Danville and San Ramon ?

[1BMG1]

Just got a Radio Shack Pro 107 closeout on Ebay. Git through the software and programming - not bad, and working well.

QUESTION : I live on the Danville / San Ramon border and want to get local police transmissions. I seem to be getting CHP, Fire, and Emergency transmissions, but dont seem to be getting any local police stuff .

Under "cities" there isnt anything specific to Danville / San Ramon either on the Radio reference database to download ... any help is appreciated !

 

[kma371]

Danville and San Ramon are noted in the DB to be on the East Bay Regional Communications System (EBRCS). That system is digital modulation and your scanner doesn't receive digital transmissions.

Might want to take it back, save some money and buy a digital scanner as its the only way to listen to those agencies police transmissons.

 

[1BMG1]

Took KMA371's advice and traded up to the Radio Shack PRO18. Regular (no-digital) reception is excellent.

I found the EBRCS under Contra Costa County / Systems, and loaded all the frequencies.

Problem : I'm getting the various stations, but the voices sound gargled and digitized. Is there another setting (attenuation ?) or something that I need to do to on the setup in order to clear up these transmissions ?

Thanks for your help - new to the scanner world !

 

[tommypierson]

Took KMA371's advice and traded up to the Radio Shack PRO18. Regular (no-digital) reception is excellent.

I found the EBRCS under Contra Costa County / Systems, and loaded all the frequencies.

Problem : I'm getting the various stations, but the voices sound gargled and digitized. Is there another setting (attenuation ?) or something that I need to do to on the setup in order to clear up these transmissions ?

Thanks for your help - new to the scanner world !

I am ready to pull the trigger on a PRO-18 for EBRCS. Would you suggest it?

 

[kma371]

The GREs do better on simulcast systems. I would get that instead. Or wait until new Unidens come out to see how well they handle it.

 

[srschacher]

I'm in San Ramon, and I have a PRO-106 that I bought on Amazon. It works just fine for me.

GRE (RadioShack PRO line) went out of the manufacturing business earlier this year, so Uniden will be the only player.

Steve

 

[kma371]

I'm in San Ramon, and I have a PRO-106 that I bought on Amazon. It works just fine for me.

GRE (RadioShack PRO line) went out of the manufacturing business earlier this year, so Uniden will be the only player.

Steve

I understand that, but the GRE's still decode simulcast systems better than the Unidens and the Radioshack models. You can still buy used GRE's.

Plus the guy in San Ramon says he's not receiving the system well on his Pro-18

 

[1BMG1]

Encouraging that your RS PRO 106 is fine receiving EBRCS here in Contra Costa County.

My PRO 18 dowloaded all the Digital channels associated with EBRCS just fine, but the transmissions are garbeled and kind of sound digitized. Since your 106 is working fine, makes me wonder if there is a setting in the trunking/digital setup that I may need to change to receive EBRCS clearly ?

Wonder if anyone out there has experienced this, or has a PRO 18 that they setup for the East Bay area (EBRCS). ???

Any suggestions are really appreciated ! "Newbie" here : ) ...

 

[srschacher]

I'm using the Radio Shack 800 mhz antenna with my PRO-106. I do hear an occasional garbled message, but 90% of them are fine. I also hear the ALCO conventional channels, too.

I used to listen through my PRO-164, which is analog. I was using a Ramsey active antenna kit to amplify the conventional signals, but stopped with this radio because the digital didn't play well with the Ramsey. The Ramsey antenna is only rated up to 800mhz, so I wasn't listening to the ALCO trunking system before. But it pulled in peninsula PD and north Bay stations just fine.

Steve

 

[kma371]

I also hear the ALCO conventional channels, too.

What ALCO conventional channels are you speaking of?

 

[srschacher]

I was too quick in my typing. I meant the ALCO non-digital trunking channels.

Steve

 

[1BMG1]

As an update... I bought a Radio Shack Pro 18 a few weeks ago. Struggled with digital transmissions as about 50% of them were garbled, choppy, and generally bad. I also noticed on the scanner frequency ID screen that the vast majority of those bad transmissions were the more distant locations. Tried playing with the squelch, but not much difference.

So, I decided to delete the contents of the playlist where I had downloaded all the EBRCS (digital trunking) frequencies. Then I took the time to reload only the more local agencies that I was interested in listening to.

Worked - now getting about 90% clear, strong and listenable transmissions. Guessing that this scanner tries to pull in just about everything it can on the digital side. Whatever... working great now.

One other thing ... I bought one of those 800Mhz style antenna as an upgrade for the supplied rubber ducky. Also seems to be an improvement, BUT for whatever reason, my scanner, with this antenna, gets noticeably better reception (especially digital) when the scanner is laying down horizontally instead of upright (vertically).

Is that weird, or not ?

 

[bt5595]

I also live on San Ramon/Danville border. I've been eyeing the Uniden BCD996XT and bought it on Amazon's lighting deals on Thanksgiving when the price was too low to resist. Just got it programmed yesterday and works fine with the stock antenna. I am getting hospital and police transmissions all the way out in Fremont loud and clear. I've been getting San Ramon PD transmissions too but not too much action here. They have their own talk ID 7556 under CCCO central of EBRCS. Didn't find anything for Danville although I know their PD is contracted out with COCO sheriffs.

 

[Raider510]

I also live on San Ramon/Danville border. I've been eyeing the Uniden BCD996XT and bought it on Amazon's lighting deals on Thanksgiving when the price was too low to resist. Just got it programmed yesterday and works fine with the stock antenna. I am getting hospital and police transmissions all the way out in Fremont loud and clear. I've been getting San Ramon PD transmissions too but not too much action here. They have their own talk ID 7556 under CCCO central of EBRCS. Didn't find anything for Danville although I know their PD is contracted out with COCO sheriffs.

I've been strongly considering getting either the 396xt or the 996xt. Are you able to pick up (or have you tried) most of the East Bay cities like Newark, Union City,or even Oakland PD? I see you have Fremont listed above.

What are your pros/cons of having the 996xt?

 

[kma371]

I wouldn't buy anything until the new unidens come out. The 996xts do not do well and simulcast systems, EBRCS is one. Best to see how the new scanners handle them first before you spend money.

 

[Raider510]

I wouldn't buy anything until the new unidens come out. The 996xts do not do well and simulcast systems, EBRCS is one. Best to see how the new scanners handle them first before you spend money.

Do you know when they are expected to come out?

Thanks for your response.

 

[kma371]

Do you know when they are expected to come out?

Thanks for your response.

January

 

[bt5595]

I wouldn't buy anything until the new unidens come out. The 996xts do not do well and simulcast systems, EBRCS is one. Best to see how the new scanners handle them first before you spend money.

Can you elaborate on why the 996xt does not do well with simulcast? I was looking at the new unidens coming out around 1/14 or so. They are sweet with wifi capability and ease of use. But it's $500-600 each and EBRCS still has ways to go before they are APCO phase 2? I will probably get one of the new unidens when the price drops and it proves reliable.

Raider510- the 996xt is nice but I would have got the mobile 396xt had I not got a good deal on the 996xt. I am able to get many of the east bay stations including Hayward from my home in San Ramon. I have not been having much luck on Oakland PD frequencies for some reason though.

 

[WayneH]

Can you elaborate on why the 996xt does not do well with simulcast? I was looking at the new unidens coming out around 1/14 or so. They are sweet with wifi capability and ease of use. But it's $500-600 each and EBRCS still has ways to go before they are APCO phase 2? I will probably get one of the new unidens when the price drops and it proves reliable.

It's been discussed ad naseum in the Uniden, GRE and RS forums. The quick answer is the scanners cannot handle multiple signals originating from different geographic points which are on the same frequency. Multiple factors affect the waveform's phase which the receiver must compensate for; commercial grade radios do and scanners do not. This is commonly known as phase distortion (available on the Google) and with digital voice mangles up the data stream so much the voice is generally unintelligible.

 

[1BMG1]

Okay... been buried for awhile, but finally got some time to dink around with my Radio Shack PRO18. Everything great, except been struggling with garbled transmissions on the local EBRCS (digital trunked). Run into a lot of these garbled transmissions (simplexing?) was kind of frustrated, then, by accident, I laid my scanner down (horizontally) and AMAZING how much better my reception is now.

I went from probably 20% understandable / 80% garbled, to 10% and 90% ! No idea why the improvement, and certainly not complaining, ... but any ideas ?