i am trying to get the Orleans county NY sheriffs office. It is about 20 miles from me. The current p25 digital control channel is 852.3875. When i set the sds100 to analog the 852.3875 freq comes in strong with 4-5 bars and rssi 93. If it set for digital only on that freq i do not get the control channel. I have played with the filters and the IFX with negative results. I dont understand why when the sds100 is set for the freq on analog i hear the jack hammer pounding from the digital signal but yet when i tell the scanner "digital only" it no longer picks up the freq. I have also set the squelch to 1 with no luck. Any suggestions?
SDS100 Picks up analog freq but not digital p25 control channel same freq
- Thread starter lkas
- Start date
dom6vrr
Member
What do you mean by setting the scanner for digital only? Do you have a programmed favorites list for the system? Are you using the full database? You need to program all control channels into the system. Try using this easier to read manual to help you, along with this YouTube video. 20 miles may be too far depending on many factors.
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I also added just the freq to the quick save favorites. In there you can set it for analog, digital or both. While in there and set for analog only i pick up the signal and here the noise. When i set it for digital only i get nothing. I have orleans county saved as a favorites list and i do have all the control channels as well as the voice channels. On some rare occassions i can pick up the control channel while scanning the favorite list but it is short lived.
belvdr
No longer interested in living
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2013
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That system is a trunked system. You need the control channels as well as talkgroups added.
Genesee/Orleans Counties Trunking System, Regional, New York
Genesee/Orleans Counties Trunking System Profile
www.radioreference.com
I have all the control channels loaded as well as all the talkgroups under my normal favorites list but still can not lock onto the control channel. Once in a while i can pick up traffic using the favorites list for the county i have saved. My main question is why if i add the freq under the quick save favorites as analog i can hear the noise of a digital freq coming in yet when i save it under digital i can no longer pick it up? It comes in strong on analog.That system is a trunked system. You need the control channels as well as talkgroups added.
Genesee/Orleans Counties Trunking System, Regional, New York
Genesee/Orleans Counties Trunking System Profilewww.radioreference.com
If you are programming a control channel as conventional digital it may mute the digital data since it is only looking to decode voice. You normally have to be in analog CSQ on most scanners to hear the actual digital noise. I assume that is what you are trying to do just to detect the signal since you say it is not receiving when programmed as a trunked system?
yes that is pretty much what i am doing. I tried to create a new favorite list as p25 trunked and just put in the one freq but that did not work as well. It is just weird that if set for analog i can hear the signal coming in yet when set it conventional digital or trunked i can not pick it up
If you have an SDS100and you program the CC as Quick Save without forcing digital it should display the P25 information. If it does not, you are not getting a good P25 signal. It is probably has too much interference from intermod and general crud. That is my issue with the SDS100 in attempting to receive distant signals. If you take the scanner to a location near Orleans you will probably find the programming is correct and it works fine.
I have done both. My main favorites list is from db
It's probably distance, not programming. I am closer to Orleans than you, and I cannot pick up the system, even with an outdoor antenna.
Have you tried Genesee County instead? You'll see a lot of Orleans TGs on there too.
Have you tried Genesee County instead? You'll see a lot of Orleans TGs on there too.
If you receive the system at all, your programming is OK. You are experiencing they typical SDS100 desense issues in attempting to receive distant signals as you have described on here many times. You did exactly the right thing in attempting to check the quality of the received CC signal and the SDS100 muting the audio in digital only was normal. The fact it was not displaying P25 signal information in normal analog/digital Quick Save indicates the SDS100 could not recognize it as a valid digital signal probably due to it is actually a mess of noise. The fact you receive the system at times is typical SDS100 behavior depending on what the level of in-band interference sources is at the time.
I can receive Genesee in Rochester much of the time but it is bad when there is a lot of local 800 band activity. Ontario is useless 90% of the time with desense from the Monroe sites. I generally have to be in or very near Ontario at which point reception is perfect.
I can receive Genesee in Rochester much of the time but it is bad when there is a lot of local 800 band activity. Ontario is useless 90% of the time with desense from the Monroe sites. I generally have to be in or very near Ontario at which point reception is perfect.
Ubbe
Member
To easily go to the channel you push the System button, wait 3 sec and push it again and within 2 sec start to turn the select button until you find the Quick Select System. Then push the Channel button and wait 3 sec and the turn the selector to find the correct channel.
Push E, or on the selector, on that channel to edit and set audio type to All. It will now automatically switch over to digital if it can decode the data signal.
In that edit menu you can try to change modulation between FM and NFM as one could be better than the other.
To try IFX you push the function side button and the 7 button.
To change filter you go to the main menu and Manage Favorites and then select the Quick Save Favorite List and then Review/Edit System and select Quick Save System.
Go to Edit Department and select Quick Save Department and finally Set Filter. (Uniden haven't made it easy for us)
Try different filter types, Normal, Invert, Wide Normal, Wide Invert and also Off. Remember that the signal bars and dBm levels will also indicate the strength of any interfering signals so don't go by signal strength when testing. Just check if the scanner changes from analog to digital by itself. If you get digital to decode you can configure a display field to show Digital Error and then try different settings to get as few errors as possible. Push the Avoid button to go back to the channel and test it but there's no easy way to go back to filter setting (a save function for a quick meny key would help) and you have to drill down the menu every time to try a new setting.
Hopefully any of the changes of modulation type, IFX and filters will help get a cleaner signal that will decode. 93dBm isn't much of a signal and are very noisy, even if the signal bars indicate 4 or 5 bars. I think that they should be calibrated differently so that 5 bars are 80dBm that are a noise free signal.
/Ubbe
I have no issues picking up Genesee site. Comes in rssi 79 with 5 bars. I have heard Orleans units on Genesee site but obviously miss a lot not getting the orleans site
The Genesee Darien and Corfu towers probably put a good signal into Erie County. Reception of the Orleans Medina tower would probably be marginal at your location even without the SDS100 issues.
I am wondering if a different antenna would work. I have a omni x on two story roof. I also have another antenna on other side of roof. I have no issues with Niagara Chautauqua Erie Genesee Cattaraugus or Wyoming county. Just issue with Orleans
Outdoor antennas usually only make the SDS100 desense problem worse. The SDS100 is seeing so much crud on the frequency, as indicated by your Quick Save test, I doubt the signal from Orleans could overcome it.
Orleans County is always hit or miss depending on the weather.
My experience with Genesee at my location in a high RF environment is I get reception about 90% of the time with the SDS100 with Remtronix antenna sitting on the desk. If I try a 800 Yagi aimed at Genesee I get full 5 bars of crud on the CC frequency and no reception at all. The antenna aimed at Genesee is also aimed at the Monroe West 800 sites so it just makes the desense issue worse.
The Orleans signal is not as robust as Genesee for reception in most locations outside of the county so it is usually spotty even with no interference issues.
The Orleans signal is not as robust as Genesee for reception in most locations outside of the county so it is usually spotty even with no interference issues.
