BCD325P2/BCD996P2: Simulcast Distortion

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TylerWentzel

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Iv'e been having this problem now for a long time, I have tried the P25 threshold method setting it to 8,7,6 and it still picks up an error rate around 30 or lower. My squelch is set to 8 and i have a North Simulcast & South Simulcast setup for Berks County, PA. Is there anyway to keep this error rate down to 0 because it's kinda hard to hear what they say when the distortion comes along
*note* my signal Strength is at FullBar's
 

TylerWentzel

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I talked to Uniden on the phone they really didn’t help much other than saying changing the squelch to 2 witch makes the scanner either delayed with dispatches or not pick up anything. Does anyone have a solution?


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KR7CQ

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I talked to Uniden on the phone they really didn’t help much other than saying changing the squelch to 2 witch makes the scanner either delayed with dispatches or not pick up anything. Does anyone have a solution?


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Hate to say it, but you will probably find that you need a simulcast-friendly device...SDS, Unication, or Motorola. The problem you are having is the whole reason the SDS line was introduced. The 996P2 is not simulcast-friendly. Attenuation rarely solves the issue in my experience / scenarios. With an outdoor antenna, forget about it...you can attenuate all you like and if multiple towers have a good shot at the scanner antenna it's a hot mess. With a scanner-mounted antenna you can sometimes find a "sweet spot" where the scanner will work "OK" with simulcast, but that takes some experimentation. Depending on where you sit compared to your various towers a yagi may work while negatively affecting some systems that you want to hear on that scanner along with that simulcast system, and after you consider the time and money needed to implement the yagi, you might as well look at one of the first three devices I mentioned.
 
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TylerWentzel

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Pennsylvania, Berks County
Hate to say it, but you will probably find that you need a simulcast-friendly device...SDS, Unication, or Motorola. The problem you are having is the whole reason the SDS line was introduced. The 996P2 is not simulcast-friendly. Attenuation rarely solves the issue in my experience / scenarios. With an outdoor antenna, forget about it...you can attenuate all you like and if multiple towers have a good shot at the scanner antenna it's a hot mess. With a scanner-mounted antenna you can sometimes find a "sweet spot" where the scanner will work "OK" with simulcast, but that takes some experimentation. Depending on where you sit compared to your various towers a yagi may work while negatively affecting some systems that you want to hear on that scanner along with that simulcast system, and after you consider the time and money needed to implement the yagi, you might as well look at one of the first three devices I mentioned.
Okay Thank you i will check those out
 

Whiskey3JMC

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I'll second KR7CQ's suggestion. Chester County PA has a similar system which I've tried unsuccessfully to monitor with radios past (996xt, 536hp, etc) even from within the county. I picked up a SDS100 and the transmissions now come in clear as a bell. I can also monitor Berks south simulcast from Montco PA & I'm maybe 15 to 20 miles south of the closest tower. Though the signal isn't perfect, the SDS100 still brings it in
 

TylerWentzel

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Nov 27, 2017
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Pennsylvania, Berks County
I'll second KR7CQ's suggestion. Chester County PA has a similar system which I've tried unsuccessfully to monitor with radios past (996xt, 536hp, etc) even from within the county. I picked up a SDS100 and the transmissions now come in clear as a bell. I can also monitor Berks south simulcast from Montco PA & I'm maybe 15 to 20 miles south of the closest tower. Though the signal isn't perfect, the SDS100 still brings it in

Yeah I don’t know why, but I live closer to the reading area but I pick up more audio transmission on the North Tower that’s further away than the South tower witch is closer.


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rfking123

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Syracuse, New York
Iv'e been having this problem now for a long time, I have tried the P25 threshold method setting it to 8,7,6 and it still picks up an error rate around 30 or lower. My squelch is set to 8 and i have a North Simulcast & South Simulcast setup for Berks County, PA. Is there anyway to keep this error rate down to 0 because it's kinda hard to hear what they say when the distortion comes along
*note* my signal Strength is at FullBar's
I clicked the trunking attenuation for simulcast and it works great for me. Give it a try and report back on any results.
 

ofd8001

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Louisville, KY
That's the nature of the simulcast beast. You get solid signal, but no or garbled audio. The scanner is "hearing" multiple transmitters on the same frequency and has a hard time decoding what is said. Kind of like one person talking loud in your left ear and another loud person in your right ear. It is hard to understand either of them.

The above suggestions are the only tools in the box to make things some better. But the solution is an SDS version scanner or perhaps a Unication if you have just a few talkgroups of interest.

You can confirm simulcast distortion by taking the scanner to about 1/4 mile of a transmitter site. If you get good clear audio, the confirms simulcast distortion.
 

WD6ABC

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Do you have the latest firmware installed (1.08.01)
I believe 1.08 and above has better simulcast decoding.
(or maybe it doesn't !)

John

996XT
996P2
436HP
SDS200
 

rcool101

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I've tried everything...Sometimes if you move the radio or antenna as much as an inch will be like night and day. I use a 396t for a feed radio. It works about 95 % of the time as long as you don't move it. The antenna is an old portable ducky and I cut 2/3s off of it...Less is more for Silmulcast. And yes I tried a paper clip too. Works sometimes
 

buddrousa

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What we are tying to say is the 996P2 will work with a lot of hard work but it will only work on the ONE system and you loose everything else dumbing the scanner down to work on your target system. Best answer is the SDS200 for base of SDS100 handheld and keep both running you will find breaking up your scan load you will hear more. You could also not buy a SDS and you can use a Unication G4 or G5 just for the Simulcast System and run the 996P2 for everything else. The SDS has more options for other digital modes and unknown future upgrades.
 
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