Loudoun County Fire &Rescue reception

[RS8]

I live in Lansdowne Virginia and reception of LCFR is very erratic at best. Using HP2 with the RS 800mhz antenna.
Picking up Fairfax fairly well so I can't figure it out. Can anyone give me some feedback. Does it have anything to do with
700mhz?

 

[Mr_Boh]

What you are experience is called Simulcast Distortion - it is very common with the HP2. You are WELL within reception range being inside of the county. The distortion is from the multiple signals with the same information coming from different towers across the county causing "confusion" for the scanner.

You can try turning on the attenuator of the scanner to see if you can knock down reception to that of one tower.

Other than that your best bet is to get a scanner that is designed to handle LSM / Simulcast Distortion. Examples include Uniden SDS100, SDS100 or Unication G4/G5 pagers. You can also use software for computers (more advance) like OP25 on a Raspberry Pi with an SDR to monitor Loudoun.

 

[BlueMoon2]

I agree with mr_boh and I might add that bearcat warehouse is currently doing a trade-in deal where you can turn in the hp scanner to upgrade to a sds100 or 200. I have already traded in my bcd436hp for a sds100 and I’m enjoying the results!
Note: this is not a paid advertisement for bearcat warehouse. I am merely a happy customer.

 

[freqhopping]

I've never had LSM issues in Loudoun. Fairfax though can be bad. The systems are using different types of LSM.

Fairfax is 8K70D1W P25 Linear Simulcast Modulation ASTRO / 16K8F1E & 20K0F1E Encrypted Quantized Voice (Motorola DVP, DES, DES-XL on NPSPAC)

Loudoun is 8K10F1E Phase I C4FM / 8K10F1W P25 Phase II (Harmonized Continuous Phase Modulation H-CPM)/9K80D7W P25 Phase II fixed-end 2-slot TDMA (Harmonized Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keyed modulation H-DQPSK)

Frederick Co MD is another example of a 8K70D1W LSM system that causes issues for scanners.

Loudoun does have some dead zones for scanners. I don't spend much time in Lansdowne to be familiar, but I think I remember having issues around there while waiting around. Rt7 from Potomac View Rd to the east is a dead zone.


I'd really like hear from any Uniden SDS users in Loudoun.

 

[mike_s104]

I finally bought an SDS100 a few months ago. It makes a huge difference in Loundoun. I used it beside my 436HP and it was night and day. Driving around the entire county, the SDS100 is the clear winner. And at home with a yagi pointed at the Bluemont site, it will receives so much better with a weak signal.

 

[kg4icg]

Lansdowne is just east of Leesburg on Route 7. SDS100 and SDS200 have no problems with Loudon, Fairfax, Prince William, Frederick, WV,or any other counties I'm in range to pick up

 

[freqhopping]

How well does an SDS work in the Dranesville area?

 

[kg4icg]

It works in all of Loudon County, I'm here in Herndon right now

 

[jpb]

East of Potomac View Road is shadowed from the Sterling tower. Coverage down into the Dranesville/ Sugarland Run area is poor.

 

[Springer88]

I have a Motorola xts5000 and I have LCSO there is traffic. But not getting anything for Leesburg PD can y'all confirm that Leesburg is not encrypted

 

[freqhopping]

The only Loudoun system channels that are encrypted are the LE special ops type and fire marshal. They are identified in the database here.

 

[jpb]

The XTS5000 will not hear TDMA traffic (Phase 2). The only time you'll hear any traffic at all is when a Phase 1 FDMA radio (like the XTS) affiliates to the talkgroup you're listening to. Since Leesburg is in the middle of the county, an "outside jurisdiction" probably never affiliates, thus Leesburg will always be TDMA. If you're only using it to receive, you'd have better success with an SDS100/200 or a Unication G4/G5. Use caution if this is your personal radio -- if you don't have authorization to the system and you affiliate, they could remotely disable your radio.