Simulcasts?

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trentbob

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Hahaha oh, thank you for the kind words and no you do not need to use all the gimmicks and tricks that you would use on a non SDR Radio. You probably need to adjust the filters, maybe apply a one or two second system hold time, not to be confused with holding on a channel, there also might be other problems how it was programmed. Multiple nacs or other troubleshooting we can work on... Remind me again what system are we talking about?
 

joeyperillo

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Bucks County Public Service P25P2.....simulcast......how was it programmed? I cherry picked from Sentinel and made Favorites and turned them all off but the one that covers the few PD zones I want and east Fire Dispatch.....works as advertised - except too often garbled - I know I'll never get what they have in the squad car but should this beast (for which I had to re-mortgage the house) eventually get close to very good? Thanks again......
 

trentbob

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Okay I remember now, you are in Yardley and you are very unexperienced. This radio has a steep learning curve. We started on Uniden Tech forum and went to the Pennsylvania forum which I did not think was a good idea as this is a Uniden Tech issue.

Okay so are you using the ZIP code method? Or are you programming in Sentinel and making favorites lists Etc?
 

trentbob

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Okay so I see that you actually have favorites list that are numbered and named. Just acknowledge that and then I'm going to give you a long dissertation on what you need to do and you just follow it and then tell me how it turned out rather than try to explain everything step by step
 

joeyperillo

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Thank you so much - I may end up sending you a Wawa card! - okay....I created Favorites but don't thing I numbered them.....called them individually: Bucks, Philadelphia (which I won't receive unless I use it in the car), New Jersey and Zone 5 and Fire - then I went in menu and turned off all but the Zone 5 which is just the zone I live in and Fire dispatch and fireground. I don't know (yet) how to number them.....I actually don't know how and why to use ANYTHING on the number pad.....I appreciate all you have done and will do - so only do what you like doing!
 

trentbob

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Yeah that's what I was afraid of. There is so much involved here but I'm not doing anything else for the moment. One of the things we're going to do is we are going to do this on the radio itself. But first you need to use sentinel and to download the entire Bucks County system, no cherry picking what you want, you can do that later, you can actually take any talk group you want and move it to a new favorites list, you can actually avoid talk groups you don't want but for now start a new. Download the entire system and assign it a number so the favorites list has a number and you can name the favorites list Bucks P2. Hopefully you can do that alone, just let me know when you've done that, from that point on we're going to apply a filter to the system and we're going to put on a system hold time of 2 seconds. If you're unable to establish this favorites list, number it and assign a alpha tag name on it then let me know and we'll go from there. I'm kind of kidding but this is like teaching someone who doesn't know how to drive a car to fly a 747 LOL. See how you do, let me know. I would tell you to use the ZIP code method but you can't apply filters and other customization while searching the database, it has to be on a favorites list that you have control of with a number and a name. When you toggle Channel you will actually be scanning a favorites list called Bucks P2 and it'll be number one. Give it a shot..
 

trentbob

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I forgot to mention, you also want to download the latest firmware update and the latest database update first thing. Bucks County just added a whole bunch of new talkgroups involving Emergency Management and Hospital notification from EMS. After you update the database then download the whole system and make a favorites list.
 

trentbob

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I'm attempting to help him with the sds200 and the latest firmware version is 1.10.08... as soon as he downloads the system and creates a favorites list we are going to put wide invert on the one site called simulcast and we will apply a 2 second system hold time in system options which should solve any simulcast problems he is having in Yardley PA. The system has 26 Towers all very close together.

Both of my sds200s came with 1.10.08 but if you have an older version it will only install 1.10.00 in Sentinel. My guess is the .08 is some kind of housekeeping for a minor correction in spelling or some insignificant change.
 
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trentbob

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Joey... I just re-read your post today directed towards me and I missed this. You said you were using an old very long rubber duck from a long time ago... I missed that before Oh, I'm glad I went back and reread it. I remember that antenna, it was supposed to be a super antenna but it was before 800 megahertz LOL and it is basically deaf on 7 - 800 megahertz.

Ditch that antenna and just use the metal telescopic antenna that came with the radio. It might solve your problem, let me know.
 

joeyperillo

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So sorry! Fell asleep till now - 10:30 pm......will no doubt go back to sleep - I apologize and beg your indulgence.....it may take me a few days in fits and starts to get this work done you are so gracious to help me with - I'm working each day for the Census and it involves mostly walking in the heat - and they are pushing for production - being a geezer it takes much out of this superannuated frame.......
Thanks for the antenna tip - I used the stock steel telescoping antenna for the first few hours, The often garbled audio was why I switched to the 10" rubber - no appreciable difference.....
I had Bearcat Warehouse install BUCKS COUNTY onto the card to begin with and have since updated full database and firmware (yesterday, Saturday). Will do so again Monday - then I'm off to Census land.....the complete county frequencies they put on the card have a long number-Bucks County.....is that sufficient as your instruction of "download all of Bucks County from Sentinel?" These two files from Bearcat are on the card in addition to the FAVORITES I made from Sentinel.....I shan't be back at the scanner till tomorrow night......if it is not convenient for you I certainly understand.......question: do you think your tinkering will eventually get me clear audio? I ask because there is so little of interest up here in Newtown, Yardley, Upper and Lower Bucks that I wonder if I should even keep the expensive thing if I have to live with poor audio......I don't want to send it back (I have time) but........
Thanks so much!
 

trentbob

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If the vendor downloaded Bucks County they certainly should have put it on a numbered favorites list. You can permanently avoid any talk group you want on that favorites list.

Honestly I don't know why you're getting garbled Transmissions with an SDS 200? It should be coming through loud and clear as you have a tower right in Newtown. Your telescopic antenna collapsed all the way is a perfect quarter wave 700 megahertz antenna but it really doesn't matter all the way extended it should be working just fine so there's some kind of a missing link here.

We might try putting the radio on ignore NAC. The NAC codes have been a little screwy with this system. We should be able to add wide invert filter which may help with signal and perhaps modulation but we need to know some readings from your radio such as your RSSI level and your noise level or even the S meter number of bars showing... It's like detective work and problem solving.

I should be around tomorrow night.
 

joeyperillo

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Thanks so much - without doubt a Wawa card will have your name on it......as I drift back to the land of Nod I'll have the radio on so as not to miss any possum versus car incidents here in the hinterlands.....(incidentally, as you no doubt know, Fire and EMS are simulcast nice and clear in analog VHF High band and I certainly have enough radios around here to listen to that!) If Broadcastify had someone streaming Zone 5 I wouldn't even be here! Thank you and good night.
 

trentbob

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Yep I happen to listen to fire East and fire south on the VHF frequencies myself. A little experiment you might want to try tomorrow try placing the radio in different parts of your house and see if there's any difference in reception. I'll be on later tomorrow night.
 

trentbob

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Of course Jim, I knew what you meant because the Op started off with a 536 but then upgraded to the 200...

It was well over a year ago that last update for the x36 when Paul was still alive and it did indeed help some with simulcast performance. (y)
 

trap5858

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Bob, I saw his comment about the antenna he was using and wanted to speak up but figured you were going at this from the software side. Another option would be to put the antenna in a coffee can and use the can as a director of sorts and point it at one tower.
 

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Bob, I saw his comment about the antenna he was using and wanted to speak up but figured you were going at this from the software side. Another option would be to put the antenna in a coffee can and use the can as a director of sorts and point it at one tower.
Should not be necessary with a SDS200. I'm guessing it is a programming problem. I hope to be up in that area in the next few days; hopefully I can verify a good config.
 
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trentbob

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Bob, I saw his comment about the antenna he was using and wanted to speak up but figured you were going at this from the software side. Another option would be to put the antenna in a coffee can and use the can as a director of sorts and point it at one tower.
Should not be necessary with a SDS200. I'm guessing it is a programming problem. I hope to be up in that area in the next few days; hopefully I can verify a good config.
... yes Herb... That would be a terrific way to desensitize the antenna and isolate one tower. At this point that could be part of the detective work involved here but should not be necessary with a SDS 200 secondary to its having a SDR chip... I'm kind of stumped on this one and it's certainly part of the equation that I'd like to try... Joey could certainly be in one of those weird crazy spots that still exist in the system, they're not common but they're there. I hope you'll follow the discussion and keep chiming in, I appreciate that with your experience and familiarity with the SDS... do you remember this antenna? It's from the early 80s... A really long thick rubber duck, very soft and floppy. It was geared towards VHF high and UHF. Definitely deaf on 700 megahertz. It was touted as being like a super antenna. Don't remember the name but I still have mine LOL.

maus92... I go through the Newtown bypass area, over to Yardley and then down Route 32 on the river into Morrisville a couple of times a month as my daughter lives there... I've never had any issue with the SDS 100 or the apx 7000 in the car... If you are able to sniff around that area, hopefully, Joey will give us a more accurate position of where he is...he really might be in one of those weird spots and I asked him to move the radio around in his house... I noticed when I first got the 200 that there was a spot in my kitchen where it just did not work and I was worried I had a lemon as my 100 and apx were right next to it without issue. Moved it around and found out it was right on par with the 100.

So Joey when you finally get online there are a few things we need to know, I'd like to know what your RSSI readings are? Specifically, you mentioned that your problem is muffled unclear Transmissions. If you have good reception secondary to your RSSI reading my big question would be... Do you have the radio sitting on a table without the mounting bracket or the four rubber feet installed? Is the speaker on the bottom of the radio flat against a table? Let us know if you installed the 4 little rubber feet on the radio or mounted it on the mobile mounting bracket inverted so it is a desktop stand?
 
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