Southern York Co assistance

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skip67

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I’m new to scanning, and I have a question. I bought a new BCD436HP, I live in Southern York Co, off of I83 exit 4, which is 5 miles north of the MD state line.I entered my zip code, and I receive Balto Co fire, and police. I receive Carrol Co, MD fire, Ems. From the east of me I receive Harford CO, fire, EMS. I even receive Chester CO fire. But nothing from York Co, or the PA state police, or even Adams Co. Shrewsbury vol fire co, is a half mile away, yet I can’t hear a thing. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks
 

u2brent

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Hello,
Welcome to the forum!
All (pretty much everything) in York County is on the York P25 Phase2 Simulcast System.
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=4518
If you're not picking up (getting a good decode signal) of the South Site; Then you'll want to experiment with moving the radio around (while holding on the system) and look for a sweet spot, inches can make a world of difference, also a different antenna may be the fix.. factory antenna is not so good for some situations. internal or external?
Many, many folks have reported this issue..
There's also those pesky threshold settings to experment with as well.. :)

Oh.. And set that squelch to 2, If not there already.. (y)
 
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u2brent

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All PA State Police (PSP) in your area, are on the new system, And all are encrypted.. :cry:
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=9276
York is possibly TG 10157, Lanc TG 10159, Adams would be TG 10156. but nonetheless that info will do little for monitoring..
you can't hear them, the conventional frequencies will have little to no usage as well.

You can hear occasional Game Commission Traffic, They are in the clear.
SC Huntingdon Disp TG 12033
SE Reading Disp TG 12051
 
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skip67

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Thanks for the info, am going to delve deeply into the owners manual. It is a little frustrating, listening to York Co fire, atr,ema,south, on a scanner app, but not my BCD436HP..
 

u2brent

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Thanks for the info, am going to delve deeply into the owners manual. It is a little frustrating, listening to York Co fire, atr,ema,south, on a scanner app, but not my BCD436HP..
You mentioned it was a new purchase. I know money is usually the issue, However; The newer SDS series scanners handle the simulcast issues much better. If you can't get satisfactory results on the 436 the SDS100 would be a good trade-up option. Just something to think about.. :)

Many others have experienced what you are. Since the P25 uprgraded to 700 MHz.
https://forums.radioreference.com/threads/york-county-harris-rf-com-p25-system.85937/

Best of luck!
 

Rishayan

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Hi, I just wanted to comment about the new York county 700 Mhz TRS.....From my monitoring station in Hershey, Pa., only 12 miles away from York Counties Reesers Summit TRS towers, when they were on 500 Mhz, I could receive them on my 436 scanner fairly good.....but now that they switched to 700 Mhz, I can't receive them at all on even my new SDS100. But curiously, I can receive the Berks County Phase 2 700 Mhz TRS, whose nearest tower is at least 24 miles away, very very good on both my 436 and the SDS100(even better though). The reason is that there is a nasty little hill between here and Reesers Summit, because from the square in Hershey, which is actually a little farther away, I can receive the York County 700 TRS perfect on my SDS100. On these high, almost microwave frequencies, just a movement of a few yards can make all the difference between not hearing anything, and hearing a full quieting signal.
 

u2brent

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Thanks for the help. One question, would a better antenna help at all?
Absolutely! (y)
If your using the factory supplied one, and are not getting good results no matter where you put the radio; Then that's certainly an option that could possibly improve performance. Sometimes you need to resort to a directional external antenna to get what your looking for. Especially with the simulcast issues involved. It's also possible your picking up too much from more than one nearby tower site. That will also confound the situation, In a case like that the attenuator can actually help. Don't know if that's an issue for you.

I've had good results with these..
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M1X73EA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Everybody has a favorite. That one provides decent VHF for our area, yet also does acceptably up into 700/800 MHz.

The first thing I do after getting a radio is replace the supplied antenna.. :LOL:
 
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tvengr

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When was the last time you updated the database? York Co used to be on a 500 Mhz T-Band system. They recently switched to a 700 Mhz system. Also, Sentinel only updates the database in the computer. You have to write to the scanner and check the box to force write the database.
 
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u2brent

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tvengr brings up a very good point. If you're using it "out of the box" without first installing the latest version of sentinel and the the latest DB updates on a pc and then updating the radio's db, Then it's likely the version in the radio is wrong, and that would be an issue. not to mention any firmware updates that you'd benefit from getting.
Also, you might be in range of the West site instead of the South site, make sure the radio has frequencies in the 700 range, Not 500 for the York P25 sites in the radio. (y)
 

tvengr

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The west site is for the area towards Hanover. Shrewsbury is definitely in the south site area. There is a south simulcast tower at the rest stop on I-83, a short distance from his location.
 
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skip67

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Thanks for all the help. I did download the sentinel, but did not load it to the data base. Since the vast majority of my time is spent with an iPad, the bell did not ring in my head that I might have another step in the process. But after looking at the owners manual, I should be able to get it right this time :). Once again, thanks for all the help..
 

tvengr

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The latest version of Sentinel is 2.01.03. If you do not have the latest version, here is the link: BCDx36HPSentinel < UnidenMan4 < TWiki. Under the tools tab, select your radio. With your radio connected, under the update tab, select firmware and just follow the instructions. When completed, update database under the same tab. That only updates your computer, not the radio. Once the database finishes downloading, go to the scanner tab and write to the radio. Check the box that says force write the database. Once the download is completed, your radio will have the latest database. I suspect that you will see York Co. Your old copy of the database most likely had the old 500 Mhz system. The latest copy will have the new 700 Mhz system. Be on the lookout for a message in your inbox at the top of the screen.
 

skip67

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After updating the data base, and putting on the new antenna, I’ve picked up York Co police, fire, etc. Also picked up MD state police, and north to Cumberland Co., south to Harbor Tunnel police. Once again thanks for all the help!
 
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