BCD436HP/BCD536HP: new scanner, but reception is horrible

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jonwienke

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***actually i disabled everything but law (since that is all i'm really concerned with)***

Wrong answer. turn ON every Service Type.

What you want to hear may be listed as "Multi" if one channel is used to dispatch fire and EMS together, or a combination of police and fire/EMS. Or it may be tagged as something else for some reason. If you aren't hearing everything you think you should hear, turn on EVERYTHING, and then turn off Service Types one at a time as you verify that the traffic associated with the Service Type is not of interest.
 

marksmith

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The service types not active is the single most often reason why someone is not hearing what they think they should hear on a Uniden database radio.



536/436/ws1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others
 

troymail

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As has been mentioned numerous times now - police in the Baltimore area - City, County, Anne Arundel, Howard, etc. - are nearly always talking. So, in terms of determining programming and reception is working, enabling only the LAW and (to a lesser extent, less chatty) FIRE and EMS service types are all that should be needed to determine the radio is receiving properly.

Enabling other services types in this case only slows the scan rate through alot of other crap -- and is another reason why you want to HOLD on a system (like Anne Arundel) and see what you can hear.

Again, from SW Baltimore County, Howard and Anne Arundel would be the easiest thing to monitor to determine reception is working.

Keep it simple ... try the easy things first and then the harder stuff (like simulcast reception and/or specific programming).

If the easy stuff isn't working, you need to figure that out first... otherwise, you're just fighting things and wasting your time.
 

jonwienke

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When the complaint is not receiving anything but weather, turning on Service Types is a necessary diagnostic step. If it spams the OP with spurious traffic, that at least rules out a defective or underperforming scanner. As I posted earlier, turn everything on, then off one type at at a time as spurious traffic is identified.
 

ebxgsxr

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let me ask this. even right out of the box, should i be getting a good amount of chatter/transmissions when i turn this thing on and just listen? b/c even before i try to turn anything on or off, i'm not getting that much except when i listen to the weather scan.
 

jonwienke

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Not until you set the scanner location either via ZIP code or GPS, and turn on Service Types. A lot of them are off by default. Until you do that, anything you hear (other than traffic on nationwide systems like weather, CB, GMRS, FRS, and MURS) is accidental.
 

Flywheel17

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Just a quick check so we can understand how the scanner is set up.

Select menu and "Set Scan Selection"

Under "select Lists to Monitor", the only thing that should be "ON" is "Full Database". If anything else is loaded - shut it off.

Go back one menu and goto "Select Nationwide Systems". There should be a lot of "ON", a few with dashes, and no "OFF"

Zip code should be yours.
(Don't mess with the range for now)

Squelch should be 3

Volume at 8

Keep the scanner antenna vertical.

If you want to check the database you can go to "manage full database" and go to information (it should be fairly current), and review the avoids (there should be none).

Maybe another member is in your area and y'all can meet up.
 

Flywheel17

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You might want to use sentinel to "Force" rewrite the entire data base. If whoever managed to do anything funky to it.

The nice thing about meeting up with a another member, is they just pull thier chip and install it in yours and they will know...
 

ebxgsxr

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Just a quick check so we can understand how the scanner is set up.

Select menu and "Set Scan Selection"

Under "select Lists to Monitor", the only thing that should be "ON" is "Full Database". If anything else is loaded - shut it off.

Go back one menu and goto "Select Nationwide Systems". There should be a lot of "ON", a few with dashes, and no "OFF"

Zip code should be yours.
(Don't mess with the range for now)

Squelch should be 3

Volume at 8

Keep the scanner antenna vertical.

If you want to check the database you can go to "manage full database" and go to information (it should be fairly current), and review the avoids (there should be none).

Maybe another member is in your area and y'all can meet up.

everything is as you described. when i went to information, it said dB Version is 8/20/2017
 

marksmith

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I don't see anything wrong in either video.

Looks like a Diamond antenna. Might do a little better on 800mz with the original one, but you will get a little more on vhf with the Diamond. Not much on vhf though.

536/436/ws1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others
 

jonwienke

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I watched the videos, and noted the following:

1. There is nothing wrong with the scanner itself. You're receiving traffic from a variety of digital and analog systems, including P25 Phase II, on several bands--VHF, UHF, and 800, and the scanner is showing multiple bars of signal strength for a lot of it. If the scanner was broken, you'd either get nothing, or only traffic from strong local signals. You are getting stuff from several counties in that clip, so you can definitively rule out a hardware problem.

2. I'm guessing that the scanner Range is still set to 20, given that you're scanning the Virginia STARS system and other things a considerable distance from your location. That's OK for testing, but eventually you will want to dial things back so that the scanner is only scanning things it can actually hear. 0-5 miles is best, unless you are using a good outdoor antenna on a tall mast.

I've created a Favorite List for you that covers all state and county systems in Baltimore County and Baltimore City. The link goes to a HPE file you can save and import into Sentinel from the File menu. If you scan from this list, turn the Main Database off in the scanner menu. The list is called Baltimore, and has Location Control enabled, so you'll still need to have your scanner location set correctly.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!ApJIS-l4xqPtguB9sssGSATVuxQR2Q

Try scanning from this Favorite List and see what happens.
 

JamesO

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McLean, VA
The scanner even seemed to be picking up a Phase II system pretty well in addition to P25 systems.

Programming issue and lack of either a favorite list and/or no quick keys being used.

VA and PA systems are not going to be picked up, at least not the STARS system in Baltimore area so the scanner is wasting time scanning systems it cannot receive.

While the Crownsville DNR is coming in but noisy, it is probably 30+ miles from your location. This is not something you want to scan unless you have a decent outdoor antenna and/or pre-Amp.

Try the Favorite List put together and see what happens.
 

Sanscanman

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Acworth, GA
Just a quick .02 worth. Keep in mind the broadcastify is usually delayed by a minute or so. So what your hearing on a feed isn't going to match up with realtime on your scanner.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

ebxgsxr

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Baltimore County, MD
Try scanning from this Favorite List and see what happens.


thank you Jon, i will give that a shot

I'm with Jon and Mark - I don't see a problem.... Do you believe there still is some type of problem? If so, what?

when i did have baltimore county on hold and was trying to listen to just county PD, it's very little to no transmissions. when when listening to Broadcastify, it's constant chatter. i understand that the feed is delayed, but the feed has more things coming out than the scanner when i'm listening to both. even with baltimore county being on hold, i would think if the feed is jumping around from precinct to precinct, the scanner should do the same?
 
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