PSR-300/400 and Sacramento TRS
Over the course of the past year, I have been working with quite a few new PSR-300s and PSR-400s. When I use them for a single "local" channel, it's no biggie. But when I try to park one on a distant signal, I have found a huge difference in performance from radio to radio. I am not trying to bash Unidens, but I'll add here that I've also got a few Unidens and none are better than the poor performing 400s.
My point is that every individual unit that is produced of a model, whether it is a scanner, automobile or something else; is not going to be "identical". When you compare the finest details of these things, there ARE differences. One thing I've paid close attention to is how many bars I get on a control channel signal, and the successful decode rate. One scanner will show 1 bar and 75% while another one (connected to the same antenna) will show 2 bars and no decoding at all.
For some reason, my new PSR-300 recieves very poorly. I put 3 different antennas on it, and still recieves very poorly. It usually starts off recieving fine once you turn it on, then as soon as I leave the house it gets very poor.
Tell us about these 3 antennas. If you are monitoring a broad spectrum of frequencies (such as CHP and Sacramento county) the stock antenna will work the best for portable use. If you are only monitoring one band (such as 800 MHz), then an antenna designed for that band (such as RS800) will be an improvement over the stock antenna.
I change antennas on my PSR-300 'constantly'. A discone at home, a magnetic mount in my truck and the stock antenna when portable. I've been doing this for a year (carefully), so I don't think you've had time to wear out the BNC connector. Now if one of your antennas has an "oversized" center contact, that could "spring" the connector and make it loose for the other antennas. But then one of the 3 antennas would be working.
I can best the describe the recpetion is very "cracky" and hit and miss, and eventually cannot recieve anything at all.
Is it cracky on ALL channels? Or just when receiving the Sacramento 800 MHz system? It is somewhat 'normal' to receive the Sacramento system cracky unless you have a very good signal. Then, some transmissions will sound "ok" and others "cracky" because each is from a different transmitter (frequency/etc).
I bought it online at scanner master, but my dumb self threw out all the boxes and paperwork that came with it so returning it is not an option.
Go to the support page of the GRE website. Open a ticket and explain this problem there. Indicate when and where you bought it, and the fact you threw stuff out. In the future I'd consider keeping all that stuff.
I am trying to mainly monitor the Sacramento Public Safety trunked system. I listen to my Uniden base station to compare it and the base station recieves fine. So what am I doing wrong? Did I just get a lemon?
It is possible you got a lemon, as described above, I have. There is a lot more information needed about your situation before that can be determined. Certainly if another scanner is working at your location and with the same antenna, that points to this scanner and/or its programming. Make sure you do not have the ATT on for any channel or frequency.....
The place to start "testing" how well you receive the Sacramento system is to park the scanner in MAN mode on the active control channel. The 4th line of the display will give you an indication of how well the data is being decoded. Since they put the new tower up in Citrus Heights, I've been getting 99% (that's the most you can get). Before that I was getting 75% to 99% from the next closest site. NOTE that I am talking about the COUNTY site, not the CITY site. Which makes me ask: which site did you program? You will be able to receive much of the same TGs from either site, and especially for dispatch stuff, you should monitor the site which gives you the best signal. Another indicator is the S meter on the scanner. But don't go by the S meter alone, the decode rate is far more important for receiving TRS traffic.
I have the county site in one bank and the city site in another bank. When mobile, I monitor the site(s) I am closest to. If trying to monitor a site that is "too far away", you will get a lot of cracking.
