Help! Can not hear Ocean county fire

[tvengr]

I agree that TGID 5100 on the Ocean County (P25) trunked system is Fire Dispatch Ocean County (P25)

Emergency Services

DEC	HEX	Mode	Alpha Tag	Description	Tag
5100	13ec	T	Fire/EMS Disp	Fire/EMS Dispatch	Fire Dispatch

 

[kc2kth]

Distortion implies I’m hearing something though. I’m not. Rereading the wiki here on the topic supports my understanding- distortion means there is sound, but it’s distorted.

I’m hearing nothing - no reception at all for the county site. I left Jackson Twp out when programming since I'm not close to those locations.

 

[kc2kth]

Thanks for confirming. I tried holding on 5100 for a while, haven't heard anything. I'm trying discovery for the system now, five minutes in and zero hits.

I'm starting to question the programming I brought in from RR this morning or a setting in the scanner. I've dropped SQ to zero, no other changes yet. When I programmed, I left out the Jackson site, only imported the County site. No issues there if I'm not close to Jackson, right?

It looks like the closest repeater is around TR HS North. I'm maybe a mile from there.

 

[GTR8000]

Distortion implies I’m hearing something though. I’m not. Rereading the wiki here on the topic supports my understanding- distortion means there is sound, but it’s distorted.

In the context of a P25 trunked simulcast cell, the term "simulcast distortion" means that there are competing signals from two or more subsites that are hitting the receiver out of phase, causing signal distortion, not audio distortion. Another term used to describe this phenomenon is multi-path, where the signal from two or more simulcast cell subsites reaches the receiver via multiple pathways. In fact, multi-path can also come from a single site, as sometimes RF is reflected back from nearby structures or terrain. If the timing is not synced up well, receivers that weren't designed or optimized for simulcast modulation are going to struggle decoding it.

All of the tech mumble jumble out of the way, the real question is: does your 436 display DAT steadily when it acquires the active control channel? Is it even acquiring a lock on the active control channel? Even with simulcast issues, the scanner should at least find and dwell on the active control channel. If it does so, but the DAT indicator is intermittent, the scanner is not going to reliably decode transmissions (if at all).

If you are within a mile from a subsite, you can try enabling attenuation for the site. If the signal is strong enough at your location, that may help. You can also try using a crappy antenna such as the stock rubber ducky. Sometimes with simulcast, less is more.

 

[kc2kth]

Thanks for the clarification, the technical.part helped greatly.

I've been testing now for a half hour or so with attenuation on for the site. I've also tried it using a paper clip in place of the antenna. I haven't seen “DAT” appear once on the display.

I'm still sort of stuck on whether it's receiving anything for the system, or if it's the multipath issue. In all the years with the 436 I've never run into anything similar, so I'm at a bit of a loss. Dropping $700 to test with a SDS doesn't excite me to be honest.

 

[elias1988]

This is why I sold my 436,like I said in my other post SDS or Unication is the way to go to monitor these systems.

 

[GTR8000]

Thanks for the clarification, the technical.part helped greatly.

I've been testing now for a half hour or so with attenuation on for the site. I've also tried it using a paper clip in place of the antenna. I haven't seen “DAT” appear once on the display.

I'm still sort of stuck on whether it's receiving anything for the system, or if it's the multipath issue. In all the years with the 436 I've never run into anything similar, so I'm at a bit of a loss. Dropping $700 to test with a SDS doesn't excite me to be honest.

First be certain that the scanner is actually acquiring the control channel. If it can't get a decent signal on that frequency, you don't have any chance of seeing DAT on the display. I would suggest checking signal in analog mode on the control channels to verify.

 

[kc2kth]

First be certain that the scanner is actually acquiring the control channel. If it can't get a decent signal on that frequency, you don't have any chance of seeing DAT on the display. I would suggest checking signal in analog mode on the control channels to verify.

Seems to be finding a signal when I added the control channels in conventional mode. I'm seeing “DAT” on and off in the display on 774.8812 MHz and “NAC592h” as well.

Strength (Fn - vol) shows around 1.32, 1.65, 1.99. Farthest I've delved into this type of signal, so not sure if those are good numbers. Back to the documentation!

Thanks for the continued pointers and assists.

 

[kc2kth]

This is why I sold my 436,like I said in my other post SDS or Unication is the way to go to monitor these systems.

I hear you, and don’t doubt what you are describing. At this point it's a challenge and learning experience.

In over 40 years with scanners never more than an arm’s reach away, this is by far the most complicated problem I've run across. Except maybe programming my BC296D. Those early digital scanners almost caused me to leave the hobby. 😉

 

[RadioChief55]

I'm in Snug Harbor in TR and the OC 700 TRS will only work on the SDS line of radios. We get simulcast distortion bad in this area. I have the 996 P2 and the 325 P2 and they are silent, the only way I could get the 325 to work a little was with a paperclip in the antenna port. The other time I got it was when I parked under the tower on Chestnut, it would overpower the other sites. I provide the Broadcastify feed you are referring to, and I have an SDS200 dedicated to the feed.

 

[howie38]

I'm in Snug Harbor in TR and the OC 700 TRS will only work on the SDS line of radios. We get simulcast distortion bad in this area. I have the 996 P2 and the 325 P2 and they are silent, the only way I could get the 325 to work a little was with a paperclip in the antenna port. The other time I got it was when I parked under the tower on Chestnut, it would overpower the other sites. I provide the Broadcastify feed you are referring to, and I have an SDS200 dedicated to the feed.

I too am trying to listen to Ocean Co. on a 996P2. I recently moved from Burlington Twp where I could get Mercer & Camden Co, (but never Bucks Pa for some reason), to Pemberton where I'm now a lot closer to Ocean. Can't pick up SP Troop C anymore.
I saw something in here of a map that looks like there's a repeater tower of some sort here in the Boro which is close by and may be giving me the garble voices for burl Co if I use anything but the little rubber antenna on the back of the radio so I can't use anything that might be better.

 

[RadioChief55]

I too am trying to listen to Ocean Co. on a 996P2. I recently moved from Burlington Twp where I could get Mercer & Camden Co, (but never Bucks Pa for some reason), to Pemberton where I'm now a lot closer to Ocean. Can't pick up SP Troop C anymore.
I saw something in here of a map that looks like there's a repeater tower of some sort here in the Boro which is close by and may be giving me the garble voices for burl Co if I use anything but the little rubber antenna on the back of the radio so I can't use anything that might be better.

Are you on the NJICS or the 800 system? Some sites on the 800 system are going off line as the migration to the NJICS takes place.