A directional antenna may fix your simulcast issues with a base setup but it won't help someone who wants to go mobile or portable.
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A directional antenna may fix your simulcast issues with a base setup but it won't help someone who wants to go mobile or portable.
For no more than the price is, ill try it but man ive got quite a collection of antennas that ive tried over the past year...lol. Guess what makes this system challenging is that what works for one person wont work for someone else. You would think i would be able to pull in that utica site but i must be pulling in other sites behind it.
My qth is just in one of those spots....i can go north a few miles and get it almost 100% with a rubber duck or go to the river and get clear signals for obvious reasons. I think im gonna go with one of these used radios before long. I've got 4 or 5 digital scanners...can never have too many.
Id like to chat with you sometime on the 146.410 machine sometime. I've heard a few say that you are on that machine from time to time.
Anyway. I wont be home for a few weeks but ill give that antenna a shot and let ya know
My qth is just in one of those spots....i can go north a few miles and get it almost 100% with a rubber duck or go to the river and get clear signals for obvious reasons. I think im gonna go with one of these used radios before long. I've got 4 or 5 digital scanners...can never have too many.
Id like to chat with you sometime on the 146.410 machine sometime. I've heard a few say that you are on that machine from time to time.
Anyway. I wont be home for a few weeks but ill give that antenna a shot and let ya know
The issue is not "pulling in sites" it's that you are getting hit with multiple signals at once. It's called Simulcast Distortion.
Exactly... And i just want to pull in one site....thats the fine line one must try to find
The motos must have some kind of voting system similar to what my ham club's repeater used when it had 2 receivers. It would look at the signals from both sites and pick the strongest and dump the other. Motorola must have designed something like that into the digital radios to compensate for the simulcast distortion, at least that's my theory.
I would have to agree. I only have truly understood this system for a little while as you can probably tell from my recent posts
If you are contemplating buying a portable radio for receive only purposes, I'd like to offer the following suggestion.
Before plunking down $ on a radio, you may wish to find out whether you can even get the radio programmed to receive the MetroSafe system. For necessary security purposes, there are several layers of security settings, requiring special "keys" in order to program radios. These "keys" are closely held by the MetroSafe radio folks (which is fine with me as a system user).
My technical knowledge level isn't high enough to know whether the security keys are required for "just listening" versus "full use". I do know, however, that programming a system/radio like MetroSafe is a lot more complex than the old analog conventional radios.
Before plunking down $ on a radio, you may wish to find out whether you can even get the radio programmed to receive the MetroSafe system. For necessary security purposes, there are several layers of security settings, requiring special "keys" in order to program radios. These "keys" are closely held by the MetroSafe radio folks (which is fine with me as a system user).
My technical knowledge level isn't high enough to know whether the security keys are required for "just listening" versus "full use". I do know, however, that programming a system/radio like MetroSafe is a lot more complex than the old analog conventional radios.
I think keys are just for the encryption, however programming a trunking system into a radio is somewhat complicated, I've just read about way to use a conventional P25 to monitor trunked systems. You program scan lists and have the radio only look for talkgroups and not active freqs, that way the radio acts like a trunk tracking scanner.
Whether this works or not I don't know.
Thanks for the heads up... I was going to go through a dealer for programming and i've spoken to one dealer who told me he would get permission first before setting me up. I havent thrown my hands up and decided to go that route yet because i know that in shopping for a compatible used radio, there is alot of potential for things to go wrong.
I have no interest in the ems encrypted channels. Only the fire and fire operations channels.
But yes, before taking that step and buying a radio, im going to have to make sure all bases are covered.
I have no interest in the ems encrypted channels. Only the fire and fire operations channels.
But yes, before taking that step and buying a radio, im going to have to make sure all bases are covered.
I doubt any reputable two way shop is going to program a radio for you.
I told them that i would need the tx disabled.. I forget the name of the company. If thats the case.....rats!!!
And if they did call Metrosafe to get permission you'd probably have DHS knocking at your door in short order even though you've done nothing illegal. Welcome to the new America!
Well there went that option 
Good old 460.625 how i miss you..LOL!
The following options remain available if you aren't having any luck with your scanners:
Louisville Fire's live feed:
Louisville Fire
Suburban Fire's live feed:
Louisville MetroSafe Suburban Fire 5 - 8
Louisville Fire's live feed:
Louisville Fire
Suburban Fire's live feed:
Louisville MetroSafe Suburban Fire 5 - 8
Yeah..... Its just not the same :/
Thanks for the info though
You guys remember the good ole' days when you could just type in a frequency and it would just work? Too bad those days are gone.
In all honesty though... the digital systems are great... when they can work for everyone. Oh well. Back to the online stream until I can figure this multi-path problem.
In all honesty though... the digital systems are great... when they can work for everyone. Oh well. Back to the online stream until I can figure this multi-path problem.
Yeah. Online just ain't the same
BigDog-911
Member
You know as a scanner listener I agree that I sure wish the MetroSafe system was a lot easier to listen to and you could hear everything I wanted to hear, but as an end user, there are days I am tickled to death that some of my channels are encrypted and others are difficult to receive.
It's the nature of the beast....I loved listening to the Boston bombing suspect being apprehended but then again felt for the first responders safety due to tactical locations being broadcast on iphone apps for all to hear.
For the end user the MetroSafe system is far better than what we had before, for the scanner user, not so much.
It's the nature of the beast....I loved listening to the Boston bombing suspect being apprehended but then again felt for the first responders safety due to tactical locations being broadcast on iphone apps for all to hear.
For the end user the MetroSafe system is far better than what we had before, for the scanner user, not so much.
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