Nellis NTS on Uniden 396 with V2 upgrade

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billybob123

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I would be interested to hear if anyone here in the valley has had success installing the
V2 update. Even though I rarely monitor Nellis base operations , I have had problems picking up Nellis with a 396 from my location regardless of the firmware and threshold settings, but if I listen to the voice channels in search mode , they come in loud and clear. My Radioshack digitals pick up far more traffic when side by side with the 396. Maybe I am not programing something right. I am hesitant to update since digital systems here are few.
 

pyeman99

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billybob123 said:
I would be interested to hear if anyone here in the valley has had success installing the
V2 update. Even though I rarely monitor Nellis base operations , I have had problems picking up Nellis with a 396 from my location regardless of the firmware and threshold settings, but if I listen to the voice channels in search mode , they come in loud and clear. My Radioshack digitals pick up far more traffic when side by side with the 396. Maybe I am not programing something right. I am hesitant to update since digital systems here are few.
Thanks.I think the 396 might have slightly less Rx perfomance in sensitivity but suffers from less high signal blocking.Do you have ID search "on".
 

ki7be

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I had no problems installing the v2 update. I haven't tried listening to Nellis yet since I live on the other end of the valley from the base. However I travel across Hover dam allot and have noticed a marked improvement in decoding of the dam police. Before the update their audio was always broken. Now it's clear and only broken when far from the repeater. For example the audio is broken in Boulder City, but clear once I get past the Hacienda. I probably won't have a chance to test Nellis until November when I get back for the air show. I do remember not having a problem listening to security last year.

Bill
 

pyeman99

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ki7be said:
I had no problems installing the v2 update. I haven't tried listening to Nellis yet since I live on the other end of the valley from the base. However I travel across Hover dam allot and have noticed a marked improvement in decoding of the dam police. Before the update their audio was always broken. Now it's clear and only broken when far from the repeater. For example the audio is broken in Boulder City, but clear once I get past the Hacienda. I probably won't have a chance to test Nellis until November when I get back for the air show. I do remember not having a problem listening to security last year.

Bill
Bill,many thanks.I upgraded & fingers crossed.Keith.
 

737mech

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Better Digital in Vegas Area

I have no experience with the 396t but after reading all the reviews here on R/R I bought a PSR 500. I have absolutely no problems at all hearing Nellis from just about anywhere in the valley. So clear in fact it sounds like they are transmitting from a few feet away. I can also get TSA without a problem. If digital is what you want I would suggest selling your 396 and getting a GRE PSR500. If that is not an option go see the selection of Diamond antennas at AES that may help your RX. I use the RH77CA and it is also available in a model that has the 396t type connector. I can't say enough about GRE and I also have a Uniden BCT15. The Diamond improves both scanners over any stock or RS antennae I have tried.
 

pyeman99

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737mech said:
I have no experience with the 396t but after reading all the reviews here on R/R I bought a PSR 500. I have absolutely no problems at all hearing Nellis from just about anywhere in the valley. So clear in fact it sounds like they are transmitting from a few feet away. I can also get TSA without a problem. If digital is what you want I would suggest selling your 396 and getting a GRE PSR500. If that is not an option go see the selection of Diamond antennas at AES that may help your RX. I use the RH77CA and it is also available in a model that has the 396t type connector. I can't say enough about GRE and I also have a Uniden BCT15. The Diamond improves both scanners over any stock or RS antennae I have tried.
Thanks 737 when I pass AES will pick up a RH77,heard other good reports.
 

edgeman

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I noticed improvments with much less motorboating, static and garbled audio. I am still having a problem with some talkgroups displaying but no audio. I don't believe these are encrypted transmissions. I live on the Southwest side of the valley and I suspect that the distance from the base is causing the no audio problem

I have read that the tweaks are no longer needed for the 396 so I haven't been playing around with them since the upgrade. Is this true? If not, would anyone be willing to let me know what settings your using for the RES TIME and REF GAIN?

Thanks for the help.
 

Hearken

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396 with V2 Upgrade

Go ahead and do the upgrade, from where I live at Warm Springs and Eastern I can pick up the TSA and Nellis better, than before. But remember when listening to Digital signals, there is a point where the transmissions will fade out all of a sudden and analog signals will fade out over a greater distance. When also dealing with trunking systems if the radio cannot hear the control channel, the unit will not work rationally. With the upgrade it has removed the beeps from the edac systems and improved the modulations of the Digital radio systems. Hoover Dam sounds alot better now than before too. Just thought I would throw my two cents in...............

Hearken.
 

pyeman99

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Hearken said:
Go ahead and do the upgrade, from where I live at Warm Springs and Eastern I can pick up the TSA and Nellis better, than before. But remember when listening to Digital signals, there is a point where the transmissions will fade out all of a sudden and analog signals will fade out over a greater distance. When also dealing with trunking systems if the radio cannot hear the control channel, the unit will not work rationally. With the upgrade it has removed the beeps from the edac systems and improved the modulations of the Digital radio systems. Hoover Dam sounds alot better now than before too. Just thought I would throw my two cents in...............

Hearken.
Thanks for that,looks like I may have done ok by upgrading.
Will see how it goes on my visit.
pyeman
 

737mech

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Quick question?

Hearken said:
Go ahead and do the upgrade, from where I live at Warm Springs and Eastern I can pick up the TSA and Nellis better, than before. But remember when listening to Digital signals, there is a point where the transmissions will fade out all of a sudden and analog signals will fade out over a greater distance. When also dealing with trunking systems if the radio cannot hear the control channel, the unit will not work rationally. With the upgrade it has removed the beeps from the edac systems and improved the modulations of the Digital radio systems. Hoover Dam sounds alot better now than before too. Just thought I would throw my two cents in...............

Hearken.
Can you hear Hoover Dam Digital from Warm Springs and Eastern? I'm at Windmill and Green Valley and can't hear them? Using PSR500 with RH77CA. Maybe they don't talk much and that's why I can't hear them? Just curious.
 

edgeman

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I live around the Ft. Apache/Flamingo area and am still having some problems with garbled audio or no audio with the Nellis system. Could my distance from the base be causing this? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks
 

737mech

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Nellis help

edgeman said:
I live around the Ft. Apache/Flamingo area and am still having some problems with garbled audio or no audio with the Nellis system. Could my distance from the base be causing this? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks
I'm using the PSR500 with a Diamond RH77CA and have no problems with Nellis on the NNSA system wherever I go through the valley. You should take a closer look at your P25 settings and be sure you have the tables (Base Spacing and Offset) correct. I have heard that the GRE scanners are a little better because of the NAC decoding ability however I also know that the 396t handles the NNSA without a problem. You may at times hear encryption used by Nellis PD. The other users Viper/Eagle/Tomahawk/Strike etc. work just fine. Hope this helps.
 

edgeman

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Thanks 737 for the reply.

I had programmed the system from the information that I found on the Dreamland Resort sit, using their offset and base frequencies . I'll take a look at that again. I think I'll head closer to the base had have a listen to see if that improves reception. Otherwise, I may just delete the system and put it back in.

The 396 will go silent when it picks up an encrypted transmission while displaying a symbol indicating encryption. I may be overlooking the symbol.
Have a good one.
 

davidp124

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I am up at the end of Lake Mead Dr up in Summerlin and have no problem with the Nellis TRS on my 396 with v2 upgrade. To get the correct offsets I downloaded the system from R/R. Works good so far.

David
 

edgeman

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Davidp124.

Thanks for the reply. I think you are at a higher elevation that I am. I'll bet it has to be my location.

Did you use any of the system tweaks after downloading the v2 upgrade? Also, what antenna are you using? I have the RS long rudder duck and a 12" multi band external antenna that I use in the house.

Thanks again.
John
 
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davidp124

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I am using an extendable Watson antenna. I also have a Watson multi-band flex antenna that works pretty good. I haven't done any tweaks on the system either. Seems to work pretty good.

David
 

edgeman

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I think that I have beaten this to death now. I did get some suggestions from Uniden about this and I will see how they work. I still think it's my location.

Have a great day all.
 

jimcamella

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Been listening to Nellis just fine until the V2 upgrade. Now not receiving anything. Even took it to the base today. Any tweaks that other Nellis listeners used on V2?
 
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