Charles County Trunked System

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SquelchKnob

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I have been putting up some scanner audio feeds for Southern MD which can be found here:

http://www.somd.com/scanner/

My scanner feeding Scanner ONE (Charles) is a Uniden BC785D but I do not have the Digital card. At this time I simply have a few conventional freqs programed in that the Fire Dispatch uses for a Simulcast.

I need to try to get to a point where I can trunk track the Charles County System but I want to try to keep the cost down as much as possible. I am hoping I can go out and buy the BCI25D card and that will enable me to pick up the Charles County System.

So my questions are:

Will the BCI25D card paired with the Uniden BC785D scanner let me pick up the Charles County system? I understand there are some different baud rates to factor in when working the APCO-25 Systems and I am unsure if the BCI25D card is the right tool for the job on this prticular system. I am also unsure what baud rate teh system uses.

Does anybody currently living in Charles County use this Scanner/Card combination to monitor the system? I would love to hear your thoughts on it if so.

Thanks for any help you might be able to offer.
 
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ka3jjz

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I think you're going to find that getting ahold of the digital card is going to be tough at best. I rarely see it on the various used lists. Too, the 785 won't be supported when rebanding comes around.

To keep things on the cheap (relatively speaking, anyway), I'd wait for a sale on the 96/2096, or look for a BC796 used. That's probably the best you're going to be able to do 73 Mike
 

SquelchKnob

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I think you're going to find that getting ahold of the digital card is going to be tough at best. I rarely see it on the various used lists. Too, the 785 won't be supported when rebanding comes around.

To keep things on the cheap (relatively speaking, anyway), I'd wait for a sale on the 96/2096, or look for a BC796 used. That's probably the best you're going to be able to do 73 Mike

The cost of the card is not a big deal to me. New or used doesn't matter. I figure I have 3 BC-250ds and 2 BC785Ds all without cards so I figured I might as well bite the bullet and get one before there are none available anymore at all.

Rebanding is not an issue at this point. Will be buying whatever raidos I need at that point.

So my original question still is hanging out there. Will a BC785D with the BCi25D card work the Charles County System??
 
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ka3jjz

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I believe it should - it's a mixed mode system, which makes it 3600 baud, so assuming you find a card, you should be good to go.

Rebanding will be a future issue to Charles, however. Something to keep in mind.

73 Mike
 

SquelchKnob

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I believe it should - it's a mixed mode system, which makes it 3600 baud, so assuming you find a card, you should be good to go.

Rebanding will be a future issue to Charles, however. Something to keep in mind.

73 Mike

Understand all about the rebanding. Not a big concern there. Will be buying whatever is need at that point. That website I feed my audio into is not mine and the folks that run it are not against helping me out financially if we try to do something that I can't afford to make happen in a timely fashion so when the time comes for rebanding. I know Ill be looking into 3-4 radios to support it. Just hope all three Southern MD counties don't up and decide to do the rebanding at the same time.:lol:

Just doesn't make sense not to have at least one BCi25D card here considering all the radios I have that support it. Figured if I could get one and play with Charles County now with one of those I'll have a better grip on it when it comes time for the rebanding.
 

Dewey

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So my original question still is hanging out there. Will a BC785D with the BCi25D card work the Charles County System??

I'm using the digital card in the 250, and picking up CC just fine. Since I do a lot of scanning, and don't normally "target" CC, I'll check further when I get home (Bryans Road area). Just want to make sure that it's properly following the conversations and not just decoding them so I don't give you bad advise.

Dewey
 

Dewey

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Held on CC Sheriff Dist 3E on the 250 & the 996 for about an hour. There was only one time that the reception was not synced. A priority simulcast was dispatched which came in on the 996 only, but I've always had problems with the 250 picking up simulcast transmissions if the simulcast (patch) originated from another talkgroup. Other than that one priority, I never heard anything on one that didn't come in on the other.

Dewey
 

SquelchKnob

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Held on CC Sheriff Dist 3E on the 250 & the 996 for about an hour. There was only one time that the reception was not synced. A priority simulcast was dispatched which came in on the 996 only, but I've always had problems with the 250 picking up simulcast transmissions if the simulcast (patch) originated from another talkgroup. Other than that one priority, I never heard anything on one that didn't come in on the other.

Dewey

Thank you very much Dewy. Looks like I get to start saving up for a card.
 
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