SVRCS Question Thread

[a4man4mbz]

fmalloy, let me know if the Yagi helped, been out of town, to try to finish build one

 

[fmalloy]

Is SVRCS supposed to be "P25 Standard" for the System Type?

Just want to confirm.

 

[Stealthguy05]

^ Yes sir. Further, drove around the Rivermark neighborhood. Was getting the occasional dropout on the most northern end of the development. Noticeably more of the usual Phase 2 decode pops than in my area. Perhaps this might be worsened for you when the Station 45 tower gets built.

 

[fmalloy]

Perhaps this might be worsened for you when the Station 45 tower gets built.

Station 45 tower?

 

[whisper16]

I think he means SVDPS fire station 5. Last I heard they are going to build a new station 5 not far from the current station which is at Mathilda and Innovation.

 

[fmalloy]

I think he means SVDPS fire station 5. Last I heard they are going to build a new station 5 not far from the current station which is at Mathilda and Innovation.

So this could make simulcast even worse.

Oh bloody hell.

I've got a Yagi on order and we'll see what happens.

This whole hobby with P25 frustration is getting to be not worth it...until Uniden improves their design.

 

[Stealthguy05]

Yeah. New Sunnyvale Station 5 will have a new tower. I think there are 4 more sites for the west cell. Palo Alto, Doyle Dr, Stickney Well, and Station 5. I think i might have read about some sort of additional tower for the Cupertino/Los Altos foothills?

 

[fmalloy]

fmalloy, let me know if the Yagi helped, been out of town, to try to finish build one

Ok, just got the Yagi, here's my experience so far (just have had it set up for 30 mins or so) -

I don't have a stand yet for the Yagi (I cannot mount it outside), so I kind of just have it propped up and leaned against a lamp on my end table.

After playing around aiming it in different directions I think I found an orientation where I seem to get decent reception of SVRCS. Big difference!

Since the antenna is pretty precarious once I have it on a reliable stand and perfectly stable and vertical and I can rotate it precisely I think I can get the signal even better. It's not perfect right now, still get some clicks and pops and distortion but it's finally readable audio and many of the calls are perfectly clear. I'll turn on the error rate at some point to see.

And some other good news - the other conventional systems I monitor (Med 91, San Jose, Mountain View, etc) don't seem to be impacted too much! It's an 800MHz cellular Yagi, but I still pick up the 460MHz systems ok.

The conventional systems all come in much louder than the P25 system. I will have to mess with the volume offsets I think to balance them out.

I have a 436HP so the coax comes out the top. It's really stiff, and I don't want to stress the connector. It doesn't really stand upright well due to the coax pulling on it, so I have it laying on its back. I can keep it this way but then I can't easily read the screen.

What do people do in this case when you have a handheld?

 

[Eng74]

I guess it is a BNC connector going into the BNC to SMA adapter? Just get a BNC/BNC 45 at Radio Shack.

 

[fmalloy]

I guess it is a BNC connector going into the BNC to SMA adapter? Just get a BNC/BNC 45 at Radio Shack.

There's no BNC; the coax has an SMA that screws into the antenna connector. The coax is not real heavy but it is stiff. It wants to pull the scanner down on its back. I think I'll need some kind of heavy stand to hold the scanner upright so the cable doesn't pull it down.

 

[a4man4mbz]

fmalloy, thanks for the good news, it`s been frustrating trying to pickup the local DPS, one would think that the manufactures of these so called scanners that are suppose to pick up Phase 2 transmissions would have done they`re homework before releasing these things. Maybe should have waited, before spending the money. oh well!!
Thanks again for the info!!

 

[fmalloy]

Thanks again for the info!!

No problem. Will give an update once I have the Yagi mounted on a stand and spend some time to aim it optimally. The right orientation seems to be really critical. Probably will have that done this weekend.

 

[fmalloy]

Will give an update once I have the Yagi mounted on a stand and spend some time to aim it optimally. The right orientation seems to be really critical. Probably will have that done this weekend.

Ok, here's an update:

The wife wasn't thrilled with the Yagi on a stand in our bedroom. I had to hide it. I found that I could actually sit it on the floor behind my end table, pointing it at what seems to be an optimal orientation to get the best P25 reception (it's toward a window). Have a thin pigtail from the cable end to the scanner.

Been running this for almost a month and P25 intelligibility is much better. Some calls come thru really cleanly, some still garbled. Can't really find any pattern to it, but I can hear most of what I want (Sunnyvale and Santa Clara PD/FD)

A Yagi on the floor behind a table isn't exactly optimal placement, but it does the job, no holes in the walls, and wifey is happy.

 

[Stealthguy05]

There is possibly some hope for you when the new Fire Station 29 site comes on line. That is in the area of Zanker Rd and Montague Expwy and will probably be the strongest signal at your location. That being said, it looks like it's part of the Central Cell and might not carry the West Cell's traffic on a day to day basis.

 

[whisper16]

Radio shack Pro668

Just wondering if anyone is successfully using a Pro668 on this system?

Thanks!

 

[baptistjcat]

I have a WS 1080 which is the cousin to the pro 668. It works great for this system. Now the problem that I face is that I live in a null and i experience simulcast distortion. If I go down the street it picks up the system great but in my house I have to fish for it. But when I find it , it comes in good. I have been using a tv antenna the sc 602 supersonic.

 

[greenthumb]

Does anyone have a pro96com file they can post for this system? I'm interested in the current IDEN table configuration. I've got a couple of Harris radios that i'm using to listen in with P25 Phase II, but i'm not hearing any traffic for either Sunnyvale PD or Santa Clara PD. I'm wondering if a mis-match in the IDEN set configuration might be the issue. I don't see any indication in the discussion or database that they're encrypted.

Thanks!

 

[SCPD]

I too would like to see one.

 

[jland138]

FileVersion:8
-TowerInfo
#This section is here for information only. With the exception
#of the Call Sign(s), This data is not Read back into the program at all.
System ID : 5E4
System Name :
WACN : BEE00
Tower Number (Decimal): 1-1
Tower Number (Hex) : T0101
Tower Description :
Control Capabilities : Data,Voice,Registration
Flavor : Phase 1
Call Sign(s) : WQSE774
Timestamp : Sun Jun 14 10:35:26 2015

-Tables
#Format: Table ID,Base Freq,Spacing,Input Offset,Assumed/Confirmed,BandWidth,Slots
00,851.00625,0.00625,-45.00000,"Confirmed",0.01250,1
01,762.00625,0.00625,30.00000,"Confirmed",0.01250,1
02,851.01250,0.01250,-45.00000,"Confirmed",0.01250,2
03,762.00625,0.01250,30.00000,"Confirmed",0.01250,2
04,935.01250,0.01250,-39.00000,"Confirmed",0.01250,1
05,935.01250,0.01250,-39.00000,"Confirmed",0.01250,2

-Frequencies
#Format: Channel,Usage,Frequency(/Slot),Input Channel,Input Frequency(/Slot),Input Explicit(1/0),Hit Count
"01-1292","di",770.08125,"01-1292",800.08125,0,754
"01-1504","d",771.40625,"01-1504",801.40625,0,0
"01-1576","d",771.85625,"01-1576",801.85625,0,0
"01-1624","d",772.15625,"01-1624",802.15625,0,0
"01-1648","cad",772.30625,"01-1648",802.30625,0,0
"01-1672","cd",772.45625,"01-1672",802.45625,0,0
"03-1292","v",770.08125/0,"03-1292",800.08125/0,0,11
"03-1293","v",770.08125/1,"03-1293",800.08125/1,0,16
"03-1504","v",771.40625/0,"15-4095",0.00000/0,1,9436
"03-1505","v",771.40625/1,"15-4095",0.00000/1,1,9313
"03-1576","v",771.85625/0,"15-4095",0.00000/0,1,9202
"03-1577","v",771.85625/1,"03-1577",801.85625/1,0,9197
"03-1624","v",772.15625/0,"03-1624",802.15625/0,0,436
"03-1625","v",772.15625/1,"03-1625",802.15625/1,0,425

 

[Eng74]

Has anyone tried the Uniden BCD996P2 on this system yet? Was thinking of adding it to my travel kit for football weekends when I am in Santa Clara.