Problem with Rockford Police

[rkwalker86]

Has anyone else been having problems picking up Rockford Police traffic? Recently I noticed I wasn't hearing near the traffic on my RS Pro 106 as I was used to hearing. Not only am I not hearing the amount of traffic I should be hearing, but the little bit that gets through is garbled (not encrypted), cuts in and out, and is completely unintelligible. I had made absolutely no changes to the scanner prior to this happening. I have no problem with the Illinois State Police P25 system, I hear them just fine. Since the problem started, I've tried everything I can think of to try and fix the problem: change antennas, attenuator off / on, delete Rockford Police settings, download new settings, re-load previously saved settings, multi-site mode off/roam/stat, but nothing seems to help. So, again, I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar problem / solution. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[rhalld38]

I'm listening to RPD right now and they sound ok to me. Have you tried moving your scanner to different part of the house? Sometimes what I have noticed that usually works. This past week I was listening to I believe it was RPD East and one of the officers were coming in garbled and the dispatcher asked him to repeat. I guess that will happen since there on digital radios and I would hear that on ISP as well. Also do you have an 800 mhz antenna? Maybe trying that kind of antenna would help.

 

[rkwalker86]

I did try moving around the house and found 1 spot, and 1 spot only, where everything seems to come in clear. I even walked outside with the scanner and still had no luck. So, I took my 106 for a "ride" today to see how it worked out of the house. Fortunately (or unfortunately, I'm not sure how to feel) it worked fine. Picked up Rockford PD no problems. I alternated between my 800 mhz antenna and the glass-mount antenna and both worked fine. When checking signal strength in the car I was at 90+ percent. But at home, I'm routinely in the 40's. What I don't understand is why this is happening. I've had this scanner for close to 2 years and I've never had any problem with signal strength in my home, including digital P25. It's just all of a sudeen a problem. I know trees/leaves can sometimes be a problem, but the trees only have buds right now. I'm at a loss of what to do and a little bummed-out. Any ideas / thoughts from anyone would be appreciated.

 

[WX9RLT]

post this on Rockford Area Scanner Club - Index

you might get more info.

 

[rkwalker86]

Hey guys,

This reception problem with the Rockford PD is driving me nuts! I live just west of Rockford, towards Winnebago, and I can't pick up a thing! So, I'm going to ask a favor: Is there anyone with a Radio Shack Pro 106, in the area, that would be willing to meet with me and check out their 106's reception against mine? I'm nearlly 100% sure the problem is not my radio, but I would like to make sure. This wouldn't be more than 20-30 minutes at a couple of locations just west of Rockford (don't worry, not actually in west Rockford!) I would really appreciate it.