Kankakee recently switched to P25 P2 and my BCD996P2 doesn't pickup calls near as well as my new sds200. I am thinking of sending it in for repair but haven't always had good luck with uniden repair. Any suggestions?'
BCD996P2 repair
- Thread starter merleraymond
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It may not be the 996p2's fault it may be SIMULCAST problem
Radio Reference is showing Simulcast......the 996p2 has trouble with Simulcast also this is what radio ref is showing:
| 1 (1) | 016 (10) | OFF AIR - See 2-48 Kankanee County - Simulcast | Kankakee, IL | 851.4125 | 852.9125c | 853.8875a | 854.1125 | |||
| 1 (1) | 029 (1D) | OFF AIR - See 2-48 Kankanee County - Simulcast | Kankakee, IL | 769.68125 | 770.41875 | 773.06875c | 774.06875a | 774.59375a | ||
| 2 (2) | 048 (30) | Kankakee County - Simulcast | Kankakee, IL | 853.4375c | 854.5625 | 856.7625 | 857.4875 | 858.2125 | 858.7625 | 859.2625 |
Only the SDS100 and SDS200 are designed to work with simulcast systems.
If you believe the 996 is broken, send it to Uniden for repair.
If you believe the 996 is broken, send it to Uniden for repair.
I would suggest that you get your thread to your state forum (Illinois) to get comments from others in your area.
As budd mentioned, your county switched to a simulcast site on Starcom21. Here's what the map shows for site locations:
While the 996P2 is a good scanner, it does not perform well on simulcast sites. The SDS200 was designed largely to deal with simulcast issues, and should perform well. Occasionally, you can improve things a little for the SDS200 by tweaking the filters, but that is not always necessary. While none of us can guarantee that there is no problem with the 996P2, the fact that performance went downhill once your county joined the state system, using a simulcast site in the county, would indicate a simulcast reception issue, not a problem with the scanner itself. While it's your call as to whether you send it in, or not, I suspect that there is nothing seriously wrong with the 996 internally. If it still works well on other, non-simulcast, trunked systems & conventional frequencies, I doubt you would see much, if any, improvement if sent for repair.
More on Simulcast can be found in the Wiki:
Simulcast digital distortion - The RadioReference Wiki
To have your thread moved to the Illinois forum, do not create a new thread. Instead, click on the Report in the lower left corner of one of your posts, and request that a moderator move your thread to the state forum. Someone in the area would be more likely to see it there.
How well does your 996 pickup weather stations
Be sure to also apply the latest firmware 108.01 it will usually ship with version 1.07 at best and has helped with simulcast.
info.uniden.com
Ive played with this before, 8 is what most people find works, for me it works, but in the end the auto setting works best here.
BCD996P2FirmwareUpdate < UnidenMan4 < TWiki
Ive played with this before, 8 is what most people find works, for me it works, but in the end the auto setting works best here.
I use Starcom tower 113 here in Joliet to monitor KKee using my 996P2 and it works flawless , your location is very important to the towers also, its most likely bad reception of the Control Channel , watch the signal bars to see if they fluctuate
No, it's simulcast. The SDS scanners are designed to handle it, the others are not. You can have full signal strength and zero reception of simulcast with a non-SDS scanner.
lockout all the control channels except the strongest one and see what happens, ilo bet the scanner will jump to life.
Blindly saying it is simulcast issues is wrong. While it certainly a strong possibility, the model of the scanner doesn't automatically preclude you from successfully receiving P2. I had a SDS200 sitting next to a 996P2 and the P2 was the only one hearing Phase 2 talkgroups. Moving the SDS200 outside of the house and into a garage with no aluminum covered foam insulation resulted in equal reception.
I do have simulcast issues with the 996P2 in my truck in some areas but the radio's price and durability outweighs putting another $700 radio into the vehicle to hope for better coverage in those areas.
Experiment with changing locations of the radio, try the attenuator, different antennas etc. Check with others locally that are monitoring the SAME system in the SAME area if possible. What may work in one system, simulcast or not, may not work in others.
chris
I do have simulcast issues with the 996P2 in my truck in some areas but the radio's price and durability outweighs putting another $700 radio into the vehicle to hope for better coverage in those areas.
Experiment with changing locations of the radio, try the attenuator, different antennas etc. Check with others locally that are monitoring the SAME system in the SAME area if possible. What may work in one system, simulcast or not, may not work in others.
chris
Arkmood
Member
So true..
And, antenna placement can't be stressed enough (indoors/outdoors)... Image shown illustrates the importance. 6ft. BNC Female to BNC Male/adapter RG316 Coax Low Loss RF Cable with RS 800 antenna, placed on closet door/doublesided foam tape, in order to monitor one specific system - move the antenna minutely and the site fades down into the noise floor - Not aesthetically pleasing but needed...
Arkmood
Member
[/QUOTE]
Looking at a simulcast map - scattered over any given area, while a good start, does not equate to factual reception/non reception issues...
I have done seen a 996p2 not work less than 1/2 mile from the tower site and the next nearest site 7 miles away. Site a SDS in the same spot problem gone. Site was tested with a 996p2, 436, SDS and last but not least a TRX. SDS won hands down.
I had the 2 radios side by side both with the Uniden extension antennas extended, located 1.1 miles from the tower with 3 Simulcast sites and the SDS200 had virtually no Phase 2 reception while the 996P2 had 95% +/- reception of both P1 & P2 groups. I was able to monitor both and watch the activity at the same time on DSDPlus running on the CCs (no voice). The location in the house/garage was key to getting the Phase 2 groups to come in on the SDS200. When I moved it, no change in programming, settings, etc it improved drastically. The 996P2 did not need to move.
I understand that Uniden focused on P25 simulcast when designing that radio and that it works better in many cases. However, my experience is that it is not the automatic go-to solution that it is touted as.
I understand that Uniden focused on P25 simulcast when designing that radio and that it works better in many cases. However, my experience is that it is not the automatic go-to solution that it is touted as.
Yep....This is what I have been using for P25 simulcast in my area which is pretty lousey on certain sites. Indoor antennas just dont work. I had this mag mount on a metal ground plane inside in my window. It performed marginal. I relocated it right outside window and I noticed that helped a lot. Next step was to figure out how to get the mag mount on a ground plane up on roof. It took a while for me to figure out a solution. I had an old steel computer case that I took one side off, bent it in the shape of this: |__| Mounted a piece of 2x3 wood for weight, turned whole thing upside down and it fit perfectly in gutter. Since 800mhz doesnt require a big groundplane. metal works pretty well. I used this up until a few weeks ago when I got a yagi to use instead, which helped even more. So I left this mag mount up there as a spare. Works pretty good on digital tv reception too. I can get about 14 channels. Mostly crap tho.
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Arkmood
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Yes, and move a small distance from the designated spot and you may see totally different results - that's why my posts promote antenna placement - All the different: antennas/ground planes/low loss coax/scanners,etc. won't help much if you're not in the path of the target signal...
Well,i am using a Discone Rat Shack antenna about 25 ft off ground.Using 996P2 ,latest FW.I am just South of Big city in LA (Lower AL...LOL).I get great P25 reception for local PD,FD,SO. Even have prob of TOO LOUD audio from them,while vol up to hear other Sites.Sites 10-30 Miles from me come in weaker of course.But still ok majority of time.Those areas also have conv chans also,so monitor them also.
BTW: My other Antenna is a homemade 3 "Bowtie" Element DTV ant that does great! Even out does the discone in areas.I use an Extreme 8 Port Amp on both,gives same Level at ALL ports.It is Powered of course.
Edit: Just wanted to say that my Location shown is NOT my current location.
BTW: My other Antenna is a homemade 3 "Bowtie" Element DTV ant that does great! Even out does the discone in areas.I use an Extreme 8 Port Amp on both,gives same Level at ALL ports.It is Powered of course.
Edit: Just wanted to say that my Location shown is NOT my current location.
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