SS 911 Trunking not receiving well ..

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Outlawed_1

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Is it just me, my scanner, or just the way it is? I don't pick up SS911 very well in most areas of Tacoma. But I actually pick it well in Roy off the "South Simulcast" Really like to pick up PCS channels better.
Using a stock BCD325P2. I'm wondering if an antenna upgrade is necessary ..?
 

ww7ch

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In the Tacoma area you should be able to pick up SS911 with a wet noodle on the Core Simulcast system (aka Orting Simulcast on the RR DB, which is a little misleading - Spar Pole/Orting is only one of the several sites in that simulcast group).

Out in the south end (where I am) the sites are separated out more so there's less overlap, which makes me think that it's possible your scanner might not be handling simulcast all that well?
 

Outlawed_1

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Yah, that's what I thought too. I was in Tacoma, around 56th and McKinley all morning - running East Pierce via the APP on my phone while at the same time sitting on East Pierce County Sheriff (I think it's 40106) on my scanner, trying all different simulcasts and nope. Scanner was showing a good signal from Orting too .. picks up Tacoma just fine via PSRS.
 

ww7ch

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Has it been like this for you for a while? Or has it changed recently?
The fact that you can pick up PSRS fine but not SS911 makes me wonder.
 

Outlawed_1

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Honestly, I've been struggling to get this radio programmed on my own since this is all new to me, but now that I seem to have it mostly figured out and can get one system but not the other is when I realized that something didn't seem right. Like I said, at home in Roy PSRS & SS911 come in clear as a bell, I get to Tacoma and opened up all the different sites to see where I'm getting the best signal and PSRS works fine but can get SS911 to barely pick up anything. Compared it to my app on phone and I was only picking up 1/15 transmissions. Didn't matter of I was locked in 40106 or scanning SS911 only.
 

Outlawed_1

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One thing I just noticed: my Orting frequencies say for example the first one: "769.3312MHz" not 769.33125 like RR says it should be. I know I entered the "5" when I programmed it. Could this be something?
 

ww7ch

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That's normal for uniden scanners that don't display more than 4 decimal places. It likely did take your full entry, it's just not displaying all 5. My 536 did the same thing and it worked fine.
 

ww7ch

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Buckley is on 3 Sisters Mountain (south of Enumclaw) so that makes sense. Are you able to pick up traffic on that site any better than on the core (Orting) site?
 

devicelab

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gmclam

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When Pierce Sheriff moved to SS 911 several years ago, I bought my dad a BCD996P2 so he could hear them. He lived in Elk Plain. I programmed the radio for simulcast including McNeil Island. I found the signal was quite clear for him as it came from the tower on Meridian. A few years go by and I noticed the reception was not as good......

I bought myself an SDS-100 and WOW what a difference. I ran the scanners side by side and was upset and how much the BCD was missing. I am thinking that the sites were not employing Simulcast all that fully when I first set my dad up. There's no way I'd want anything less than an SDS now for that system. Sure if you're isolated to a single site... or have some situation where you're not subject to simulcast distortion then you might skate by. But if you're serious about wanting to monitor this system, you must use a receiver that handles Simulcast.

I'll add that I am also scanning PSRS & IJWN and only using the stock antenna from inside a residence. In this case the radio being used made a huge difference.
 
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