BCD396XT/BCD996XT: Uniden BCD996XT No audio from certain channel

[waggs15]

So I've got (as the title says) a Uniden BCD996XT.
I'm trying to get Gage County Sheriff's Office (Nebraska, Nebraska State Radio System Trunking System, Statewide, Nebraska) to work properly.
I've set it all up (what I think is) correctly.
I have a Nebraska SRS System.
I have a Gage County Site set up with the Band Plan from the Link above. I've also put in the frequencies that are listed under Beatrice - Gage on the table. I'm pretty sure the Primary Control Frequency is 115.190, but regardless, I have them all in the frequency page.
I also have a Group set up and inside the group I have the different channels. I'm only trying to get 4 different ones right now Gage CO LE, Gage SO, Gage SO Admin, and Gage EMA. I have all of these in with their respective talkgroups.

When I have my scanner set to HOLD on the 155.1900 frequency, it shows me an SID. There's no sound though. When I scroll over to my Gage CO LE, nothing. I get the bars as if something is received. The bars stay on and go off somewhat intermittently. No discernable pattern that I can make out. If I take my scanner out and we go to where I know is out of range, it does show me that it is "Finding CtrlChannel" so I'm almost certain it has found the Control Channel and is using that. But I'm just not getting ANY activity. I know there's activity going on. I've had a Gage Co Deputy next to me while his radio is receiving from his dispatch but my scanner just doesn't want to cooperate with me here.

Any help on what my problem might be would be greatly appreciated. Or any other tests I can do to help determine the problem.

Thanks ahead of time for the help guys.

Edit: This edit is immediately after I posted this. Just for clarification, I can get another county to work flawlessly. I know it IS able to produce sound before anybody asks! LOL

 

[ka3aaa]

i see a lot of encrypted comms in that system which are not able to be decoded by any scanner.

 

[waggs15]

How are you able to tell that they're encrypted? Using that page I linked, all the ones I'm trying are showing that they're digital, but not encrypted.

 

[wtp]

waggs15,
i sent a personal message with some things to try.
look up at the top right of this page for the little envelope.

 

[tvengr]

How are you able to tell that they're encrypted?

Lancaster County Sheriff and Lincoln Police are fully encrypted. DE in the Mode column indicates P25 Phase 1 fully encrypted. De indicates P25 Phase 1 encrypted part of the time. D indicates P25 Phase 1 in the clear: Lancaster County Trunking System, Lincoln, Nebraska (radioreference.com) TE, Te, and T would be P25 Phase 2.

 

[waggs15]

So I agree that LANCASTER Co are all encrypted. Heard about them switching over a while ago. I'm not interested in Lancaster. Nebraska State Radio System Trunking System, Statewide, Nebraska
I'm looking to get Gage County. Site 068 on that link. Then there's a list of Talkgroups down below that for Gage county that show D. There's 2 that are encrypted, and again, I don't really care for those because I'm pretty sure the use of those are extremely limited.

I did take a drive last night and was able to get JOHNSON county and OTOE county. Two nearby counties. Showing a lot of the same information. Put in the Band Plan. Put in the control channels. Added Talkgroup IDs. And they worked flawlessly.

If there is something with GAGE that I'm missing, I'd love to hear it.

 

[jtwalker]

Are you within Gage Co when you attempt to monitor it? Depending on geography, transmit power and your antenna, maybe you're too far away? Just looking for the obvious here.

 

[KT4HX]

Agree with you Waggs that the listing for Gage County shows only a couple of Tac channels with part-time encryption. So if that info is correct, then you should be good, as you have been with other counties. Makes one wonder if Gage County has expanded their use of encryption and that fact has not found its way into the database. You might want to check into that in the Nebraska forum to see if others in your area know more about that.

 

[waggs15]

Are you within Gage Co when you attempt to monitor it? Depending on geography, transmit power and your antenna, maybe you're too far away? Just looking for the obvious here.

I am within Gage Co when I'm attempting. I am in Beatrice. The County Seat. The Sheriff's Office is right down the street. I can also take my scanner mobile. Throughout the County it doesn't want to pick anything up.

Agree with you Waggs that the listing for Gage County shows only a couple of Tac channels with part-time encryption. So if that info is correct, then you should be good, as you have been with other counties. Makes one wonder if Gage County has expanded their use of encryption and that fact has not found its way into the database. You might want to check into that in the Nebraska forum to see if others in your area know more about that.

I guess I'll start asking around if they have expanded their encryption. That was one of my fears as we started getting into all of this.

 

[smithken]

One thing to try would be to put your scanner into ID Search mode to see if you pick up anything on this system.

 

[waggs15]

One thing to try would be to put your scanner into ID Search mode to see if you pick up anything on this system.

With that, do I just program it like normal with TalkGroup IDs and all and just put it into search, not scan? I've always had mine in search, but I guess I'm not 100% familiar with the differences.

 

[waggs15]

Question on all of this. Let's say that Gage County is using DMR now. So my 996XT will not be able to pick it up. Would you guys have any good recommendations on a scanner? If I'm going to be purchasing a new one, I'd prefer a handheld one instead of one of these mobile ones. One that could listen in on DMR in the area.

I know that a county near here is DMR and I'm certain my scanner can't pick it up, so even if Gage isn't there but is just encrypted, I'd still be getting somewhat of an upgrade, so long as I can still listen to the ones I currently can.

 

[JethrowJohnson]

With that, do I just program it like normal with TalkGroup IDs and all and just put it into search, not scan? I've always had mine in search, but I guess I'm not 100% familiar with the differences.

ID Search is when the scanner receives any traffic on the network at all from any channel instead of only the ones that are programmed. That feature is handy when there might be other channel's they're using that you don't know about.

 

[JethrowJohnson]

Question on all of this. Let's say that Gage County is using DMR now. So my 996XT will not be able to pick it up. Would you guys have any good recommendations on a scanner? If I'm going to be purchasing a new one, I'd prefer a handheld one instead of one of these mobile ones. One that could listen in on DMR in the area.

I know that a county near here is DMR and I'm certain my scanner can't pick it up, so even if Gage isn't there but is just encrypted, I'd still be getting somewhat of an upgrade, so long as I can still listen to the ones I currently can.

I suppose it's possible, but I don't really see why they'd want to do that since they're already on SRS. Switching to DMR seems like the opposite of an improvement to me unless they were having trouble with SRS and found that DMR would work better. But if you want a DMR scanner just in case, I would recommend the Uniden Bearcat BCD325P2, BCD436HP, or the SDS100. I don't see any simulcast in your county so I don't think you absolutely need the SDS100, but it's one of the best ones you can get although it's really expensive. Just remember that with these scanners, they don't receive DMR straight out of the box, you'll have to pay for an upgrade to unlock that feature. Same for NXDN and EDACS ProVoice.

 

[hiegtx]

Question on all of this. Let's say that Gage County is using DMR now. So my 996XT will not be able to pick it up. Would you guys have any good recommendations on a scanner? If I'm going to be purchasing a new one, I'd prefer a handheld one instead of one of these mobile ones. One that could listen in on DMR in the area.

Look about a third of the page down on this Wiki page, for a list of scanners capable of receiving NXDN.

DMR - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

The Whistler scanners cannot trunk track a DMR system, but you can program frequencies, talkgroups, and color codes. If it is a true trunked system, you can enter it that way, but as noted, the Whistler units won't truly track it.

The Uniden scanners can track a DMR system, but they would require the paid upgrade to add that capability.

All of the scanners noted also can handle P25 Phase II systems, so you are covered on that if one of your area systems moves to Phase II.

 

[smithken]

Question on all of this. Let's say that Gage County is using DMR now. So my 996XT will not be able to pick it up. Would you guys have any good recommendations on a scanner? If I'm going to be purchasing a new one, I'd prefer a handheld one instead of one of these mobile ones. One that could listen in on DMR in the area.

I know that a county near here is DMR and I'm certain my scanner can't pick it up, so even if Gage isn't there but is just encrypted, I'd still be getting somewhat of an upgrade, so long as I can still listen to the ones I currently can.

For a handheld I would go with the 325P2 or the SDS100, both Unidens. Either will work good if simulcast is NOT an issue. If simulcast IS an issue then the SDS100 would be the way to go. Once you get the new scanner you will have to purchase the DMR key seperately, Uniden usually has the cheapest price for the DMR key.

 

[waggs15]

Okay, I have a few other things to test with this scanner right now, but I appreciate everyone's input. I might end up with the SDS100. I travel around my area here quite often and IDK what all of the places I travel to have just yet. I just want to get my home area settled before branching out too far.

 

[hiegtx]

Okay, I have a few other things to test with this scanner right now, but I appreciate everyone's input. I might end up with the SDS100. I travel around my area here quite often and IDK what all of the places I travel to have just yet. I just want to get my home area settled before branching out too far.

While, at present, you may not have to deal with simulcast, if you do travel, and take your scanner with you, the odds are near 100% that you will encounter simulcast if your travels take you to, or through, a large urban area.

 

[waggs15]

Yeah that's where my head is at. I'm so close to Lincoln, Nebraska. I know their police is encrypted, but I'm pretty sure that Fire and rescue isn't encrypted so having simulcast for that would be great.

 

[hiegtx]

Yeah that's where my head is at. I'm so close to Lincoln, Nebraska. I know their police is encrypted, but I'm pretty sure that Fire and rescue isn't encrypted so having simulcast for that would be great.

The system used in Lancaster County, including Lincoln, is indeed simulcast.