Newbie in Madison County, KY

[ky4mc]

Hello everyone:
After about 15 years I am contemplating getting a scanner again. I have a Ham license, but I am not a talker, just like to listens to what's out there. Lately I have played with SDR's on hf (I am using the IQ output of an Alinco DX-r8t).
I have a wide band discone that I can mount on the roof and I am thinking of getting a base scanner to monitor Madison Co KY and neighboring ones. From what I read on the database, I'd need a digital scanner (The county uses Project 25 Phase 1 trunking system).

Am I wrong on this? Please let me know. There are in-the-open channels but not many.

I can see me learning how to program a trunking scanner but, as many of you, I have more interests than time, so to get enjoyment quickly, would I get served better by a Home Patrol 1 ?

Any, less expensive, suggestions (Yes, used is a possibility).

Thank a lot!
Marco KY4MC

 

[unitcharlie]

Welcome back to scanning.... you are correct, you'll need a digital scanner to hear Madison's TRS and possibly Lexington's new TRS, if they ever get it going.... Go to Scanner Master (they are friends of rr.com) and you' find what you'd need.... I'd also recommend buying the scanner software for which ever scanner you purchase, that will make it easier to program your new radio and to trade files with others willing to share/help.... The pre-programmed radios are easy to use but can become frustrating if you want to change things, add things, etc... they are wonderful if you know what you want to monitor and can program it using the resources at radioreference.com..... The Madsion TRS can be a little tricky to track sometimes but it is possible with the proper settings...

 

[ky4mc]

Newby in Madison Co, KY

Welcome back to scanning.... you are correct, you'll need a digital scanner to hear Madison's TRS and possibly Lexington's new TRS, if they ever get it going.... snip.... The pre-programmed radios are easy to use but can become frustrating if you want to change things, add things, etc... they are wonderful if you know what you want to monitor and can program it using the resources at radioreference.com..... snip...

Hello Unitcharlie:
Thank for your response!
I must have read something like 500 threads. I checked the threads and features of the GRE psr-600 and the Uniden 996xt and others. I don't quite (yet) follow the language of scanning these days, so perhaps is better, for the moment, that I go for something easier. I found a good price on a GRE PSR-800 and decided to take the plunge. I seem to understand that, with the provided software, one can have a certain measure of control over this scanner. Not quite at the level of the others, but perhaps better that the Home Patrol. I downloaded the EZ-scan from the GRE siteseftware and it does not look daunting. I am hoping it will be fun.
Thanks again!
Marco

 

[Chad1985]

Lost in Madison Co

Do you guys still monitor this page? If so reply back, I need some serious help with my new 996XT. Thanks!

 

[unitcharlie]

Not familiar with the 996XT but might be able to help....

 

[Chad1985]

Awesome, any help is greatly appricated. Okay, heres what I know and what happens when i try and scan. I used the FreeScan program and imported MadisonCountyPublicSafety which included both the North and South sites. I then send that information to my stock Uniden BCD996XT. I scan the band, and I get nothing. Not even a peep, on any channel or control channel. Ive doule check all the information on base freqs, and suck and listened in on all the controll channel freqs. My opinion? The antenna. I can sometimes see the scanner jump to Mad SO 1 or the Jail and stay there a minute and then jump back to scanning, doesnt break SQ just jumps and then jumps back. When i send my information to my scanner it comes up with 1 error and it says the APCO Band Plan is blank. Im lost in the sauce.

 

[ofd8001]

This might be a little cumbersome to do, but can be an effective diagnostic tool for trunked radio systems.

Try creating a new conventional system using your Freescan. Enter all of the frequencies you see listed in the RR database for Madison County - there are about 20. Then start scanning these. Your scanner may lock on one or two channels that have funny sound to them - these are the control channels. Hit your lock-out button to lock these control channels out. Then continue scanning to see if you receive any voice transmissions.

If you hear voice transmission, that tells you that you are within range of the system and your scanner is indeed capable of receiving the system. In that case, the problem is that one or more settings for the trunked programming is incorrect. Most often it is one or two little settings that can be the culprit. Once you've dealt with them, you are in business.

 

[Chad1985]

Progress

I've made progress today. I now have these symptoms. I can pick up known trunked signals and I hear voice briefly, then cuts off. Then you can see the scanner pick back up on the said channel and there is no voice. This was sitting in the middle of Richmond. Once I come home in BigHill I can't pick anything up. I upgraded to the radioshack 40' antenna. I also hooked to a 50ft solar com base antenna and didn't notice a difference. I like this scanner and I want this to work, but beginning to think not possible at my residents.

 

[ofd8001]

Is this a simulcast system by chance? If so, you might be having the simulcast distortion issue discussed in many places in the discussion forums.

There are two problems with simulcast distortion - your scanner is receiving traffic from multiple towers and it is having trouble decoding the audio. This will manifest itself in the form of garbled audio or no audio at all.

If you look at your scanner while it is attempting to receive this system, do you see several bars of signal strength? If so, you are receiving the system, but not properly decoding the audio.

A couple of things to try. Do not use your outside antennas and try the factory antenna. This is the opposite of what makes sense - but the problem is that your scanning is receiving too good - multiple sites. You want to do what you can so that your scanner is not being bombarded with multiple sites.

Set the attenuator for each site to "On". This further dampens the incoming signal.

Then tinker with the P25 Adjust Levels and P25 Adjust mode. Go to the site listed below for the easier to read manual to see how to access these "hidden" settings in the menu.

Easier to Read BCD996XT Digital Scanner Manual

Unfortunately this is a "trial and error" thing. What works good for one scanner on one system in one area may not work for others. For the Louisville simulcast system I found a P25 Adjust Mode of 13 and P25 Adjust Level of 175 to be the best combination for me. (Again, yours probably will be different.)