OKWIN Reception Problem

[fmulder13]

Hello All,

I've been having a great deal of trouble hearing OKWIN in my car travelling around Oklahoma City. In certain areas, especially around I-240 and the Warr Acres area, I get all sorts of static. Is this simply simulcast interference? Is there a way around this? I use a phantom elite 800 mhz antenna to receive. Thanks!

 

[n5bew1]

Hello All,

I've been having a great deal of trouble hearing OKWIN in my car travelling around Oklahoma City. In certain areas, especially around I-240 and the Warr Acres area, I get all sorts of static. Is this simply simulcast interference? Is there a way around this? I use a phantom elite 800 mhz antenna to receive. Thanks!

I looked up the "Phantom Elite" 800 antenna and at 2.72" tall I find 3DB gain a little bit of a stretch. You may not have enough of a gain antenna or high powered Nextel/Sprint sites could be overloading your scanner. I used a BC-780XLT mobile for a long time and and I could locate the Sprint/Nextel sites just by the interference to the OKWIN stuff. I actually had a 0 to 10 DB rotary attenuator so I could add in 10 DB's of attenuation from the antenna. I tooled all around Norman with the 10 db's in line most days. I use a colinear type 800 Mhz antenna. it is about 12 " tall with 4 or so turns of an open coil in the middle that is supposed to be about 3.5 DBD gain. I-240 could have weak spots also. I haven't been in Warr Acres in yrs to comment about them.

 

[ecollins11]

What radio are you using in your car mobile or a hand held ? , On a Psr 600 you can go to scanlist where you have OKWIN press TSYS and press program then edit then curr and scroll down to Multi-Site then press right arrow to Roam then press f-1 save That might help you could have had the mutli-site turned off and getting one control channel.

 

[fmulder13]

ecollins11-Good thought, but I'm not sure that will do me any good. On the talkgroups I listen to in the OKC area, I only have the OKC system programmed, so I'm only receiving one talkgroup at a time intentionally. As far as I can tell, the talkgroups that I wish to hear are all either on the OKC site or the Norman site.

n5bew1-The Sprint/Nextel thing is very intriguing, and sounds very possible. One of the worst intersections for me is NW 50th/May, and, while waiting at that red light I can see clearly what appears to be a cell tower. Furthermore, what I hear is not just static, but it's often a higher pitched whine with an occasional undulating sound as well. Now that I think about it, that sound strikes me as something that a Nextel/Sprint control channel might produce. If that's the case, what would you recommend doing? Is there a band pass filter that would cut out sprint and nextel frequencies? Or perhaps an in-line variable attenuator?

I take it that my problem is NOT simulcast interference? The last place I lived there was a statewide system that produced a great deal of simulcast interference. It was digital, and the simulcast interference was murder, so that's sort of fresh on my brain. Has anyone else in the area had this sort of trouble?

Thanks!

 

[n5bew1]

ecollins11-Good thought, but I'm not sure that will do me any good. On the talkgroups I listen to in the OKC area, I only have the OKC system programmed, so I'm only receiving one talkgroup at a time intentionally. As far as I can tell, the talkgroups that I wish to hear are all either on the OKC site or the Norman site.

n5bew1-The Sprint/Nextel thing is very intriguing, and sounds very possible. One of the worst intersections for me is NW 50th/May, and, while waiting at that red light I can see clearly what appears to be a cell tower. Furthermore, what I hear is not just static, but it's often a higher pitched whine with an occasional undulating sound as well. Now that I think about it, that sound strikes me as something that a Nextel/Sprint control channel might produce. If that's the case, what would you recommend doing? Is there a band pass filter that would cut out sprint and nextel frequencies? Or perhaps an in-line variable attenuator?

I take it that my problem is NOT simulcast interference? The last place I lived there was a statewide system that produced a great deal of simulcast interference. It was digital, and the simulcast interference was murder, so that's sort of fresh on my brain. Has anyone else in the area had this sort of trouble?

Thanks!

When I drove into a 5 to 9 block area around my known Nextel sites I would hear a grinding buzzing sound on top of the transmissions from the Norman site I listen to. I use a step attenuator I bought somewhere maybe ebay. Mine has BNC connectors on it and a knob with 0 to 10 on it.so If I want 6 DB's I just dial it to 6 etc. Telonics and Weinschel make some search on ebay to get an idea what they look like. I prefer this method over programming a straight 20 DB atteunuator in the scanner. In Norman at Robinson and I-35 there is a strong Nextel/Sprint and now Cox cell phone tower.

 

[ecollins11]

ecollins11-Good thought, but I'm not sure that will do me any good. On the talkgroups I listen to in the OKC area, I only have the OKC system programmed, so I'm only receiving one talkgroup at a time intentionally. As far as I can tell, the talkgroups that I wish to hear are all either on the OKC site or the Norman site.

I have the Ada, Lexington, Tecumesh, Ardmore, Arbuckle, Norman, Shawnee, Okc and several other sites. I have the Mutlisite set to Stat check al CC's and all the talkgroups programmed in on scan list 1 and 2 1 for OHP/PD and 2 for EMS/Fire and emergency management and it works great and when the band opens up I can pick up everything from Vinita to Lawton .

 

[mam1081]

While a talkgroup is active, try hitting "ATT" on your scanner. That seems to quiet some of the noise on mine. I have the same issues. Reno to NW 10th on Council is really bad also....

 

[fmulder13]

So, just to clarify, what we're all dealing with is some sort of Sprint/Netel interference, and not OKWIN simulcast interference? I'm very curious to learn my way around scanning this system. Shouldn't rebanding have fixed that problem, though?

To update on my investigation, I dusted off the old Uniden BCT8 (my first ever scanner!) and took it for a spin around my usual commute in the OKC area. It performed better than my PSR-600. It didn't ever give me the high-pitched sawing sound (which drives me up a wall-it's like nails on a chalkboard) but did give me plenty of static, and even cut out when the interference apparently got to be too much. My next step is to look into an in-line attenuator on ScannerMaster, similar to what n5bew1 was describing, and try it with both the BCT8 and the PSR-600.

Now I assume the nice, expensive radios that subscribers have in their cars are not susceptible to this. Perhaps picking up a Motorola Spectra 800 mhz might solve the problem?

 

[n5bew1]

I've gone with a Uniden 796D scanner in my van now. It doesn't have near the problems my 780XLT had. Strong signals still affect it some but the buzzing sound from Nextel towers is almost gone. I do know when I am close to high level rf areas because it desenses my reception and it gets static almost like I am a long ways away from the tower. When I switch in 10 DB of attenuation the signal clears up just fine.
That is what I meant about too much signal for my scanner. Good luck with you problem.