Onondaga County assistance

[daveo89]

Hey guys! I'm giving you an update on my issue receiving the Onondaga County and Syracuse City Police on my HomePatrol II. I took up scan1806's offer to help since he was in town. So I went to see him on Tuesday and what a wonderful gentlemen he is, we got along great! So he was able to download his favorites list which contained what I needed from his Sentinel into my scanner, and my HomePatrol was working!!! I got the departments that I needed and a few others! So I took the unit home, started it right up, and nothing!! Well except for receiving the NY Troop T Police on analog. He called later that night to see how I was doing, and he was just as perplexed as I was, wondering why I wasn't receiving anything. So then, after some quite deducting in my mind, I came up with a theory that I ran out of digital radio coverage. I told him about it, and will get back to him. So I took off in my car, heading towards the nearest radio site to me, with my scanner running, and about 2 to 3 miles down the road, it started receiving audio! So as long as I was within range of that tower, my scanner would be working. When I got home, yep nothing. It is was we call in amateur radio and digital broadcast TV as the "cliff effect". With digital, you'll receive the signals up to point, then BOOM! Nothing! You felled off the cliff! So I called scan1806 back, told him that was it. We were both disappointed over the whole thing, but now we know what the issue is. Simply ran out of digital coverage. I do have a 2 meter ground plane antenna for my amateur radio hobby on the roof, so I could hook up to that and see what happens, or else I think there's an antenna that is much more sensitive than my stock antenna for the HPII that I could buy and use. That's it folks! I'm going to still work on this and see what I could do.

I ran in to the very same issue with my Whistler TRX-1. Although I'm in Rochester, I worked with a tech from Whistler and after a couple of weeks, found out that if I was in my apartment, I'd get little or nothing on the radio. I then did a rode trip around my area to some local parks and was able to receive the P-25 Phase 2 stations. It is a bit disappointing that I can't receive the transmissions in my apartment, but at least I know I can get them if I'm on the road. Good luck.

 

[DaveNF2G]

I've tried SDRTrunk and find it to be far inferior to DSDPlus.

 

[seagravebuff60]

I've tried SDRTrunk and find it to be far inferior to DSDPlus.

In what way? Why do you think it is inferior to DSD+?

I use DSD+, SDR Trunk, and UT daily, and each serves a purpose. Each has positives and negatives for me. To each his own. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. But I'm getting tired of others disputing what software is better than the other without any claims or evidence.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

I quite favor SDRTrunk's UI over DSDPlus. The playlist/alias interface to me is cleaner & more user friendly. Much easier to pick & choose as many systems as your dongle(s) can monitor versus being stuck with one system at a time with DSDPlus. But on the flip side, DSDPlus decodes modes SDRTrunk doesn't: (NXDN, D-Star, Fusion) and it can be used with other SDR apps so yes, they have their advantages and disadvantages and I use both for similar & different purposes

 

[jmp367]

Hey guys! I'm giving you an update on my issue receiving the Onondaga County and Syracuse City Police on my HomePatrol II. I took up scan1806's offer to help since he was in town. So I went to see him on Tuesday and what a wonderful gentlemen he is, we got along great! So he was able to download his favorites list which contained what I needed from his Sentinel into my scanner, and my HomePatrol was working!!! I got the departments that I needed and a few others! So I took the unit home, started it right up, and nothing!! Well except for receiving the NY Troop T Police on analog. He called later that night to see how I was doing, and he was just as perplexed as I was, wondering why I wasn't receiving anything. So then, after some quite deducting in my mind, I came up with a theory that I ran out of digital radio coverage. I told him about it, and will get back to him. So I took off in my car, heading towards the nearest radio site to me, with my scanner running, and about 2 to 3 miles down the road, it started receiving audio! So as long as I was within range of that tower, my scanner would be working. When I got home, yep nothing. It is was we call in amateur radio and digital broadcast TV as the "cliff effect". With digital, you'll receive the signals up to point, then BOOM! Nothing! You felled off the cliff! So I called scan1806 back, told him that was it. We were both disappointed over the whole thing, but now we know what the issue is. Simply ran out of digital coverage. I do have a 2 meter ground plane antenna for my amateur radio hobby on the roof, so I could hook up to that and see what happens, or else I think there's an antenna that is much more sensitive than my stock antenna for the HPII that I could buy and use. That's it folks! I'm going to still work on this and see what I could do.

Dave,

I am local to you, and also a ham. If you consider going the SDR route, which can be done with two SDR dongles for as little as about $75 and free PC software, I'd be happy to help you install and set it up.

 

[tvengr]

Thank you! Will give it a go!

The issue is signal quality, not strength. The scanner can not handle the out of phase signals from multiple towers inherent in a simulcast system.

If my file didn't work, I agree that you have simulcast distortion issues at your location. This is especially true since the other gentleman's file worked when the scanner was programmed but ceased to function when you took it home.

 

[scan1806]

Hey guys! I'm giving you an update on my issue receiving the Onondaga County and Syracuse City Police on my HomePatrol II. I took up scan1806's offer to help since he was in town. So I went to see him on Tuesday and what a wonderful gentlemen he is, we got along great! So he was able to download his favorites list which contained what I needed from his Sentinel into my scanner, and my HomePatrol was working!!! I got the departments that I needed and a few others! So I took the unit home, started it right up, and nothing!! Well except for receiving the NY Troop T Police on analog. He called later that night to see how I was doing, and he was just as perplexed as I was, wondering why I wasn't receiving anything. So then, after some quite deducting in my mind, I came up with a theory that I ran out of digital radio coverage. I told him about it, and will get back to him. So I took off in my car, heading towards the nearest radio site to me, with my scanner running, and about 2 to 3 miles down the road, it started receiving audio! So as long as I was within range of that tower, my scanner would be working. When I got home, yep nothing. It is was we call in amateur radio and digital broadcast TV as the "cliff effect". With digital, you'll receive the signals up to point, then BOOM! Nothing! You felled off the cliff! So I called scan1806 back, told him that was it. We were both disappointed over the whole thing, but now we know what the issue is. Simply ran out of digital coverage. I do have a 2 meter ground plane antenna for my amateur radio hobby on the roof, so I could hook up to that and see what happens, or else I think there's an antenna that is much more sensitive than my stock antenna for the HPII that I could buy and use. That's it folks! I'm going to still work on this and see what I could do.

Are you interested in selling it so you can get something that works?

 

[N2RGU]

Dave,

I am local to you, and also a ham. If you consider going the SDR route, which can be done with two SDR dongles for as little as about $75 and free PC software, I'd be happy to help you install and set it up.

Sounds great! I'll like to visit your shack and see it in action, if you don't mind sometime. Send an email.