BCD325P2/BCD996P2: Brazoria County Simulcast Works during the day, goes completely silent at night

Status
Not open for further replies.

sgbynum

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Dec 23, 2011
Messages
10
Location
Manvel, TX
I am not understanding what is happening with the scanner. I have the Brazoria Simulcast tower in Angleton and The Reed Rd tower programmed. Using and external antenna in the window, the signal strength meter is about the same during the day as it is at night. Scanner picks up the BCSO very well all day, but after dark totally silent except for conventional channels. I know there is traffic as my Motorola Apex handheld pick up BCSO Dispatch 1 day and night. It is almost like they are going to another control channel. I have all of the frequencies of the tower programmed. I can manually scan the tower control channel and hear the buzz so I know I have the signal, but I can't figure out the why. Any suggestions? I get a lot of the TxWarn Simulcast on Reed Rd during the day. Scratching my head on this one.
 

cpfinlay

Feed Provider
Joined
Aug 12, 2012
Messages
253
Location
Princeton, NJ
I am unfamiliar with that model, but it sounds like perhaps it's having decode issues.

I see that BCSO is TDMA compatible. Have you tinkered with the P25 audio decode level adjustment?

I see a note for that model stating "currently it's waiting on a firmware update to include Site specific P25 decode threshold settings that never showed itself in the XT model". I don't know if that firmware ever released (again, not familiar with that model) BCD996P2 - The RadioReference Wiki

Perhaps this thread will help. BCD996P2: - How Do You adjust P25 Decode Modes?

Good luck!
 

adcockfred

Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2010
Messages
366
Location
Aldine, tx.
yeah, I remember something about changing some card to up grade
going with a specific frequency antenna would be my first move
 

hiegtx

Mentor
Premium Subscriber
Joined
May 8, 2004
Messages
11,169
Location
Dallas, TX
I am not understanding what is happening with the scanner. I have the Brazoria Simulcast tower in Angleton and The Reed Rd tower programmed. Using and external antenna in the window, the signal strength meter is about the same during the day as it is at night. Scanner picks up the BCSO very well all day, but after dark totally silent except for conventional channels. I know there is traffic as my Motorola Apex handheld pick up BCSO Dispatch 1 day and night. It is almost like they are going to another control channel. I have all of the frequencies of the tower programmed. I can manually scan the tower control channel and hear the buzz so I know I have the signal, but I can't figure out the why. Any suggestions? I get a lot of the TxWarn Simulcast on Reed Rd during the day. Scratching my head on this one.

Wild, off the wall, guess:
Maybe, during the day, sunlight heats up the antennas & connections for your scanner and/or the sites, possibly reducing the effect of simulcast distortion. At night, when things cool off, that changes back to normal, which may increase simulcast issues.

Does it seem like, at night, you are in effect losing the Brazoria County Simulcast, but still get Reed Road? Or are you having issues with both at night?
 

adcockfred

Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2010
Messages
366
Location
Aldine, tx.
yeah you are right about that, but on something that old
I still have 4 197"s in service and all are in metal boxes only one has lsm issues, and you r right all 4 have stock antennas
I have taken unidens out of the trash and made them work
ifin he knew where his sweet spot was in the house
 

hiegtx

Mentor
Premium Subscriber
Joined
May 8, 2004
Messages
11,169
Location
Dallas, TX
yeah you are right about that, but on something that old
I still have 4 197"s in service and all are in metal boxes only one has lsm issues, and you r right all 4 have stock antennas
I have taken unidens out of the trash and made them work
ifin he knew where his sweet spot was in the house
yep, sometimes a smal change in location makes a big difference, though he does mention an "external antenna" in the window". Maybe try a different window, if possible.
 

adcockfred

Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2010
Messages
366
Location
Aldine, tx.
you know when we first went digital down here in Houston, and we had like 3 or more 197"s in the truck.
we would go around looking for the sweet spot, we found 2 in our area
so everybody when not in service would be there monitering
and I did find that these older radios worked better with an aluminum antenna wire
running to a outside antenna, and like you say just move a little bit
 

a29zuk

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2005
Messages
853
Location
SE Michigan
I'll take another stab at it.
Do you have a 4' LED light fixture nearby that you turn on during the evening? When I take my scanner(Uniden 325P2) in my garage I have to leave the 4' fixture off as it will reduce the sensitivity of my scanner.
Even my old Bearcat BC101 will not receive the local NOAA weather station when the LED fixture is on. Turn the fixture off and the NOAA station pops back on.
The FM broadcast band is also affected by these light fixtures.
The single screw in LED's hardly do any damage.

Jim
 
Last edited:

jonwienke

More Info Coming Soon!
Joined
Jul 18, 2014
Messages
13,416
Location
VA
If you can hear the digital buzz of the control channel clearly when tuned to the frequency in analog mode, the problem is not RFI, it's a simulcast problem. You should probably get an SDS.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top