Louisiana Help!! New

[Cdav82]

Good morning ALL,

Santa brought my son a BCD325P2 programmed for Caddo Parish, specifically wanting to listen to Shreveport Police.
Find the channel he wants and he is only getting 1-2 bars of signal and at times the screen says “Finding CntrlChan” and the radio traffic is hit/miss..
Contacted UNIDEN Bearcat Warehouse where we purchased new and they suggested a $40 antenna. Installed that and still have the same issue…Simulcast…HELP, please…pretty expensive for it not to work

 

[slayer816]

Hello and welcome.

That radio will work fine in Caddo. It's most likely a setting somewhere and/or programming.

Try adjusting the P25 Threshold: Easier to Read BCD325P2 Digital Scanner Manual

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Simulcast…HELP, please…pretty expensive for it not to work

Welcome to the forums. There lies your issue. You'd be much better off with a Uniden SDS100 to overcome the detrimental effects of simulcast distortion, perhaps the most discussed issue here on the forums.

 

[trentbob]

I agree with the simulcast distortion problem. There is one site in your radio called samulcast. Here are the seven towers all simultaneously transmitting what your radio is calling for. There is no way to turn one or two or any of the towers off they are all going to transmit the same thing at the same time that your radio is calling for resulting in distortion. Here is a map of the towers. Again this is all location based which means there are sweet spots in the county where the radio might work better than other places.



Sheriff's Office, fire and Shreveport PD are all on this County system. Not saying your radio can't work but it's all about location location.

I'm curious as to what antenna Bearcat Warehouse recommended. In a situation like this you definitely want a desensitized antenna and people have actually used paper clips, directional beams and even stuck the rubber duck in a hole of a used paint can so as to desensitize reception and try to isolate just one tower so you don't get the distortion from multiple towers transmitting the same thing.

Let us know what antenna they recommended and if it was a antenna to increase reception you might want to return it and get your money back.

Your county system looks great, a tdma phase 2 simulcast system. And you do not appear to have any encrypted talk groups in the sheriff's department or city police.

In the past there is a antenna called the comet ch32 miracle baby but I don't believe it's desensitized enough to isolate reception to one tower looking at the map. If anything maybe a UHF stubby racing antenna might be useful. It really depends where you are located in that Circle of reception on the map.

 

[trentbob]

Just to add, your radio definitely is Phase 2 capable but is susceptible to simulcast distortion. You might want to think about upgrading while you are still in your 30-day return window. Uniden SDS 100 which has an SDR chip and is better suited to receive a phase 2 system like this without simulcast distortion issues will give you very good results.

 

[Cdav82]

Thank you all for the help. I’ve heard from multiple people that Simulcast and this unit don’t mix well.
I think I’m going to return this one and the additional antenna and just apply those credits to the SDS100. That unit should work perfect for my area? Again, I really appreciate the help. Was expecting a unit that was pre-programmed and powered on and could easily listen to, but hasn’t been the case thus far

 

[tvengr]

Santa brought my son a BCD325P2 programmed for Caddo Parish, specifically wanting to listen to Shreveport Police.

Do you live in Shreveport?

 

[jerrywhitworth]

Hi I would like to visit Shreveport.

 

[vjkurvy]

I have the home patrol 2 and sds1000. I live in between St Tammany and Hammond towers. My Motorola portables work fine. (I have XTS5000s everywhere) At first the HP was killing me! I could not receive anything. Tried new antennas .. finally I bought the SDS1000 and it picks up almost as good as the Motorolas.. I just learned something on this post about the SFS1000 and SDR.. that makes since. I am fixing to sell my HP after reading this, all it is doing is collecting dust.

 

[vjkurvy]

Get you a Motorola xts5000. I can even lay in my bed with the 700 mhz antenna and it works. However, the SDS1000 is definitely hands down better than Home Patrol in Simucast areas.

 

[vjkurvy]

The Moto is also faster because of the tech. You don’t need to enter 40000 channels.. only control channels and this fact makes it faster

 

[TravelingHam]

The Moto is also faster because of the tech. You don’t need to enter 40000 channels.. only control channels and this fact makes it faster

I see about 3 different xts5000 models, some with buttons and some without, does it matter which for this area? I'm in Tangipahoa Parish.

 

[vjkurvy]

I live in Tangipahoa. Not a problem

 

[vjkurvy]

The one I recommend is the model 2 or 3. You really don’t use the keypad for anything. Personally, I sell more model 2s. Top soft buttons and 4 way scroll

 

[vjkurvy]

I see about 3 different xts5000 models, some with buttons and some without, does it matter which for this area? I'm in Tangipahoa Parish.

The Motorola only has problems (almost unnoticeable) on Bootleger in between LA22 to the I12 “hump” over interstate. Also, a dead spot at LA22, just east of LA434

 

[vjkurvy]

The Motorola only has problems (almost unnoticeable) on Bootleger in between LA22 to the I12 “hump” over interstate. Also, a dead spot at LA22, just east of LA434

Both are having to fight between St Tammany Simucast and Hammond. I notice adding site - Roseland helps a lot