My BCD436 scanning Indy P25 Phase I Simulcast...AWESOME! Video posted!

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racin06

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May 30, 2004
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673
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Westfield, Indiana
I received my Uniden BC436HP today. I had never been able to receive the Indianapolis Department of Public Safety (IDPS) from here at my home on my RS Pro-2096 and my previous Uniden 396T and GRE PSR-800 scanners...just a bunch of garbled junk. Apparently Uniden has solved the issues with simulcast systems because now the IDPS is loud and clear on the 436 with the RS 800MHz antenna...no garbled junk! I'm very impressed! Below is a video I recorded of the 436 scanning the IDPS for 12 minutes. Whistler, it's now your turn...Uniden has upped their game in a big way!!!

Video: https://vimeo.com/85494169 (best viewed at full screen)

Information on IDPS: Indianapolis Department Of Public Safety Trunking System, Indianapolis, Indiana - Scanner Frequencies
 
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del1964

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I'm picking up my new BCD436HP tomorrow after work. I also live in Indiana and t
ravel N & S through it. I currently have a 396XT with GPS and it does well on IN SAFET system. Big difference is that I won't have to program specific cities and states if/when I travel out of state
 

del1964

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I owned the Home Patrol for quite a while but sold it to help fund this new radio. I'm going to love the mix of 396XT and Home a Patrol features / functions with the BCD436HP
 

fmulder13

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Sep 1, 2006
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Minneapolis, MN
While it is true that we can't expect $500 scanners to do what a $3000 piece of equipment does, we have the right to want scanner technology to catch up to radio technology. When trunking was introduced, scanner manufacturers responded to the needs of their consumers and created trunktracking scanners. P25 technology has been in use for what-nearly a decade now? And we're still having these discussions. Granted, if simulcast decoding were an easy solution, the problem would be solved. I credit the work Uniden has done in advancing their scanning technology to meet the challenges of the modern scanning world, but the work clearly isn't done.

And therein lies the responsibility of the consumer-WE are the ones with the money, WE are the ones whom Uniden, Whistler, etc. is trying to win over. WE have the opportunity to say, "make p25 simulcast (or whatever) your top priority, or I'm taking my hard-earned money elsewhere!" I'm reading this thread worrying that we're starting to get complacent. I'm impressed by many things about the new Unidens, but they wouldn't matter if I lived in Indianapolis, or other locations where the new x36's have proven still inadequate at scanning the systems of greatest local interest. There's no real victory until a scanner that advertises compatibility scanning P25 systems does so with the same level of performance as it does analog.

If it's a cost issue, why no $3000 scanners that can decode LSM with the same agility as Moto radios? Why no $1000 scanners that do twice as well as a $500-$600 x36? Why no $2000 scanners that perform three times as well as an x36? Surely there are some folks who would shell out $1000, the price of a used XTS5000 on ebay, to purchase a scanner that could be programmed without the means necessary to program a Moto XTS. Therefore, we can only assume that scanner manufacturers just don't know how to solve the problem entirely. However, we can also tell that they're learning, and they're getting closer. But if they see that consumers are blissfully forking over cash for products that perform so-so, they will not fight to produce the products that consumers really want.

The answers are there, we just need to pressure these companies to keep looking, keep testing, keep improving to earn our money. And to top it all off, one of these said companies has a product developer on the most popular forum! I applaud the hands-on approach of Paul "Upman," and the thousands of posts he reads and answers. Uniden (and possibly Whistler, too!) is listening, folks, and I, for one, am saying, "Good progress, but not quite there! Back to the woodshed you go! Keep at it!"

I apologize for posting something besides a simulcast report, but I think we are starting to form a general idea of the new x36's-improvement over the XT line, the HP-1, and, generally speaking, the GRE/RadioShack models, the former leaders in p25 decode. Uniden has pushed to the head of the race, but will they go all the way?
 

KC9NEG

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Apr 22, 2004
Messages
721
Location
Indianapolis, IN USA
Impressive, especially for an omni antenna. I hear some overload and simulcast distortion of the dispatchers, but it's certainly good. I was listening to my feed and heard many of the same PD dispatch comms. The only thing that really troubles me is the difference in gain of the dispatchers vs. many of the mobiles. Have you played with any AGC settings?
 

KC9NEG

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Apr 22, 2004
Messages
721
Location
Indianapolis, IN USA
Managing expectations here... I monitor this system for several hours every day, and all else being equal, I've seen deciding go from stellar to nearly uncopyable in a few minutes without apparent rhyme or reason. I work with my directional antenna (Laird Y8063) almost daily trying to stay on top of things and deliver a good feed. I can say with certainty that the last couple of days have been a highly unusual period of good reception.
 

whsbuss

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Jun 15, 2005
Messages
547
Location
SE Pa
While it is true that we can't expect $500 scanners to do what a $3000 piece of equipment does, we have the right to want scanner technology to catch up to radio technology. When trunking was introduced, scanner manufacturers responded to the needs of their consumers and created trunktracking scanners. P25 technology has been in use for what-nearly a decade now? And we're still having these discussions. Granted, if simulcast decoding were an easy solution, the problem would be solved. I credit the work Uniden has done in advancing their scanning technology to meet the challenges of the modern scanning world, but the work clearly isn't done.

And therein lies the responsibility of the consumer-WE are the ones with the money, WE are the ones whom Uniden, Whistler, etc. is trying to win over. WE have the opportunity to say, "make p25 simulcast (or whatever) your top priority, or I'm taking my hard-earned money elsewhere!" I'm reading this thread worrying that we're starting to get complacent. I'm impressed by many things about the new Unidens, but they wouldn't matter if I lived in Indianapolis, or other locations where the new x36's have proven still inadequate at scanning the systems of greatest local interest. There's no real victory until a scanner that advertises compatibility scanning P25 systems does so with the same level of performance as it does analog.

If it's a cost issue, why no $3000 scanners that can decode LSM with the same agility as Moto radios? Why no $1000 scanners that do twice as well as a $500-$600 x36? Why no $2000 scanners that perform three times as well as an x36? Surely there are some folks who would shell out $1000, the price of a used XTS5000 on ebay, to purchase a scanner that could be programmed without the means necessary to program a Moto XTS. Therefore, we can only assume that scanner manufacturers just don't know how to solve the problem entirely. However, we can also tell that they're learning, and they're getting closer. But if they see that consumers are blissfully forking over cash for products that perform so-so, they will not fight to produce the products that consumers really want.

The answers are there, we just need to pressure these companies to keep looking, keep testing, keep improving to earn our money. And to top it all off, one of these said companies has a product developer on the most popular forum! I applaud the hands-on approach of Paul "Upman," and the thousands of posts he reads and answers. Uniden (and possibly Whistler, too!) is listening, folks, and I, for one, am saying, "Good progress, but not quite there! Back to the woodshed you go! Keep at it!"

I apologize for posting something besides a simulcast report, but I think we are starting to form a general idea of the new x36's-improvement over the XT line, the HP-1, and, generally speaking, the GRE/RadioShack models, the former leaders in p25 decode. Uniden has pushed to the head of the race, but will they go all the way?

You stated my feelings so perfectly.
 

SCPD

QRT
Joined
Feb 24, 2001
Messages
0
Location
Virginia
p25 phase 2

Everyones posting Phase 1 videos,what about phase 2 ,isnt that why you bought it?
 

racin06

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Joined
May 30, 2004
Messages
673
Location
Westfield, Indiana
No, I bought the 436 because it has better performance on simulcast systems in general. I had never been able to hear nothing but mixed up digital garb on the Indy Dept. Public Safety system with my previous scanners...RS Pro2096, Uniden 396T and GRE PSR800. However, as the video illustrates, the 436 performs very well on the Indy system.
 

kd7eir

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Joined
Jan 8, 2003
Messages
427
Location
Tucson, AZ
The rub here is that if people did not purchase scanners that offer incremental improvements, the manufacturers would not have the funding to produce the next model, with it's incremental improvement.


While it is true that we can't expect $500 scanners to do what a $3000 piece of equipment does, we have the right to want scanner technology to catch up to radio technology. When trunking was introduced, scanner manufacturers responded to the needs of their consumers and created trunktracking scanners. P25 technology has been in use for what-nearly a decade now? And we're still having these discussions. Granted, if simulcast decoding were an easy solution, the problem would be solved. I credit the work Uniden has done in advancing their scanning technology to meet the challenges of the modern scanning world, but the work clearly isn't done.

And therein lies the responsibility of the consumer-WE are the ones with the money, WE are the ones whom Uniden, Whistler, etc. is trying to win over. WE have the opportunity to say, "make p25 simulcast (or whatever) your top priority, or I'm taking my hard-earned money elsewhere!" I'm reading this thread worrying that we're starting to get complacent. I'm impressed by many things about the new Unidens, but they wouldn't matter if I lived in Indianapolis, or other locations where the new x36's have proven still inadequate at scanning the systems of greatest local interest. There's no real victory until a scanner that advertises compatibility scanning P25 systems does so with the same level of performance as it does analog.

If it's a cost issue, why no $3000 scanners that can decode LSM with the same agility as Moto radios? Why no $1000 scanners that do twice as well as a $500-$600 x36? Why no $2000 scanners that perform three times as well as an x36? Surely there are some folks who would shell out $1000, the price of a used XTS5000 on ebay, to purchase a scanner that could be programmed without the means necessary to program a Moto XTS. Therefore, we can only assume that scanner manufacturers just don't know how to solve the problem entirely. However, we can also tell that they're learning, and they're getting closer. But if they see that consumers are blissfully forking over cash for products that perform so-so, they will not fight to produce the products that consumers really want.

The answers are there, we just need to pressure these companies to keep looking, keep testing, keep improving to earn our money. And to top it all off, one of these said companies has a product developer on the most popular forum! I applaud the hands-on approach of Paul "Upman," and the thousands of posts he reads and answers. Uniden (and possibly Whistler, too!) is listening, folks, and I, for one, am saying, "Good progress, but not quite there! Back to the woodshed you go! Keep at it!"

I apologize for posting something besides a simulcast report, but I think we are starting to form a general idea of the new x36's-improvement over the XT line, the HP-1, and, generally speaking, the GRE/RadioShack models, the former leaders in p25 decode. Uniden has pushed to the head of the race, but will they go all the way?
 
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