scanner suggestions in the Arbutus/Lansdowne area of Baltimore County

[ebxgsxr]

just wondering if someone in the area can suggest a scanner that will pick up Baltimore County precincts (specifically Wilkens/PC01)

i previously purchased a PRO-106, but i wasn't sure if i was having a problem with the scanner. it would only come in occasionally. and when i say occasionally, i mean there are times when i might not get a transmission all day, but then sometimes it might get several.

i would really like to get a scanner that i know will work when we turn it on to listen. i know some previous replies that i got prior were saying that scanners now can not work well with Baltimore County's new system. anyone in the area that have luck monitoring the system? what scanner are you using?

thanks for any info.

 

[riveter]

PSR-800. The new digital signal processing for it works magic on LSM systems.

 

[ka3jjz]

There have been many posts about issues with getting Baltimore county's new system - a search of this forum will turn them up.

In addition you should read these 2 articles from our wiki - they will better inform you as to why you're having problems and some remedies that seem to work (although I would caution that a lot of this has to do with where you are in relation to the various transmit sites throughout the county)

Baltimore County (P25) System Information - The RadioReference Wiki

Programming the Baltimore County (P25) System - The RadioReference Wiki

Using the attenuator helps in many instances...HTH..Mike

 

[casey_bennett]

PSR-500

I've been using a PSR-500 in Catonsville and do not recommend it! There's times it works like a charm however there are days it just doesn't seem to want to pick any traffic up! Hope this helps!

 

[troymail]

Best bet is to read what Mike pointed to above (http://forums.radioreference.com/ma...sdowne-area-baltimore-county.html#post1945176).

It's not just the Baltimore County system - it's pretty much nay "new" system including Baltimore City, Prince Georges, Maryland FiRST --

And currently no scanner can receive these new systems "well" without effort on the user's part .. usually requiring finding a stationary location and leaving the radio in that spot. However, even that is far from perfect since (with exception of Baltimore City), none of the new systems are "simulcast" (everything isn't transmitted across the entire jurisdiction). BCounty is split into two sites (north and south) and Prince George's is also.

An indication of the difficulty? I'm in Anne Arundel County but I receive the Baltimore site of Maryland FiRST better than I receive the Anne Arundel site. This is most likely because I'm receiving a southern tower of the Baltimore site and likely none of the other towers. In contrast, I'm probably receiving multiple towers on the Anne Arundel site and the scanners get confused which signal to listen to and/or the signals coming from the different towers interfere with one another.

 

[ebxgsxr]

hmm, so there isn't a scanner that would be guaranteed to work? it's a lot of money to spend (which i don't mind, if i knew something was going to work for sure). i guess i was just used to my old scanner that i could turn on and i knew that i would be able to hear everything. i wish there was a way i could know for sure before i put out the money.

 

[troymail]

Guaranteed? No.

There was a tme that I'd put my money on GRE coming up with a solution but sadly that hope may be fading.

However, all indications are that Uniden is working on and/or could be announcing something (hopefully soon) -- it's been a while... People REALLY want solutions for the distortion problem that's been around for a while now....(as well as Phase 2 TDMA reception that only GRE's PSR-800 can do today)


Time will tell I suppose.

 

[fourwd1]

My Pro 106 works great from my location in Catonsville all the way down to work near BWI.
Sometimes some transmissions are not as clear as they usually are, but that's the nature of new digital systems. It seems to work better than my PSR800.