Cannot hear Fire Departments? Essex, Hudson counties..

[FutureFirefighter311]

Hey guys, I just bought a Uniden BC125AT. I programmed it via the frequencies on this site for towns like Kearny, Harrison, Newark, North Arlington, E. Newark, Rutherford, and so on and I cannot hear ANY of these fire departments. Plenty of chatter from Police and EMS, but I bought the scanner mainly for fire departments.

Any ideas what it can be? The only thing I am unsure about that I did is that under "Modulation" I set it to "Auto" and "CTCSS/DCS" I set it to "Search".

However, I set everything else up that way and I hear all other emergency services?

I'm on the verge of returning this unit if I can't figure it out so any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[scannersnstuff]

of course i have to ask, where do you live ?. county would be fine. what kind of antenna are you using ?.
pm me if you want. i will try to help you out. i get most of those towns from monmouth county.

 

[W2SJW]

You are not going to hear Newark FD with that scanner, as they are digital TDMA on the state NJICS system (you need one of the new Uniden models, or a GRE PSR-800).

Modulation should be set as to what is shown in the database (not everyone has gone NFM yet, even though it's been more than a year since the mandate!). The CTCSS/DCS should be set to what is shown in the database, not 'search'. You are going to hear any co-channel users if you do it that way.

 

[btshep]

you should start by entering the appropriate PL tone for each department you would like to monitor. where are you located ? I assume your are using the rubber duck antenna that was included with the scanner? You should have no issues picking hem up on that scanner contingent open you location. However if you are receiving the police chances are the fire depts. are programmed correctly. Have you tried monitoring in the evening when the vol departments perform their Minitor Pager test?.

 

[FutureFirefighter311]

of course i have to ask, where do you live ?. county would be fine. what kind of antenna are you using ?.
pm me if you want. i will try to help you out. i get most of those towns from monmouth county.

I am located in Kearny, NJ. Coincidentally, it's the only town I don't hear at all. Police are encrypted for starters, but I don't understand why I can't hear FIRE/EMS. I'm using the stock rubber antenna.

You are not going to hear Newark FD with that scanner, as they are digital TDMA on the state NJICS system (you need one of the new Uniden models, or a GRE PSR-800).

Modulation should be set as to what is shown in the database (not everyone has gone NFM yet, even though it's been more than a year since the mandate!). The CTCSS/DCS should be set to what is shown in the database, not 'search'. You are going to hear any co-channel users if you do it that way.

I did realize after I posted this that Newark Fire has moved to P25 Phase II. That still doesn't explain all the other towns though? I will set the CTCSS/DCS to what the database says. I'm actually thinking of returning my scanner and waiting for the BCD436HP to be available. Thanks.

you should start by entering the appropriate PL tone for each department you would like to monitor. where are you located ? I assume your are using the rubber duck antenna that was included with the scanner? You should have no issues picking hem up on that scanner contingent open you location. However if you are receiving the police chances are the fire depts. are programmed correctly. Have you tried monitoring in the evening when the vol departments perform their Minitor Pager test?.

I am located in Kearny, NJ. I will set the PL tone and try it again. I am using the stock antenna and it does pretty darn well, I can hear towns over 30 miles out believe it or not. I will try to monitor in the evening a bit and see if I hear that. Thanks.

 

[FutureFirefighter311]

I guess this may sound like a dumb question, but since Newark Fire is on P25 Phase II I should not have any issues hearing them with the Uniden BCD436HP.

There won't be anything else I have to worry about? I'm basically getting the scanner just for that.

 

[JoeyC]

People are telling you not to set the CTCSS/DCS to SEARCH but to what is in the database. That is fine, but if you are not hearing anything on a frequency in SEARCH you certainly aren't going to hear it with the PL/DCS code programmed either. I would look at your antenna being the most obvious reason you are not picking up those channels that the scanner should be hearing.

 

[LIScanner101]

Think of walking into a noisy party

You can hear everybody, including only ONE person you want to hear.

If you can hear EVERYBODY, there's a way to filter out SOMEBODY.

However, if you couldn't hear ANYBODY in the party, there's no way you can filter out ONE person ONLY.

Using CTCSS/DCS tones won't help in your situation.

 

[W2SJW]

I guess this may sound like a dumb question, but since Newark Fire is on P25 Phase II I should not have any issues hearing them with the Uniden BCD436HP.

There won't be anything else I have to worry about? I'm basically getting the scanner just for that.

You will be just fine with the 436HP.

 

[FutureFirefighter311]

Think of walking into a noisy party

You can hear everybody, including only ONE person you want to hear.

If you can hear EVERYBODY, there's a way to filter out SOMEBODY.

However, if you couldn't hear ANYBODY in the party, there's no way you can filter out ONE person ONLY.

Using CTCSS/DCS tones won't help in your situation.

Thanks, that made sense.

 

[FutureFirefighter311]

People are telling you not to set the CTCSS/DCS to SEARCH but to what is in the database. That is fine, but if you are not hearing anything on a frequency in SEARCH you certainly aren't going to hear it with the PL/DCS code programmed either. I would look at your antenna being the most obvious reason you are not picking up those channels that the scanner should be hearing.

Will do!

 

[FutureFirefighter311]

You will be just fine with the 436HP.

Thanks for confirming that and being patient with me.

 

[btshep]

what are the freqs you have programmed for the fd's you are having issues with ?

 

[thundersquall41]

Hello FF311,
In response to your qusetion about not hearing anything via scanner fd/ems.
I hope this will help.

Harrison fire dispatch. 472.075. dpl 115
Kearny fire dispatch. 502.4625 dpl 023. kearny ems is heard on police encryption used.
east newark fire dispatch 154.385 dpl 411
rutherford fire dipatch 154.160. pl 167.9
I live in harrison and i hear them just fine on my portable scanner.
There will be times when scanner is silent if no activity/calls are occuring.
If you need any additional help or info i will do my best to help. Thanks

 

[FutureFirefighter311]

Hello FF311,
In response to your qusetion about not hearing anything via scanner fd/ems.
I hope this will help.

Harrison fire dispatch. 472.075. dpl 115
Kearny fire dispatch. 502.4625 dpl 023. kearny ems is heard on police encryption used.
east newark fire dispatch 154.385 dpl 411
rutherford fire dipatch 154.160. pl 167.9
I live in harrison and i hear them just fine on my portable scanner.
There will be times when scanner is silent if no activity/calls are occuring.
If you need any additional help or info i will do my best to help. Thanks

Thanks for that. I keep trying to PM you, but the messages aren't sending? Probably because I'm new.