued with as many issues as the x36hp
series.

I have not experienced a day of trouble with my 996T or 996P2. Not so for the 536hp.

 

[trentbob]

@teebee I just wanted to make sure that you saw the confirmation your system is simulcast so you needn't research it, before this thread goes off topic.

As you can see from all of the interventions I listed this was a real PIA for people like me in the newspaper business because we needed dependable reception, it took some years for the SDR scanners to come out so we ended up moving over to mot gear.

 

[hazrat8990]

I had the same issue with WyoLink back when I upgraded to Unidens from a Pro-106, and Pro-197. I ended up changing the mode to FM and set the thresholds to 5 and manual. This worked very well for me, now both the 436 and 536 are on par with my Unication G5. The SDS200 works too, but not as well as the older ones.

 

[trentbob]

I had the same issue with WyoLink back when I upgraded to Unidens from a Pro-106, and Pro-197. I ended up changing the mode to FM and set the thresholds to 5 and manual. This worked very well for me, now both the 436 and 536 are on par with my Unication G5. The SDS200 works too, but not as well as the older ones.

Every system is different, configurations are not the same. Location location is very important with simulcast distortion.

It was very disappointing for me as my entire area went simulcast in 2015 and on.

As I said then with adjustments on the radio or modification in the antenna nothing helped.

Having clipped, broken and completely missed transmissions was not going to cut it in the news business.

You are lucky to have a x36 work better on simulcast distortion than a newer SDR SDS scanner, that's the first I've ever heard.😉

 

[hazrat8990]

Mine isn't simulcast, so that's probably why the older scanners run circles around the SDS200. The change to programming is something to experiment with, though. Also, there's attenuation, paper clips, using a horribly tuned antenna, etc...