Looking for help, I am such a novice and an old guy but I have followed the websites and made several favorite lists which did not work. I am trying to listen to Illinois State Police Chicago area. I live in the city so t shouldn't be difficult with being too far away. I have an upgraded antenna. The scanner used to pick up the the channels well however I stopped using it for about 18 months and now it no longer picks up the trunking channels. I put on the rubber antenna same no better. I get some local non trunking police, fire etc. O Hare airport, Chicago Fire, other towns, etc. I need help.... Set the zip code, tried to set auto area, I'm ready to throw it against the wall and buy a new one. Help please
bcd436hp programming
- Thread starter RetDeputy
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Ensure Law Dispatch, Law Talk & Law Tac service types are turned on. You'll only be able to pick up mode "D" talkgroups on STARCOM21. Anything mode "DE" is fully encrypted and cannot be picked up. One thing to be mindful of is if you listen to any of the sites listed as simulcast you may encounter simulcast distortion which is best dealt with by scanning with a Uniden SDS100 or 200.
This huge cluster of simulcast cells around the Chicago area will most certainly cause reception issues with most scanners
This huge cluster of simulcast cells around the Chicago area will most certainly cause reception issues with most scanners
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ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Check out the Easier to Read manuals and the videos linked below. I am assuming you are using Sentinel for programming
wiki.radioreference.com
Mike
BCD436HP and BCD536HP Page 2 - The RadioReference Wiki
Mike
They didn't.
Simulcast sites are a problem for the 436/536. Owned them both at one time and tried to mnitor ISP. In addition, CFD is now on the City's 800 trunking and is using a simulcast site.
scannerjunkie
Member
Many things could have happened since you last used your scanner. control channel freq change, encryption going into effect just to name a few. as Whiskey3JMC mentioned make sure Law Dispatch, Law Talk & Law Tac service types are turned on. also make sure in edit profile that the monitor setting is turned on for the favorites lists you want to hear. and also not all isp is encrypted.
So which is it, are they encrypted or no? I use the sentinel program to make the favorite channels and download to the scanner I have updated the Latest profiles from radio reference so I should have the latest control channels. I also turned on all the law talk and law tac etc. Still nothing
Troop 3-Chicago IS NOT ENCRYPTED. You might be having issues monitoring them because the site (1-002/ Cook County), is a simulcast site. I don't know exactly what's wrong, but has to be narrowed down.
In Sentinel...Edit tab..Edit Profile...make sure all Favorite Lists are set to Monitor:ON..Download:ON
I have done that also thanks, What I'm doing is downloading the Starcom21 info and it copies everything into the favorites menu. I don't have a line remedy for just one radio frequency, but I don't have the smarts with this yet either. I read and followed some videos and did what the videos said to do, and that's how the info came into the favorites, changed the profile as well. Still nothing, it also has the simulcast included in that list
That's not the method I use but instead self-program. I'm also in Chicago and know you only need one site so you have to delete the other sites. I'll let someone who uses that method to direct you with any suggestions. Good luck..
If you can help I'd buy you lunch! I downloaded the just the Chicago Zone and all the Zones/channels jump with it. So now you have a list a mile long and the north and south simulcast it there but still nothing, and the scanner is so fast it moves past the simulcast quickly, probably missing any broadcast before it gets back to the channel. In any case, this is probably due to my old age age and lack of knowledge. If anyone can help I would pay for the help. Other wise the scanner not working for me and probably for sale.
I used to own a 436HP and I was not able to pick anything up besides the Cook South Simulcast Site. It was the only site that I was able to pick up ISP (Both Troop 3 and Troop 15) and other surrounding agencies. There's no Simulcast Distortion within that site as far as I know.
Site 1-002 Cook Simulcast Site. Alot of information on Radio Reference about simulcast distortion. You can move your scanner 5 feet and lose the control channel. SDS series of scanners, and Unication pagers have resolved this anomaly. The pagers have many limitations, and should not be confused with a scanner.
I appreciate the offer, but I'm not the guy who has the patience to take on this task. You can eliminate all the sites except the Cook South Simulcast site to start. If your just interested in Troop 3 (It changed from Districts to Troops at the beginning of the year), you could eliminate all the other Troops. Might want to request this thread be moved to the Illinois Forum, or check the Illinois forum, alot of information there too.
Again, as I alluded to in post #2 it may be simulcast distortion. With those heavy concentrations of simulcast cell clusters you'll lose your mind trying to track the system with anything other than an SDS100 or SDS200
dmchalmers
Member
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- Apr 12, 2019
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Welcome to using Sentinel software not user friendly unless your computer literate. Not for novices thats for sure.
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