Iowa Statewide Interoperability Communication System (ISICS)

[DurangoPursuit2019]

I would say both! Most of the officers barely talk above a whisper.

Ain't that the truth, it's either whisper, or they sound like their inhaling the mic...

 

[DurangoPursuit2019]

Does anyone know if Burlington PD went back to the 460.350 Frequency? I haven't heard them all day on the ISICS Talk group for Des Moines County despite seeing them responding to calls.

 

[countryjoeb]

Does anyone know if Burlington PD went back to the 460.350 Frequency? I haven't heard them all day on the ISICS Talk group for Des Moines County despite seeing them responding to calls.

Looks like Burlington PD is using ISICS talk group 26601, Des Moines County and West Burlington PD are using 26720 as their primary ops channels.

 

[DurangoPursuit2019]

Looks like Burlington PD is using ISICS talk group 26601, Des Moines County and West Burlington PD are using 26720 as their primary ops channels.

Is it still the beaverdale tower frequencys?

 

[countryjoeb]

Yep

 

[DurangoPursuit2019]

Alright I'm officially at a loss here. My Laird 700-900 MHZ phantom antenna finally came in and I got it on my rango in under 30 minutes. I definitely can hear the transmissions better, and I'm definitely receiving more of them compared to the old glassmount I was using. But I'm still at times getting error rates up into the 60s and garbled audio with that. It doesn't matter which direction my cars facing to the tower either as it has happened when I'm facing it, when I'm away, and when I'm parallel to it. I don't know if I messed something up, if my scanner or antennas a dud, or if I'm just to stupid to understand how this radio works.

For reference, I'm using a used BCD996P2 with the aforementioned Laird TE 700-900mhz phantom antenna. It's mounted on the roof of my durango over the passenger side rear seat. The only system I have programmed is DESCOM, I'm running 1 system, 1 site with the 3 frequencys off the beaverdale tower. And 2 groups, 1 for Burlington, 1 for Sheriff and West Burlington. I run my P25 on manual at 8, squelch 2 as recommended. I hand programmed the scanner, so I don't know if I seriously messed something up or if there is a fundamental I'm missing, any help would be appreciated.

 

[DurangoPursuit2019]

Alright I'm officially at a loss here. My Laird 700-900 MHZ phantom antenna finally came in and I got it on my rango in under 30 minutes. I definitely can hear the transmissions better, and I'm definitely receiving more of them compared to the old glassmount I was using. But I'm still at times getting error rates up into the 60s and garbled audio with that. It doesn't matter which direction my cars facing to the tower either as it has happened when I'm facing it, when I'm away, and when I'm parallel to it. I don't know if I messed something up, if my scanner or antennas a dud, or if I'm just to stupid to understand how this radio works.

For reference, I'm using a used BCD996P2 with the aforementioned Laird TE 700-900mhz phantom antenna. It's mounted on the roof of my durango over the passenger side rear seat. The only system I have programmed is DESCOM, I'm running 1 system, 1 site with the 3 frequencys off the beaverdale tower. And 2 groups, 1 for Burlington, 1 for Sheriff and West Burlington. I run my P25 on manual at 8, squelch 2 as recommended. I hand programmed the scanner, so I don't know if I seriously messed something up or if there is a fundamental I'm missing, any help would be appreciated.

I figured I'd add, the scanners running firmware 1.10.2

 

[maus92]

Some photos of your install could help, but it's most likely a receiver quality and terrain issue as you move around. The best you can do is to improve your radio receiver - either a SDS or better yet, a Unication G4.

 

[VASCAR2]

In my opinion it is like poster above mentioned about terrain and another possibility is RF noise produced by your vehicle. I had an early 90’s Chevrolet 9C1 police car where the cruise control module was putting out enough RF noise it was affecting my VHF Low Band 42.46. I have a car battery booster that has 110 inverter or a 12 volt cigar plug output. I’d plug the scanner into that or a 12 volt lawn mower battery and see if there is any difference in error rate as you drive around. It is entirely possible your Durango is putting out enough RF to interfere with the reception of your BCD996P2.


Analog land mobile tends to have different characteristics that work better over larger distance. Digital especially 700/800 MHz tend to be less reliable unless near a site. Moving around on the fringe of coverage area or in hilly terrain really affects the decode rate and reception quality. Most time the signal is there or it isn’t with digital trunked systems. I’ve experienced the same reception issues with trunked Motorola P25 mobile radios working in rural areas with low transmitter power on 700/800 MHz sites. With overlapping coverage from numerous sites in a metro area I find better reception quality than working in an area with only one site providing coverage for the geographic area. Some systems permit the handoff off of mobiles to other sites if the signal degrades to less than optimal whereas some systems only hand off if the signal is lost completely.

It is very frustrating to be in a high risk situation and key the mike to get a bonk indicating No Service.

I’ve experienced the same fluctuations in error sitting in my home using my BCD996XT. Weather and atmospheric conditions affects 700/800 signals just like it can affect analog signals. It seems as analog systems are affected in audio quality more in certain atmospheric conditions. Digital systems affected by atmospheric conditions interfere with decode rates that translate to garbled or choppy signals. Listening to radio traffic in my rural area with a strong uninterrupted signal on my scanner lets you hear how poor the signal is from Troopers trying to communicate with Dispatch. Driving around can make it difficult to know if reception quality is your receiver poor location or a poor signal being repeated on a trunked system. My digital TV reception is affected by atmospheric conditions just like my old analog TV. There are days I cannot receive certain stations on digital. With analog the signal would fade in and out and the picture/audio quality would degrade but I could usually watch everyday.

 

[bw415]

I don’t think there is a problem with your antenna or your installation. I think it’s more the poor quality of DesCom’s audio and the poor performance of the BCD996P2 combined make terrible sounding audio.

My BCD996P2 is in my home with an external antenna and I still can’t understand a lot of the transmissions from DesCom or the mobiles. DesCom even has problems with their audio on the fire and ambulance VHF frequency with regular old FM. A lot of the pages are hard to understand.

 

[DurangoPursuit2019]

In my opinion it is like poster above mentioned about terrain and another possibility is RF noise produced by your vehicle. I had an early 90’s Chevrolet 9C1 police car where the cruise control module was putting out enough RF noise it was affecting my VHF Low Band 42.46. I have a car battery booster that has 110 inverter or a 12 volt cigar plug output. I’d plug the scanner into that or a 12 volt lawn mower battery and see if there is any difference in error rate as you drive around. It is entirely possible your Durango is putting out enough RF to interfere with the reception of your BCD996P2.


Analog land mobile tends to have different characteristics that work better over larger distance. Digital especially 700/800 MHz tend to be less reliable unless near a site. Moving around on the fringe of coverage area or in hilly terrain really affects the decode rate and reception quality. Most time the signal is there or it isn’t with digital trunked systems. I’ve experienced the same reception issues with trunked Motorola P25 mobile radios working in rural areas with low transmitter power on 700/800 MHz sites. With overlapping coverage from numerous sites in a metro area I find better reception quality than working in an area with only one site providing coverage for the geographic area. Some systems permit the handoff off of mobiles to other sites if the signal degrades to less than optimal whereas some systems only hand off if the signal is lost completely.

It is very frustrating to be in a high risk situation and key the mike to get a bonk indicating No Service.

I’ve experienced the same fluctuations in error sitting in my home using my BCD996XT. Weather and atmospheric conditions affects 700/800 signals just like it can affect analog signals. It seems as analog systems are affected in audio quality more in certain atmospheric conditions. Digital systems affected by atmospheric conditions interfere with decode rates that translate to garbled or choppy signals. Listening to radio traffic in my rural area with a strong uninterrupted signal on my scanner lets you hear how poor the signal is from Troopers trying to communicate with Dispatch. Driving around can make it difficult to know if reception quality is your receiver poor location or a poor signal being repeated on a trunked system. My digital TV reception is affected by atmospheric conditions just like my old analog TV. There are days I cannot receive certain stations on digital. With analog the signal would fade in and out and the picture/audio quality would degrade but I could usually watch everyday.

How do I tell what could be putting out the RF?

 

[VASCAR2]

How do I tell what could be putting out the RF?

The way the radio detected the RF was by turning off the car and using a signal strength meter. Once he determined there was interference he started pulling fuses till he found the circuit putting out RF. After he knew which circuit he started disconnecting whatever was on the circuit. Turned out it was a cruise control module. They ordered a new cruise control module which fixed the problem.

I suggested using a power source not directly connected to the car which might help to see if there is a difference in the signal with the car electrical system energized compared to everything shut off. There are so many electrical components and micro processors in new cars it is amazing they can get two way radios to work. Most new cars have aluminum and plastic hoods and body panels which don’t work as well as when you had a steel body, hood and trunk.

It sounds like a lot of the problem is the poor quality of the transmissions from DesCom.

I would also change the P25 setting from 8 to auto. I’d leave the squelch set at 2.

 

[DurangoPursuit2019]

I went ahead and reset the scanner like 5 times in a row as I have heard 1 time isn't always enough with the P2. I also reset my Durangos unconnect as I read it can be a source of RF. I'm now sitting in my works parking lot and have noticed something, BPD is coming in clear with 0 errors, but the one DMCSO unit that keyed up instantly spiked my errors to 30+. Now I'm honestly more confused, would it be beneficial to remove the dmcso group and simply add its talkgroup ID(Channel) into the BPD group, then rename it, or would that mess everything up?

 

[ORION_NE]

I went ahead and reset the scanner like 5 times in a row as I have heard 1 time isn't always enough with the P2. I also reset my Durangos unconnect as I read it can be a source of RF. I'm now sitting in my works parking lot and have noticed something, BPD is coming in clear with 0 errors, but the one DMCSO unit that keyed up instantly spiked my errors to 30+. Now I'm honestly more confused, would it be beneficial to remove the dmcso group and simply add its talkgroup ID(Channel) into the BPD group, then rename it, or would that mess everything up?

What type of radio are they using? Is it Motorola, Harris, Kenwood, Tait, or other?

 

[WillB]

What type of radio are they using? Is it Motorola, Harris, Kenwood, Tait, or other?

Motos

 

[bulldog350]

There are some known coverage holes with the Beaverdale tower. If you are downtown in Burlington or anywhere below or near the bluff along Highway 99, coverage will be very spotty.

Get closer to the site tower on Hwy 61 and 180th/Dodgeville Rd and see what you hear. I am on the Northern end of the county, and can hear the Des Moines county talkgroups (and everything else on the site) without much trouble on my SDR rig with an indoor antenna.

County Fire/EMS on VHF is a whole other story.

 

[DurangoPursuit2019]

There are some known coverage holes with the Beaverdale tower. If you are downtown in Burlington or anywhere below or near the bluff along Highway 99, coverage will be very spotty.

Get closer to the site tower on Hwy 61 and 180th/Dodgeville Rd and see what you hear. I am on the Northern end of the county, and can hear the Des Moines county talkgroups (and everything else on the site) without much trouble on my SDR rig with an indoor antenna.

County Fire/EMS on VHF is a whole other story.

Surprisingly downtown and the bluff don't seem to affect me much at all. My biggest issue is Roosevelt, I constantly drop the control channel going down Roosevelt, or if I don't drop it it's still super garbled. Doesn't matter what direction I going either, second I get off Roosevelt it seems to be fine. I'm thinking it's all the gas stations maybe putting out RFI but honestly no clue, I've just learned to deal with it.

 

[WB0VHB]

Surprisingly downtown and the bluff don't seem to affect me much at all. My biggest issue is Roosevelt, I constantly drop the control channel going down Roosevelt, or if I don't drop it it's still super garbled. Doesn't matter what direction I going either, second I get off Roosevelt it seems to be fine. I'm thinking it's all the gas stations maybe putting out RFI but honestly no clue, I've just learned to deal with it.

Where on Roosevelt? There is a 5G antenna between the casino and radio station on a pole not far above the ground. The 5G low band segment is around 600 MHz. If that segment of 5G is active, it could be swamping your P2s receiver near that location.

 

[DurangoPursuit2019]

Where on Roosevelt? There is a 5G antenna between the casino and radio station on a pole not far above the ground. The 5G low band segment is around 600 MHz. If that segment of 5G is active, it could be swamping your P2s receiver near that location.

Between agency and west ave, that whole strip tends to drop my channel in and out as I go down it. I also tend to have issues in the intersection of Mt pleasant and Roosevelt, specifically next to the BP. I've also had it near the high-school on division, and going down agency towards auto zone. My scanner will drop the control and display "NFM" in its place until I exit the area, then my reception is garbled for a few seconds before going back to normal. Burlington and West Burlington for the most part is fine, it's just that bubble around Roosevelt that screws with me.

 

[DurangoPursuit2019]

Between agency and west ave, that whole strip tends to drop my channel in and out as I go down it. I also tend to have issues in the intersection of Mt pleasant and Roosevelt, specifically next to the BP. I've also had it near the high-school on division, and going down agency towards auto zone. My scanner will drop the control and display "NFM" in its place until I exit the area, then my reception is garbled for a few seconds before going back to normal. Burlington and West Burlington for the most part is fine, it's just that bubble around Roosevelt that screws with me.

I also have issues going westbound on Mt. Pleasant passing Shearers.