Help needed with BCD436HP and Burlington County P25 Phase II (FIRE/EMS)

[burckleyj]

Folks,

I am new to the Uniden BCD436HP and having an issue with the Burlington County NJ P25 Phase II System. I’ve been looking through forums for days and am unable to pick up any transmissions from the system. Using Broadcastify on my phone I can hear things but not on the BCD436. I’ve used sentinel many times programming and ensuring the proper service types are selected. I even tried creating a band list but to no avail I’m still not picking up any transmissions. I bought a new Comet antenna thinking that was the issue and nothing. I can pick up all other departments and counties throughout NJ and my area of Mercer County. I am truly stumped… Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated! Does anyone have a file or favorites list from their scanner I could import into Sentinel? -John

 

[markjrenna]

For P25 I would recommend Unication G4/G5 or Uniden SDS100/200.

 

[burckleyj]

Mark,

I understand that you recommend those devices, but looking for help with the current one I own.

Thanks!

 

[trentbob]

So what is your location in Mercer County? You only have to have the north simulcast site turned on you can avoid the South simulcast site. What kind of comet antenna did you get? Depending on where you are situated around towers you might want a less efficient antenna. Maybe even a paperclip as opposed to a stronger antenna that will pick up more than one tower thereby causing simulcast distortion.

Some people have good results with the 436 and some don't depending on location with regard to various towers.

Once the new P2 system came in and police became encrypted I don't listen to Burlington anymore even though I'm right across the river from Burlington City.

So what location are you in Mercer County? Perhaps you are out of range?

 

[trentbob]

Also when you said that the appropriate service types were turned on... You want to make sure ALL service types are turned on. Turn on every service type that will allow you to turn it on. It allows you to turn it on because it's programmed into your radio.

 

[burckleyj]

I am located in Hamilton township about 5 miles from Bordentown. I bought a Comet Original BNC-W100RX 25MHz-1300MHz Handheld Scanner Antenna which I thought would work but it has not. I've tried loading both the north and south simulcasts and ID search on with no results. All my service types have been set to on as well. I don't know what more to do except send this paper weight back and get a different radio.

 

[burckleyj]

I just don't understand why I'm not picking up anything at all... Do I need to set up a band plan? Or change some modulation settings. I've downloaded it directly from the Sentinel database. Just truly perplexed!

 

[trentbob]

I am located in Hamilton township about 5 miles from Bordentown. I bought a Comet Original BNC-W100RX 25MHz-1300MHz Handheld Scanner Antenna which I thought would work but it has not. I've tried loading both the north and south simulcasts and ID search on with no results. All my service types have been set to on as well. I don't know what more to do except send this paper weight back and get a different radio.

First of all, if you are within the return window you do want to seriously consider getting a SDS100... as you know Hamilton and Trenton is encrypted as are most police departments now along with the sheriff's department in Mercer County. You still do have Lawrence Township and Hopewell Township police on the county system. West Windsor Police are on the Statewide Phase 2 system and the New Jersey State Police are on there now too, but you will probably have a problem with that system unless you have a simulcast capable radio. That simulcast site is in Bordentown also, close to you. The problem is is you are hearing simultaneous transmissions from other fowers in Burlington.

The antenna that you bought is an excellent antenna, good choice. Unfortunately what you need is a compromised antenna or desensitized antenna so that you can isolate your reception to... Bordentown and not pick up any of the other towers in Burlington County. Seriously try a paperclip. There are tricks that don't work like drilling a hole in a used dried up paint can and stick the rubber duck that comes with the radio in the hole. I'm not kidding.

Unfortunately everything that you want to listen to including the New Jersey State Police, Burlington County and what is not encrypted in Mercer County calls for a simulcast capable radio.

 

[bailly2]

What you should do is surround the antenna with aluminum foil or another metal except in one direction, leave it open in the direction of the nearest tower in the system..you can see the map of the towers in the radioreference page for the burlington county trunked system. Multiple towers are transmitting the same data at the same time so you should block out all but one

 

[hiegtx]

I just don't understand why I'm not picking up anything at all... Do I need to set up a band plan? Or change some modulation settings. I've downloaded it directly from the Sentinel database. Just truly perplexed!

On a P25 system, a band plan is not needed. The scanner gets the information it needs from the data stream on the control channel.

What you should do is surround the antenna with aluminum foil or another metal except in one direction, leave it open in the direction of the nearest tower in the system..you can see the map of the towers in the radioreference page for the burlington county trunked system. Multiple towers are transmitting the same data at the same time so you should block out all but one

Under certain specific circumstances, this can work. Use a cookie sheet, baking pan, something metallic, to shield the scanner from signals from other transmit sites, so that it can only "see" one. In some cases, less antenna, down to using just a paper clip, may work. If you purchase a directional antenna, such as a yagi, it can be aimed at one specific location, so that the scanner only gets that one signal, not a number of other signals, all out of sync with each other, which confuses the bejeebers out of your scanner.

The downside to that, of course, is that concentrating on one site of one system, you may lose reception of other signals from additional systems in your area. And, while you may be able to use foil, a directional antenna, or something else to work when you are at home or another fixed location, those work-arounds are useless the minute you take the scanner with you & go out & about in your vehicle.

This is the map of the site locations for Burlington County's North Simulcast site, which is the closest to you:


If you have not already seen this, there is more information on Simulcast in the Wiki:
Simulcast digital distortion - The RadioReference Wiki

The site's page is here:

Burlington County Public Safety (P25) Site: North Simulcast

Burlington County Public Safety (P25) Site: North Simulcast Details

www.radioreference.com

 

[trentbob]

Yep poster as we had discussed you are in Hamilton and very close to the Bordentown tower but you see that there is a tower to the left and the right of Bordentown and that's where you're getting your simultaneous transmissions from. I was going to send you that map but what's the point you are very close to Bordentown, and close enough to the other two towers. Isolating the Bordentown rower is going to be difficult no matter what method or gimmick you use.

We have discussed the paper clip and even the paint can LOL

 

[burckleyj]

Good Morning All!

Thank you for all your advice and explanations. Much appreciated! Luckily I am able to return the Uniden BCD 436HP for a full refund through Amazon, and will be purchasing a Uniden SDS 100 for the simulcast capability.

 

[trentbob]

Good Morning All!

Thank you for all your advice and explanations. Much appreciated! Luckily I am able to return the Uniden BCD 436HP for a full refund through Amazon, and will be purchasing a Uniden SDS 100 for the simulcast capability.

Good for you, if you check the Uniden Tech support thread there is a gentleman in Ocean County New Jersey who has a 536 which is the base mobile version of your radio. Very interesting thread that will backup your decision to go simulcast capable.

 

[lovescanner2017]

i have had that scanner it is a good scanner but for me i had trouble with cell phone towers and finding control channel i have the sds 100 i love it works great

 

[MStep]

Good Morning All!

Thank you for all your advice and explanations. Much appreciated! Luckily I am able to return the Uniden BCD 436HP for a full refund through Amazon, and will be purchasing a Uniden SDS 100 for the simulcast capability.

In this world, there is no guarantee of perfection. Even the SDS radios occasionally struggle with some signals, but the SDS100 is the best handheld scanner that you can buy at this time that can properly tame simulcast.

 

[lovescanner2017]

i agree mstep

 

[burckleyj]

Hey Folks!

So I purchased the SDS 100 and have done some programing. Mercer County works great, but once again I'm having issues with Burlington. As I am closest to the Bordentown site, should I be isolating that Simulcast? I'm new to this but should I enter the NAC to isolate that tower? I'm a little confused and thinking maybe I'm over my head and should have someone program the scanner for me. As always, thanks for your help!

John

 

[trentbob]

Hi John congratulations on your new radio. I'm not real big on being total tech support but I certainly can steer you in the right direction.

If you have not already, you need to establish favorites lists. For simplicity you can put Mercer County on one list with its own number and you can put Burlington County on another list with its own number, you can call that list... BURCO.

I also believe strongly in the KISS principle. Look it up. You are going to need to keep things as simple as possible. Once you have favorites list set up you then have many options to customize your radio. Those who say you don't need favorites list are wrong LOL. That would drastically limit your ability to modify your radio. There is so much information on radio reference. You could just Google how do I set up a favorites list on an SDS 100 or 200

So let's assume you have a favorites list labeled and numbered. People will disagree with this but again keeping it simple, if you programmed the radio with Sentinel from the database this should all be in your radio already and it should work just fine. One thing you're going to want to make sure is you are only on the one site called North simulcast, you can avoid South simulcast unless you travel to South Burlington County and then you would enable it. So once you have your favorites list numbered and labeled, go right on your menu on the radio...

Press menu, scroll down to settings, Site NAC Operation, make sure it is on Use Site NAC. Press avoid to back out of menu. The Network Access Code is assigned to the site, not a tower. This system has two sites, North and South simulcast of which you want to be on just North simulcast so next on the keyboard...

Press menu, manage favorites, pick BURCO or whatever you named the favorites list, Review/Edit System, Burlington County public safety, Edit Site, South Simulcast, Set Avoid, make sure Permanent Avoid is chosen, Hit menu button 2 times to back up 2 steps, North Simulcast, set P25 NAC, it should say 99B... if it does, just hit avoid to back out of the menu.

If the north simulcast NAC is correct then your radio was programmed properly and I assume that the South simulcast site also had the proper Network Access Code. If you are ever on the run you can just go into your menu, follow these steps and stop avoiding the South simulcast site if you are in South Burlington.

Maybe in the future we can talk about applying filters but that's not for today, but you would use the same Edit Site menu you were just in.

Your favorite search engine is your best friend. Any questions that you have simply asked on, for example, Google, it will take you right to the threads and other information available to answer your question. You can ask it three different ways and get different results... Bob.

 

[burckleyj]

Bob,

Thanks! Let me try following your directions and go from there. Trying the KISS method as you state.

John

 

[trentbob]

That is assuming of course that you programmed the radio using the database and Sentinel. You have favorite list numbered and labeled. If so, using the menu on the radio gives you that latitude to make changes on the run when you don't have a computer.

One important thing I didn't mention, when you make changes directly on the radio you would need to hook up to Sentinel and transfer your data card to your profile first thing so as to make the changes permanent on your profile.