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?'
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 |
I would suggest that you get your thread to your state forum (Illinois) to get comments from others in your area.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?'
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.I its most likely bad reception of the Control Channel , watch the signal bars to see if they fluctuate
So true..Blindly saying it is simulcast issues is wrong.
If you really want to learn how simulcast affects reception, put a SDS and x36 scanner in a vehicle, feed them both from the same antenna, and drive around in a simulcast area with that setup for a few months.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
Please look at POST #5 that is the SIMULCAST MAP for the system in question. We looked it up before stating the FACTS.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
Looking at a simulcast map - scattered over any given area, while a good start, does not equate to factual reception/non reception issues...Please look at POST #5 that is the SIMULCAST MAP for the system in question. We looked it up before stating the FACTS.
If you really want to learn how simulcast affects reception, put a SDS and x36 scanner in a vehicle, feed them both from the same antenna, and drive around in a simulcast area with that setup for a few months.
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.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...
View attachment 88876
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...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.