Parma P-25 System Poor Reception

[FGFLT57]

I have a Uniden SDS200 and am attempting to monitor several Parma/Parma Heights talkgroups on the Parma/Medina/Ottawa County P25 System. My scanning location is about a few miles west of Downtown Cleveland along the Lake. Reception of this system's Parma Simulcast site is quite poor at my scanning location. Rarely do I receive hits, and any hits I do receive are usually garbled beyond understanding. None of the talkgroups I am attempting to monitor are encrypted.

I have attempted moving my scanner around and adjusting filter settings with no improvement. Are there any suggestions on improving my reception of this system, or am I simply too far away from the site or in a poor location? I receive the GCRCN and MARCS-IP systems from the same location clearly.

Thanks!

 

[budevans]

I have a Uniden SDS200 and am attempting to monitor several Parma/Parma Heights talkgroups on the Parma/Medina/Ottawa County P25 System. My scanning location is about a few miles west of Downtown Cleveland along the Lake. Reception of this system's Parma Simulcast site is quite poor at my scanning location. Rarely do I receive hits, and any hits I do receive are usually garbled beyond understanding. None of the talkgroups I am attempting to monitor are encrypted.

I have attempted moving my scanner around and adjusting filter settings with no improvement. Are there any suggestions on improving my reception of this system, or am I simply too far away from the site or in a poor location? I receive the GCRCN and MARCS-IP systems from the same location clearly.

Thanks!

FGFLT57, I'm not surprised that you can't monitor Parma's Harris System from your location.

Parma has two towers. The first is located just south and west of Padua High School on State Road. The other tower is less than two miles south of Padua at the intersection of Pleasant Valley and State Roads.

Parma had a lot of simulcast issues when it first went live. It took the Harris folks over two years resolve the issues. If I'm not mistaken, part of the fix was to lower the power on one or both towers.

 

[gm794]

For some reason the SDS100/200’s just don’t like the Parma system. I own both and neither want to pick up any transmissions, and I live a half mile away from the tower. I use a whistler ws1065 and a ws1040 to monitor Parma, and they work flawlessly. Parma P25 is suppose to be series 2, but they are broadcasting series 1. Hope this helps you out.
Parma Hts Tactical channel is still on there old GCRCN, which will come in crystal clear on the SDS.

 

[W8KIC]

For some reason the SDS100/200’s just don’t like the Parma system. I own both and neither want to pick up any transmissions, and I live a half mile away from the tower. I use a whistler ws1065 and a ws1040 to monitor Parma, and they work flawlessly. Parma P25 is suppose to be series 2, but they are broadcasting series 1. Hope this helps you out.
Parma Hts Tactical channel is still on there old GCRCN, which will come in crystal clear on the SDS.

I'm able to hear the Parma system clearly from my apartment over by the border of Shaker Heights and Cleveland (close to the intersection of Lee Road and Chagrin Blvd.) but that's only because I'm at a higher elevation. I'm kind of surprised that Parma isn't on the GCRCN system but their reason(s) for doing so are not something I'd know anything about. I could speculate all I want but it'd be nothing more than a roll of the dice. Lol!

 

[JDW2150]

Hate to resurrect an old thread, but some info here is maybe useful and likely wouldn't be transferred to a new thread, and someone searching could benefit seeing it. And, well, the new thread would likely have the same "title". lol

Anyone have more input? Thoughts? Shocked I'm even having this issue. lol

I live IN Parma with an SDS200, north of Snow and Broadview. Since I live in a faraday cage (an aluminum sided house), I didn't even hear Parma PD inside. So, trying common sense, I put an old Radio Shack discone 20 ft of RG-8x cabling at ground level outside, and considerably better but still choppy. Actually the cars are decent but dispatch is choppy.

I realize the SDS200 is a bit dead compared to some scanners. But, pondering a Sirio 2000 discone and getting the antenna up maybe 20 ft. Thoughts? Better off with a higher gain antenna? Directional? LMR cabling? Preamp? lol I assume I'll be just grabbing small benefits but I'm close. I can't think of much more lol. But rather not throw everything at it if possible..

I may use that antenna for some other things (weather 162.xxx, so drastically different) BUT, Parma is kinda important so I may just dedicate an 800 band antenna to THAT scanner. :-/

I've heard other scanners work better for "Parma" Anyone have a model?

There is a solid broadcastify feed, but I heard he was in a taller apartment building close to the antennas AND he is not using an SDS200.

 

[DAMAGECONTROL142]

I Live in parma parma south of snow using a Radio shack 800 mhz rubber duck antenna on both bcd396t and 436hp.And Don't really have any recieve issues .

Might be location.

800mhz antenna over stock did make improvement .

 

[W8KIC]

Hate to resurrect an old thread, but some info here is maybe useful and likely wouldn't be transferred to a new thread, and someone searching could benefit seeing it. And, well, the new thread would likely have the same "title". lol

Anyone have more input? Thoughts? Shocked I'm even having this issue. lol

I live IN Parma with an SDS200, north of Snow and Broadview. Since I live in a faraday cage (an aluminum sided house), I didn't even hear Parma PD inside. So, trying common sense, I put an old Radio Shack discone 20 ft of RG-8x cabling at ground level outside, and considerably better but still choppy. Actually the cars are decent but dispatch is choppy.

I realize the SDS200 is a bit dead compared to some scanners. But, pondering a Sirio 2000 discone and getting the antenna up maybe 20 ft. Thoughts? Better off with a higher gain antenna? Directional? LMR cabling? Preamp? lol I assume I'll be just grabbing small benefits but I'm close. I can't think of much more lol. But rather not throw everything at it if possible..

I may use that antenna for some other things (weather 162.xxx, so drastically different) BUT, Parma is kinda important so I may just dedicate an 800 band antenna to THAT scanner. :-/

I've heard other scanners work better for "Parma" Anyone have a model?

There is a solid broadcastify feed, but I heard he was in a taller apartment building close to the antennas AND he is not using an SDS200.

Dumb question but I’ll ask anyway: Are you attempting to monitor the “Parma/Medina County/Ottawa County Trunking System”?

 

[JDW2150]

Dumb question but I’ll ask anyway: Are you attempting to monitor the “Parma/Medina County/Ottawa County Trunking System”?

Yes, I am. I mentioned Parma PD. Seems other cities on that system, have mostly solid comms, Parma is the problem child. And they are not that far away lol.

I see you are getting them in Shaker. Maybe, as mentioned, I may be in a dead zone as I'm in a lower area of Parma.

I'm imagining it's a few issues. Seems the SDS 200 scanners are mentioned as being a bit less sensitive, and I'm using an old discone I had mounted outside at ground level while I experiment, and they have no gain. I was looking at a Sirio SD2000 discone as I've heard great things of it. But may have to lean to a dedicated 800 band antenna with some gain. And get it up higher.

Thank you for responding!

 

[JDW2150]

I Live in parma parma south of snow using a Radio shack 800 mhz rubber duck antenna on both bcd396t and 436hp.And Don't really have any recieve issues .

Might be location.

800mhz antenna over stock did make improvement .

Yeah, seems I'm understanding those radios do better for Parma than the SDS200. Almost pondering one to dedicate it to Parma and just use the SDS200 for general trunk use.

A dedicated 800 band antenna would likely be the thing. And yes, location.... You are a at a bit higher elevation than I am. I'm down the hill at closer to Brookpark Rd at Brookdale. Guessing getting my antenna higher than ground level is a thing. Seems crazy being so close to their towers, lol...

Just sorta wrote the post initially to get feedback. I guess I have mentioned every thing "I" know to do, but hoping someone living here might have some jewel of info I'm missing, before I start throwing money at the issue. Hive mind etc.

Thanks for responding!

 

[Daleb49]

I Live in parma parma south of snow using a Radio shack 800 mhz rubber duck antenna on both bcd396t and 436hp.And Don't really have any recieve issues .

Might be location.

800mhz antenna over stock did make improvement .

Quick question what is your squelch set at?

 

[JDW2150]

Quick question what is your squelch set at?

I have the SDSD200 squelch dial totally counterclockwise. So, 0.

Oddly, the dial registers "0" on the screen, or ProScan, from 7 o'clock to 11 o'clock. Makes me wonder about that a bit.

I'll add... It seems transmissions from dispatch are the worst. Particularly the first several seconds are digital garbled, then it cleans up somewhat. Sometimes quite well. The Radio Cars, are mostly solid transmissions for the most part.

I'm thinking a higher gain 800 antenna up a bit higher are the next steps. Just odd as I'm so close and use an outdoor discone. Oh well. We'll see

Thanks for responding!

 

[JethrowJohnson]

Usually squelch level 2 works the best.

 

[JDW2150]

I will try that. I'd read 1, and tried between 0-3 with not much noticeable difference. Higher of course was worse. But will certainly run that for a bit and see what it does. Thanks for the reply!

 

[wd8chl]

Yes, I am. I mentioned Parma PD. Seems other cities on that system, have mostly solid comms, Parma is the problem child. And they are not that far away lol.

If they are on the same trunked system, you will hear everyone on it the same. It's the same transmitters and the same antennas, same location.
It's always possible for them to have a bad channel, or a bad antenna (which could affect more than one channel), but it would affect everyone the same, not just one dept.

 

[JDW2150]

If they are on the same trunked system, you will hear everyone on it the same. It's the same transmitters and the same antennas, same location.
It's always possible for them to have a bad channel, or a bad antenna (which could affect more than one channel), but it would affect everyone the same, not just one dept.

Thanks for the reply. Well, not sure about that, or something I'm doing is quite wrong. and I certainly am not understanding how these systems actually work.

That particular system encompasses a large area. Some cities are 40 miles away on that " Parma/Medina/Ottawa County P25 System " and they aren't all running off the local Parma antennas. Parma, I'm maybe less than a mile away from their two antennas, and oddly the radio cars come in solid. It's the dispatch that starts out digitally garbled and usually clears up after a long moment into the transmission. Weird. I hear Parma Hts on that system perfectly as well. Not sure where their base antenna are or if they use the Parma antennas.

So, I have the whole Parma/Medina/Ottawa County P25 System on the scanner. Some that are close I hear them perfectly. Others, far away, not at all, Although at times and with good conditions, Wadsworth, Medina police/fire/jail and their Sheriffs in that area come in well. YET, on those days, Parma Dispatch does not haha.

So, it's literally just Parma Dispatch on that system that is wonky. The Broadcastify feed of Parma, is using a different scanner, and it works perfectly fine, although he is maybe a tad close to their antennas and is well up in an apartment building I understand.

I have improved upon this issue with antenna changes. (moving antenna outside of my aluminum sided house, improving the antenna to an outdoor discone ), So, I'm so closer. I'm just amazed I am having an issue with this. I'm a HAM and have been doing Local VHF/UHF and worldwide HF/shortwave Utility Monitoring since the 80s! I posted here in case I was missing something dumb. I'm thinking it's the scanner SDR (SDS200) being insensitive to the needs of the Parma Police lol

Anyway, this is nuts, I almost just bought another scanner that we KNOW works with Parma haha. And, I may still! I'm on a mission. But first. I'm ordering a +5 DBI Omni Base antenna for the 800 band, so hopefully that improves over this old no gain Discone. I'll report back when I can get that together.

Thanks again for your replies and for reading this. Any thoughts are VERY welcome.

 

[DAMAGECONTROL142]

Thanks for the reply. Well, not sure about that, or something I'm doing is quite wrong. and I certainly am not understanding how these systems actually work.

That particular system encompasses a large area. Some cities are 40 miles away on that " Parma/Medina/Ottawa County P25 System " and they aren't all running off the local Parma antennas. Parma, I'm maybe less than a mile away from their two antennas, and oddly the radio cars come in solid. It's the dispatch that starts out digitally garbled and usually clears up after a long moment into the transmission. Weird. I hear Parma Hts on that system perfectly as well. Not sure where their base antenna are or if they use the Parma antennas.

So, I have the whole Parma/Medina/Ottawa County P25 System on the scanner. Some that are close I hear them perfectly. Others, far away, not at all, Although at times and with good conditions, Wadsworth, Medina police/fire/jail and their Sheriffs in that area come in well. YET, on those days, Parma Dispatch does not haha.

So, it's literally just Parma Dispatch on that system that is wonky. The Broadcastify feed of Parma, is using a different scanner, and it works perfectly fine, although he is maybe a tad close to their antennas and is well up in an apartment building I understand.

I have improved upon this issue with antenna changes. (moving antenna outside of my aluminum sided house, improving the antenna to an outdoor discone ), So, I'm so closer. I'm just amazed I am having an issue with this. I'm a HAM and have been doing Local VHF/UHF and worldwide HF/shortwave Utility Monitoring since the 80s! I posted here in case I was missing something dumb. I'm thinking it's the scanner SDR (SDS200) being insensitive to the needs of the Parma Police lol

Anyway, this is nuts, I almost just bought another scanner that we KNOW works with Parma haha. And, I may still! I'm on a mission. But first. I'm ordering a +5 DBI Omni Base antenna for the 800 band, so hopefully that improves over this old no gain Discone. I'll report back when I can get that together.

Thanks again for your replies and for reading this. Any thoughts are VERY welcome.

That is odd that you hear parma hts fine but not parma because parma dispatches for parma Hts its the same radios and antenna towers

 

[JDW2150]

That is odd that you hear parma hts fine but not parma because parma dispatches for parma Hts its the same radios and antenna towers

THAT is insane. The Parma hts dispatch is generally fine and cars are always fine.

Parma dispatch is always digitally garbled the first bit and sometimes their whole broadcast. Cars are always fine.

That certainly throws this a for a turn.

 

[wd8chl]

Thanks for the reply. Well, not sure about that, or something I'm doing is quite wrong. and I certainly am not understanding how these systems actually work.

That particular system encompasses a large area. Some cities are 40 miles away on that " Parma/Medina/Ottawa County P25 System " and they aren't all running off the local Parma antennas. Parma, I'm maybe less than a mile away from their two antennas, and oddly the radio cars come in solid. It's the dispatch that starts out digitally garbled and usually clears up after a long moment into the transmission. Weird. I hear Parma Hts on that system perfectly as well. Not sure where their base antenna are or if they use the Parma antennas.

So, I have the whole Parma/Medina/Ottawa County P25 System on the scanner. Some that are close I hear them perfectly. Others, far away, not at all, Although at times and with good conditions, Wadsworth, Medina police/fire/jail and their Sheriffs in that area come in well. YET, on those days, Parma Dispatch does not haha.

So, it's literally just Parma Dispatch on that system that is wonky. The Broadcastify feed of Parma, is using a different scanner, and it works perfectly fine, although he is maybe a tad close to their antennas and is well up in an apartment building I understand.

I have improved upon this issue with antenna changes. (moving antenna outside of my aluminum sided house, improving the antenna to an outdoor discone ), So, I'm so closer. I'm just amazed I am having an issue with this. I'm a HAM and have been doing Local VHF/UHF and worldwide HF/shortwave Utility Monitoring since the 80s! I posted here in case I was missing something dumb. I'm thinking it's the scanner SDR (SDS200) being insensitive to the needs of the Parma Police lol

Anyway, this is nuts, I almost just bought another scanner that we KNOW works with Parma haha. And, I may still! I'm on a mission. But first. I'm ordering a +5 DBI Omni Base antenna for the 800 band, so hopefully that improves over this old no gain Discone. I'll report back when I can get that together.

Thanks again for your replies and for reading this. Any thoughts are VERY welcome.

Hmmm, well, they could be having problems with dispatch, maybe bad headsets or something.

 

[JDW2150]

Hmmm, well, they could be having problems with dispatch, maybe bad headsets or something.

I actually pondered that as well, but reasoned it seems like the cars understand the dispatch.

I'm thinking if I see an officer out and about I will ask if they are having issues. , lol

 

[maus92]

It does sound like it could be a console / audio gain (overdriving) issue at the Parma dispatch center. Do all dispatchers have same problem? If not, could be a bad headset. If all are bad, something is going on with their audio levels / distribution / routing. I know of a Harris system near me that has bad dispatch-side audio but field units sound fine. Sometimes I think that they're purposely overdriving the dispatch audio to make up for low volume issues with speaker mics, lol.

What are the levels for RSSI, D-ERROR and Noise? - you can set the SDS to display these values.