Frisco/Prosper P25

[ArkTex]

This is a new thread to keep it separate from the Collin County P25 thread.

So, I have a horizontal dipole antenna suction-cup mounted to my window facing West. I can pick up Frisco and Prosper's system with five bars, but the audio drops in and out. The little "T" comes in and out.

I've tried setting the threshold Hi and threshold Lo to 70 and 5, respectively to help a little bit.

Should I face it to my south west as much as possible since that's where all of Frisco's transmitters are?

I have the Frisco P25 in five different scanlists on my TRX 1; (Frisco Police, Frisco Fire, Frisco PW, Prosper Fire, Prosper Police.)

 

[hiegtx]

You may be dealing with simulcast problems. Curerently, the Frisco system has three sites.


The one farthest north appears to be closer to you. I would aim (as much as possible) toward that site, if not even somewhat north of it, to try to reduce the out of sync signals coming from the other two sites.

As mwjones noted in the Collin County thread, Frisco is adding a fourth site, in Prosper. Once that is operational, I suspect that you'd do better aiming toward it, and hopefully getting a string enough signal to override the signals from the other three.

Frisco is a simulcast system, with 3 sites providing coverage. The nearest site to you (and me) is the water tower at Coit and ElDorado. I have an old Uniden BCD996T base unit with a collapsed telescoping whip on the back of the scanner and still get full bars (my SDR Radios and SDS200 are on a splitter off of a mag mount on a sheet metal ground plane on top of my bookcase).

Frisco/Prosper is building a 4th site on a water tower near Fishtrap and Teel, but I have not heard when it is going online.

 

[ArkTex]

You may be dealing with simulcast problems. Curerently, the Frisco system has three sites.

View attachment 103852
The one farthest north appears to be closer to you. I would aim (as much as possible) toward that site, if not even somewhat north of it, to try to reduce the out of sync signals coming from the other two sites.

As mwjones noted in the Collin County thread, Frisco is adding a fourth site, in Prosper. Once that is operational, I suspect that you'd do better aiming toward it, and hopefully getting a string enough signal to override the signals from the other three.

Does orientation of the dipole matter?

 

[hiegtx]

Does orientation of the dipole matter?

Not nearly as much as a directional antenna such as a yagi. If mounted vertically, preferably above the roofline, it’s omnidirectional. But if you have it mounted flat against the glass, you might see it behave as slightly directional.

 

[ArkTex]

Not nearly as much as a directional antenna such as a yagi. If mounted vertically, preferably above the roofline, it’s omnidirectional. But if you have it mounted flat against the glass, you might see it behave as slightly directional.

It's mounted flat against the glass as much as the mount will let it lie flat.

As I scan right now, the TRX has five bars of signal across the Frisco P25. It hit on Prosper PD, but the T and audio were choppy.

 

[tvengr]

Try turning on the attenuator. If you can reduce the number of towers you receive, it can improve control channel decoding. Turn off digital AGC. The AGC action can increase garbled audio problems. Also, try the scanner mounted antenna.

 

[ArkTex]

Try turning on the attenuator. If you can reduce the number of towers you receive, it can improve control channel decoding. Turn off digital AGC. The AGC action can increase garbled audio problems. Also, try the scanner mounted antenna.

I've seen here posted before that going into the software and locking out all the alternate control channels might do something. Is this reccomended?

 

[tvengr]

I would delete the 6 voice frequencies and leave the control channel and 3 alternates. If your scanner loses the control channel, it takes less time to find it again if it doesn't have to search through the voice frequencies. You can try eliminating the 3 alternates, but you will lose the system if the control channel shifts to one the alternate frequencies.

 

[ArkTex]

I would delete the 6 voice frequencies and leave the control channel and 3 alternates. If your scanner loses the control channel, it takes less time to find it again if it doesn't have to search through the voice frequencies. You can try eliminating the 3 alternates, but you will lose the system if the control channel shifts to one the alternate frequencies.

It only has the CC and the Alternates in it. I don't program voice channels, only TG's.

 

[tvengr]

Voice frequencies and talkgroups are 2 different things. Voice frequencies, as well as the control channel and alternate frequencies, go into a site. Talkgroups go into a department. The voice frequencies are the black ones listed for a site in the database. Control channel frequencies are red and alternate frequencies are blue.

 

[ArkTex]

Has anyone ever heard/seen Prosper ISD PD key up?

I'm assuming they use Prosper PD Dispatch on the Frisco P25. I'm sure they also use Prosper ISD's system, but I haven't seen them ever key up on there.

 

[mwjones]

Has anyone ever heard/seen Prosper ISD PD key up?

I'm assuming they use Prosper PD Dispatch on the Frisco P25. I'm sure they also use Prosper ISD's system, but I haven't seen them ever key up on there.

I believe I've heard School Resource Officers on Events 1 (418). As far as I know there's not a dedicated talkgroup for ISD PD (Does Prosper ISD have its own PD?).

 

[ArkTex]

I believe I've heard School Resource Officers on Events 1 (418). As far as I know there's not a dedicated talkgroup for ISD PD (Does Prosper ISD have its own PD?).

Prosper ISD Police FB Page

They do have their own PD, with their own cars. They are full service.

I know there probably isn't enough activity to justify keeping something looking for it, but it would be an interesting listen nonetheless.

 

[riverradio68]

I believe I've heard School Resource Officers on Events 1 (418). As far as I know there's not a dedicated talkgroup for ISD PD (Does Prosper ISD have its own PD?).

Yes, Prosper ISD has its own Police department. When they transport a student they will always go to Prosper or Frisco PD dispatch and give the traffic. PISDPD default to Prosper or cell as they dislike the NXDN system.

To the OP, My TRX-II often reduces audio when switching from a P25 talkgroup to a TDMA talkgroup. Try using the ABST option, clicking it will even out the audio some. you might also consider a "back of the scanner antenna" the TRX is super sensitive, Whistler CS suggests reverse pointing of yagi's to reduce the signal input, I know this isn't your issue, so switching to a antenna not mounted in a window may help.