Greetings fellow scanner fans. I was wondering if anyone in the Chattanooga TN area was still using the RS Pro-106 scanner. I still receive different things, but seems that a lot of the conversations are BROKEN in speech. Seem to get a good control channel ID and percentage of the "cc" channel. Anyone else having this issue? Don't know that I could afford a NEWER scanner or not. Thanks.
Charles - WJ4HCP
You probably would get a more responsive answer if you have this thread moved to your state forum. . To do that, do
not create a new thread. Instead, click on the Report in the lower left corner of one of your posts, and request that a moderator move your thread to the state forum. Someone in the area would be more likely to see it there.
Looking at the
TACN system, I see that the Chattanooga site is Simulcast. If you were very close (a quarter mile or less) to one of the transmit towers, the strong signal might override signals from the other transmitters. But if not that close, the signals from each of the towers arrive at your scanner with enough variation in the time they are received that the scanner cannot correctly decode the signals being received. Other than upgrading to one of the SDS Uniden scanners, a Unication pager, or the Blue Tail P25 receiver, your options are limited. With simulcast distortion, it is extremely location location driven.At times, you may find that moving the scanner a few feet in one direction or another can help immensely. That could be because something, like metal siding on the house, foil backed insulation in the walls, or something else in your area, may partially block the conflicting transmissions reaching your scanner. You may also try using a directional antenna, such as a yagi, aimed at one single tower, which would increase the signal strength from that one, while reducing signals from the other locations. Or, you may find that using attenuation on the system, or 'less' antenna (such as an antenna with lower, or no, gain, or even a paperclip) might work. Your other option would be to use one or more of the SDR dongles on your PC & monitor the system that way. But, of course, that is not a portable solution.
For more on simulcast, see this Wiki article:
Simulcast digital distortion - The RadioReference Wiki
Here's a map of the tower locations for the Chattanooga site:
