Home Patrol II

[WQZB703]

Hello,

I just set up my Home Patrol II in Wichita. After I checked for firmware etc updates, I entered my zip code and the channels were brought up. I am receiving Harvey, Sumner, Butler county and KHP Turnpike Troop G.

I am not receiving any Wichita PD, Sedgwick Co. Sheriff or KHP Troop F. I will see the screen stop on one of those occasionally, but no audio except on occasion and it sounds choppy. What the heck is the problem?

 

[hiegtx]

Hello,

I just set up my Home Patrol II in Wichita. After I checked for firmware etc updates, I entered my zip code and the channels were brought up. I am receiving Harvey, Sumner, Butler county and KHP Turnpike Troop G.

I am not receiving any Wichita PD, Sedgwick Co. Sheriff or KHP Troop F. I will see the screen stop on one of those occasionally, but no audio except on occasion and it sounds choppy. What the heck is the problem?

Before entering your location, when you checked for updates in Sentinel did you download the master database update?
If you did, did you then write that to the scanner?

Looking at the database, Sedgwick moved over to the new P25 system in perhaps the past year or two. Before that, apparently they were apparently on the Motorola Type II system. If you did not update the database in the scanner, it may not have the latest information. If I recall, the database 'as shipped' on new scanners is several years out of date. It should be updated once you install Sentinel.

To check which database version is on the scanner, from the first screen, select Menu
At the Main Menu, select Advanced Menu.
On Advanced menu select Version Information (if needed, use the arrow at the bottom of the screen to access the second page). The most current version is 06/04/2017.

I also see that for your county, Sedgwick, a simulcast system is in place, with 10 towers. See Simulcast digital distortion - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[Fireattack484]

There is a good chance you are suffering from the simulcast issues mentioned above. As a test, try removing the antenna from the scanner and putting it a place that would normally have poor reception, such as a basement or closet. If you start receiving SG CO, then that's your problem.

 

[WQZB703]

Thank you for your reply. My current HP II scanner Database Version is 06/04/17. The Help Version is from 07/14/14.

I unscrewed my antenna from the unit and so far I am receiving zero audible. Before I did, I was hearing transmissions from KHP Troop F for the first time, but still no local PD or Sheriff.

I turned my AGC (off) and lowered my squelch. Over time, I felt that having squelch at two bars worked best. I was starting to receive WPD but it was not very frequent or clear from Dispatch.

 

[Fireattack484]

It's a complicated mess here is SG Co. With the KSICS (Statewide) system, there is pretty much only one tower you are within range of. Because of that tower's proximity to Reno, Butler, and Harvey counties, you are hearing their traffic as well as the statewide KHP traffic. It is easy for your scanner to monitor a single tower. With the SG Co system, there are multiple towers that all transmit, or "simulcast" the SG Co transmissions at once. and this "confuses" your scanner. Consequently, it receives nothing from SG Co because it doesn't know how to process all of the signals it is receiving. The only solution to this is to take steps to "desensitize", if you will, the scanner so it only receives transmissions from one of those SG Co towers. There are several steps you can take to do that, and they are all found in various threads on here. The problem with that is, that depending on your proximity to the state tower (45th St N and Hillside), you might not be able to receive it once you desensitize your radio enough to focus in on one SG Co tower. It almost takes two radios to listen to both systems here. (Depending on your location) Now, I'm not saying this is definitely your problem. I am not familiar with the home patrol or using downloads to program any scanner. I always program everything manually. So, there could possibly be an issue in the database, although yours appears to be very current, so it's hard to believe that would be the problem. Maybe someone else has information about that. Please feel free to ask any other questions you might have.

 

[WQZB703]

What about using the, Trunking Discovery mode, or Conventional Discovery mode, would that help anything?