The Mysterious RWC

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janetball1994

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Phoenix, Az
I admit it: RWC and its reception foibles have me scratching my head. I'm in Ahwatukee and I would expect problems with Sim A&B, but I ought to be able to receive C and F regularly. As it is, Thompson Peak and PPD 200A is the only sure thing besides MCSO and ASU. All of this is strange as I have an outside DPD Productions dedicated 700Mhz vertical. In the recent past, I've tried DPD's 700mhz log-periodic with equally dismal results. The equipment is a 536 and a TRX-2.

As if to add insult to injury, my 436 occasionally receives PPD 400A on Sim C with a rubber duckie, otherwise Sim C is silent. Sim F and Tempe PD is iffy. I've checked and replaced the coax with best available. No joy.

Anyone have any ideas?
 

KR7CQ

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I admit it: RWC and its reception foibles have me scratching my head. I'm in Ahwatukee and I would expect problems with Sim A&B, but I ought to be able to receive C and F regularly. As it is, Thompson Peak and PPD 200A is the only sure thing besides MCSO and ASU. All of this is strange as I have an outside DPD Productions dedicated 700Mhz vertical. In the recent past, I've tried DPD's 700mhz log-periodic with equally dismal results. The equipment is a 536 and a TRX-2.

As if to add insult to injury, my 436 occasionally receives PPD 400A on Sim C with a rubber duckie, otherwise Sim C is silent. Sim F and Tempe PD is iffy. I've checked and replaced the coax with best available. No joy.

Anyone have any ideas?

Those outdoor antennas, with gain, up high, are probably being overwhelmed with the signals from multiple sites hitting them at the same time with relatively weak signals, meaning you get nothing. The duck antenna might only be getting a weak signal from one site, meaning you get a word here or there.

If possible, what you want to do is install a yagi antenna with the highest gain possible, and aim it so that one site has as much of an advantage over the other sites as possible. This doesn't necessarily mean pointing right at one site, it means looking at the pattern graph for the yagi and making sure that one site has the biggest advantage in gain, which could mean pointing off to one side of the target site, to attenuate the other sites farther below the target site than if you pointed right at the target site. Hope all of that makes sense...I've used that technique on the RWC for over 10 years in multiple locations, with pretty good success.
 

rpgaun

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Sun City, Az
Adding my 2 cents - I also think it depends on the scanner you are using. I have 2 new Type II units a BCD536HP and a BCD996P2. Both are 200% better in receiving the RWC than my other Type I radios. But, of the two, believe it or not the less expensive one, the BCD996P2 receives the RWC better than the more expensive BCD536HP. In fact I've been contemplating selling the BCD536HP and buying another BCD996P2. What's the antenna you may ask, nutin special, just a NMO 1/4 wave, 3" Stainless Steel Whip on a mag mount on top of the radio.
 

janetball1994

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I've used that technique on the RWC for over 10 years in multiple locations, with pretty good success.

Yup, what you say makes sense. I'll invest in the highest gain 800Mhz cellular yagi I can find and point a lobe at Sim C's location and see what happens. I guess my log-periodic doesn't have enough side rejection as I've tried a similar approach with it -- with mixed results.
 

KR7CQ

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Yup, what you say makes sense. I'll invest in the highest gain 800Mhz cellular yagi I can find and point a lobe at Sim C's location and see what happens. I guess my log-periodic doesn't have enough side rejection as I've tried a similar approach with it -- with mixed results.

Exactly...you are on the right track. The log periodic doesn't have nearly the side rejection that a yagi does.
 

ctweller

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Hi - I'm pretty new to scanning but I am trying to use RWC...I want to get PHX PD...I live in Glendale and am using a WS 1040. I get about 1 transmission every 5 -10 minutes. BUt I have a regular police radio, Motorolla APX6000 and it does just fine...but my Whistler is terrible. I'm using Simulcast A and G because I think they are closest, but I really don't know. Anyone have any ideas, or is the WS1040 just not going to do it?
Thanks
 

AZDon

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Flint Michigan
RWC

For sure it can be mysterious, not long ago I could pick up Phoenix PD pretty well with a rubber duck and now I can't receive Phoenix PD on any of the RWC systems. What happened?
 

tipster67

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May 8, 2009
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Wichita, KS
For sure it can be mysterious, not long ago I could pick up Phoenix PD pretty well with a rubber duck and now I can't receive Phoenix PD on any of the RWC systems. What happened?

Gonna need a bit more info for anyone to help ya I'm sure. Your Location and Frequencies you have programmed would be a huge help.
 

rwier

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Nov 6, 2006
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Phoenix, AZ
For sure it can be mysterious, not long ago I could pick up Phoenix PD pretty well with a rubber duck and now I can't receive Phoenix PD on any of the RWC systems. What happened?

" ... not long ago ... "

In the last six months, the RWC made a lot of changes. Example: All the "Site A: frequencies went from 800's to 700's (I think). Old Scanlists or FLs (etc.) need to be edited to reflect the changes.
 
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