Sussex County signal strength

[maus92]

Wow,

I was driving through northern, southern and eastern Sussex County today with my 396t. Now I understand why people are upset with the performance of this system. Basically, signal strength in northern and southern Sussex sux. (sorry, could resist..) Anywho, I was getting mostly 1 and sometimes 2 bars along US 113 between Milford and Georgetown, and about the same along Rt. 1 south of Bethany, along Rt. 54, and on US 113 south of Millsboro. Conversely, I was getting full ss in the Rehoboth area. This is with the top down in my cabriolet, and an antenna cut for 800Mhz. In comparison, I almost always get full ss in throughout Howard County, MD and Baltimore City - both use a P25 800Mhz system. But in Anne Arundel County (where I live,) I get variable ss depending where I am, and sometimes when the radio is stationary on my desk! (Anne Arundel's analog 800 system has some major problems with interference from Nextel, and not enough towers - problems which have only partially addressed.

So the complaints are well founded, and not just old school whining about new technology.

CA
Annapolis

 

[Bote]

Aside from what the signal bars told you...could you hear the system? That's what matters. If the transmissions were garbled or broken up then that's a problem for you, but if you could hear them fine then it really doesn't matter how many bars they deflect on the meter.

Also, remember that they are using better radios than our little scanners so that matters, too.

Take care.

 

[maus92]

Hi:

Yes, I was able to hear most of the transmissions in the areas I noted as having poor signal strength, however some were "warbling" and choppy - indicating to me that comms are at least marginal in those areas . One of the major complaints that I've heard about the Delaware system is the lack of reliable comms, particularly inside structures. My experience seems to support the anecdotal, if not verifiable evidence that there is a problem with signal strength and coverage in some areas of Sussex County. And I'm not saying that my scanner is a precision radio receiver that performs as well as a $5000 Motorola - but it can discern relative signal strengths. And for the most part, signal strength in Howard County and Baltimore is much stronger on average than in Sussex, excepting the Rehoboth area. At least that was my observation on a Sunday afetrnoon in July.

CA
Annapolis

 

[Bote]

The way I have heard this issue discussed is that Delaware wound up specifying the system to perform pretty much the way it does, so Big-M delivered it as specified. In other words, it wasn't supposed to work inside structures and in cornfields, so that is what they got. Might not be so useful in everyday work, but that's what they got to work with for the time being.

The trouble as I see it is that many times these huge systems require such huge sums of money that their acquisition is taken out of the hands of the engineers by the politicians, and you know what happens when politicians get their greedy paws on anything. I'm afraid that's what happened in Delaware.

Maybe it's a good thing for the fire fighters that they kept all these VHF and UHF conventional systems for their purposes. It helps the volunteers and us scanner listeners.

 

[Audiodave1]

Hello,
Well, with re-banmding the stste will gain a number of towers in each county,

Regarding signal strength, I don't make the trip thru g-town but do from the north to the south and always have good reception. I believe complaints have subsided greatly regarding coverage. I RARELY hear units that have trouble getting thru, sure some go "digital" sometimes but it's only occasional up north and in Kent.

As for relative signal strength, My old BC250 has no problems anywhere with a 3dB antenna.

As for the moto's, I believe the system was designed to deliver a minimum of -106dBm outdoors over 95% of the state. This is generally well below what our consumer receivers (digital ones anyway) can decode. Our receivers are also more prone to Nextel/Celular interference than the Moto's.

Anyhow, Just my thoughts,
Dave

 

[maus92]

Hi:

Yup, the Delaware system basically performs as specified. I read somewhere that the cost of building a system with "better" coverage was beyond the funding capability of the state at the time the system was initially built. And with rebanding, more frequencies will be available, and more tower sites will be constructed, ultimately improving system performance - all good things. Finally, I suppose that the jurisdictions I mentioned in Maryland had the advantage of lessons learned from the Delaware system....

I'm hoping that when rebanding and P25 comes to Anne Arundel, that they will build more towers as well. It would be nice if the county would spend some of the surplus on instituting these changes now.

And it would be really nice if the state would spend some of the $1 billion surplus on a new integrated radio system for the MSP, SHA, etc.

CA
Annapolis