No comms on BCD 536HP in Ontario

[Petrupetru]

I have a BCD 536HP that I use in my truck. Lately I didn't get any comms from Police, Fire or OPP. I even bought the 3 decryption keys from Uniden for $150.
I presume some decoder went bad in the scanner. I found a company that have electronic schematics, but not for this friggin model. Now I just get very basic comms and even those ones are few. Not even full air AM bands. I dont know what to do. I might have to get another one.

 

[Enjoi19]

What areas are you trying to scan? If you are anywhere between Orillia, Windsor, and Bowmanville, the OPP are now encrypted.

The "decryption" keys don't "decrypt" anything. They allow the receiving of NXDN, DMR and ProVoice.

DMR is quite common for some more rural fire departments - particularly in the Simcoe and Muskoka regions.

NXDN is more business oriented for the most part, with some public works.

ProVoice is no longer in use in the province at all.

 

[webstar22]

Last Provoice was Ottawa Police ( I think) and as soon as the scanner upgrades became available for Provice they quickly moved to P25 Encrypted.

 

[Enjoi19]

Last Provoice was Ottawa Police ( I think) and as soon as the scanner upgrades became available for Provice they quickly moved to P25 Encrypted.

I think the Chatham-Kent one was the final one remaining, switching to P25 some time in 2021 if I recall.

 

[EJB]

I have a BCD 536HP that I use in my truck. Lately I didn't get any comms from Police, Fire or OPP. I even bought the 3 decryption keys from Uniden for $150.
I presume some decoder went bad in the scanner. I found a company that have electronic schematics, but not for this friggin model. Now I just get very basic comms and even those ones are few. Not even full air AM bands. I dont know what to do. I might have to get another one.

Where and what are you hearing.?
It's critical to know where you are.

I would doubt there's anything wrong with your scanner. I'm not sure how the 436/536 family does on air band, there's always air band activity.

What antenna are you using?
Do the weather search, you will probably be able to hear a Environment Canada weather report.

 

[VA3JPX]

In addition to the many replies on this thread, I will add the following:

Are you able to monitor any of the FleetNet control channels?

If you are able to and the scanner locks onto the control channel, there could be a couple of things at play here:

1. P25 Threshold Level to high (menu configuration)
2. Squelch too high
3. Equipment generating noise on the band

Even if the sites you are trying to monitor are 100% encrypted, your scanner should still be able to lock onto the control channel.