SLATER Reception Reports

[scanman1958]

I will try to keep this short. I live in the southwest part of St Louis city and the nearest site/tower to me is the Affton/Valcour site. It is 2.6 miles from my home (as the crow flies) but I am having the hardest time receiving the new system. The most obvious thing is the completely garbled reception from this multisite system. At times I can't receive anything.

I am using a 396xt and a 996xt. The 396 seems to work better. I have tried as many "tweaks" as I can but nothing seems to improve my reception.

At this time I am going to assume that it is 'multisite distortion' simply because of the total number of sites there are. (this is the only system in this area with so many sites) I do not have this problem at all with the St Louis city system. They have only two towers transmitting as far as I know and I only have the north patrol tower (201) programmed in my scanner. It is almost 7 miles, as the crow flies, from my home but I receive 5 bar reception all the time and have no garbled transmissions.

I am wondering how everyone else is receiving the new SLATER and where you are located (in general) so I can figure out if it is just me or if it is an area wide thing. I am also going to guess that the people living in the city, or in a neighboring county, might not be able to monitor SLATER either. If you could post your reception results.

I understand we are using $500 scanners vs $6,000 radios but I believe I/we should get better reception than what is out there now.

Thanks.

 

[teufler]

you may have a situation of too much signal. At times, when changed antennas, on my 396xt, I have no antenna on the radio and still get almost full scale on towers or a tower here in st charles, I will have a hard time understandsing St Charles when the big antenna is operating but when I listen to Troop I, good signal and perfectly understandable.

 

[nick1427d]

St. Louis Co's towers are not simulcast nor is St. Louis City. Your issue is more than likely; you are not in the signal path. If you are anywhere east of the south site you will have difficulty. The south tower reception for me (IL) is poor and North is non existent with stock antennas. From my experience once you go north a bit, again in IL you begin to pick up the North site anywhere east, but west of the Belleville area and drops off again once you go past I-64. Again that's IL. I don't have issues with the North site in the city if I'm around I-64/40 (downtown), haven't tested anything in North city.

FYI the South site is at 4580 S. Lindbergh at the St. Louis Co Health property. The North Site is at 41 S. Central in Clayton.

 

[teufler]

picked up st charles cty on a drug best. They had a crew that went to a house, meth cooking, they were told to evacuate the premises, then the arrested 5 . Talk Group 25320, on Slater,

 

[scanman1958]

Thanks for the reply. I have no problem picking up the city system. As a matter of fact I picked up the city's north tower 201 (I have only that site programmed) from Jeffco Blvd and Telegraph in Arnold. And pretty much all the way into south county. Anywhere from 2 bars to 5. And my 396xt was decoding it almost perfectly.

My problem is with the new county system. It does not decode or receive near as well as the city. All I get is a garbled mess. I have heard and read (probably on RR) that the county system is simulcast. Is that wrong? And, if so, are all the towers that have been built receive only? Seems a bit odd but hey I do not know. I am trying to learn here.

I am just trying to receive a system that is horrible with my two digital scanners (but not horrible with other systems) and I am asking you guys and gals to post reception results. I can't be the only person out here that is having issues.

Note: I have problems picking up StarCom too from my home but when I get a signal it seems to be fairly easy to understand. Seems all the 700/800 MHz systems are terrible with distance. But MOSWIN can be heard almost anywhere locally. FYI (from me) only.

 

[nick1427d]

My problem is with the new county system. It does not decode or receive near as well as the city. All I get is a garbled mess. I have heard and read (probably on RR) that the county system is simulcast. Is that wrong? And, if so, are all the towers that have been built receive only? Seems a bit odd but hey I do not know. I am trying to learn here.

The StL Co system is a 25 "site" system but is not "simulcasted" over those 25 towers, only 2 sites are broadcasting data that your scanner decodes. You can only monitor the system from the two sites listed above and even then not all talkgroups affiliate to both (most do). The other 23 towers are basically repeaters for the system users.

I am just trying to receive a system that is horrible with my two digital scanners (but not horrible with other systems) and I am asking you guys and gals to post reception results. I can't be the only person out here that is having issues.

Like I mentioned I have issues as well and I'm not far from the south site either. It's what comes with these newer systems unfortunately. You also can't expect because you receive StL City well, that you will get SLATER. I have found city's system to be one of the best in terms of receive distance on my side of river.

Note: I have problems picking up StarCom too from my home but when I get a signal it seems to be fairly easy to understand. Seems all the 700/800 MHz systems are terrible with distance. But MOSWIN can be heard almost anywhere locally. FYI (from me) only.

Depending how the systems is engineered, sites can be very directional in their signal. For example STARCOM, who's St. Clair Co site is truly "simulcasted" has a tower in East Carondelet. I can barely pick it up in south county, a mere couple of miles as the crow flies. Stl City I can pick up as far as east end of Belleville.

800 MHz characteristics already are not great at distance, then add issues with things like leaves on trees, and moisture then you have unreliable distance. Hence multiple towers. 800 wins inside buildings. MOSWIN around here is VHF and it wins the distance contest vs 800.

I know it's frustrating.

 

[KeyWest35]

I will try to keep this short. I live in the southwest part of St Louis city and the nearest site/tower to me is the Affton/Valcour site. It is 2.6 miles from my home (as the crow flies) but I am having the hardest time receiving the new system. The most obvious thing is the completely garbled reception from this multisite system. At times I can't receive anything.

I am using a 396xt and a 996xt. The 396 seems to work better. I have tried as many "tweaks" as I can but nothing seems to improve my reception.

At this time I am going to assume that it is 'multisite distortion' simply because of the total number of sites there are. (this is the only system in this area with so many sites) I do not have this problem at all with the St Louis city system. They have only two towers transmitting as far as I know and I only have the north patrol tower (201) programmed in my scanner. It is almost 7 miles, as the crow flies, from my home but I receive 5 bar reception all the time and have no garbled transmissions.

I am wondering how everyone else is receiving the new SLATER and where you are located (in general) so I can figure out if it is just me or if it is an area wide thing. I am also going to guess that the people living in the city, or in a neighboring county, might not be able to monitor SLATER either. If you could post your reception results.

I understand we are using $500 scanners vs $6,000 radios but I believe I/we should get better reception than what is out there now.

Thanks.

I live in the far southwest part of St Louis County and in a rather deep valley. My reception is great with St Louis County sites. I am receiving cities that I never could with analog. I am impressed with the reception and is better than I expected. I am close to the Jefferson County line and while I receive Jeffco it is not as good. I am unable to pick up St Charles and according to the site map I should. I may try a directional antenna. I pick up St Louis City much of the time but not all of the time. I am using a GRE PSR 800 and a Radio Shack 668 with a radio shack 7 inch 800 MHz antenna. If I am mobile i can pick up Starcom on 270 between 21 and I 55 and it comes in good. Overall the new system is great for me.

 

[scanman1958]

So you live in the county. That puts you fairly close to at least one antenna site. There is a tower that basically sits on a bluff near the Mississippi. I wonder if you are picking up a signal from there.

I am also having trouble understanding the issue with all the towers. I have sat right next to the Valcour tower and had great reception. Even without an antenna on my scanner. So there has to be radio signals that come from the towers. So my, and I am sure others, confusion continues.

 

[scanman1958]

An update for at least part of SLATER. Was in St Charles county on hwy 94 just north of 64. Was picking up the south site(s) 102 with five constant bars and no garbling. From that spot the two closest sites would have been the one on Hwy 94 south of 64 and the site located at the county EOC off Olive. I took the antenna off my scanner and still picked up a usable signal. If they are just repeating the Sunset Hills site they are doing it much better than the Valcour site just over 2 miles from my home. Must be VERY directional from Afton.

 

[teufler]

from st peters, I get the south site but not the north site. No bars at all on the north site. Antenna is a dual band vhf uhf diamond ham antenna. nOTHING SPECIAL FOR 800 MEGS.

 

[nick1427d]

I think a formal apology to Scanman and others is in order.

I did some more digging and experimenting and realized that ALL sites of SLATER, St. Louis Co included, are in fact simulcasted. I'm not sure why it's not listed as a simulcast system here in the DB but it should be updated to reflect that.

I was under the impression that only the North tower at 41 S. Central, and the South tower at 4580 S. Lindbergh were controls but they are simply the master sites for those respected "sites". All of the south towers have the same frequencies as the South Master. Same for North.

Therefore,

Scanman, I apologize for giving you the wrong information. Sometimes I go by what I am told by people who actually implemented this system but as we all know sometimes even they are wrong. It's scary how admins of these systems don't even know how their own system is set-up and relay incorrect information to people a lot of times.

Having confirmed it is a true simulcast system I will say that it is the worst I've come across in regards to distortion on a scanner. It probably has something to do with the fact that there are so many towers and a lot of overlap in their coverage.

I unfortunately don't have any solutions either.

Again I'm sorry and will now take foot and insert into mouth......

 

[scanman1958]

No problem Nick. No offense taken at all. I, as well as the others here, are trying to learn and most of all have fun. I read your PM and will get back to you very soon with my own PM to you.

 

[scanman1958]

And as far as my reception goes, I still believe it is multisite distortion. Our scanners just can't decode it well. Hope a "good" fix is in store from the scanner mfg's.

Here's looking for a sweet spot to scan.

 

[stlouisx50]

St. Charles (I70 @5th ) Control Channels 853.825 and 853.8625 come in full strength, no reception issues. However heading north of St. Charles Or south of St. Charles on 94/364 you start loosing reception heavily if not all the way.

O'Fallon - Hwy K near O'Fallon Rd - Reception is spotty in areas depending on elevation or if you are inside or out.

 

[scanman1958]

Thanks for the report. I too am finding varying degrees of reception in St Louis Co. Sometimes a strong clear signal and other times not even a single bar of reception strength. Not to mention the almost constant garbled distortion. It seems to be a very flakey system for us scanner users. The scanners out there really need to be improved. But I will say that receiving signals from the north site, and all it's towers, has gotten a little better over the last week or so. But it is nothing like the city's signals or MOSWIN.

 

[genealle]

County 4th Precinct not heard on BCD436HP

I have SLATER loaded in a favorites list and only scan the fav list.

I hear a few County Precincts and Central County Fire but nothing for the 4th Precinct.

Any tips or clues as to what else I need to do?

Thanks!

 

[genealle]

County 4th Precinct not heard on BCD436HP

I have SLATER loaded in a favorites list and only scan the fav list.

I hear a few County Precincts and Central County Fire but nothing for the 4th Precinct.

Any tips or clues as to what else I need to do?

Thanks!

Found out several TGIDs are missing from the national DB.
55394 thru 55399 are the county precinct TGs.
55393
55394 1st
55395 2nd
55396 5 Charles
55397 8th Jennings
55398 4th (and 3rd)



RR
55394 - StL Co PD: 1st Precinct
55395 - StL Co PD: 2nd Precinct
55396 - StL Co PD: Muni West
55397 - StL Co PD: Muni North
55398 - StL Co PD: 3/4 Precinct
55399 - StL Co PD: 5/7 Precinct