Scanner issue Please help

[ko6jw_2]

Let's ask a completely different question. Who put the connectors of the feed line? Were they pre-installed or did you do it? Worthwhile checking. I've bought coax with "professionally" installed connectors where the center pin was not making a good connection. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

 

[Spitfire8520]

I have all the sites in Colo Springs programmed in, the one closest would be Fountain Valley. I am really not interested in listening to anything but fire, so not sure on SO or anything else for that matter.

The law enforcement side was more to see if you can still monitor the system, but just aren't getting traffic from the fire side. It can be used to get a sense if you have a loose/bad connection or interference working. The DAT symbol on your BCD536HP would also be helpful for determining if your losing your signal or have interference. If the DAT symbol goes away, your scanner doesn't lock onto another site, and manually listening to a known control channel frequency near you (like Fountain Valley) results in white noise or no noise, then that a strong indication of interference or a bad connection as others are suggesting.

I would suggest getting rid of anything that's not a Zone 4 site (anything not 4xx), Cheyenne Mountain being the biggest one to get rid of if you have it. It's actually set to deny access to CSFD and El Paso talkgroups since the Colorado Springs area has other sites. A statewide system does not mean that traffic is carried on all sites at all times, it is very dependent on radio uses in the area and how they are programmed.

If you're monitoring from a stationary location and not being mobile, it's probably worth it to be very selective about which site you have programmed in. Not all the sites in El Paso County carry CSFD/Red at all times. I don't do much monitoring in the El Paso County area so I'm relying on data available from the sites in the area. I'll try list them starting from best to good sites. You can test them by trying to listen to the red control channel frequencies listed in the database and figuring out which sound clearer (I liked to describe the sound as if it were "grinding"). Anything outside of the sites below is likely are not worth being programmed.

Generally the best site for El Paso County overall is Stanley Canyon if you can pick it up. It's a bit north so there's a fair chance you won't be able to monitor it, but it should pretty much cover most of El Paso County at all times. Templeton Gap doesn't look like a bad choice for CSFD/Red if you can hear it. Given your possible location, you might not be able to follow either of those sites so Ski Summit and Peterson Air Force Base would be good for monitoring CSFD (not sure about El Paso County Red). Fountain Valley is a maybe due to it's location. It looks like it carries CSFD and Red a majority of the time give the data I've seen, but I'm not 100% sure of that. The last sites to consider would probably be Cedar Heights and Austin Bluffs if you're looking to experiment a little with finding optimal sites.

 

[mitbr]

Just a thought I had the BNC connector on the back of my 536hp become intermittent.
This caused my reception to also become intermittent .
You can check this by putting an antenna on the back of the 536hp onto a steady signal like the NOAA broadcasts then while listening swivel the antenna from side to side if it crackles or looses signal as you do this then the BNC connector may not be making a good contact .

 

[DickH]

You STILL have not said that you tried it with only the antenna right on the scanner.

Her's how Motorola truNking works.

Motorola Trunking:
The object of trunking is to allow many users to share a relatively few frequencies.
A trunking system is controlled by a computer. Information (data) is exchanged between the system radios and the computer on a control channel, sometimes called a data channel. It sounds like a strong buzz.
A large system can have up to 28 freqs., 4 of which may be used as control channels. The control channel may be changed once a day or as often as the programmer decides. Some scanners need only the control channels to track an entire system. Just put in the 4 Control Channels.

Each group of users (Fire, Police, etc.) is assigned TALK GROUPS. In a Motorola Type II system, the most common type, TGs are usually in 32 number steps starting with 16 and going up to 65536; 16, 48, 80 --- 4656, 4688, 4720 --- 28944, 28976, etc. System radios can have more than 100 TGs programmed into them.

Each bank contains 5 sub-banks where you enter the Talk Group IDs you want to hear.
Each sub-bank holds 30 Talk Group IDs.
Use the Talk Group numbers in the DEC column, not in the HEX column.

How it works
When a user pushes the talk button on his radio, data is sent to the computer. The computer chooses an unused freq. and sends that data to all the radios set to the TG of the originating unit. This all happens in a fraction of a second and it happens EVERY TIME a radio is used.

EXAMPLE:
Fire Dispatch calling Engine 4 (TG 4528 on 856.7125)
Engine 4 answering Dispatch (TG 4528 on 852.2625)
Respond to 73 Elm Street (TG 4528 on 855.9625)
Engine 4 responding (TG 4528 on 851.6375)

If you have entered TG 4528 into your scanner, it will decode the control channel data and change your scanner freqs. to follow the conversation on TG 4528.

 

[FORD77]

You STILL have not said that you tried it with only the antenna right on the scanner.
.

Sorry for the delay, only two night a week I have free time to monitor my system. I did try the antenna whip that came with my scanner last night and yes, I still lost signal. I turned on my app on my phone to double check and lost about forty minutes of traffic. I am sure it is something in the programming since I am a newbie and not sure about the sites I have in there. This thread has been helpful and I am planing on spending much of the time Sunday to test, change and retest. Thanks all for you help.

Side note, is there a video or something out there ( I have tried YouTube ) that shows how to program this stuff in lay terms. I find that the ones I do find you already have to know half the lingo or know how to apply the information. Again thanks for the help.

 

[FORD77]

Let's ask a completely different question. Who put the connectors of the feed line? Were they pre-installed or did you do it? Worthwhile checking. I've bought coax with "professionally" installed connectors where the center pin was not making a good connection. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

they were installed by a local HAM/ electronics store here in my city.