Iowa City scanner
- Thread starter ghalen
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tvengr
Well Known Member
Iowa City PD is on the SARA Network and all Johnson County law enforcement is fully encrypted and cannot be received by any scanner. Fire and EMS are clear to receive. There are also a number of conventional frequencies for fire and EMS. The Johnson County site is a 7-site simulcast system. For that reason, I would recommend a Uniden SDS100 handheld or SDS200 base/mobile. They are the only scanners specifically designed to receive simulcast systems. Any other scanner may or may not work depending upon your location.
tvengr
Well Known Member
Although it shows as a single site, the Johnson County Site on the SARA Network consists of 7 different locations all transmitting on the same frequency at the same time. The signals arrive at your scanner at slightly different times which degrades its ability to properly decode the control channel. That results in missed transmissions, dropouts, and garbled audio. If you are close to a tower, the signal can override the interference from the other towers. Whether a scanner works or not depends upon your location in relation to the towers. The Uniden SDS100 handheld and SDS200 base/mobile were designed to overcome simulcast issues with other scanners. Presently, the Uniden SDS scanners and the Unication G4 and G5 pagers are the only radios which will reliably receive simulcast systems. The pagers can scan only one system and one site at a time and are limited to 64 talkgroups per system.
I used to take a brother to the VA Hospital in Iowa City. Above the first floor it was hard to receive the system. I ended up reducing the antenna to a mini then actually no antenna to be able to receive it.
tvengr
Well Known Member
That is a typical symptom of simulcast distortion. By using a smaller antenna or removing it, you are reducing the number of towers received which improves decoding of the control channel.
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