MECA Digital: reception issues and solutions

[mmccardia]

79th and Michigan

Well Im waiting on my GRE600 and I will see how it does arund 79th an Mich in my car. But since my satelite radio in my truck, fm radio in my squad, ka band radar unit in squad all have issues which Im sure is due to the "antenna farm" there-- Im sure the scanner will prob have issues too---

 

[GTO_04]

Well Im waiting on my GRE600 and I will see how it does arund 79th an Mich in my car. But since my satelite radio in my truck, fm radio in my squad, ka band radar unit in squad all have issues which Im sure is due to the "antenna farm" there-- Im sure the scanner will prob have issues too---

I am surprised to hear that the radar is having issues with the antenna farm since it's operating frequency is much higher. It could be harmonics I suppose. Who is the radar mfr.? MPH?

GTO_04

 

[W9NES]

As I have said before before andw il lsay it again.I will thank mmccardia for backing me up on the problem.Yes I have been saying this for a long time but no one will believe me.Anyone is welcome to come over to the area of 79Th and Michigan road (west of the location) at my home and I will be glad to show all of you that there does exist a big problem.Seems funny that after I go south on Michigan Road (south of 71Street) all the talkgroups are very clear and I can understand everything fine.This was tested a couple of weeks ago in the 5800 block of North Michigan Road inside a steel building and MECA came thru loud and clear and got a control channel with no problem.If you get north of 71St Street on Michigan Road in the 7500-8600 block you cannot get a control channel.I was inside a fast food eating place in the 8700Block on North Michigan Road on Sat to eat lunch with my Uniden 396T handheld and once again with a 800Mhz Radio Shack duck on a bnc adapter that came with the 396T I get a control channel but the talkgroups and garbbled and cannot understand what they are saying.There is a problem if someone would be kind enought to drive the follwing area and study the area 71St and Michigan Road- west on 71Street to Zionsville Road, North on Zionsville Road to 96Th Strret,east on 96Th street to Michigan Road and then back south on Michigan Road to 79Th street you will see that with my 396T my scanner will not work in this area.It is programed for MECA digital for IMPD, FIRE, MECA PD (MECA PD)

 

[mmccardia]

radar is a kustom eagle it is a digital ka band it is not as bad as my older analog k band was it had real bad problems in this area the newer just picks up some ghost readings and has a slightly diminished range but its not bad

my old meca hand held was horrible up here with the new system my hand held works great alot of the issues are starting to get worked out of course a bunch of them are training issues

 

[GTO_04]

radar is a kustom eagle it is a digital ka band it is not as bad as my older analog k band was it had real bad problems in this area the newer just picks up some ghost readings and has a slightly diminished range but its not bad

my old meca hand held was horrible up here with the new system my hand held works great alot of the issues are starting to get worked out of course a bunch of them are training issues

That's interesting.

Is it true that you are supposed to wait 4 seconds after keying the mic before you talk on the new system? I read that somewhere and that didn't seem to make a lot of sense.

GTO_04

 

[SCPD]

That's interesting.

Is it true that you are supposed to wait 4 seconds after keying the mic before you talk on the new system? I read that somewhere and that didn't seem to make a lot of sense.

GTO_04

The reason you need to wait after keying before talking is that it is digital and the tower site needs to sync up with the radio and then decode it so it takes a second or two but it should be faster than 4 sec.

 

[Viper43]

That's interesting.

Is it true that you are supposed to wait 4 seconds after keying the mic before you talk on the new system? I read that somewhere and that didn't seem to make a lot of sense.

GTO_04

It isn't 4 seconds, but yes, you key the mic then give it a second before speaking. One thing I noticed is some seem to partially releasse the mic button while talking which results in transmissions being cut off, these mics require constant pressure and it seems any letup releases the switch.

V

 

[mmccardia]

it takes about abut 1/3 to 1/2 of a second (of course it seems longer when your really wanting to get on the radio) if the channel is clear the problem is on the analog you could override someone who was already talking thus if somebody were running a registration check on a vin plate (which we stopped doing on a headquarters channel because officers were whining) and you need to hit in real fast you cant do it. You have to wait for the channel to be clear. As people are getting used to it the "problems" are learning to be dealt with.

Please remember just because your friend the cop has a $5000 radio on his hip does not mean he has a clue how to use it or how the system works. Most barely know that they have other channels on their primary banks an if you ask them to change to a secondary bank they dont have a clue. Most cops are used to using only their primary channel and dont care about all the features their radios have.

Now I do think that I have been getting system busy tones more often than on analog ( when my channel is clear but I get a busy tone due to too much traffic on all other groups combined) Im hoping that is just due to switch over issues

 

[Viper43]

mmccardia,

Interesting you bring up the busy tones, I'm surprised your getting it as it doesn't appear that the system is that busy, so I wonder if the two systems are the issue there, do they at some point use a single controller and that is causing the busy issue? If so then they could seperate them as the analog was and that should cure that issue.
Just a thought.

V

 

[SCPD]

mmccardia,

Interesting you bring up the busy tones, I'm surprised your getting it as it doesn't appear that the system is that busy, so I wonder if the two systems are the issue there, do they at some point use a single controller and that is causing the busy issue? If so then they could seperate them as the analog was and that should cure that issue.
Just a thought.

V

It wont matter much either way if MECA does not get there Licensing done it was only a temp till October the 6th 2008 for the new tower sites times running out

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=3002500

 

[Viper43]

It wont matter much either way if MECA does not get there Licensing done it was only a temp till October the 6th 2008 for the new tower sites times running out

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=3002500

Yeah, then all users will get nothing but busy signals....

V

 

[SCPD]

Has any one had any NEW issues heaing MECA since they did there tower work or is it worse or better

 

[Viper43]

Has any one had any NEW issues heaing MECA since they did there tower work or is it worse or better

It's still working fine here, if not a bit better most of the time. The only trouble I have had this week was during last nights storm but switching from the RS800 antenna to the outside antenna fixed most of that.

V

 

[W9NES]

Things are still very terrible here on the Northwest Side of Indy in the area of 79Th and Michigan Road (West of that location) still cannot get a control channel upstairs in the master bedroom at my home with the antenna that came with the Uniden BC 996 T.I cannot hear MECA at all.

 

[SCPD]

Things are still very terrible here on the Northwest Side of Indy in the area of 79Th and Michigan Road (West of that location) still cannot get a control channel upstairs in the master bedroom at my home with the antenna that came with the Uniden BC 996 T.I cannot hear MECA at all.

That's why I said any NEW issues

 

[Viper43]

A little leg work and tracking frequencies can go a long way to figuring out reception issues with MECA. I had one particular frequency that was constantly garbled, changing settings did not help, just made the good channels bad, time for a drive! After making a couple of complete circles 2 miles and 4 miles around a tower site stopping several times to watch the scanner I found that on the East side and North side of that tower certain frequencies were garbled, those same frequencies were better to the South and West of the tower while the frequencies that had been good from the other directions were now garbled. Plain and simple there is no "fix" on MECA's side or yours, it happens with the 396, 996 and 600 and it's an interference issue. You can make it better by using high gain beams but it won't be perfect no matter what you try. This is one of the many disadvantages of the simulcast setup. I can understand the garbled talk, but before changing antennas it was a lot worse. They could have avoided this if the system weren't simulcast and the towers weren't all using the same frequencies.

V

 

[SCPD]

Some of that is from being in the shadow of the side of the tower Ham Radio D Star "Digital" had some of those issues as well as far as simulcast it should not make a diffrence one other thing is that MECA on SYS 1 is running 2 CC and it trips up the scanners where MECA SYS 2 is ONLY RUNNING 1 Why is this who knows normaly running 2 or 3 at the same time is when they are in test mode. After doing a LOT of testing it seems now I have to agree that some may need a Yagi if they want to listen MECA is NOT going to fork out a lot of money to make the system readable for ALL hopefully with Radio Shack GRE and Uniden some new Firmware will help ease this isssue over time but for now we just have to say if we want to listen in hard areas we need a beam or yagi or a great 800 meg moble antenna. and your right they seem to still have some issues on some freqs it hits on even being right by a tower that it does not work very well.

 

[IndyEmsGuy]

What I suggest doing is taking your Department issued radio and laying it next to your GRE (plugged into the computer) and tweaking the Advance settings. I found that after doing this my GRE worked much better. The default settings for p25 operations are not the greatest in my opinion. If you need some help with this, contact me privately and I can help...

Joe KB9TFH

Sent you a PM about adjusting Advanced Settings

 

[Viper43]

Simulcast is 90% of the problem, non-simulcast systems use different frequencies at each site which avoids intereference issues, simulcast breeds interference.

The two CC's or 10 wouldn't matter to the scanner, it only locks the first one it finds active.

BTW, I spent a lot of time in Indy today, SW and East Central areas and the latest firmware from Uniden for the 396 and 996 worked fine in the areas I was at, clear audio and very good signal.

V

as far as simulcast it should not make a diffrence one other thing is that MECA on SYS 1 is running 2 CC and it trips up the scanners where MECA SYS 2 is ONLY RUNNING 1 .

 

[SCPD]

Simulcast is 90% of the problem, non-simulcast systems use different frequencies at each site which avoids intereference issues, simulcast breeds interference.

The two CC's or 10 wouldn't matter to the scanner, it only locks the first one it finds active.

BTW, I spent a lot of time in Indy today, SW and East Central areas and the latest firmware from Uniden for the 396 and 996 worked fine in the areas I was at, clear audio and very good signal.

V

I hate to tell you but the old Analog system was simulcast and had the same freqs at all sites nothing new