new uniden scanners in cleveland area
- Thread starter kraftwrk
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an39511
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Cleveland's decided to go with their own system and has been installed about a year now. With the millions invested I doubt Cleveland will ever move to MARCS. Most of the Southwester suburbs are now on Cleveland's system.
i pulled the trigger and got the bcd536hp. love it so far. it's ok so far with the MARCS-IP decoding; better than the psr-800. also picking up cleveland a little better.
i have a lot to learn about this radio. can you insert wildcards with this thing like you can with the psr-800?
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i have a lot to learn about this radio. can you insert wildcards with this thing like you can with the psr-800?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Cleveland wouldn't move to MARCS-IP, but the capability is there for the system to connect to MARCS-IP for interoperability and roaming purposes. A big network connection would basically be all they need.
I wouldn't be surprised either way if that did or did not happen.
an39511
Member
As I understand it the benefit of connecting to MARCS would be to create a path/patch for them to communicate directly with other cities, such as Lakewood?
But, I am curious about what you mean by roaming. Example, say a car needs to travel to Akron for a warrant pickup. Lets say that the Cleveland car would be outside of their radio network. How can the Cleveland car use the MARCS system when the radio in their car is designed/programmed to work on Cleveland's system? Are the car radios generic enough to be programmed for multiple systems?
budevans
Member
Patches (issi gateway) between GCRCN and MARCS-IP were used several times last summer.
Example: The SO (on GCRCN system) worked traffic control with Solon PD (on MARCS-IP) for 4th of July and Labor Day events.
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Radio to radio patching and a ISSI gateway are two very different animals. Currently there is no ISSI link from Cleveland to MARCS-IP, the patching heard was accomplished with a couple of mobile radios and a Raytheon ACU-1000.
Motorola's ISSI 8000 option could support full roaming and interoperability between Cleveland and MARCS-IP, but it would take quite a bit of cooperation, coordination and cash.
yes. It's called ID Search
radios4bill
Member
Uniden BCD436HP and BCD536HP
I received my BCD536HP last week and I live in Lorain County (N. Ridgeville) and has always had a issue with the Cleveland system and after putting the 536 online it works 100% Zero decode issues. I then purchased a DBC436HP this week and can tell just like other Uniden scanners the stock antenna is not very good, I put the adapter on it and put on the Radio Shack (GRE) 800 MHz, antenna on it and it makes a big improvement. I drive for a living and travel from Lake county to Lorain county and south to Medina county and as long as you keep the unit vertical while traveling it works great. I have owned every Uniden, GRE and Radio Shack (GRE) scanner made and this is the best improvement they have had.
I received my BCD536HP last week and I live in Lorain County (N. Ridgeville) and has always had a issue with the Cleveland system and after putting the 536 online it works 100% Zero decode issues. I then purchased a DBC436HP this week and can tell just like other Uniden scanners the stock antenna is not very good, I put the adapter on it and put on the Radio Shack (GRE) 800 MHz, antenna on it and it makes a big improvement. I drive for a living and travel from Lake county to Lorain county and south to Medina county and as long as you keep the unit vertical while traveling it works great. I have owned every Uniden, GRE and Radio Shack (GRE) scanner made and this is the best improvement they have had.
an39511
Member
I concur on your observation on the Cleveland System. I too have no issues receiving Cleveland. My station is located close to Hopkins Airport and I am interested to hear from you what kind of signal decode you get on the Ohio MARC-IP (P25) channel. This is the system that some of the Western Suburbs are on, such as Lakewood and Rocky River.
My 536 is doing much better than any other scanner but depending on weather, antenna, bla, bla, bla, my error rate fluctuates between 3 to as high as 70% on that system.
I have had my BCD536HP for a week and 1/2 now and I'm in Stark county and this radio does not do well at all with the Canton/Stark 800 simulcast system and transmissions are very broken up at times. The Summit county regional 800 system works perfectly. I'm to far away to pickup the Cleveland system. I have also had this issue with my BCD996XT and HP-1 radios. My PSR-800, Pro-197, Pro-106, and even my Pro-96 ALL work perfectly with all systems in the Stark county area. What is it with these Uniden radios????? Is there anyone else out there in Stark county and have the BCD536HP noticing this problem with receiving the Canton/Stark system?
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I am in Hartville in Stark Co. and have no issues with Canton/Stark 800 on the 436 or 536 units, but I am using a 800 mhz yagi pointed towards Rootstown so I can pick up Portage Co. 700 mhz. system. Even with a 800 mhz radio shack antenna I have no issues with the 536 picking up the system.
Very odd, I'm only about a mile away from the jail and I'm only using the stock antenna with the radio. So you don't hear any transmissions breaking up with the system? I have even moved the radio all over the place with no improvement. While monitoring the system I can see the signal drop every once in a while and that is where I notice the loss of transmission. You would think I would have a solid strong signal at all times. Again I only have this issue with Canton/Stark. Even the MARCS system works really well. I'm going to take my 536HP to work Monday and see how it responds there.
Not having any issues up this way with breaking up that I can hear, getting a solid signal on all transmissions I also tuned in the PSR500 & HP1 and getting the same signal strength and no drop out.
an39511
Member
I think the reception has mostly to do with your location. If you are in the middle of overlapping signal then you are going to have trouble. What I find interesting is comparing the BCD536 to a Pro-106. Each radio seems to outperform each other in various conditions. For me, when it snows the error rate jumps up on the MARC-IP system whereas the Cleveland System is rock solid all the time. There is another user about a mile north east that can't receive Cleveland at all, due to the simulcast digital distortion. I also think that when you see the signal bars briefly drop and then back up, what your radio is receiving are FM signals from one or more towers out of phase which is sort of like how noise cancellation works. The other issue is the digital signal is not hitting your radio at the exact same time. Because I am stationary I have three antennas that I switch and sometime combine to counter the signal propagation.
an39511
Member
Another observation, and this is just my speculation, but it seems like the towers in a simulcast system dynamically change each time someone transmits. Example, a dispatch call is sent out and causes all towers to broadcast uniformly but when a mobile responds maybe only one tower, (the closest one) picks up and transmits. I make this observation from the MARCS-IP because many times the base station will sound garbled and the mobile response is perfectly clear. It would be nice if there was someone on here that has actually worked on the system and could explain exactly how it works.
4482
Member
This may appear to be a dumb question, but with the above in mind, does anyone know if you just enable a site or two to maybe help with the simulcast problem? Of course that would only be from a fixed location like your home.
an39511
Member
I have tried that but it doesn't seem to work for me. Because I am close to the center of many MARCS-IP towers I tried only using the one located in Elyria/Lorain but I still had problems. I think the reason for that is the towers are transmitting on the exact same frequency so there is no way to pick one tower site over another.
Well all the sites are on the same frequency so you cannot selectively choose one site over another (except with a yagi !
.In case others have not seen this check it out: Simulcast digital distortion - The RadioReference Wiki
I found that I can get better results with a lower antenna - not on the back of the scanner - just a foot higher and away from the computer.
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