I am having trouble getting channels for a uniden bcd996p2. I used radioreference and imported into the freescan. Before hand I paid the company I bought it from to program. It just had 1 channel at the bottom. Now it has multiple channels and some channels come and some don't. I was wondering if there is anyone or anywhere in the broome county area that programs scanners? I have tried for weeks and I think I just need some tweeks maybe.
Broome County NY Channels
- Thread starter duncan359
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Unfortunately Broome County is on Central New York Interoperable Communications Consortium (CNYICC), which is a Simulcast system and the 996P2 is not designed to handle that type of system like the SDS100/200. It does sometimes work, but you will have to move the scanner around the house and see if you can find a sweet spot for the scanner to work. Also depending on how close you are to the towers, the antenna may have to be adjusted or have to get a smaller antenna. Here is the link to simulcast wiki to help you out.
wiki.radioreference.com
I just looked at the tower map, there appears to be 15 towers in Broome County, depending on where you are located chances are you are receiving two or more towers at the same time. When that happens the 996P2 will just ignore the broadcast because it can't decipher it.
Simulcast Distortion - The RadioReference Wiki
I just looked at the tower map, there appears to be 15 towers in Broome County, depending on where you are located chances are you are receiving two or more towers at the same time. When that happens the 996P2 will just ignore the broadcast because it can't decipher it.
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I was just in Broome 2 weeks ago and my 996P2 worked fine. @duncan359 did you import the CNYICC system or the conventional stuff. If you pulled in CNYICC you only want the 2 broome cells and not the entire system.
A P25 simulcast capable scanner is essential for effective monitoring of Broome County now. There is very little conventional activity remaining other than rebroadcast of the Fire and EMS Dispatch Talk Groups or simplex on-site activity that can only be received in the immediate vicinity of the incident. The 996P2 reception of P25 simulcast is variable depending on location. Just moving to a different location in the house can make a difference, as @Enforcer52 posted, but the "sweet spot" can vary with weather, season, and other factors. You may be lucky and in a non-critical location. If you are considering upgrading to a simulcast capable scanner, look at reviews of the SDS100/200 vs the Unication scanners and be aware of the issues before you make the big investment.
Also, don't try to scan both the East and West Simulcast sites or scan both trunked and conventional at the same time. Try one site at a time until you find a location that gives good reception of one of the sites.
I used freescan and logged in with my radio reference and it download everything. I removed things like syracuse and cortland and some other stuff. left a few things in there and added some indiviual channels from binghamton fire.
This i a scanner my dad purchased from a catalog last year and they programmed it for him and it worked great. He hit something and lost it all, so I was doing some research and watching videos to try and get it back. I can't believe how much there is to this stuff though. I wish I knew about freescan before hand so I could of backed it up when he got it. I will try your suggestions since I have the current one backed up anyway and see how it goes. Worse case i might have to just pay someone to reprogram it again, but you live and you learn. Thanks for the info.
You are likely not going to have good luck with that particular scanner listing to Broome's P25P2 system. The simulcast issues with that model will just cause it to stay silent.
Was this working before the programming was lost? Like were you able to receive anything from the Broome P25 system?
I am not sure what he was listening to as for p25 or not. before he lost it he said he would get binghamton fire, broome county sheriff, police, etc, but now it's hit or miss.
How long ago did this happen? If I remember correctly, Broome County moved to CNYICC sometime last year.
I think it was back in Nov or Dec of 2023
All Broome Fire and EMS along with Endicott PD were on the P25 system when I moved away in June. I believe everything had made the switch by late summer or early fall. Everything was on P25 when I visited in early December.
The scanner might work if he was in the right location. I lived less than a mile from a system tower and my 396P2 and 436HP worked well at home because of this. In a high location in the City of Binghamton they missed at least 60% of the transmissions while my G3 and SDS were flawless.
Will a Uniden BCD536HP work well in Broome county?
wtp
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not for simulcast, it might, it might not as was stated.
the county i live in is 700 and simulcast, on my 396T, 396XT and 325P2(996P2 handheld),
i would get 1/4 second of voice and then 1/4 second of nothing.
we got a SDS100 and all is heard and good.
the county i live in is 700 and simulcast, on my 396T, 396XT and 325P2(996P2 handheld),
i would get 1/4 second of voice and then 1/4 second of nothing.
we got a SDS100 and all is heard and good.
The BCD536HP is essentially identical in performance to the BCD436HP and not designed for simulcast so all the above discussion concerning the 996P2 and the 436 applies.
That seldom works unless in an area where the yagi has a narrow enough beam width to only receive one site and sufficiently reject the others. It is generally not worth the cost and effort. Even if it works at first, it may change with system changes or even weather and seasonal changes.
Keep in mind that Yagis are by design high gain antennas. Even the smallest Yagi has more gain in one direction than an omni antenna. When it comes to dealing with a simulcast cell, you want to attempt to isolate a single subsite. Using a Yagi might work if you happen to be between a subsite on the edge of the coverage area with the rest of the subsites behind you, and you can point it 180 degrees away from all other subsites. Otherwise you may actually increase the chances of picking up a subsite that is beyond your target subsite or just off to the side. While a Yagi is directional in nature, it's not a laser. You might be surprised at how well the side lobes of a Yagi pick up signal.
Bottom line is that less is more. You want to do whatever you can to isolate a single subsite, if possible. If you happen to live fairly close to a subsite and get a strong signal, you can try enabling attenuation on the scanner, or use an antenna that has little to no gain.
The only real solution is to purchase a scanner/receiver that was designed to handle simulcast modulation.
Bottom line is that less is more. You want to do whatever you can to isolate a single subsite, if possible. If you happen to live fairly close to a subsite and get a strong signal, you can try enabling attenuation on the scanner, or use an antenna that has little to no gain.
The only real solution is to purchase a scanner/receiver that was designed to handle simulcast modulation.
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