BCD996P2 setup / Middlesex county

[TheLeaper]

I'm listening to the Middlesex county P25 system, and comparing the BCD996P2 and my OP25 SDR scanner. The cheap OP25 SDR seems to capture 90% more traffic on the system than the BCD996P2. Anyone else notice this? Maybe there is some nuance to the programming I'm missing? Antennas are on my Ham tower, no signal level issues.

 

[wtp]

how much are you scanning with the 996 ?

 

[da2ricky]

Are you running the latest firmware on the 996? I have one myself and have no issues on my counties P25 system. I'm running firmware version 1.08.01

 

[TheLeaper]

Are you running the latest firmware on the 996? I have one myself and have no issues on my counties P25 system. I'm running firmware version 1.08.01

I am running the latest 1.08.01 software, and am listening to the Middlesex county system only. I have the threshold manually set to 8. The $30 RTL-SDR dongle and OP25 running on Linux does a MUCH better job than the scanner does. The scanner DOES hear an occasional transmission, while OP25 is quite busy.

 

[IAmSixNine]

The RTL SDR dongle is also designed to handle simulcast broadcast and the scanner is not. So if your monitoring a system with LSM issues the scanner is operating normally.

 

[TheLeaper]

The RTL SDR dongle is also designed to handle simulcast broadcast and the scanner is not. So if your monitoring a system with LSM issues the scanner is operating normally.

I've done some reading on Simulcast distortion, and that is probably it. Even with the rear antenna I get 5 bars of signal! It's just sad that a $30 dongle can outperform a $329 scanner in this instance!

 

[iMONITOR]

I'm listening to the Middlesex county P25 system, and comparing the BCD996P2 and my OP25 SDR scanner. The cheap OP25 SDR seems to capture 90% more traffic on the system than the BCD996P2. Anyone else notice this? Maybe there is some nuance to the programming I'm missing? Antennas are on my Ham tower, no signal level issues.[/QUO

Is the 996P2 set in TG SCAN or TG SEARCH mode? What antennas are you using on your tower? Are monitoring control channels or voice channels?

 

[iMONITOR]

I screwed up the post above. The last line in the quote was quoted accidently...it is a question to TheLeaper from me.

 

[TheLeaper]

Antenna is an MFJ discone at 130' ASL. Uniden is in ID search mode. I am monitoring the P25 system, not individual frequencies. I think da2ricky is correct, it is LSM issues.

 

[iMONITOR]

Antenna is an MFJ discone at 130' ASL. Uniden is in ID search mode. I am monitoring the P25 system, not individual frequencies. I think da2ricky is correct, it is LSM issues.

That's possible however excellent P25 simulcast reception is possible with the 996P2, I have two of them. You're probably receiving all the sites with a strong signal not to mention a lot of cellular interference and out of band interference overwhelming the scanner. Try the stock antenna collasped all the way down, on the back of the scanner and see what happens.

 

[KD2JFA]

Get an SDS200 and compare, its probably very similar if not slightly better.

 

[da2ricky]

That's possible however excellent P25 simulcast reception is possible with the 996P2, I have two of them. You're probably receiving all the sites with a strong signal not to mention a lot of cellular interference and out of band interference overwhelming the scanner. Try the stock antenna collasped all the way down, on the back of the scanner and see what happens.

^^^ I agree. I end up with NFM rather than a control channel if I have the antenna extended out when scanning my counties P25 system which I'm almost positive is simulcast. Oddly, I have to extend the antenna to pick up the NC VIPER system, but I rarely scan that system so it's not an issue for me to leave the antenna collapsed.

 

[phillydjdan]

Are you programming the scanner manually? Make sure the settings are right. I made that mistake. Apparently with the 996P2 model you have to select a certain trunked system type and then a certain site type that was not what I had expected to be correct.