CHP>Golden Gate>Oakland Dispatch- Poor Reception Issue & Tx Antenna site

[RC769]

Does anyone know where the antenna site for the Golden Gate CHP Oakland office is located? Also, the power output and antenna height?

From my office located near the Oakland Airport the signal is very week (almost useless) (-95 –100 dB RSSI) using an outside discone antenna mounted about 25ft above ground (10 ft above the metal roof). I’m using a Uniden SDS-100. I’ve also tried hooking an older analog scanner (Bearcat Trunk Tracker III) and get a slightly better signal. On both scanners I get descent reception from the Hayward, SF, and Redwood City office transmissions (80-90 dB).

When at home (in San Leandro) using the stock antenna I get the Hayward office, and using the W100RX antenna I can hear San Jose and Redwood City offices as well. But no Oakland office.

Broadcastify gets similar results with the Oakland office. Does anyone have any insights on this? Are there any internal settings I can change in the SDS-100 to improve reception in this band (42mhz)??

Thanks

 

[EAFrizzle]

Try the different filter settings under global filter. You may need a filter globally or just on that frequency. You can also try adjusting the ifx on that frequency.

 

[EAFrizzle]

I have a cell tower about 500 yards from me. At an airport, you're probably having desense problems, too. The different filters can make a big difference for you.

 

[markclark]

This from the data base. About 100 watts or more power at each site. You are closest to either Vollmer Peak, or Yerba Buena Island. ​

It looks like you have a cable, connector, or antenna issue, or all three, At your location you should have a very strong signal. You may have front end overload causing this as well. I receive Oakland CHP, mobile north of Reno. Time to check the coax, connectors, antenna and possible sources of interference.

#	TWR ID	Type	Antenna Height	Structure Height	Elevation	Address
1	1021309	TOWER	23.0	23.0	91.0	YERBA BUENA ISLAND DOT RADIO VAULT
2	N/A	TOWER	43.0	48.0	581.0	VOLLMER PEAK 4 KM NW
3		LTOWER	44.2	44.2	242.0	SAN LEANDRO HILL 8 KM N

 

[mmckenna]

using an outside discone antenna mounted about 25ft above ground (10 ft above the metal roof).

Most discone antennas are very poor performers on low band.

 

[ScanRafael]

I’ve used my BCD436HP with the stock antenna in the area you’re describing and was able to hear Oakland CHP just fine. I recently purchased a BC125AT and I expect even better results.

 

[gmclam]

I an in eastern Sacramento county and have no issues on picking up Brown (to the north) nor White (to the south). I also have no issues in picking up Emerald (Sonoma county) nor Ruby (Santa Clara county). But I too cannot get Bronze (Oakland/Alameda County). Considering the distance, I suspect that for me the source antenna is below the horizon of what I can see.

 

[Radiobern]

This is a recent issue as I am experiencing more difficulty than usual trying to listen to the Bronze on my Motorola HT1250 from our Comm center in Oakland. My usual "hot spots" to pick them up are extremely scratchy and barely readable now.

 

[markclark]

This is a recent issue as I am experiencing more difficulty than usual trying to listen to the Bronze on my Motorola HT1250 from our Comm center in Oakland. My usual "hot spots" to pick them up are extremely scratchy and barely readaC

Check the Blue channel too. They may have a site down.

 

[markclark]

I an in eastern Sacramento county and have no issues on picking up Brown (to the north) nor White (to the south). I also have no issues in picking up Emerald (Sonoma county) nor Ruby (Santa Clara county). But I too cannot get Bronze (Oakland/Alameda County). Considering the distance, I suspect that for me the source antenna is below the horizon of what I can see.

Vollmer Peak is about 2000 ft and should easily hit your location. I suspect Vollmer Peak is out. Try the Blue channel.

 

[RC769]

Try the different filter settings under global filter. You may need a filter globally or just on that frequency. You can also try adjusting the ifx on that frequency.

T

Try the different filter settings under global filter. You may need a filter globally or just on that frequency. You can also try adjusting the ifx on that frequency.

Thanks for the suggestions, Using the outside antenna in Oakland (near the airport) I ended up turning on the IFX and setting the frequency's filter to auto (after trying them all). That ending up helping somewhat lowering the dB to around -90ish. I also tried hooking up the antenna to a different analog scanner I have and got ok reception for the Oakland office (Bronze) as well as SJ (Ruby), RWC,, Hayward (aqua), SF (pink), and Dublin (kaki). At this point I'm pretty sure its not an antenna related issue. Maybe the SDS-100 is not great for analog / VHF-Low (8 meter). It seems to be fine for Aircraft, VHF High, and UHF.

 

[RC769]

This from the data base. About 100 watts or more power at each site. You are closest to either Vollmer Peak, or Yerba Buena Island. ​

It looks like you have a cable, connector, or antenna issue, or all three, At your location you should have a very strong signal. You may have front end overload causing this as well. I receive Oakland CHP, mobile north of Reno. Time to check the coax, connectors, antenna and possible sources of interference.

#	TWR ID	Type	Antenna Height	Structure Height	Elevation	Address
1	1021309	TOWER	23.0	23.0	91.0	YERBA BUENA ISLAND DOT RADIO VAULT
2	N/A	TOWER	43.0	48.0	581.0	VOLLMER PEAK 4 KM NW
3		LTOWER	44.2	44.2	242.0	SAN LEANDRO HILL 8 KM N

Thanks Mark, I've pretty much eliminated the antenna as the problem since the issue remains on 2 separate outdoor antennas , and at 2 different locations. I also get ok reception for other offices (Hayward, San Jose, Redwood City, SF). A couple of questions though........ Im I right in assuming that the only tower that is actually transmitting is the Yerba Buena Island site, with the other 2 as receiving only (probably repeater inputs)? I doubt that they all 3 would be transmitting a signal given their proximity to each other. Also, any idea what an "LTOWER" is, and why there is no tower ID on 2 of them?

 

[gmclam]

Vollmer Peak is about 2000 ft and should easily hit your location. I suspect Vollmer Peak is out. Try the Blue channel.

I typically get the Blue channels (valley, GG). I was listening to a pursuit the other night that switched to Bronze. I parked a couple of radios on Bronze and didn't even see the S meter budge (so I know it wasn't something like a CT value issue). I even get White from Northern division (Lake county) and Yellow from Central division (Stanislaus/etc.). But not Bronze from Alameda.