Looking for some advice please. Trouble monitoring a frequency.

[jbergeron]

Hello and thank you in advance for your time.

I have a Radio Shack Pro-197 Base Scanner with the standard telescoping antenna and it's worked fine for the past 3 years until a couple months ago. I am only trying to monitor 1 frequency (155.81250 NAC 293 for the Pelham Police) and I'm the next town over in Hudson. My house is pretty high on a hill. The scanner is up on the 2nd floor and I've moved it all over my house to try to get a better signal. I've had trouble since they split the Fire operations off to Londonderry (128.7450 NAC 652), but now I get nothing.
They are both P25 systems.

I've read the Easier to Read Manual ( Easier to Read Pro-651/652/106/197 - WS1040/1065 - PSR 500/600 Digital Scanner Manual ) tried everything I could find. I thought it might be the antenna so I bought a cheap window mount one thinking I could put it up even higher and a rubber duck 800MHz that gets less signal than the one that came with it.

I've been reading what I can find here, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what exactly I would need to make this work again.

I thought maybe the scanner was fritzing out since I've never had a problem before. I bought a Whistler 1065 since the manual programming was the same. It's doing the same thing so it must be interference somewhere or something. I've tried it with the Attenuator on and off even though I never need it on before. I'm so frustrated at this point.

I thought about putting an antenna up in my attic, but I'm not sure which way to go and everything seems pretty specific. I really only need to monitor 1 frequency so I thought I'd reach out to you all here and see if anyone could offer me some advice or point me in the right direction. I have no idea what the problem could be.

I hope I posted this in the right place and gave you enough information to help. Any help is very much appreciated.

 

[chriscoal]

I also have a pro 197 and can hear Pelham pd just fine in Lowell. I have the squelch set for P25 search. I hope that helps.

 

[lebrunmn]

Stuff to try...

You've probably already tried these things, but what the heck, I'm up late and Francos should help each other when they can...

1. The first thing I'd check is the modulation. On the 197 your choices are AM, FM, NFM, or Auto. I'd make sure you select anything but AM--try all three of the others to see if that might be your problem. Sometimes NFM will work better than FM with P25--the FCC listing for Pelham shows it to be NFM.

2. Next thing I'd try is a dedicated VHF antenna--not one designed for 800Mhz. Even with 110W of power, a good, band-specific antenna can make a difference with P25. I use a Diamond RH77CA with a right angle adapter, and it works quite well.

3. The last thing I'd try is an external antenna--I have one that feeds via flat cable under the window, and connects to an NMO mount antenna attached to the house gutter. I have other external antennas, but that one works pretty well for what it cost to set up.

You might just be in a bad spot--it happens. Before trying anything else, you might just try walking around your yard with a handheld scanner or your 197 on an extension on your porch outside. If your problem goes away, you know it can be fixed. If not you might just be in one of those spots.

Hope this helps.

 

[zz0468]

I've had trouble since they split the Fire operations off to Londonderry (128.7450 NAC 652), but now I get nothing. They are both P25 systems.

Double check that frequency. 128.7450 is an invalid frequency within the civilian aircraft band. I guarantee that's not where they would be operating. You may have typo'd your post here, or maybe that's what you're actually trying to listen to. In any event, that won't be the frequency. I hope that helps...

 

[jbergeron]

zz0468,

You are correct. I had double checked the frequencies before I posted, but the Fire should be 158.74500 652Nac. Sorry about that. I hear the 158.74500 just fine. I honesty don't know where the other number came from and I'll try to edit it.

Thank you!

 

[jbergeron]

Thanks!

I also have a pro 197 and can hear Pelham pd just fine in Lowell. I have the squelch set for P25 search. I hope that helps.

I really appreciate this. Trying it now.

Jbergeron

 

[jbergeron]

lebrunmn,

Thanks so much for the tips. I'm going to try all of them and I hope it helps. I very much appreciate you taking the time.
Jbergeron