Monitoring Phoenix PD

[n7uv]

I couldn't find a thread specific to my question about PHX PD radio operations, so here goes.

I have a BCD536HP. I hadn't paid much attention to it for the past two years, it was more of a noise-maker in a house under remodel and so did its job to make noise

However, now I want it to be more useful to me. I have a decent location about 200' above downtown, and a view that goes clockwise from Sacaton Peak to South Mtn to White Tank to North Mtn at the other end. I've been trying to get a handle on BCD536HP programming, and continues to be challenging.

I have Uniden Sentinel, Proscan (licensed), am a premium subscriber here, and some familiarity with trunking. The temporary antenna is a tri-band Larsen on a ground plane at head level. I have the app "5-0 Radio" on my iphone and am listening to PHX PD on that while attempting to get anywhere near the same coverage with my local setup.

At first the scanner was in zip code mode, too many things to avoid, so I wiped it and reloaded it with RWC and PHX PD dispatch and miscellaneous only. Now as far as I can tell, I am scanning RWC sites Simulcast A, B, C, D, F, G, H, J, etc., but the only hits in the past 30 min are

	UID Before Lookup	UID After Lookup (Editable)	UID #	Talk Group ID	Frequency	Hits	Duration	System	Start Date / Time	End Date / Time	System / Site - Department - Channel
​	2810892		2810892	2996	769.606200	2	00:00:07	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:45:35	02/27/22 14:45:48	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A
​	2810264		2810264	2996	769.856200	2	00:00:06	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:35:39	02/27/22 14:45:30	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A
​	2810167		2810167	2996	771.606200	2	00:00:03	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:34:23	02/27/22 14:34:26	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A
​	2808034		2808034	2996	771.106200	1	00:00:03	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:31:27	02/27/22 14:31:30	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A
​	200008		200008	2996	769.856200	6	00:00:08	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:25:23	02/27/22 14:45:34	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A
​	2810651		2810651	2996	771.856200	1	00:00:02	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:25:20	02/27/22 14:25:22	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A
​	2904238		2904238	2996	769.856200	3	00:00:02	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:24:32	02/27/22 14:24:35	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A
​	2808798		2808798	2996	769.606200	2	00:00:02	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:22:28	02/27/22 14:22:30	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A
​	2805906		2805906	2996	771.106200	1	00:00:02	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:22:23	02/27/22 14:22:26	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A
​	2810627		2810627	2996	771.856200	2	00:00:04	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:17:22	02/27/22 14:37:52	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A
​	200001		200001	2992	772.368700	1	00:00:02	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:12:56	02/27/22 14:12:59	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast G: West Valley - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 800 A
​	2808639		2808639	2996	771.106200	2	00:00:01	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:07:18	02/27/22 14:07:19	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A
​	2805920		2805920	2996	771.606200	1	00:00:15	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:03:45	02/27/22 14:04:00	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A
​	2905227		2905227	2996	769.856200	2	00:00:07	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:03:10	02/27/22 14:03:26	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A
​	2808839		2808839	2996	771.106200	2	00:00:02	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:01:55	02/27/22 14:01:57	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A
​	2810407		2810407	2996	771.106200	1	00:00:01	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:01:51	02/27/22 14:01:53	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A
​	200004		200004	2996	769.606200	51	00:01:07	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC)	02/27/22 14:01:49	02/27/22 14:46:25	Regional Wireless Cooperative (RWC) / Simulcast C: Chandler - Phoenix Police Dispatch - PPD - 400 A

While on the iPhone app I'm hearing loads of traffic on A02 200 Dispatch, A04 400 Dispatch, A08 800 Dispatch, and none of this traffic sounds like the traffic I'm hearing locally. Everything I do hear on the app is local to me, but never hear it on the scanner.

Assuming that the app is a minute or two behind the live radio, I listen for at least 5 minutes to the scanner for at least a few minutes after pausing the app, but still never hear the same calls. Also, looking at the above list, on the scanner I'm only hearing channels on Simulcast C Chandler and Simulcast G West Valley.

Should I be hearing calls on all simulcasts? The talk group I'm hearing on the scanner is 2996, with a few 2992 and 1 2991 sprinkled in.

What am I doing wrong? Any ideas?

Cheers

 

[KB7MIB]

Phoenix PD is primarily only on Simulcast A. An individual precinct or two may be carried on some surrounding simulcasts, such as 800 and 900 on Simulcast G, or 600 on Simulcast H, etc. Avoid all the other simulcasts but A.

Second, the SDS-100 and 200 scanners are a better option to deal with simulcast systems. Other scanners such as the 436 and 536 can't handle the simulcast issues unless your antenna is in *exactly* the right place to receive only one simulcast transmitter site. (Simulcast systems transmit the same data from multiple locations. If the data from two or more locations arrives at your antenna even milliseconds off, most scanners can't properly decode the data, and you get garbled audio, or nothing at all.)

You'll likely need to upgrade your scanner to one of the SDS models.

There's also the Unication G4 or G5 pager, but they have limited features if you use them as a scanner.

The third option is a professional grade two-way radio, properly programmed for receive-only. But again, they're not really suited for "scanning".

John
Peoria

 

[n7uv]

Ahhh-HAH! Thanks John - I didn't even think of the simulcast problem, inexpensive receivers, delay spread, and FM capture. That makes perfect sense.

So, I took the scanner off the good antenna, and instead put a 20 dB attenuator, then a little bit of wire, then some aluminum foil to make a cheesy reflector/shield. Pointed it toward North Mtn (the closest base) and bang! all of a sudden I was getting 200, 400, 600, 800, and 900. Still not perfect, lots of misses, but RSSI is still in the 400s, and it's working better.

I will put the scanner in the truck later on and that should help with the problem of hearing too well.

Thanks again!

 

[n7uv]

Works well in the truck. Down low the coverage isn't nearly as excessive as at the house. Now to remote it to the house when the truck's in the driveway.

 

[TSG509]

Ahhh-HAH! Thanks John - I didn't even think of the simulcast problem, inexpensive receivers, delay spread, and FM capture. That makes perfect sense.

So, I took the scanner off the good antenna, and instead put a 20 dB attenuator, then a little bit of wire, then some aluminum foil to make a cheesy reflector/shield. Pointed it toward North Mtn (the closest base) and bang! all of a sudden I was getting 200, 400, 600, 800, and 900. Still not perfect, lots of misses, but RSSI is still in the 400s, and it's working better.

I will put the scanner in the truck later on and that should help with the problem of hearing too well.

Thanks again!

I use a BCD996P2 that is upgraded and had terrible coverage in Deer Valley in my apartment. My Father in-law and I went to HAM Radio Outlet and I got an affordable antenna for $15 before tax with a magnetic base I mounted it on the AC vent in my living room and I hear everything. Good antennas don't have to be expensive

 

[n7uv]

I use a BCD996P2 that is upgraded and had terrible coverage in Deer Valley in my apartment. My Father in-law and I went to HAM Radio Outlet and I got an affordable antenna for $15 before tax with a magnetic base I mounted it on the AC vent in my living room and I hear everything. Good antennas don't have to be expensive

what? You don't like my wire/aluminum foil creation?

 

[TSG509]

I respect the hell out of field expediency. its how stuff gets done. But my wife would take issue with me Macgyvering the kitchen

 

[n7uv]

I respect the hell out of field expediency. its how stuff gets done. But my wife would take issue with me Macgyvering the kitchen

that's why I ditched mine... oh, sorry, didn't mean to get political...

 

[n7uv]

I can report that the BCD536HP is working fairly fine in the truck, so long as I'm down with the other mortals on the streets, or driving across AZ. I finally did learn how to program it a bit better, Proscan and its favorites list helps.

One day perhaps I will get myself a real I/Q receiver scanner; I'm sure it will be far better. But, given that the 536 was just moldering on the aviation bands and RR freqs, this is a bargain!

Again, thanks everyone for the help and patience.

Cheers and 73 - Jon N7UV