Sacramento Regional Communications System issue

[jeffreyjames1956]

I have had a Home Patrol II for three years and use an outside antenna. All was working fine until about 4 months ago when I turned on the radio it took about 20-30 minutes for the Sacramento Regional Communications System to start picking anything up. I updated the database and same problem. I sent my radio to Uniden and received this response:
UNIT PERFORMS TO FACTORY SPECIFICATIONS COULD BE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THE SIMULCAST TOWERS.
TURN ON OR OFF SERVICE TYPES YOU WISH TO LISTEN TOO. ONLY DISPATCH IS SELECTED.
Is anybody else having this problem? I would like to know if it really is the radio or something else. Thanks. Jeff

 

[gmclam]

On June 1, 2020; the Sacramento Motorola II trunked systems (mostly analog) were turned off. That's because everyone had migrated to the new P25 system. Over the past few years I had been scanning both systems (actually 3; city analog, county analog, P25).

The first issue in receiving the P25 system is that a P25 capable receiver is required. Although I had that (PSR-500/600), it turned out to be not good enough. I did not have issues in reception from either system when both systems were on the air. But after shutting down the analog system, the true multi-site nature of the new system took place.

In basic terms, your radio needs to be looking at the P25 control channels. However, it gets more complicated. I'm sure there are some people who will indicate that they receive the new P25 system without issue. But the reality is that the new system transmits from multiple locations on the same frequencies. Receivers must be able to handle this to work properly. If they don't, what you experience is either lack of reception or garbled reception. The common term for that used here is LSM (linear simulcast distortion).

With regards to scanners, the only solution for me was to purchase Uniden SDS-100 radios (SDS-200 is the base model). There are other solutions, but no other hand-held scanners. To answer your original question; the Home Patrol II and the Sacramento P25 system are effectively not compatible.

 

[jeffreyjames1956]

Thanks for the response. This has cleared up the issue and resolved my problem. Hopefully Santa will be leaving me a new radio under the tree. Thanks again. Jeff

 

[petbytes]

Hi Jeff,
The same happened to me. My Uniden BCD536HP and BCD436HP had both Sacramento Motorola II trunked systems loaded in the full database so I just selected Sacramento Regional Radio Communications System (SRRCS) P25 Phase II within the SYSTEM of my radios and it works fine.

 

[Dragon911]

Hi Jeff,
The same happened to me. My Uniden BCD536HP and BCD436HP had both Sacramento Motorola II trunked systems loaded in the full database so I just selected Sacramento Regional Radio Communications System (SRRCS) P25 Phase II within the SYSTEM of my radios and it works fine.

My 536 is a boat anchor- I'll give that a try...

 

[jeffreyjames1956]

My 536 is a boat anchor- I'll give that a try...

Would you be able to instruct me on how to do that with my home patrol II? I'm not that versed in changing things in the radio. Thanks. Jeff

 

[jonwienke]

The new Sacramento system is simulcast, so depending on your location, you may not be able to monitor it with either the 536 or HomePatrol. The HomePatrols are even worse about simulcast reception than the x36 models.

 

[Dragon911]

Would you be able to instruct me on how to do that with my home patrol II? I'm not that versed in changing things in the radio. Thanks. Jeff

I'd love to help, but I'm SOL on my 536. My HP-1 works great for everything else..

The new Sacramento system is simulcast, so depending on your location, you may not be able to monitor it with either the 536 or HomePatrol. The HomePatrols are even worse about simulcast reception than the x36 models.

Works fine on my SDS200... I'm just trying to figure out, how/why some folks with a 536/436 claims it works...

 

[jonwienke]

Simulcast is a total crapshoot with radios not designed to handle it. In some places, you'll get perfect reception. In others, you'll get absolutely nothing.

 

[gmclam]

Works fine on my SDS200... I'm just trying to figure out, how/why some folks with a 536/436 claims it works...

It's all about location and signal strength. If you only receive a strong signal from a single tower, it will "work". That could be because objects block your antenna's view of other towers, or a directional antenna. This is an example of why more signal is not always better.

 

[NorCalrescue]

I have a Unication G5 pager/scanner and it handles the SRRCS very well. And it's very portable obviously as it clips to your belt. Highly recommend. I can give you my sales contact if you want to contact him.

 

[jeffreyjames1956]

Thank you I will let you know if I decide to go with the G5. Jeff

 

[jonwienke]

The only drawback to the Unications is that they only monitor one system at a time.

 

[richwig]

It's all about location and signal strength. If you only receive a strong signal from a single tower, it will "work". That could be because objects block your antenna's view of other towers, or a directional antenna. This is an example of why more signal is not always better.

In Des Moines, I have used a Yagi pointed at the closest site in conjunction with attenuation to make a couple of 996P2's work pretty well. I used external pads until my attenuation just started to drop level bars on the display.

 

[scannerboy02]

The only drawback to the Unications is that they only monitor one system at a time.

They are working on a fix to this.

I think Unication is starting to figure out that they have a large scanner market and are starting to cater more to our needs with each firmware update.

The scanner community wasn't the original focus for Unication but since the devices are still a little buggy and the public safety community isn't a major adopter of buggy equipment they are starting to figure out that buggy equipment is a bit more accepted by us in the scanner community and we will work harder to get the bugs fixed than the public safety agencies who need it to work correctly right out of the box.

 

[jonwienke]

I'm one of Unication's beta testers, so I have the scanning firmware. IMO it needs considerable work before it's really useful for scanning. The process for turning scan on is complex and unintuitive, and the transition from one site to another takes a lot longer than necessary. The hardware is great, but the firmware and software needs work.

 

[stingray327]

The new Sacramento system is simulcast, so depending on your location, you may not be able to monitor it with either the 536 or HomePatrol. The HomePatrols are even worse about simulcast reception than the x36 models.

What scanner model do you need to now monitor the new Sacramento system? I have a Home Patrol II and BCD 436 but I haven't driven though the Sac. area in years so I don't know if the freqs. I entered 5 or more years ago are any good? I would think that the Sentinel program is current with both of the above scanners.

 

[gmclam]

What scanner model do you need to now monitor the new Sacramento system?

Need is a non-exact question. There are plenty of P25 models out there that can "receive" the new Sacramento P25 simulcast system, but not without issue. I've had to switch to using SDS-100s for this system to get clear reception. No other scanners do what the SDS-100 & SDS-200 do presently.

 

[stingray327]

Need is a non-exact question. There are plenty of P25 models out there that can "receive" the new Sacramento P25 simulcast system, but not without issue. I've had to switch to using SDS-100s for this system to get clear reception. No other scanners do what the SDS-100 & SDS-200 do presently.

I have heard of those two newer scanners by Uniden. They are very expensive. both are handhelds? I don't know much about those 2 new scanners or the differences. I would like to think what I have currently should work just fine.

 

[N6ML]

I have heard of those two newer scanners by Uniden. They are very expensive. both are handhelds? I don't know much about those 2 new scanners or the differences. I would like to think what I have currently should work just fine.

I would like to win the lottery, but it hasn't happened yet.

Suggest reading Simulcast Distortion - The RadioReference Wiki

You may (or may not) get lucky (as with the lottery, I guess)