Delaware County Pa New System

[cavmedic]

I am new to the digital stuff but in the hobby since the 80's. I have a BCD996P2, just started with the P25 channels on Sunday and had the strongest signal and broadcast yesterday 4/9 with sq on 2 and the threshold at 10 and reception bars are full. I'm in Prospect Park with an indoor antenna. Any suggestions for better reception going forward as I know they are still testing would be appreciated. Thanks!

Unfortunately the 996p2 does not perform well in phase 2 simulcast environments. It may be ok for a while as there is not currently a ton of overlap, or sites broadcasting to get a lot of delayed signals hitting the rcvr, but once more sites go online, it will struggle.

You may have better results with less antenna. Play with some attenuation settings and smaller, less gain antennas, up to and including a paperclip.

Only 4 of 21 sites currently online and it’s not fully optimized yet.

 

[policefreak]

I am new to the digital stuff but in the hobby since the 80's. I have a BCD996P2, just started with the P25 channels on Sunday and had the strongest signal and broadcast yesterday 4/9 with sq on 2 and the threshold at 10 and reception bars are full. I'm in Prospect Park with an indoor antenna. Any suggestions for better reception going forward as I know they are still testing would be appreciated. Thanks!

Honestly your best bet if you dont live under the shadow of one of the tower sites is to sell your 996 and put the money towards a Unication pager or a SDS scanner that can actually handle simulcast systems. Otherwise you'll constantly live on this endless merry go round of "hey I moved my scanner over an inch and it picks up almost all the transmissions today!" Tomorrow in the same exact spot you won't hear hardly anything. I've lived it for years and am done with it.

 

[Jerryk563894]

Yep. It's two sites currently online in testing. The power was cut in half at Lima when the second site was kicked on for testing. Simulcast timing is still being worked on as well. We fell back to Phase 1 for the time being during testing that is occurring this week.

This is a 9 channel simulcast system so all 21 tower sites will have 9 base stations (Channels 1 through 9). In Phase 1 that would give us 8 consecutive talk paths with 1 control channel. We will be Phase 2 so you will have 1 of the 9 channels dedicated to control channel and the other 8 will function as 2 consecutive voice paths each allowing for 16 consecutive talkgroups to be transmitting at the same time before a user would experience a busy. Since all tower sites are in one simulcast cell you will only see this as one logical "site". If channel 1 is the control channel then channel 1 is the control at every tower site in the system. If a user transmits on TG 200 and the system assigns that to Channel 3 then channel 3 at every site will come up and transmit simultaneously. So that is correct... if you live in Radnor and monitor sector 1 for a pursuit that jumps over the border on 95 and in to Delaware you will hear it perfectly in Radnor.

Yep once the other sites came online the receive dropped dramatically here in Downingtown/Exton area of Chester County, I was receiving 4 and 5 bars being strong and steady with a nice clear voice and now it has dropped down to 2 to 3 bars with CC signal fluctuation with voice dropping in and out and garbled on some transmissions. I understand it's still in the TEST Mode and i do hope it gets better as more sites come online.....I am using my 996P2 so that could be my issue so i'll be switching over to my SDS200.

 

[rgchristy]

This morning from North Ave., Secane:

SDS200 with external antenna

Solid 5 bars
RSSI: ~77dBm
D-Error: 0-1

TGID 201 voice is coming in clear, as well.

 

[stevecast2024]

Yep once the other sites came online the receive dropped dramatically here in Downingtown/Exton area of Chester County, I was receiving 4 and 5 bars being strong and steady with a nice clear voice and now it has dropped down to 2 to 3 bars with CC signal fluctuation with voice dropping in and out and garbled on some transmissions. I understand it's still in the TEST Mode and i do hope it gets better as more sites come online.....I am using my 996P2 so that could be my issue so i'll be switching over to my SDS200.

Power was cut in half at Lima compared to the first week. You will likely see an improvement once some of the other sites (Prison, Willistown, WPLY) come online.

 

[rgchristy]

Of course, I now have "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People stuck in my head...

 

[rgchristy]

The King of Pop at Meetinghouse & Naaman's Creek is a solid 5 bars, ~75dBm, D-Error: 0 from Secane.

 

[policefreak]

This morning from North Ave., Secane:

SDS200 with external antenna

Solid 5 bars
RSSI: ~77dBm
D-Error: 0-1

TGID 201 voice is coming in clear, as well.

You must be almost within walking distance of 5300 Baltimore Ave site.

 

[rgchristy]

I calculated it not too long ago. I'm about 2000' in a straight line. Unfortunately, I walk with a walker, so it's not actually in walking distance for me, but my wife is always willing to take me everywhere.

She's into the hobby as much as I am. When I used to run as a volunteer EMT on shifts, she would hang out at the firehouse and ambulance buildings with me. Most wives/girlfriends did, too. We would run from 7P-7A, sit at the building until about midnight, go home and then I would respond from home for calls. At the ambulance corps, we had the option of responding from home or staying at the building.

I really miss it. Although, my daughter and her fiance just joined the volunteer fire company around the corner from them.

 

[One13Truck]

Yes. We have that on Cardiac Arrests, shooting, stabbing, entrapment, and building fires right now.

Too far away to hear it myself but the old dinosaur whacker in me approves!! I hope it’s kept (and others are added for the regular smells and bells fire and the stubbed liver band aid buggy calls as well)!

 

[policefreak]

Driving from SNJ ( East Camden County) into NE Philly pretty consistent coverage today using a Unication G5. Very few Out of Range notifications and the automated alerts sounded good. Are we still in Phase 1 audio right now?
Obviously as more sites come online I understand that signal is subject to change, especially out my way, may become less over time depending on how strong Bartram Ave is once turned on.
Also, FWIW I picked up Fire 8 from Blackwood, NJ yesterday (That's probably a good 15 miles away from Chester). I haven't heard Fire 8 in probably over a year from NJ to out across the Walt Whitman Bridge and up I-95. I thought that was interesting.

 

[shirsch101]

What’s the latest update on the Delco System? Any new towers online this week?
Thanks
Steve

 

[shirsch101]

What’s the latest update on the Delco System? Any new towers online this week?
Thanks
Steve

??

 

[stevecast2024]

??

I am down FL on Vacation this week but they are up there finishing some microwave alignments and getting the antennas and cable hung up at the Radnor site this week. Nothing new turned up this week that I am aware of.

 

[shirsch101]

Thanks and enjoy your vacation

 

[Mainlineradioclub]

I am down FL on Vacation this week but they are up there finishing some microwave alignments and getting the antennas and cable hung up at the Radnor site this week. Nothing new turned up this week that I am aware of.

I’ve been monitoring from Berwyn and Wayne on a G5. I should know when Radnor is up when my bars go back to full. Since they cut the power at Lima, I lost a lot of signal

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

I’ve been monitoring from Berwyn and Wayne on a G5. I should know when Radnor is up when my bars go back to full. Since they cut the power at Lima, I lost a lot of signal

That you, Mark? Welcome to the party!

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Is there an issue with legacy sector 5, 508.1125? Haven't logged any traffic here since the 17th. Currently logging Sector 6 traffic on DMR back up, 462.9625 TGID 5420, nothing heard from 5 lately

 

[rgchristy]

Is there an issue with legacy sector 5, 508.1125? Haven't logged any traffic here since the 17th. Currently logging Sector 6 traffic on DMR back up, 462.9625 TGID 5420, nothing heard from 5 lately

I'm listening to Sector 5 right now. It's loud & clear. Overnight was a different story, I think for all sectors. A lot of static last night.

Yes, Sector 6 is on PD B, TGID 5420.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

I'm listening to Sector 5 right now. It's loud & clear.

Must have turned it off on whatever repeater I catch it on up in Montco. Sector 6 just switched back to normal channel now