Porter County

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bullet126

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Dec 13, 2010
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Question for you radio experts. I'm a police officer in the county and have had had lots of radio issues as of late. Dispatch can hear me but I have tons of dead areas where I totally miss radio traffic or its all static. They have since put a new antenna on my car and have swapped out my radio yet I am still having these issues. Other officers are also similar reception and transmitting issues. Anyone have any idea what the deal may be for those of you that scan/listen in Porter County. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. P.S. for the antenna issue I have gone from the low profile (shark fin) to a regular metal 6-8 inch antenna on the roof. Thanks.
 

vocoder

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Mar 2, 2017
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Indiana
Many mdt's, laptops and other electronic devices cause a large amount of radio noise. Dash cam systems and recorders also cause the same. There are many technical reasons why this happens. The noise floor or sporadic radio transmission noise from other transmitters in porter, laporte, and lake counties is outrageous to say the least. We aways powered off electronic devices and then tested radios. To our surprise, the radios were then way better, with other electronic devices turned off.

Just like laporte county now, Hoosier SAFE-T is the way to go ASAP. Which is digital. It tends to be easier on the ears and does not get affected by the radio noise as much. It uses higher frequencies, like cell phones do.
 

retired25

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Jan 22, 2014
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Bullet126, I am curious when they switched out your roof antenna did they replace the connector on the roof along with the cable down to the radio? The reason I ask is because when you take the car through the car wash it puts a lot of strain on the roof antenna mount especially the shark fin types. The coax connects to the mount and that can become brittle and corrode causing transmit and reception problems.

What type of squad are you driving. The ford interceptors had problems with the Bluetooth for sync interfering with some 2 way radios. Not sure if you have that option or not.

I thought the county radio system is VHF. I have never found a shark fin or low profile antenna that works well in that band. The correct antenna height for a VHF antenna is 18"-19" tall.

They may be switching your radio system around preparing for the change to the statewide P25 digital radio system. I thought I heard that some agencies in Porter County have started using it. That will be another learning curve.

I will be in the area tomorrow.
 
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Do you and the other units have problems in the same areas constantly or is it not location related?
Time of day or intermittent?

Usually downlink (base or repeater to car or portable) is much more reliable than uplink.
Have your radio techs been able to duplicate the problem using one of their radios or a service monitor in their vehicle to isolate the problem to your install?

Have the techs tried a mag mount antenna to isolate your coax install?
 
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