Help me figure out scanning near Mpls, especially police.

[chas0039]

OK, I have a PSR-800 and I have yet to hear anything at all on any Mpls. frequency. I also have very little reception on the other frequencies from site towers that are near me.

I have set this up for all the sites available for any of the talk groups I have selected. Virtually all of the site information I see on the screen seems to indicate that I am getting very weak reception from towers quite a distance from me. I also am getting pretty garbled reception on a lot of the digital channels, especially Highway Patrol. Either I am too far away from everything (zip 55331) or I am doing something wrong with the settings. I have tried changing AGC and attenuation to help with the garbled speech, sort of makes a difference but hard to tell.

I am inclined to dump this thing and just consider it a bad investment and go back to analog, but if I can change something it would be great. I also don't know how long analog will survive here.

Anyhow, give me any feedback you can especially on whether analog will last here and what is going on with the remote sites coming in rather than the close in ones. Am I causing problems by adding ALL the sites when I program?

I am not that knowledgeable, so ask questions and don't assume I know what I am doing. Also, I would really like to know when to use AGC and attenuation.

Thanks

 

[JASII]

Help Me Figure Out Scanning Near Mpls, Especially Police.

You may want to post this is the GRE forum. I had a GRE PSR-500 a while back, but I sold it and went with the BCD396XT. It looks like the GRE only requires a ZIP code to get it going, so maybe you have to select the type of service(s) you want to listen to. There is a place here GRE America, Inc. - grecom scanner receiver, lcd modules, spread spectrum radio, wireless bridge, scanner antenna, scanner pre-amps. to download the manual.

Good luck and I wish I was more helpful on this one.

 

[chas0039]

Thanks, I am starting to think that the problem has to do with picking the correct sites. I am still not really clear on what happens when I pick a site for a talk group. It that when the radio looks for transmissions? Is that then where I am listening? Often I will choose a site, like the Anoka tower, and yet the radio indicates I am getting the talk group on Hennepin East.

What I think I really need is to figure out what choosing a site actually meany.

 

[puzzleriddle]

HAve ya tried an outside antenna yet?? may be the only way.

 

[chas0039]

Not yet, although last night was a lot less distorted.

I still need some help from someone on how to pick the right site.

 

[stmills]

If you are listening from Chanhassen to get started try using the Carver/Scott or Hennepin East or West Control channels, put your radio in open mode where it looks for any traffic on the control channels and see what you start to receive. Www.scanfan.com has a list that is a bit old but it lists by system what talkgroups are on each in the metro- a good place to start.

 

[WX0BPR]

Thanks, I am starting to think that the problem has to do with picking the correct sites. I am still not really clear on what happens when I pick a site for a talk group. It that when the radio looks for transmissions? Is that then where I am listening? Often I will choose a site, like the Anoka tower, and yet the radio indicates I am getting the talk group on Hennepin East.

What I think I really need is to figure out what choosing a site actually meany.

I do not own or get what your scanner does with zip codes and what tower it options it might give you for your zip, however Google tells me 55331 is Excelsior. And if that is the case Stmills suggestions are quite true. My office is in Excelsior and I do not go there often, but when I have brought my scanner there I have the sites Stmills suggests and I get POOR reception on all them, as if its a hole or something. On my 106 I have searched the CC's and I get none with good % of decode. Might just be a bad scanner area. If I think about it I will look again the next time I am there. Office is right by the Lake btw... and that is kind of in a hole, but seems that whole area is weak?