CDTA

[Dexter2]

Good Afternoon,

I am extremely new to this new digital programming.

Has anyone heard any transmissions on their new system? I have just loaded into my Favorites List on a SDS100 and I'm not hearing anything. Is it not in operation yet, am I missing a step possibly in the programming? On the device it self, it shows ID Scanning with Altamont, Brunswick, and Wilton in constant rotation, but nothing transmitted or showing the two Talkgroups. Comparing with the analog frequencies, are there no Talkgroups for Albany, Troy, or STAR Control?

Your help and any insight is greatly appreciated.

Take care,

Dex

 

[k2hz]

Good Afternoon,

I am extremely new to this new digital programming.

Has anyone heard any transmissions on their new system? I have just loaded into my Favorites List on a SDS100 and I'm not hearing anything. Is it not in operation yet, am I missing a step possibly in the programming? On the device it self, it shows ID Scanning with Altamont, Brunswick, and Wilton in constant rotation, but nothing transmitted or showing the two Talkgroups. Comparing with the analog frequencies, are there no Talkgroups for Albany, Troy, or STAR Control?

Your help and any insight is greatly appreciated.

Take care,

Dex

I am not in the area so I can not help with what may be active on the system.

You need to be in ID Search, not ID Scan mode or it will respond to only programmed talkgroups.

Scanning multiple sites generally is not a good idea, especially once a system gets busy. In most cases you are better off programming only the site with the best reception unless you know there are TGs of interest that are active only on a different site. Have you run Analyze/System Status to verify you are actually receiving each site?

 

[Dexter2]

I am not in the area so I can not help with what may be active on the system.

You need to be in ID Search, not ID Scan mode or it will respond to only programmed talkgroups.

Scanning multiple sites generally is not a good idea, especially once a system gets busy. In most cases you are better off programming only the site with the best reception unless you know there are TGs of interest that are active only on a different site. Have you run Analyze/System Status to verify you are actually receiving each site?

Good morning, Thank you for your reply. I just turned ID Scan on and typed "Capital District Transportation Authority" as the System in Analyze/System Status and it just brought me back to the main screen and still shows the "Altamont, Brunswick, Wilton" in rotation and now says "ID Searching".

When I first used this radio, I was able to pick up some police transmissions from a greater distance than me when I loaded the Full Database originally. I used Sentinel to retrieve the CDTA information, maybe I did something wrong or this radio just doesn't work for it.

 

[Dexter2]

Also, I forgot to mention, I moved the radio into my living room to see if that would change anything. Twice, and not even for a full second the radio picked up something that showed as "Unknown" in the middle Department section and "TGID 2" in the bottom Channel section but there was no voice transmission at all or even long enough to pick up. There is no TGID 2 on Radio Reference, so I'm not sure what that was.

 

[vikingegfd]

sds100 does not pick up CDTA P2 even poorly when parked next to the the Albany Garage. I bought a 325P2 and it picks up the channels well. Most popular TG's are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 12, 19, and 20,

 

[Dexter2]

Interesting! Thank you for your reply. In my search for a digital, the SDS100 came in the lead. By chance, Do you know what the other TalkGroups, that they could be added to the RadioReference page?

 

[Dexter2]

Also, on the screen it says PC25 NAC 8F1h, 8F2h, 8F1h as its searching. On the Radio Reference page, it says the System ID is 8FA, Shouldn't they be changed on my scanner?

 

[Kevinbb]

Both of my sds 100/200,s pick up CDTA's P25 system just fine a few miles south of Albany. Mostly hitting off the Altamont tower TG 1 is the most active

 

[k2hz]

Good morning, Thank you for your reply. I just turned ID Scan on and typed "Capital District Transportation Authority" as the System in Analyze/System Status and it just brought me back to the main screen and still shows the "Altamont, Brunswick, Wilton" in rotation and now says "ID Searching".

When I first used this radio, I was able to pick up some police transmissions from a greater distance than me when I loaded the Full Database originally. I used Sentinel to retrieve the CDTA information, maybe I did something wrong or this radio just doesn't work for it.

When you have the system selected and it shows the sites and ID searching, press the Menu key. Then scroll down to Anaylze and press Enter.
It should show "System Status". Press Enter again and it will say Input System Name - do not type anything, just press Enter again and it should show the System name. Press Enter one more time and there should be a list of sites. Select each site one at a time and let Anaylze run.

If you find a site that gives good or the best results, lock out the other sites and try running search scan. Attempting to scan all sites has the scanner looking for CCs that may be not there or poor and it misses activity on the good site.

The Q reading is the most important, Signal strength alone does not provide error free reception. You should have a solid Q reading and System and Site ID, WACN and NAC should be consistently displayed. If this does not work for any site, you are out of range.

 

[Dexter2]

Thank you Kevin, Do you have any particular location settings setup for this system? How did you get/find the TGID 1?

Thank you k2 - I had one occurrence under the Analyze, I wrote down the System ID, Site ID, WACN, and NAC from the occurrence. I put the other sites on "Permanently Avoid" and put ID Search on. Now I'm just waiting for activity, being its Sunday, hopefully something comes up during the week.

 

[k2hz]

Thank you Kevin, Do you have any particular location settings setup for this system? How did you get/find the TGID 1?

Thank you k2 - I had one occurrence under the Analyze, I wrote down the System ID, Site ID, WACN, and NAC from the occurrence. I put the other sites on "Permanently Avoid" and put ID Search on. Now I'm just waiting for activity, being its Sunday, hopefully something comes up during the week.

If you have good reception of the site, you should constantly see "DATA" on the top line of the display except when it is receiving a signal and shows "P25". If "DATA" is intermittent, the scanner is not locked in on the CC data and you won't see activity. If it is intermittent, it is all about "location, location, location" to find a good spot. The 200 is good on handling ordinary multipath problems but there still are areas where the distortion is so bad it just can not be decoded.

On these multi-site systems, it really helps to start looking at one site at a time so the scanner isn't '"spinning its wheels" constantly looking for each site it is programmed for.

 

[Dexter2]

If you have good reception of the site, you should constantly see "DATA" on the top line of the display except when it is receiving a signal and shows "P25". If "DATA" is intermittent, the scanner is not locked in on the CC data and you won't see activity. If it is intermittent, it is all about "location, location, location" to find a good spot. The 200 is good on handling ordinary multipath problems but there still are areas where the distortion is so bad it just can not be decoded.

On these multi-site systems, it really helps to start looking at one site at a time so the scanner isn't '"spinning its wheels" constantly looking for each site it is programmed for.

At present, since I avoided the other two sites, I see "DATA" quite frequently. It's not solid, but it will stay like that for about two minutes then go out, but comes back more frequently. The screen still says "ID Searching..." and no voice yet. Today alone, I've had two pop-ups not even lasting 30 seconds, it says "Unknown" in the department section and on the bottom it said TGID "2" and the other one was "25" and quickly disappear. How do you add those or lock those, on the Radio Reference/Sentinel it only shows 5 - Route 905 and 16 - Supervisors and I haven't had luck with either of those? Secondly, Are the DEC's the same in Departments versus UNIT ID?

It is interesting to me, that 1) I'm able to hear a police transmission in Saratoga County but having difficulty with transports, while the one tower CDTA is using is a lot closer to me, and 2) With my older Radioshack handheld, I could hear transports two counties away on the analog frequencies with no problem.

I appreciate all of you in this thread assisting me.

 

[k2hz]

At present, since I avoided the other two sites, I see "DATA" quite frequently. It's not solid, but it will stay like that for about two minutes then go out, but comes back more frequently. The screen still says "ID Searching..." and no voice yet. Today alone, I've had two pop-ups not even lasting 30 seconds, it says "Unknown" in the department section and on the bottom it said TGID "2" and the other one was "25" and quickly disappear. How do you add those or lock those, on the Radio Reference/Sentinel it only shows 5 - Route 905 and 16 - Supervisors and I haven't had luck with either of those? Secondly, Are the DEC's the same in Departments versus UNIT ID?

It is interesting to me, that 1) I'm able to hear a police transmission in Saratoga County but having difficulty with transports, while the one tower CDTA is using is a lot closer to me, and 2) With my older Radioshack handheld, I could hear transports two counties away on the analog frequencies with no problem.

I appreciate all of you in this thread assisting me.

If you find a location for your scanner where DATA is solid, then you should be all set. These P25 multi-site system are engineered for each site to only cover a specific area and, if you are not in the the intended service area, reception can be very spotty.

 

[Dexter2]

Can you leave the scanner in "Analyze" or do you have to press "To Scan" to listen? I have a bar on "Q", nothing on "S", and only one time i had bar on Q and A. I was going to leave it on and take it around my area.

 

[k2hz]

You can leave it on Analyze while moving it around and "A" will indicate TG activity but you will not hear it or see what TGs are active. You need to exit to scan to hear and see the actual activity.

 

[Dexter2]

Should I do anything with location; enter zip-code, set range (its currently at 0 miles)?

 

[k2hz]

I don't think that is an issue but I don't use that feature so I will let someone else respond to that.

 

[vikingegfd]

All my 325p2 hits on CDTA have been off the altamont tower.

 

[Dexter2]

I'm near Watervliet, so I was thinking the Brunswick Tower would pick up at least something period. Do you guys have any particular settings or location sets?

 

[Dexter2]

Update: So I went around town running errands and still nothing. Either I programmed wrong or this is a faulty radio. I've gotten "DATA" frequently but that was it. No channel pick ups at all or voice transmissions.