Christian County and the BCD436HP

[simpledesign]

Hello,
Really new to all of this after taking a long break from HAM and radios in general. Last I knew Christian County, Ozark and Nixa had switched to DMR but I have not kept up but I have some friends now working in those departments. Will the 436HP pick up their radios and is there anything specific I have to do to get it to work out of the box? I see I will have to purchase DMR access but I didn't know what else I would be missing possibly.
Thank you

 

[wbloss]

Welcome to the MO RadioReference forum!
Read through the back info and you will find lots of good insight to the current status of scanning ad radio operations.
The '436 will work well with the dominant systems in your area.
This one: Christian County 911 Emergency Services Trunking System, Ozark, MO, Missouri has the Christian County Emergency services,
and this one: Missouri Statewide Wireless Interoperable Network (MOSWIN) Trunking System, Statewide, Multi-State has the Springfield, Branson, and many other parts of the state!
Once you get it out of the box, download these two systems and other frequencies from RadioReference.
You might also review the radio info here: Easier to Read BCD436/536HP Digital Scanner Manual

 

[tvengr]

Ozark and Nixa had switched to DMR but I have not kept up but I have some friends now working in those departments. Will the 436HP pick up their radios and is there anything specific I have to do to get it to work out of the box?

For the Christian County 911 system, you can purchase the keys for the DMR upgrade at my.uniden.com. That is all you need. Make sure you have the latest firmware in the scanner.

 

[simpledesign]

Thank you all for the replies. I was curios about these different agencies because I have DMR Ham radios but for some reason they have stopped picking up radio traffic. Amazon will deliver tomorrow so hopefully I can get it up and running.

 

[simpledesign]

Sorry for so many questions, I am not hearing Springfield PD on my scanner but I can hear radio traffic on my scanner app. I have MOSWIN active but I am not getting anything but Troop D

Thanks again for the help

 

[wbloss]

Springfield's PD and FD are only carried on the Zone 4 800MHz site. You will not hear them on the various 700MHz or VHF Sites. Verify you have site 4-01 Greene County Simulcast in your list. ALSO since this is a simo site, many scanners will not receive it well due to the simulcast distortion.

 

[tvengr]

I am not hearing Springfield PD

Are you using the Greene County Simulcast 800 site?

 

[simpledesign]

I am using Sentinel for programming and I see a Zone 1,2,3 but no 4 on the MOSWIN list. Greene Co is on the MOSWIN list I have loaded but I don't hear anything. I'm still trying to figure this out pretty much.

 

[tvengr]

You must use this site for MOSWIN:

4 (4)	001 (1)	Greene County Simulcast 800	Greene, MO	854.9875	855.4625	855.7375c	856.2125c	856.4375	856.9625	857.2125c
				857.4375	857.6875	857.9625	858.2125	858.5125	858.6875	858.8625
				859.4375	859.5125	859.6875	859.9625c

 

[simpledesign]

I must be doing something wrong because I see my 436 scan Greene County Simulcast but it does not ever actually stop when there is radio traffic. When I "hold" and try to manually set the radio to GCS800 it doesn't show up at all. I'm getting more confused with this thing.

 

[tvengr]

What is your squelch setting? It should normally be 2. Please attach your favorites list file and I will check it for problems. Go to the File tab in Sentinel and click on Export to hpe file (Favorites List). You will need to right click on the exported file and Send to Compressed (zipped) folder to be able to attach it. Click on Attach files and open the zipped folder.

 

[simpledesign]

Squelch is set at 2 and I have attached the file. Do I need to do any other upgrades like Provoice or NXDN?

 

[tvengr]

I don't see anything wrong with the programming. When you are holding on the Greene County Simulcast 800 site, is the scanner stopping on a frequency in the site or does it continue to search for the control channel? Do you see DATA in the scanner display? I suspect you may be experiencing simulcast distortion. If you are using a rooftop antenna, change to the stock antenna. Try turning on the attenuator. Also try walking around your house with the scanner and pointing the antenna in various directions. You can also try removing the antenna and replacing it with a paperclip. Simulcast distortion is very location specific and reception will depend upon your location in relation to the towers.

 

[simpledesign]

That's the thing, I can't get it to hold on the GCS800. I can hit hold, scroll through but it never shows the Simulcast as an option and I know there was a good minute of traffic on my scanner app but nothing on the actual scanner.

 

[tvengr]

The Greene County Simulcast 800 site actually consists of a dozen towers (sub sites) all transmitting on the same frequency at the same time. The signals all arrive at your scanner at slightly different times which degrades the scanner's ability to properly decode the control channel. Anything you can do to decrease the signal level will reduce the number of towers received and may improve control channel decoding. Try taking a ride with your scanner. You will probably find locations where it will work. If you are close to a tower, it can override the out of phase interference from the other towers. The only scanners specifically designed to receive simulcast sites are the SDS100 and SDS200.

 

[JethrowJohnson]

That's the thing, I can't get it to hold on the GCS800. I can hit hold, scroll through but it never shows the Simulcast as an option and I know there was a good minute of traffic on my scanner app but nothing on the actual scanner.

Do you have a quick key assigned to GCS800? Maybe you accidentally turned it off?

 

[tvengr]

Do you have a quick key assigned to GCS800? Maybe you accidentally turned it off?

I looked at the file. There are no quick keys for the favorites list, system, departments, or sites.

 

[rdlinn]

I'm an SDS 100 guy but I think the 436 is similar, you might check the range settings to see if you can recieve. I've tinkered with changing range and can RX over 50 miles!

 

[simpledesign]

I have created just a favorites with nothing but the Greene Country 800 Simulcast and still have not gotten this to work. Frustrating to say the least. I know it just has to be a setting somewhere that needs to be changed since it can do simulcast just not the greatest.

 

[wbloss]

If you manually tune to the COntrol CHannel of the 800MH site 4-1 like 856.2125 d you hear control buzz?