Franklin County Sheriff vs Columbus Police (OH)

[baj76]

I have a PRO 197 ...

Franklin County Sheriff comes in loud and clear with no problems.. But Columbus not so much choppy and garbled ....Can somebody tell me why that is or tell what I'm doing wrong? BTW I live in south Columbus Thank You

 

[W8RMH]

The Columbus system is a Simulcast System which uses 6 different towers broadcasting on the same frequency.

You are experiencing Multipath Distortion. The signals arrive at your scanner at different times depending on the location and distance from the towers which cause the transmissions to be choppy and garbled. See the page below for more details.

Simulcast digital distortion - The RadioReference Wiki

There are numerous threads in the Ohio Forum discussing how to deal with these issues. Usually less antenna is good, or you may need a Yagi directional antenna which I had to install to get my feed to work correctly.

Some of the new scanners work better such as the BCD436HP, where the older Uniden and Whistler / Radio Shack / GRE scanners do not.

 

[baj76]

Thank you

 

[dizwiz]

i wish they would have never changed over and would have stayed on their old analog system.

 

[Nasby]

i wish they would have never changed over and would have stayed on their old analog system.

Your hard earned tax dollars at work.

 

[Maddawg1787]

i wish they would have never changed over and would have stayed on their old analog system.

With all due respect, that is a pretty selfish wish.

The main reason for the switch (aside from the Feds pushing digital) is the analog equipment was 20 plus years old and there were no replacement parts available for some main components. The parts were just not made anymore. Keeping the analog system would have put the residents of Columbus and its Officers/Firefighters at risk more and more each day it was in operation. To that point, the Columbus public safety system went into failsoft 2 or 3 times in the months leading up to the switch to digital. A sure sign there were worse times ahead with the analog system. The analog system was at its end of life. I think we can all stand to be inconvenienced a bit in our listening abilities in the name of public safety. With all of the discussion on simulcast distortion and the complaints about the Columbus system, I think all of us who listen to the Columbus system need to take a step back and realize who this change was/is for.

I am fairly certain everyone would want police/fire to be able to communicate effectively in the event you had emergency, versus some scanner enthusiasts being able to hear without simulcast distortion. If you have an operational need to hear what is going on then you would have a $5000+ portable radio with a system ID to properly communicate. The new digital system has improved coverage and clarity throughout parts of the city where the analog system lacked. Add in the fact the system is new, most likely under warranty and has replacement parts readily available, it is 100 times better for the end users than the analog system.

It may not have been that big of a need for some of these smaller city and county jurisdictions to make the jump to digital right now like they have been. I agree with some of your previous statements on other threads about agencies throwing out interoperability to justify the cost of upgrading, but not in this instance. Their analog systems were probably newer and not as large as Columbus' system. With Columbus being one of the first agencies in the area to use analog trunking some 20 plus years ago, it was definitely time and needed to be upgraded.

Your hard earned tax dollars at work.

You are correct. You hard earned tax dollars went to work to ensure public safety personnel are able to properly communicate in order to respond to you and your fellow citizen's emergencies. Sounds like an effective use of my money to me.

 

[wdz]

Well said Maddawg1787

 

[wa8pyr]

Well said Maddawg1787

Ditto. Saved me the trouble of typing out the same thing.

 

[Nasby]

Your hard earned tax dollars at work.

I meant that in a positive way. A great digital system with encryption where it needs to be.