Metro Nashville Police & Fire

[garys]

I was staying in South Nashville, off of I-65 and had no problem picking up the Metro Nashville system, TACN system, or Nashville International system.

Audio was a bit hard to hear occasionally on the two P25 systems, but nice and crisp on the analog.

After I had packed the scanner away for my return trip I noticed a couple of Metro PD marked cruisers with what looked like VHF antennas in addition to the 800MHz antenna. Anyone know what that is for?

Beautiful city, BTW. Friendly people too.

Tnx Gary.
I must have had the wrong control channels!
Also ment to say my pro 668 not 688 ...Duh !
I can receive metro dispatch fine when over in the hermitage area but not from Mt Juliet.
I use to be able to copy them fine from M.J.
Was wondering if anybody else was having this problem !
tnx agn
73

 

[Lonnie508]

BCD-536HP for Nashville

I was considering the 536 for scanning Nashville police, fire, aircraft, etc. Would this be a good buy for me. Also does the 536 get CB traffic?

 

[_Wilson_]

Yes it will recieve CB traffic.

 

[motoapco25]

Anyone know if somethings changing with the PS side ?

there reprogramming a lot of radios again

a friend with a State agency said they have to re program their radios again they were just done less than 6 months ago

 

[AnonDio]

I don't know if this is the right thread to ask this in, but I can't seem to get my pro 106 to pick up west nashville well at all. The strange thing is I am picking up whatever Hickman county is putting out, but whatever it is it's a conv object.

I'm getting next to nothing from the Davidson county talkgroup. Every now and then I will get something from WSTD but most of the time it's broken up and garbled, which doesn't make sense because I live on a pretty high hill close to Bellevue so it's not like I live where the signals would have a hard time getting to the antenna.

I am a novice with this, but I'm pretty sure I have the scanner programmed correctly.

Could someone please point me to some troubleshooting steps I could walk the scanner through to try and get to the problem so that I can maybe fix it (if possible)?

Thanks in advance.

 

[slatescan]

Remember the old system b? i wonder if the reprogramming has something to do with that coverson to p25

 

[INDY72]

I don't know if this is the right thread to ask this in, but I can't seem to get my pro 106 to pick up west nashville well at all. The strange thing is I am picking up whatever Hickman county is putting out, but whatever it is it's a conv object.

I'm getting next to nothing from the Davidson county talkgroup. Every now and then I will get something from WSTD but most of the time it's broken up and garbled, which doesn't make sense because I live on a pretty high hill close to Bellevue so it's not like I live where the signals would have a hard time getting to the antenna.

I am a novice with this, but I'm pretty sure I have the scanner programmed correctly.

Could someone please point me to some troubleshooting steps I could walk the scanner through to try and get to the problem so that I can maybe fix it (if possible)?

Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the world of P25 LSM systems. The Metro system is an simulcast so unless your running an BCD436/536HP you will experience multipath distortion and depending on how close you are to one of the sites this could be very bad indeed. Using an yagi (directional style) antenna helps as do playing with attenuation etc. Remember, System A is now an full P25 system with an primary simulcast site, and 2 stand alone sites. System B is still an Smart Zone.

 

[AnonDio]

Welcome to the world of P25 LSM systems. The Metro system is an simulcast so unless your running an BCD436/536HP you will experience multipath distortion and depending on how close you are to one of the sites this could be very bad indeed. Using an yagi (directional style) antenna helps as do playing with attenuation etc. Remember, System A is now an full P25 system with an primary simulcast site, and 2 stand alone sites. System B is still an Smart Zone.

If I invested in one of those Uniden scanners would I have to eat it any time soon? When I got the Pro 106 the system Nashville was using was different but that was just a handful of years ago. How frequently does Nashville change systems?

Btw, I don't know what kind of experience level in this hobby you have to be to post in here, but I wasn't kidding when I said I'm a novice. Which means I might be making something more difficult than it normally would be because of my ignorance. I hope that doesn't irk some of the more longtime hobbyists in here.

Do you have any advice or links to information I could go to so I can read up more?

Anyway, thanks for your reply.

 

[INDY72]

It will be several years before Metro puts in an completely new system. They just upgraded to the ASTRO-25 over the last year or so and have not fully finished that process yet. (System B is still not transitioned yet.) The main reason for the upgrade is that the Smart Net and Smart Zone (Legacy Type II) formats are being discontinued and no longer supported by Motorola just as the EDACS format is no longer being supported by Harris. This platform is also compatible with the Statewide TACN system for interop and can even be merged into it fairly easily if/when that is ever decided to be done.

Your PRO-106 can do fairly well on the system if it is set up properly and you are fairly close to one of the towers for the simulcast. Even more so if you are able to mount an external Yagi antenna aimed directly at one of the towers. The new Unidens (BCD436/536HP) have an entirely different digital vocoder in them that is much better at decoding P25 Linear Simulcast Modulation systems. (P25 LSM). Just be ready to put out a tad more cash as they are still relatively new on the market and pricing has not dropped too much yet.

For good info on the issues of simulcast multipath distortion etc.... Simulcast digital distortion - The RadioReference Wiki

Also see the wiki for info on everything scanner related including basics on trunking etc....

Main Page - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[NashMonitor88]

Simulcast ! I'm almost exactly between two towers (approx 4 miles from each) and I have trouble receiving Metro using a RS 800Mhz antenna and mobile 800 mhz antenna. If I get closer to one of them, reception is great. My fix was a directional Yagi antenna. I have a PSR-500 and a 436HP, both of which receive well near the towers or with the Yagi antenna at home.

 

[wxwarn285]

Cant hear Metro anymore, only MJ

2 month ago in Antioch near the TA truck stop I was picking up Metros new P25 1 system fine with all talk groups sounding fine and now I cant hear anything especially after being around MJ alot, all I can hear is MJ. I'm using the PRO-197, I checked all the control channels and according to the DB all are correct. I have all 28 frequencies programmed in case they switched controls. And should it be set on P25 auto or manual, muti-site, check all CC or roam or with what settings?

 

[INDY72]

Actually, you want to have all 3 sites as separate systems to do it properly. The primary simulcast as one: Carries the majority of the traffic for the metro area. MJ: carries mainly MJ traffic but MNPD etc can use it when needed. G'ville: Covers mainly G'ville but also can be used by MNPD etc....

The primary is an P25 LSM, and as such you will experience multipath distortion to some extent. MJ, and G'ville are both stand alone P25's.

Set P25 to auto.

CC Only, and you won't have to worry about them switching from the current set they have unless the entire system needs massive changes. Yes I would use all CC's for each site as they do occasionally do tweaks, especially on the simulcast. And with the old System B folding in still, there could be changes at any time until it is finally gone.