St Charles County Sheriff??

[mjthomas59]

Anyone know if SCC Sheriff is switching frequencies or possibly implementing a new radio system? I was picking them up all fine and dandy for about a week straight with my new Pro-96 and now i get nothing.

I know this question was asked not that long ago but i couldn't find the thread to see if anyone had reported anything on it. Just seems strange to be picking them up crystal clear for over a week, and now i haven't had a hit on that frequency in about 3 days.

I did reprogram my scanner using win96 about 4 days ago but i didn't make any changes to the frequencies for the sheriff. There is a note on the database about needing to use NFM instead of FM to monitor, anyone have any idea how to do that using win96 or do i even need to worry about it?

Thanks for the help!

 

[nascarfan999]

I'm not familiar with the software programming or the PRO-96, so I can't help you too much. The one concern that I would have is your location. Are you in a "fringe" area (either on the edge of the county or outside of the county) where you could lose reception. I had a problem like that a while back where I suddenly quit hearing a frequency. I later realized that moving the antenna about 6 inches had prevented me from hearing the frequency. I will put the code in for the Sheriff and see if I can hear the digital noise on my scanner (I'm just N of St. Charles city).

 

[mjthomas59]

I wouldn't say i'm in a fringe area necessarily. I live a few miles south of wentzville, well inside the county line. I just don't understand how one day i can pick them up crystal clear, and now i don't get a hit at all. Even traveling on 70 between wentzville and st charles for work and i still don't pick them up, even with the squelch all the way open. I've tried using the stock antenna, the RS 800mhz antenna, a radio shack discone antenna, a rh77ca, larsen etc etc the list goes on and i still get nothing. Sadly this is my only digital scanner so i'm not certain whether it is a problem with the scanner itself, perhaps a programming glitch in win96, or if the sheriff has switched frequencies.

Other than the SCsheriff (155.49) i can still recieve everything else including the st. charles city trunking system where the police have also moved to digital.

Let me know if you can pick up the sheriff from where you are, they have a fairly large network including a tower just north of st charles city if i recall the FCC map correctly.

Thanks for the help!!

 

[nascarfan999]

Well, within 20 minutes of putting it in, I heard the digital static at least 3 times, so it is still alive and well. If you still can't hear them while mobile in places you used to, then I would think that it got messed up when you reprogrammed. As I said before, I do all of mine by hand, so I'm not familiar with using software, but I would check the software to make sure that you didn't accidently change the frequency. Also, I would chcek the scanner itself to see if it is listed in the scanner. Other than that, you'll have to wait until someone wiser than I comes across this thread.

 

[mjthomas59]

Well i just tried reprogramming my pro-96 last night and i still didn't have any luck. I kept picking up some sort of static on 156.000 and apparently the St Charles EMA is testing on 158.8350 because i keep hearing what sounds like a person dialing a telephone on that channel. I even took out the PL tone and tried it that way and still have had no luck. I may try reverting to either 1.3 or even 1.2DSP firmware and seeing if that makes any difference.

155.4900 was where i was picking up all the Sheriff activity a week ago, i just don't understand what the problem is. I just won another bid on a Pro-96 so once that arrives i'll try it out and see if it a problem with the current radio i have, or if there is some other issue going on.]

Thanks for the response, i'll try and give an update once i have figured out what the heck is wrong.

 

[hankv]

Well i just tried reprogramming my pro-96 last night and i still didn't have any luck. I kept picking up some sort of static on 156.000 and apparently the St Charles EMA is testing on 158.8350 because i keep hearing what sounds like a person dialing a telephone on that channel. I even took out the PL tone and tried it that way and still have had no luck. I may try reverting to either 1.3 or even 1.2DSP firmware and seeing if that makes any difference.

155.4900 was where i was picking up all the Sheriff activity a week ago, i just don't understand what the problem is. I just won another bid on a Pro-96 so once that arrives i'll try it out and see if it a problem with the current radio i have, or if there is some other issue going on.]

Thanks for the response, i'll try and give an update once i have figured out what the heck is wrong.

I don't know if this applies to a Pro96, but the Unidens won't decode Apco-25 broadcasts on conventional channels if you have PL Tones enabled. You just hear Digital Noise.

 

[BaLa]

I don't know if this applies to a Pro96, but the Unidens won't decode Apco-25 broadcasts on conventional channels if you have PL Tones enabled. You just hear Digital Noise.

the 96 needs to be in regular FM mode to decode P25

 

[KM5LZ]

S.c.c. S.o.

Anyone know if SCC Sheriff is switching frequencies or possibly implementing a new radio system? I was picking them up all fine and dandy for about a week straight with my new Pro-96 and now i get nothing.

I know this question was asked not that long ago but i couldn't find the thread to see if anyone had reported anything on it. Just seems strange to be picking them up crystal clear for over a week, and now i haven't had a hit on that frequency in about 3 days.

I did reprogram my scanner using win96 about 4 days ago but i didn't make any changes to the frequencies for the sheriff. There is a note on the database about needing to use NFM instead of FM to monitor, anyone have any idea how to do that using win96 or do i even need to worry about it?

Thanks for the help!

The sheriffs office radio is working just fine. My Pro 96 receives them ok here in O'Fallon, MO. I had the same problem you are having about a month ago and even went to the SO and checked with them and they were up and running but I was not. It turned out that I did the reprogramming wrong with the sofware. I did not have it set to FM after I did that it has worked just fine.

KM5LZ

 

[mjthomas59]

I just want to make sure i'm understanding correctly. I need to leave the PL Tone blank? If i can recall correctly (i'm not on the computer with win96 right now) there are AM, FM, CT, and a few other options for each frequency within WIN96. I'm not overly familiar with the software, just enough to get the programming started. I was thinking that i needed to have the PL tone entered and then set it to CT in order for it to recieve that PL tone.

Hopefully that makes sense. I'll try clearing out my PL tone for the sheriff and switching from CT to FM and hope for the best.

Thanks for the responses, i'll post once i've figured that out.

BTW is this information also in the owners manual? Or is this(inability to decode conventional channels w/ PL Tones) just something that people have figured out by using the scanner?

 

[mjthomas59]

Well i manually cleared the PL tone and switched to FM mode and low and behold it worked! Still haven't searched the owners manual to see if it is mentioned in there or not. I'm just surprised that as much as i monitor this forum i've never heard anyone talk about it before.

I'm trying out a Austin Condor antenna right now and overall can say i'm pretty impressed, although it was a 30 dollar antenna.

Just out of curiousity, what Firmware version have you all found to be the best while monitoring conventional apco-25 channels? I went ahead and upgraded to the 1.4 from i believe 1.2, but have been contemplating trying out the 1.3 just to see if there is any difference?

Thanks again for the help, i was really getting frustrated with not being able to hear the 1 frequency i bought the scanner to monitor.

 

[hankv]

Well i manually cleared the PL tone and switched to FM mode and low and behold it worked! Still haven't searched the owners manual to see if it is mentioned in there or not. I'm just surprised that as much as i monitor this forum i've never heard anyone talk about it before.

It's been discussed several times relating to the Uniden scanners, but I think this is the first time I've seen it relating to a Radio Shack Scanner.

 

[KM5LZ]

Updated Information for SC SO

Well i manually cleared the PL tone and switched to FM mode and low and behold it worked! Still haven't searched the owners manual to see if it is mentioned in there or not. I'm just surprised that as much as i monitor this forum i've never heard anyone talk about it before.

I'm trying out a Austin Condor antenna right now and overall can say i'm pretty impressed, although it was a 30 dollar antenna.

Just out of curiousity, what Firmware version have you all found to be the best while monitoring conventional apco-25 channels? I went ahead and upgraded to the 1.4 from i believe 1.2, but have been contemplating trying out the 1.3 just to see if there is any difference?

Thanks again for the help, i was really getting frustrated with not being able to hear the 1 frequency i bought the scanner to monitor.

I checked my set up for the S.C. S. O. and this is what I have for there dispatch freq. of 155.490. Under the RX mode I set it to MOT under the CT/DC it is 0.0 all the other freq. for the S.O. have FM in the RX mode column. Works fine.
KM5LZ

 

[jas0nr7272]

That was going to be my guess. I had mine with Pl enabled to cut the stations id and the squelch tail but had to turn it off. I think the Morse id sounds a bit weak.. I believe this system is simulcast? I guess the Morse id is not? Maybe someone will know for sure on here.