Page County VA recently went to Harris and my old scanner no longer picks it up. I programmed in the frequencies on the 436HP nothing is coming through. I know people with SDS who pick it up perfectly. I really dont want to spend 750 on a scanner for one county, any ideas?
Issues with programming BCD436HP
- Thread starter NoahMcCoy
- Start date
sell the 436 and get a SDS100 or a Unication pager.
JethrowJohnson
Active Member
Your county uses a simulcast site. That means there's multiple towers in different locations broadcasting the same traffic at the same time on the same frequency. Since each tower is at a different distance than your scanner, the signals arrive at slightly different times causing the 1s and 0s to overlap kind of like an echo, and your scanner wasn't made for that type of system, so it gets confused and that's why the signal is so distorted and/or choppy. The Uniden Bearcat SDS100 (portable) and SDS200 (base/mobile), Bluetail Technologies receiver, Unication pager, and SDR dongles were designed for simulcast systems.
The 436 will work on the system. Yes a unication or SDS is better for simulcast but I've found the handheld to be fine.
How did you program it ? I would only enable site 50 (32) for Page and make sure all your channels are entered as its Harris and any can be used. There are only Fire and one Law in the database so doing ID Search would be the best bet. When you hold on the site do you get the "DAT" symbol ?
How did you program it ? I would only enable site 50 (32) for Page and make sure all your channels are entered as its Harris and any can be used. There are only Fire and one Law in the database so doing ID Search would be the best bet. When you hold on the site do you get the "DAT" symbol ?
The database is currently showing Page County as analog FM. Check to see if when they switched to Harris if they also went digital. If so, make sure your BCD436HP is programmed properly for that new system. It may work, and it's worth a try.
Welcome to the RR forums:
Indeed, Page County is simulcast and the cluster of towers as illustrated here is rather close together. You are likely suffering from simulcast distortion. This issue is one the most discussed issues here on the forums and can really cause problems if scanning with anything other than a Uniden SDSx00 or a Unication pager. There are a number of mitigation methods mentioned in the wiki linked below but they work in very few cases, feel free to give them a try anyway, maybe you'll get lucky. However you'll be guaranteed to pick it up better with the aforementioned radios. The engineers of these systems certainly don't have the scanner hobbyist in mind when designing these systems
wiki.radioreference.com
Indeed, Page County is simulcast and the cluster of towers as illustrated here is rather close together. You are likely suffering from simulcast distortion. This issue is one the most discussed issues here on the forums and can really cause problems if scanning with anything other than a Uniden SDSx00 or a Unication pager. There are a number of mitigation methods mentioned in the wiki linked below but they work in very few cases, feel free to give them a try anyway, maybe you'll get lucky. However you'll be guaranteed to pick it up better with the aforementioned radios. The engineers of these systems certainly don't have the scanner hobbyist in mind when designing these systems
Simulcast Distortion - The RadioReference Wiki
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JethrowJohnson
Active Member
They're using a P25 Phase II network, but it's not mentioned in the Conventional list. It's under the Page County Trunked Systems list. It's called the Rockingham/Harrisonburg/Page network.
Thanks for the clarification.
I programmed in fire-ems and police using Sentinel. I didnt see the DAT symbol.
JethrowJohnson
Active Member
When you're scanning that system there should be signal strength indication bars in the top right corner, and in the bottom right corner it should say DAT, indicating that it's receiving data from the control channel. If it's not, then you won't hear any of the talkgroups on that network at all.
What RF site did you pull into sentinal. You only want frequencies for Page County.
The 436 works fine on the system in Rockingham using Site 10, but the audio is a little distorted- but not that bad. I think you’ll be able to hear it fine in Page as well, but I haven’t been there to try.
Have you tried to append the system to a new Favorites List in Sentinel? I would create two Favorites Lists. One for Site 10 and the second for Site 50. Only monitor one at a time, until you figure how each works. If you scan anything other that the Page/ Rockingham system on the x36’s they can sometimes have problems finding the control channel. But setting the hold time to about 2 seconds seems to help.
Have you tried to append the system to a new Favorites List in Sentinel? I would create two Favorites Lists. One for Site 10 and the second for Site 50. Only monitor one at a time, until you figure how each works. If you scan anything other that the Page/ Rockingham system on the x36’s they can sometimes have problems finding the control channel. But setting the hold time to about 2 seconds seems to help.
tvengr
Well Known Member
If you attach your favorites list programming file, I will check it for problems. Highlight the favorites list in the left pane of Sentinel. Go to the File tab and click on Export to hpe file (Favorites List). You will need to right click on the exported file and Send to Compressed (zipped) file to be able to attach it. Click on Attach files and open the zipped folder.
Also, I sent the OP a PM yesterday offering to send him my .hpe file. Hopefully he'll come back and we can help get him running. I think the 436 will work ok for him.
Select the one site nearest to you, make sure All the frequencies are entered, then when you have a good signal you can adjust the P25 decode manually. I set mine to manual 8 on our Harris system and it helps, not as good as my SDS radios but it's better than before.
tvengr
Well Known Member
Thanks for the update!
I made a post about this a couple months ago but I finally figured somethings out by talking to a friend of mine. My 436HP will pick up Page County’s new system however I’m in a so called “dead zone” in some areas of my town it picks up full bars and has the flashing “DAT” symbol however anywhere in my house I get no bars no nothing. Any suggestions on how to fix this?
What are you using for an antenna? Just the one that came with it?
I bought a 1 1/2 foot antenna
A couple of questions… what area in the county are you? What site are you monitoring? Can you try switching sites and see if you can copy the CC on the other site? So if you’re listening to the Page Site, try Valley and vice versa. I listen to Valley most of the time in Rockingham, but certain areas I switch to Mountain or even Feedstone (both are western Rockingham).
I think I had the quick keys set up to change sites a little more easily in the file I had sent to you, if that’s what you’re using. If you need help, let me know.
I think I had the quick keys set up to change sites a little more easily in the file I had sent to you, if that’s what you’re using. If you need help, let me know.
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