Simulcast questions

[fredva]

I'm not sure if I'm missing something but using Free Scan, I programmed my 996P2 for the Cobb County simulcast system but only loaded the tower nearest me into the radio. No issues what so ever, in fact it sounds better than my department mobile XTL5000.

There are people fortunate enough to live in a good location where simulcast interference is minimized. If the system you are listening to is simulcast, you did not load the nearest tower only. You probably loaded the nearest site. In a simulcast system, a site is not a single tower but rather a collection of towers all transmitting on the same frequencies. The scanner and the scanner software cannot distinguish between between one tower in a site and the rest of the towers in the site. But if you are in a good location relative to the towers, you may not be affected by simulcast that much.

In some cases, people think they aren't having simulcast issues until they later realize they are missing transmissions. But if you have a commercial radio that you've used for comparison, that's probably not the case for you.

 

[KC4ZGK]

There are people fortunate enough to live in a good location where simulcast interference is minimized. If the system you are listening to is simulcast, you did not load the nearest tower only. You probably loaded the nearest site. In a simulcast system, a site is not a single tower but rather a collection of towers all transmitting on the same frequencies. The scanner and the scanner software cannot distinguish between between one tower in a site and the rest of the towers in the site. But if you are in a good location relative to the towers, you may not be affected by simulcast that much.

In some cases, people think they aren't having simulcast issues until they later realize they are missing transmissions. But if you have a commercial radio that you've used for comparison, that's probably not the case for you.

Makes sense, new to the scanner world so this is good information. I would say I'm pretty fortunate the tower that covers the eastern part of my county is about 1/2 mile away. The next closest is at least 10 miles.

 

[bob550]

Simulcast reception on a radio not designed for that purpose is highly unpredictable. This is particularly true when monitoring a multi-site system. Success receiving one site does not automatically ensure success with another. Adding seasonal variations to the mix ensures you will have years of frustration. Your solution to Simulcast may not work for me, nor mine for you. That said, I have had some success monitoring my local P25 Simulcast system on my 536 by attaching an 800MHz antenna to a nearby window. Moving said antenna by a few inches can make a difference. However, it's by no means perfect nor consistent. On the other hand, Simulcast reception on the same system on my G5 is flawless. Despite only being able to monitor one site at-a-time, it's worth the price of admission.

 

[cpfinlay]

I monitor a small-town PD that's hosted on a fairly large simulcast system. I had been using a HomePatrol 1 to stream the PD to Broadcastify and a HomePatrol 2 to monitor PD. It's a fairly quiet town, so there's not a lot of radio traffic and I felt like I was receiving it all.

When I added the SDS200 to the mix, I realized just how much I was missing. Following advice from many sources, I tried different techniques and found that using crappy antennas on the HPs with the attenuator on greatly reduced the amount of missed activity. I assume that this works for me since I am very, very close to one of the broadcast sites/towers.

As others have noted: what works for me at my location monitoring this system may not work for you but thought I'd share. Your best bet is to get an SDS200. It's a great scanner all around.