Cabarrus County/Charlotte - Mecklenburg

[adams_jb]

Good evening,

I have recently acquired a Model PRO-18 scanner. I have spent the better part of a week trying to understand the programming software for the scanner. It appears that Cabarrus County is piggybacking the Charlotte P25 system? Please correct me if I am wrong? I have tried to use “Motorola” banks in the scanner but get nothing for reception. I have downloaded the talk groups for Cabarrus from the Charlotte P25 system and get great reception (Five bars on the signal meter) but sometimes it is very garbled and sometimes I miss total transmissions (Sometimes I don’t even hear the dispatch) and then I hear units responding. I am monitoring Concord FD, Kannapolis FD and Cabarrus County FD. This is my first digital scanner so this all may be normal for the digital “world”??

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. I just went LIVE today with the Cabarrus County Fire Department scanner feed. Take a listen and let me know what you think.
http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/17155/web/?rl=rr

Respectfully,
Jason

 

[yardbird]

You are correct.

Concord/Cabarrus went from a county TRS System to the Char/Meck P25 Digital System. From what I was told the old system was outdated and that all federal money was being poured into the creating of region wide trunking systems.

There are currently 4 counties on the Char/Meck System. Char/Meck, Cabarrus, Gastonia City to include Belmont & Mt Holly Police and Union County. I have also heard there are preparations being made for Stanly County to join as well.

To answer you question digital transmissions are not as clear as the old analog ones. I have an old Pro-97 programmed to the Char/Meck analog system and I love it. The audio is so clear it is like being there where the action is.

I have a Pro-96, a Uniden BCD396XT and the Uniden BCD345, I like them as well, but the best audio clarity is from the new Uniden that was released the first of this year. The audio doesn't seem to be as garbbled like the other two scanners I mentioned.

David

 

[Ensnared]

Recently Programmed This Area

Good evening,

I have recently acquired a Model PRO-18 scanner. I have spent the better part of a week trying to understand the programming software for the scanner. It appears that Cabarrus County is piggybacking the Charlotte P25 system? Please correct me if I am wrong? I have tried to use “Motorola” banks in the scanner but get nothing for reception. I have downloaded the talk groups for Cabarrus from the Charlotte P25 system and get great reception (Five bars on the signal meter) but sometimes it is very garbled and sometimes I miss total transmissions (Sometimes I don’t even hear the dispatch) and then I hear units responding. I am monitoring Concord FD, Kannapolis FD and Cabarrus County FD. This is my first digital scanner so this all may be normal for the digital “world”??

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. I just went LIVE today with the Cabarrus County Fire Department scanner feed. Take a listen and let me know what you think.
http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/17155/web/?rl=rr

Respectfully,
Jason

I recently programmed this system for someone taking a trip in NC. Hence, I've not had a chance to monitor the system. I attempted to listen to the feed, but it was pretty dead.

If I were you, I would certainly review the various adjustments needed for the Pro-18. No, the radio does not pick up Phase II transmissions like the PSR 800, but I understand it does much better on simulcast distortion.

With digital, depending on the area and system, you can expect to either hear strong-sounding transmissions or poor reception sounding like having the radio underwater. Again, you might attempt to review the forum for making adjustments to a P25 system.

 

[Ensnared]

Well, I finally heard traffic on this online feed. Wow, that does sound pretty rough, even for digital.

 

[adams_jb]

I recently programmed this system for someone taking a trip in NC. Hence, I've not had a chance to monitor the system. I attempted to listen to the feed, but it was pretty dead.

If I were you, I would certainly review the various adjustments needed for the Pro-18. No, the radio does not pick up Phase II transmissions like the PSR 800, but I understand it does much better on simulcast distortion.

With digital, depending on the area and system, you can expect to either hear strong-sounding transmissions or poor reception sounding like having the radio underwater. Again, you might attempt to review the forum for making adjustments to a P25 system.

Thanks for the input, I found another forum that was discussing the PRO18 and found a suggestion to change the Data Decode Thresholds to 75-95, which I have done. I'll listen for a couple days and see if that helps??

A question for anyone that knows digital scanning, Should I lock out the other sites (i.e. Meck simulcast, Union Simulcast, Gaston simulcast and Cherryville simulcast) and use the one that is closest to me (Cabarrus County Simulcast)??

Thanks,
Jason

 

[yardbird]

You can do that.

I have my Uniden BCD396XT programmed that way and it works pretty good.

My Uniden BCD346HP on the other hand scans all of the site associated with the Char/Meck P-25 digital system. However I have not been able to pick up traffic from the other sites. I have mine set up for each individual areas.

I have it where I can scan just Mecklenburg, Union, Gaston, or Cabarrus. I activate the Cabarrus group and that is all I will hear and monitor. Same goes for the other sites I have programmed in.

Hope this helps

David

 

[Ensnared]

Pro-18 Inexperience

Thanks for the input, I found another forum that was discussing the PRO18 and found a suggestion to change the Data Decode Thresholds to 75-95, which I have done. I'll listen for a couple days and see if that helps??

A question for anyone that knows digital scanning, Should I lock out the other sites (i.e. Meck simulcast, Union Simulcast, Gaston simulcast and Cherryville simulcast) and use the one that is closest to me (Cabarrus County Simulcast)??

Thanks,
Jason

Well, I don't really know whether you should go with locking out the other sites. I have a PSR 500 which does not work like your radio in ways. Again, from what I understand, the Pro-18 works well on simulcast distortion. But, I believe some adjustments are needed. I would certainly review all Pro-18 post concerning optimal performance parameters.

I was unaware that the Easier to Read Guide was available for your radio. Easier to Read Pro-18 Digital Scanner Manual

There is a section on optimizing scanner parameters.

 

[adams_jb]

Let's see how the changes work??

Well, I don't really know whether you should go with locking out the other sites. I have a PSR 500 which does not work like your radio in ways. Again, from what I understand, the Pro-18 works well on simulcast distortion. But, I believe some adjustments are needed. I would certainly review all Pro-18 post concerning optimal performance parameters.

I was unaware that the Easier to Read Guide was available for your radio. Easier to Read Pro-18 Digital Scanner Manual

There is a section on optimizing scanner parameters.

Thanks for the manual. I have made a couple of changes, I have relocated the scanner slightly and have updated the threshold range again. Let's see if it helps any.

Jason
:lol:

Thanks for all the GREAT input!