Can I whine?

[desert-cheetah]

Is that allowed? It's scanner-related.


So, this past weekend my unit at work moved from the 3rd floor of a 3 floor building on the Salt River-Pima-Maricopa reservation to the 1st floor of a 2 story building with 3 floors of subterranian parking in Scottsdale. When I left work on Friday, my BCD436 was picking up...eh...90% of what I want to listen to. It wasn't getting BLM or Tonto NF, but I didn't toally expect it to because our building was bad for reception on a lot of things.

Today is day 1 at the "new" building (it's our main building and we were moved back to it) and all I'm picking up is MCSO and DPS with any regularity. I have picked up Rural/Metro twice, Phoenix FD on RWC twice, Scottsdale PD once and Glendale PD once. I have yet to hear any Phoenix PD and very little Phoenix FD plus no Tempe PD. Since I've picked up Phoenix FD on RWC I know it's "working". The times the scanner isn't stopping on DPS or MCSO, it's just scanning...scanning...scanning. I haven't changed any programming or anything on it recently so I'm pretty sure I didn't make RWC "go deaf". I'm pretty sure it's just a matter of being patient, but I'm getting tired of listening to those two agencies. Phoenix FD is starting to come up a little more often. I tried adjusting the squelch, but since the 436 doesn't make the static-y noise like my pro-106, I don't know if I should adjust it "up" (higher numbers) or "down" (lower). It was at 5 on Friday and now I have it on 7.

Anyway, I just wanted to whine about not being able to hear stuff right now.

 

[KB7MIB]

Lower should be closer to the squelch threshold. Typically about 2.5-3 is threshold. I like it at 3-4.

 

[desert-cheetah]

Thank you for your reply. I lowered it to 4 so we'll see how that works. I'm still not picking up Phoenix PD, but have picked up Scottsdale again. It's soooo quiet. Even with MCSO and DPS stopping every 2 seconds.

 

[cellphone]

Your new location may be out of range of some of the stuff you could hear in the past due to the lower elevation, and new obstructions. On the RWC, do a Site hold on the following sites, and make sure you have a good signal and see “DAT” solid on the display. If you are not receiving these sites, you will be missing a lot:
Simulcast A - Phoenix PD Carries Phoenix PD and some other city services.
Simulcast B – Carries Phoenix Fire, city services, and roaming users like Glendale.
Simulcast F – Carries Tempe PD, and fire K Deck talkgroups for Tempe area incidents. Simulcast F is currently also carrying Phoenix PD 400, and Chandler PD due to maintenance on Simulcast C.
Simulcast H - Carries Scottsdale PD and fire K Deck talkgroups for Scottsdale area incidents.

With changes to your location, you may have lost good signal to Simulcast A, B, and maybe F which will limit what you are hear on the RWC.

 

[desert-cheetah]

Well, I'm definitely getting Simulcast B because I'm getting Phoenix FD intermittently as well as Glendale. I'm also getting Simulcast H because I'm picking up Scottsdale PD intermittently as well as K deck 11. I'm not real sure how to do a site hold. I think I did it, but I'm not 100.

I tried it again and I'm getting an "ok" signal and mostly a solid "dat".

That bums me out I may have lost the signal for A and F since I live in Tempe and that's mostly what I want to hear. I have a pretty good amount of real estate on my new desk so I'll try playing with different areas to see if I can improve reception. I'm not far from a window, but our building is horse-shoe shaped being near the window may not help much. grrrrm.

In the past, when I've done a re-program, it's taken awhile for the scanner to "catch up" so to speak so I'm hoping that's all it is right now.

Thank you.

 

[wtp]

with room...

any chance of putting up a yagi on the desk ?
i used to work in a building that had a lot of metal under 5 feet (racks, tools, instruments) and would put my radio up at 6 feet, that really helped.

 

[desert-cheetah]

I don't know. How tall is a yagi? If it goes above 2 feet, probably not.

 

[AZScanner]

Depending on where you are, you might have luck on one of the intellirepeater sites. I listen to South Mountain at home because it is not simulcasted and contains usually only units in my area (esp. Phoenix PD). Tempe PD seems to reside only on F, I've never heard them anywhere else, so the above trick won't work for them, but it might pull in others you're currently missing.

-AZ

 

[desert-cheetah]

I'll try that, thanks. I'm getting Scottsdale PD more and more, which is good since my new desk is in Scottsdale, but I'm only getting North. In the past I got mostly North and occasionally South. I've tried putting the scanner up higher, but it doesn't seem to be working. hahaha. I knew it was a longshot.

 

[AZScanner]

Something else to try if you're only monitoring P25 is to turn the squelch all the way to 0. You might have some luck getting Tempe on Simulcast F this way - maybe.

-AZ

 

[desert-cheetah]

Thanks, I will try that. At this point, I'm willing to try almost anything. hahaha. Turning squelch to zero has slowed down the scanning, that's for sure. It's no longer going at warp speed

 

[desert-cheetah]

Ok. So, I tried setting the squelch to zero...that didn't last long. 'Every' frequency I have on my scanner was stopping on static and as soon as I did a temporary lock-out it would go on to the next frequency and stop because of the static. Ick.

I was able to hear K deck 7, which is tempe FD and Salt River hand Paradise Valley PD have come in a couple of times, but I may have to just accept what I can hear.

 

[W8RMH]

I don't know if you would be permitted to do this or not, but once I worked in an office with poor reception I placed a mag mount mobile antenna overhead, out of sight, above the false ceiling tiles (stuck to a ventilation duct), and my reception greatly improved. (provided your desk is located where the wire is not to unsightly and your boss doesn't have a problem with it).

 

[desert-cheetah]

Thanks for the suggestion, but unfortunately my desk is located where a wire would be very noticeable because I'm in the middle of the row. Also, we're not allowed to mess with the ceiling tiles. It's a big no-no.

 

[desert-cheetah]

***Update***

Okay. So, yesterday all I was getting for Phoenix FD was the talk channels and only K decks 8 and 11. I can't tell you how strange it was to hear the units talking while on the scene, but not really know what the call was since I wasn't getting the dispatch channel coming in. Today, I noticed I was getting K deck 7 and K deck 3 (I think it was 3) so that made me a bit happier. Anyway, then I noticed it stopped on the dispatch (TG 1795) channel. Hmmm. A couple of minutes later, I picked up Phoenix PD. Of course, now I'm forgetting which channel it was. I want to say 700? I looked at it long enough so I should remember it, but I don't. hahaha. It hasn't stopped on it again, but there's hope my scanner is finally "catching up" to the new location. Keep your fingers crossed I'll have more channels by the end of the day.


Oh YAY!!!!!! I'm now getting tg 2991 for Phoenix PD. HURRAY! Not out of the woods yet, but I'm getting closer. Hahahaha.

 

[desert-cheetah]

**Another Update**

Well, it appears as though my 436 is following in the footsteps of my pro-106. Whenever I did something "major" to it such as re-program or move to a new location, it would take a few hours to catch up. This time it just took a little longer. I'm happy to report that Simulcast A is starting to be picked up and I've heard at least 4, if not 5, dispatch channels for Phoenix PD, including Central City, which I've never heard before so that's exciting for me.

Thanks for letting me whine and for offering suggestions on fixing the issue. When I told my supervisor a little while ago that the building was blocking transmissions on my scanner, he actually suggested a better antenna. I don't think he had in mind the type that was suggested here, though. hahahaha.

 

[AZScanner]

That reminds me, Brenda - are you using the stock antenna or an RS-800 antenna? Both are good but I think the RS duck helps with the RWC. In either case, try using both and see if you notice any difference.

-AZ

 

[desert-cheetah]

I'm using the RS-800. I took the one off my pro-106 and then bought another for the 106. hahaha. I will bring the stock from home and see if it makes a difference. It's worth checking out for sure. Thank you.

 

[pinballwiz86]

Just place an antenna on the roof of the building and run coax down to your desk.

Oh? That's not allowed? Work extra hard for a promotion and make it happen.

 

[desert-cheetah]

Just place an antenna on the roof of the building and run coax down to your desk.

Oh? That's not allowed? Work extra hard for a promotion and make it happen.

Now there's an idea! Why hadn't I thought of that? I think Executive Row with the president is right above us...should I start there?