Problem receiving on Uniden BCD436HP in Austin area.

[mbelvin]

Having a problem receiving any transmissions in the Austin area (GATRRS)
Up until a week or so ago I had no problem monitoring Austin PD, Austin FD, Austin Travis Co EMS and Travis County Sheriff, now I am getting almost no transmissions.
I do occasionally receive the AFD county dispatch channel but none of the others.
Wondering if there is a problem with the system or if I have done something wrong in the set up when I updated my favorites list.

I am attaching a couple of the .hpe files, any help would be appreciated.

 

[rattlerbb01]

Having a problem receiving any transmissions in the Austin area (GATRRS)
Up until a week or so ago I had no problem monitoring Austin PD, Austin FD, Austin Travis Co EMS and Travis County Sheriff, now I am getting almost no transmissions.
I do occasionally receive the AFD county dispatch channel but none of the others.
Wondering if there is a problem with the system or if I have done something wrong in the set up when I updated my favorites list.

I am attaching a couple of the .hpe files, any help would be appreciated.

Depending on where you are in the city in relation to the several transmitter sites, you are more than likely a victim of simulcast distortion. It is brutal on the BCD436HP. If you haven't changed anything, like where the scanner sits or the antenna used, it is possible that they tuned one or more of the subsites recently causing multipath reception issues with your scanner. Try moving it to a different area or using a different antenna, it can be done, but if you are right in the middle of several subsites, it may be impossible to fix without getting a directional antenna and fixing it on your nearest subsite.

 

[mbelvin]

That is what I was afraid of, I sit about 2 miles or less from the Davis site in south Austin but have also noticed the problem in my office in far north Austin. Guess it might be time to upgrade the scanner, if the SDS 100 is any better.
Or is there a better option for a handheld?

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Try picking up a Comet Miracle Baby. I've had some success on receiving some of the less congested simulcast systems in my area with my 436hp. But yes my SDS100 is much much better

 

[mbelvin]

Well, an update:
Completely reset the scanner and started over, reduced the number of towers it was monitoring to just the ones in Travis and surrounding counties and then saw that the squelch was at something like 15 or 16, so reset it to 2.
Now the scanner is picking up more than it did when it was new 4 or 5 years ago. Beats me.
Just for fun, and to see if it makes a difference, I ordered the Remtronix 842 and Comet Miracle Baby antennas.
Still going to be picking up the SDS100 in the near future though.
Thanks for the suggestions and advise.

 

[W5ATX]

@mbelvin sent you a PM, also don't forget to toggle on/off the attenuator to see if that can get rid of some of the other sites from interfering since you're so close to that davis tower. that used to be an IR or intellirepeater site, but now it's a full simulcast site.

the database is still a bit of a mess, but basically as of today both sim1 and sim2 voice channels are basically combined and the control channel has only changed a few times in the past several years. once at the beginning of this year when they combined the 2 layers and used site7 control channel, and again during the first week of ACL when they found interference on the input of 852.850.

I've been scanning since the 80's in austin and used to help identify frequencies in the area and worked with a well known friend that had the best analog frequency database in austin (those were the days). I miss the old 4th floor repeater room when you could hear all of the switches and relays from all the voter sites, transmitters, zetron machines toning out for AFD on 453.900 and EMS on 462.975. If you can't get the 436 dialed in you may need an SDS. I had 6 of them at one time and i'm also in the area, I can bring one over along with a box of 100 antennas you can try on your 436

 

[mbelvin]

@mbelvin sent you a PM, also don't forget to toggle on/off the attenuator to see if that can get rid of some of the other sites from interfering since you're so close to that davis tower. that used to be an IR or intellirepeater site, but now it's a full simulcast site.

the database is still a bit of a mess, but basically as of today both sim1 and sim2 voice channels are basically combined and the control channel has only changed a few times in the past several years. once at the beginning of this year when they combined the 2 layers and used site7 control channel, and again during the first week of ACL when they found interference on the input of 852.850.

I've been scanning since the 80's in austin and used to help identify frequencies in the area and worked with a well known friend that had the best analog frequency database in austin (those were the days). I miss the old 4th floor repeater room when you could hear all of the switches and relays from all the voter sites, transmitters, zetron machines toning out for AFD on 453.900 and EMS on 462.975. If you can't get the 436 dialed in you may need an SDS. I had 6 of them at one time and i'm also in the area, I can bring one over along with a box of 100 antennas you can try on your 436

I will give your suggestion a try, thanks for the help

 

[Ensnared]

Odd that. I was monitoring Austin GATRRS with my SDS 100 and 536HP from Bastrop County. Both radios were hitting on the associated talk groups without any problems.

 

[jmayson]

GATRRS became unmonitorable on my PSR-800. What does work is a $25 SDR dongle. I'm considering buying a Unication G5 Pager (basically a scanner). A friend of mine in Plano has one and loves it.

 

[mass-man]

GATRRS became unmonitorable on my PSR-800. What does work is a $25 SDR dongle. I'm considering buying a Unication G5 Pager (basically a scanner). A friend of mine in Plano has one and loves it.

Wow...I didn't realize how much of GATRRS is on VHF. I was gonna offer you a G4 7/800mhz that a buddy of mine dropped off saying it is too complicated! I haven't downloaded PPS yet to take a look...

 

[jmayson]

Wow...I didn't realize how much of GATRRS is on VHF. I was gonna offer you a G4 7/800mhz that a buddy of mine dropped off saying it is too complicated! I haven't downloaded PPS yet to take a look...

That is why I'm considering the G5, to have VHF for the rural counties. I'm not 100% certain I want to spend the $$$ either. ;-)

 

[tvengr]

saw that the squelch was at something like 15 or 16, so reset it to 2.

The squelch setting was a big part of the problem.

 

[mass-man]

That is why I'm considering the G5, to have VHF for the rural counties. I'm not 100% certain I want to spend the $$$ either. ;-)

Gotcha...if simulcast is the majority of your listening, the G series work really well. Helped a friend set one up for parts of TXWARN and from his house in the NE part of Harris Co it worked great. I don't need one where I live currently or would talk my friend out of this one. But the $$$ is pretty much the same for a G and a SDS100! Thankfully there are G brains on RR that can help me thru programming...

 

[garys]

Simul 1 is the primary site now?

@mbelvin sent you a PM, also don't forget to toggle on/off the attenuator to see if that can get rid of some of the other sites from interfering since you're so close to that davis tower. that used to be an IR or intellirepeater site, but now it's a full simulcast site.

the database is still a bit of a mess, but basically as of today both sim1 and sim2 voice channels are basically combined and the control channel has only changed a few times in the past several years. once at the beginning of this year when they combined the 2 layers and used site7 control channel, and again during the first week of ACL when they found interference on the input of 852.850.

 

[Wes]

Simul 1 is the primary site now?

Simul 7 is

 

[garys]

Thanks.

Simul 7 is

 

[johnthequack]

@mbelvin sent you a PM, also don't forget to toggle on/off the attenuator to see if that can get rid of some of the other sites from interfering since you're so close to that davis tower. that used to be an IR or intellirepeater site, but now it's a full simulcast site.

the database is still a bit of a mess, but basically as of today both sim1 and sim2 voice channels are basically combined and the control channel has only changed a few times in the past several years. once at the beginning of this year when they combined the 2 layers and used site7 control channel, and again during the first week of ACL when they found interference on the input of 852.850.

I've been scanning since the 80's in austin and used to help identify frequencies in the area and worked with a well known friend that had the best analog frequency database in austin (those were the days). I miss the old 4th floor repeater room when you could hear all of the switches and relays from all the voter sites, transmitters, zetron machines toning out for AFD on 453.900 and EMS on 462.975. If you can't get the 436 dialed in you may need an SDS. I had 6 of them at one time and i'm also in the area, I can bring one over along with a box of 100 antennas you can try on your 436

Well, an update:
Completely reset the scanner and started over, reduced the number of towers it was monitoring to just the ones in Travis and surrounding counties and then saw that the squelch was at something like 15 or 16, so reset it to 2.
Now the scanner is picking up more than it did when it was new 4 or 5 years ago. Beats me.
Just for fun, and to see if it makes a difference, I ordered the Remtronix 842 and Comet Miracle Baby antennas.
Still going to be picking up the SDS100 in the near future though.
Thanks for the suggestions and advise.

hello! I’m new to radios and police scanning.. I got a bcd436 in the mail recently and I’ve been trying to figure it out. I live in Austin too. From what I’ve read it’s that the simulcast is messing with the radio. There are sooooo many channels and I can see frequencies coming in but I can’t most of what comes out of the GATRRS. Please help me set this up if you can. Thanks.

 

[hiegtx]

hello! I’m new to radios and police scanning.. I got a bcd436 in the mail recently and I’ve been trying to figure it out. I live in Austin too. From what I’ve read it’s that the simulcast is messing with the radio. There are sooooo many channels and I can see frequencies coming in but I can’t most of what comes out of the GATRRS. Please help me set this up if you can. Thanks.

The main site you want, Simulcast 7 on GATRRS,

Simulcast sites are a problem for just about all scanners other than Uniden's SDS100 & SDS200.

See this Wiki page for more information on Simulcast issues.
Simulcast digital distortion - The RadioReference Wiki

Also on that page are suggestions for a few things you can try to help receive the system, but simulcast problems are extremely location specific, Sometimes, moving the scanner a few feet in one direction or another can help, "Less" antenna, rather than 'more' (like an antenna with gain) might also help, including using a paper clip antenna. A directional antenna, such as a yagi, aimed at a single tower might work in some cases. However, these 'work-arounds. might be useful when trying to monitor from a fixed location, such as your home, none of them are effective when trying to listen while out and about in your area, such as in your vehicle.