NEW BCD536HP, issue with Conventional NXDN

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svcrews

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Greetings!
50 years ago, my folks bought me a scanner when I was a teenager, back in the days when you bought crystals and plugged them in. It was very interesting, in fact, I volunteered with local law enforcement in a scout program until I was old enough to join, then spent 25 years in Law Enforcement, retiring in 2000.

My wife and I bought a home in southern Kentucky, and I got the itch to listen to the local L.E.O. and other agencies.

In searching for a new scanner, I purchased a Uniden BCD536HP, as it appeared to have the latest technology and would work with the systems here. The local systems are conventional, NXDN, not trunked, they are NX9 here.

I have spent nearly two months reading all I can here in this forum, tried every conceivable configuration to clearly receive these NXDN systems, no luck, the transmissions are garbled.

Yes, I bought the NXDN upgraded, as well as the other two, yes, I now own two external antennas, the transmitter for the systems is 5.6 miles from me, I do get a 4 to 5 bar signal when there is a transmission. Non NXDN systems here (fire, ems, etc.) work fine. After failing with the conventional setup, I tried setting it up as a trunked system just to see with all variations of the trucking options, although the systems here are conventional. In short, I tried a process of elimination for nearly two months.

The scanner does work well, I can pick up traffic 50 to 75 miles from here. So, I programmed it to a county which is about 35 miles from here, who is also NXDN, but trunked, and the scanner works perfect with that trucked NXDN system, so I know the NXDN upgrade works.

What I hear is broken words, like it is trying very hard. I have tried every combination with the mode settings, FM, NFM, etc, digital only, auto, etc. I have tried every combination in the hold time, agc, digital wait time, digital threshold, and digital level. What seems to work better, is FM, digital only, (it’s a ran 22) the wait time works best between 600 and 1000, digital mode works best in manual, threshold works best at 5. I have turned on and off the priority, to just scan one frequency, no luck, same garbled results.

Other combinations make the transmission worse. Location control is turned off, but I have also put in the correct latitude and longitude based on my location and what is listed in the FCC database. I have also tried changing from 12.5 to 6.25 no luck, in fact, I tried all of them.

I deleted everything, reset the scanner, start from scratch, even tried the download from https://digitalfrequencysearch.com/index.php imported it in, still no luck with an understandable transmission.

I have also tried other software in addition to Sentinel, I purchased ARC536PRO in hopes it gave more options, but again, nothing made the communications understandable.

These are the three local sites, and I have every frequency plugged in, and I have tried just one frequency at a time to ensure on interference:
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?fccCallsign=WQOL434 (RAN 22)
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?fccCallsign=WQOH298 (RAN 15)
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?fccCallsign=WQMY920 (unknown)

If anyone has any tips, as I believe I have read every post on Conventional NXDN in the forum, your help would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I ran debug for a log file, it is attached. I don’t quite understand it, it shows some NXDN with a ran of 16, I am not sure who that goes too, it may becoming from a rail road, but I am quite confident for two of the L.E.O. frequencies the ran set I have is correct, as I have used the digital search to confirm the correct settings for them. Perhaps is there is a way of knowing what frequency the debug log NXDN hit goes to I could find out who that is. Again, my desire is the monitor local & state Law Enforcement, EMS, Fire.

Thanks!
Steve
 

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wa8pyr

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I have spent nearly two months reading all I can here in this forum, tried every conceivable configuration to clearly receive these NXDN systems, no luck, the transmissions are garbled.

What I hear is broken words, like it is trying very hard. I have tried every combination with the mode settings, FM, NFM, etc, digital only, auto, etc. I have tried every combination in the hold time, agc, digital wait time, digital threshold, and digital level. What seems to work better, is FM, digital only, (it’s a ran 22) the wait time works best between 600 and 1000, digital mode works best in manual, threshold works best at 5. I have turned on and off the priority, to just scan one frequency, no luck, same garbled results.

I suspect they're encrypted. I've noted the same behavior on P25 encryption; the occasional word might slip through by chance, but generally it's all garbled.

I visit relatives in the Lexington area fairly regularly, and seem to recall hearing that some law enforcement agencies which went NXDN also drank the encryption kool-aid and are encrypted.
 

svcrews

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Sep 7, 2018
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Location
Williamsburg, Kentucky
Thank-you!
Yes, I believe it is encrypted, however, I was under the understanding this unit with the upgrades would resolve that. This is a one-horse town, and we like it that way, having been born and raised in the third world of south Florida.

As mentioned, before I come from the old school, so I think it is best for the public to hear what “Public Safely’ is doing; today if there is something so “confidential”. They most likely use a cell phone, which we did not have back in the day.
Thanks
Steve


I suspect they're encrypted. I've noted the same behavior on P25 encryption; the occasional word might slip through by chance, but generally it's all garbled.

I visit relatives in the Lexington area fairly regularly, and seem to recall hearing that some law enforcement agencies which went NXDN also drank the encryption kool-aid and are encrypted.
 

W4ELL

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Maryville, Tennessee
Thank-you!
Yes, I believe it is encrypted, however, I was under the understanding this unit with the upgrades would resolve that. This is a one-horse town, and we like it that way, having been born and raised in the third world of south Florida.

As mentioned, before I come from the old school, so I think it is best for the public to hear what “Public Safely’ is doing; today if there is something so “confidential”. They most likely use a cell phone, which we did not have back in the day.
Thanks
Steve

Looking at the log you posted, I see a lot of CRC errors and one reference to encryption:

0590833 Data Type: 00 TGID: 00004953 UID: 00000FA4 Encryption Emergency: 01 Call Type Voice Call SA 01D7E20FA449535041

Encryption means you are out of luck... period. There is no scanner on the market that can monitor encrypted traffic. If you aren't a registered user with a keyed radio, it is both (all but) impossible and unlawful to monitor encrypted communications.
 
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svcrews

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Sep 7, 2018
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Williamsburg, Kentucky
<GRIN>
Thank-you, if that is true, and I DO believe what your saying, I will quit chasing my tail!
Honesty is very much respected.!
Thanks!
Steve

Looking at the log you posted, I see a lot of CRC errors and one reference to encryption:

0590833 Data Type: 00 TGID: 00004953 UID: 00000FA4 Encryption Emergency: 01 Call Type Voice Call SA 01D7E20FA449535041

Encryption means you are out of luck... period. There is no scanner on the market that can monitor encrypted traffic. If you aren't a registered user with a keyed radio, it is both (all but) impossible and unlawful to monitor encrypted communications.
 

W2GLD

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nope you were very misinformed no over the counter scanner will decode encryption

That’s not exactly a true statement, at least regarding NXDN. The ICOM R30 allows you to program in the NXDN encryption keys (if known) and decodes them just fine; just like a real radio. To my knowledge, these is the only receiver that does this. It makes a great scanner as well aside from it missing DMR.
 

n2pqq

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That’s not exactly a true statement, at least regarding NXDN. The ICOM R30 allows you to program in the NXDN encryption keys (if known) and decodes them just fine; just like a real radio. To my knowledge, these is the only receiver that does this. It makes a great scanner as well aside from it missing DMR.

Also the Icom ic-r8600
 

allend

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Not sure what people are smoking on this site but there is no radio that is going to by default search out the correct encrytpion key. But it sure would be nice though.

Maybe in the future the Chinese makers can develop a radio that will search out the right key and match up audio. If that happened the FEDS would sniff through every rat hole to find that maker even though its out of the country and give a beat down
 

W2GLD

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Neither of which are scanners so my statement still hold true [emoji849][emoji849]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They may not be "trunking scanners" but they are certainly indeed scanners; the ICOM R30 runs circles around the new Uniden SDS100 and other similar scanners and easily scanners nearly 200 channels per second; for non-trunking scanning, you simply cannot beat the ICOM R30. I know, I have both and compare them regularly and I am just astonished at how well the ICOM performs over my two SDS100's and the TRX-1. So yes, both the ICOM R30 and R8600 are indeed scanners, just not trunking scanners in the traditional sense; rather, they nomenclature calls them high-end communications receivers which scan as well. Just saying...
 

Experiment626

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Whitley County Sheriff's office, Williamsburg PD and Corbin PD are all using NXDN9600 with encryption enabled 100% of the time.

Sorry that you just recently discovered this. It sucks, but there's nothing we can do about it.
 

W2GLD

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Are you talking about the AOR 8600 MK2? If you are don't it need a special add on to decode. I have an AOR 8600 myself.

No, the conversation was regarding the ICOM IC-R8600 and IC-R30 models and how they can decode NXDN encryption if the key is known.
 
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