I live near the county line (2-3 miles north of the line) of two distinct Counties--- I live in County "1"
County 1: Moto 800 Trunked System
County 2: (the further away of the 2): P25
County 1 comes in golden.
County 2 (P25) doesn't receive very well at all. Channels "float in and out", garbled, sounds like folks are transmitting out of a fish bowl. Transmissions cut out. Start out strong, then drop as though the dispatcher is in a mobile unit and driving out of range during transmissions. Also the trunking signal drops out for 5-6 secs at a time when I'm watching the display.
I have read all of the references available and have changed P25 SQ settings (and many others) to the values recommended in marksscanners easier to understand manual.......with a little improvement, but not much. I mean, I rarely, if ever, hear an entire dispatch w/o it cutting/garbling out, no matter the talk group.
What is puzzling to me is this. I have a Discone attenna on a mast on my roof, about 20-25 feet in the air, maybe a bit more. There appears to be no difference whether I am hooked up to the roof antenna or am using the supplied atenna (which I know aren't typically the best). If the roof antenna would improve things dramatically, then I would have a data point. But, this doesn't appear to be the case. (I used to use the discone for 2m, and I checked that all was OK there). Ex-HAM tech (expired ticket), so I am not exactly an idiot when it comes to radio/antenna topics.
I guess it IS possible that I am located in an unfortunate geographic area.
One of the reasons I upgraded to a digital scanner was to hear County 2 again, as they had gone digital some time ago. County 1 is analog and will reband soon, so I was on borrowed time there as well with the old BC235.
At this point, I am feeling that the crappy P25 reception I am getting for County 2 is such that I am wondering why I bothered.....wondering if it was money unwisely spent.
I love the scanner and its features......I would love for it to get county 2 better than it does.
Only thing I haven't investigated yet, is to take the scanner to work tomorrow (into the bowls of county 2) and see if it all is better. If that's the case, then I will chock it up to distance from the tower(s) and that I am on a fringe, and that is that.... victim of geography and circumstance.
My suspicion, however, is that something ain't quite right in the radio. Just my gut feeling. My BNC connector seems solid (I read those posts too).
At this point, it appears that there is no point in monitoring the P25 system, the reception is that bad--- roof antenna or not.
Any wisdom out there?
Is it possible that I got a defective unit? Or is this the nature of the beast? What am I missing?
I am not ready to pass judgement, but I am becoming unimpressed with the P25 capability of the PSR500, though I clearly understand that this may be an unfair assessment, given my situation at this moment.
Would love to have the opportunity to monitor side-by-side with someone with a Uniden, say, or even another PSR500, and see if there is a noticable difference.
I apologize if I am sounding a little frustrated, but, I was hoping for more, maybe unrealistically, I dunno...
EDIT: BTW, have upgraded to Firmware Ver. 2.1 as well.... if that makes any difference.
County 1: Moto 800 Trunked System
County 2: (the further away of the 2): P25
County 1 comes in golden.
County 2 (P25) doesn't receive very well at all. Channels "float in and out", garbled, sounds like folks are transmitting out of a fish bowl. Transmissions cut out. Start out strong, then drop as though the dispatcher is in a mobile unit and driving out of range during transmissions. Also the trunking signal drops out for 5-6 secs at a time when I'm watching the display.
I have read all of the references available and have changed P25 SQ settings (and many others) to the values recommended in marksscanners easier to understand manual.......with a little improvement, but not much. I mean, I rarely, if ever, hear an entire dispatch w/o it cutting/garbling out, no matter the talk group.
What is puzzling to me is this. I have a Discone attenna on a mast on my roof, about 20-25 feet in the air, maybe a bit more. There appears to be no difference whether I am hooked up to the roof antenna or am using the supplied atenna (which I know aren't typically the best). If the roof antenna would improve things dramatically, then I would have a data point. But, this doesn't appear to be the case. (I used to use the discone for 2m, and I checked that all was OK there). Ex-HAM tech (expired ticket), so I am not exactly an idiot when it comes to radio/antenna topics.
I guess it IS possible that I am located in an unfortunate geographic area.
One of the reasons I upgraded to a digital scanner was to hear County 2 again, as they had gone digital some time ago. County 1 is analog and will reband soon, so I was on borrowed time there as well with the old BC235.
At this point, I am feeling that the crappy P25 reception I am getting for County 2 is such that I am wondering why I bothered.....wondering if it was money unwisely spent.
I love the scanner and its features......I would love for it to get county 2 better than it does.
Only thing I haven't investigated yet, is to take the scanner to work tomorrow (into the bowls of county 2) and see if it all is better. If that's the case, then I will chock it up to distance from the tower(s) and that I am on a fringe, and that is that.... victim of geography and circumstance.
My suspicion, however, is that something ain't quite right in the radio. Just my gut feeling. My BNC connector seems solid (I read those posts too).
At this point, it appears that there is no point in monitoring the P25 system, the reception is that bad--- roof antenna or not.
Any wisdom out there?
Is it possible that I got a defective unit? Or is this the nature of the beast? What am I missing?
I am not ready to pass judgement, but I am becoming unimpressed with the P25 capability of the PSR500, though I clearly understand that this may be an unfair assessment, given my situation at this moment.
Would love to have the opportunity to monitor side-by-side with someone with a Uniden, say, or even another PSR500, and see if there is a noticable difference.
I apologize if I am sounding a little frustrated, but, I was hoping for more, maybe unrealistically, I dunno...
EDIT: BTW, have upgraded to Firmware Ver. 2.1 as well.... if that makes any difference.
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