Want to buy a hand held scanner for P25 system in the Spanaway/ Parkland ,wa area.

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Wulfe

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Oct 20, 2016
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Spanaway.wa
Still can not get any transmissions for my area. even with new antenna's on my brand new 400 dollar Uniden 436. So Looking for a local scanner that I can ferify working for my area. And it can be used. Thanks for all the help from people on this sight. That worked with me to get it working. So if you have a used one I can swap or buy would be great. But I need to verify it works for my area. Hand held or mobile I quess don not mater. thanks again to all.
 

nessnet

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Wulfe:
You don't line out in the boonies. And, you are not that far away from multiple transmitter sites. So, I seriously doubt your 436 is the culprit here, unless it is defective.

But... you have said you pick up transmissions, so I doubt it is your radio - but check to be sure. What does it pick up there? Any 800Mhz transmissions at all? Also, try the weather (WX operation). Basically, if you get transmissions, it is not a bad antenna connection / front end.

Go up towards Tacoma or Lakewood - get away fro JBLM. Does it work?

I'm still inclined to believe it is a setting of some kind. Way back, when I got a TRX-1, it wouldn't pick up most anything - I absolutely thought it was defective. Then, after days and days of banging my head, I figured out that the system I wanted was rebanded (RR was wrong). Immediately, the radio sprang to life.

I'd recommend to keep at it. I gave you the TGs and freqs, but if your settings are wrong.......
 

b1100mac

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Corvallis, Montana
Wulfe:
You don't line out in the boonies. And, you are not that far away from multiple transmitter sites. So, I seriously doubt your 436 is the culprit here, unless it is defective.

But... you have said you pick up transmissions, so I doubt it is your radio - but check to be sure. What does it pick up there? Any 800Mhz transmissions at all? Also, try the weather (WX operation). Basically, if you get transmissions, it is not a bad antenna connection / front end.

Go up towards Tacoma or Lakewood - get away fro JBLM. Does it work?

I'm still inclined to believe it is a setting of some kind. Way back, when I got a TRX-1, it wouldn't pick up most anything - I absolutely thought it was defective. Then, after days and days of banging my head, I figured out that the system I wanted was rebanded (RR was wrong). Immediately, the radio sprang to life.

I'd recommend to keep at it. I gave you the TGs and freqs, but if your settings are wrong.......
Your 436 should work fine, it is a setting or programming issue. When i lived in parkland i had an outside antenna aimed at orting and heard all pierce county sheriff traffic. Try this,,,, ONLY program the pcso orting site with the east and west talkgroups on a NEW group number in the radio (then only activate this group to isolate it) and see if that Works. If not do it again using the buckley site,,,,for now forget about the tacoma site at your location unless you are driving downtown. from where you are at you should hear east and west strong on the orting simulcast. The rest of the simulcast sites were useless to me
 

Wulfe

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Spanaway.wa
Your 436 should work fine, it is a setting or programming issue. When i lived in parkland i had an outside antenna aimed at orting and heard all pierce county sheriff traffic. Try this,,,, ONLY program the pcso orting site with the east and west talkgroups on a NEW group number in the radio (then only activate this group to isolate it) and see if that Works. If not do it again using the buckley site,,,,for now forget about the tacoma site at your location unless you are driving downtown. from where you are at you should hear east and west strong on the orting simulcast. The rest of the simulcast sites were useless to me
I will try that. thanks. I just moved back here a couple yrs ago. I may be moving back there soon. My Boy is in Goodyear.. Not sure where you are down there.
 

Wulfe

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Oct 20, 2016
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Spanaway.wa
In the sentenal software: Does any one know how to input the Base, Band Plan in the FL editor. Next to the Frequency's. I noticed that in my soft ware it is not automatically entered when I add freq"s in the FL editor section. The band Plan is not automatically added when you Write to the scanner. So there is no Band Plan in some of my Systems/ Channels. I am trying to read the Soft ware manual for my BCD436HP And can not under stand it. How to edit Band Plan i the soft ware. Maybe this is why I am not hearing some of the East PCSO .
No ban Plan associated with the freq'sAllso there are a lot of freq"s in the RR data base that are not in the Software data base for Wa / Pierce County I ran across this when I was reading about (Adding a Rebanded System Manually via Sentinel) In my FL band Pann it onnly ask for a base Freq and the Step. Not a lower and a Upper freq. So I am stuck on how to figure out the Base Freq.
I hope this kinda makes sience to eveer is reading it.
 

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RBMTS

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Hello Wulfe
Is your question about entering a band plan for SS911 in Pierce? That is a P25 system and you don't need to enter a band plan. I'm confused because your pictures seem to reference what looks like Frederick County MD.
 

RBMTS

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I've re-read your post. You don't have to put in a band plan for the SS911 system to hear PCSO. P25 trunking systems push the band plan out in the control channel data stream. So your scanner will obtain that information automatically. So that is not a consideration for you.

There is something else that is causing you not to receive PCSO East. Do you try what B1100MAC suggested by creating a new FL with ONLY the Orting site and ONLY the two PCSO dispatch channels?

I'm wondering if you are suffering from simulcast distortion. One some systems and particular areas, simulcast systems could cause scanners to miss transmissions. The SDS series scanner from Uniden fixes that problem for the most part. I'm not saying that is the case here and I wouldn't want you to go spend $700 until we know more.

I might almost suggest you reset your scanner and start all over again. You could be making changes but the scanner is still looking at old programming. Do you know how to reset the scanner using "Clear User Data" in Sentinel?
 

Wulfe

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Oct 20, 2016
Messages
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Spanaway.wa
Hello Wulfe
Is your question about entering a band plan for SS911 in Pierce? That is a P25 system and you don't need to enter a band plan. I'm confused because your pictures seem to reference what looks like Frederick County MD.
If I scrow through the setting on my scanner it shows a band plan for South simulcast, But not for Orting simulcast, Both frequency ranges are about the same. But if I go in the FL editing in Sentenal it does not show any thing in the Band Plans. Except for the Master band ban.
Thought two files I attached where just samples that i looking at Adding a Rebanded System Manually via Sentinel I was reading about.
Allso Because there are more freqences in the RR for SS911 then there are in the sentinal Software. So I was trying to get thought other freq"s into my scanner also. Does this make any sense?
Yes I seen how to Clear User data in there. IF all else fails it would be worth a shot.
I all so took a drive to South Hill about 6 miles away from JBLM Base. Which did not seem to make any difference in signals. And closer to Orting. even with the two different antennas.
Yes to B1100MAC suggested by creating a new FL with ONLY the Orting site and ONLY the two PCSO dispatch channels?
 

Wulfe

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Oct 20, 2016
Messages
34
Location
Spanaway.wa
I've re-read your post. You don't have to put in a band plan for the SS911 system to hear PCSO. P25 trunking systems push the band plan out in the control channel data stream. So your scanner will obtain that information automatically. So that is not a consideration for you.

There is something else that is causing you not to receive PCSO East. Do you try what B1100MAC suggested by creating a new FL with ONLY the Orting site and ONLY the two PCSO dispatch channels?

I'm wondering if you are suffering from simulcast distortion. One some systems and particular areas, simulcast systems could cause scanners to miss transmissions. The SDS series scanner from Uniden fixes that problem for the most part. I'm not saying that is the case here and I wouldn't want you to go spend $700 until we know more.

I might almost suggest you reset your scanner and start all over again. You could be making changes but the scanner is still looking at old programming. Do you know how to reset the scanner using "Clear User Data" in Sentinel?
Not sure how to (push the band plan out in the control channel data stream). So your scanner will obtain that information automatically.
 

RBMTS

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There is nothing you need to do regarding rebanding or band plan. On P25 systems, the setting of the band plan is automatic when the scanner receives the data stream from that tower site.

Yes to B1100MAC suggested by creating a new FL with ONLY the Orting site and ONLY the two PCSO dispatch channels

So do you hear or see any communications when you have just the Orting site running?
 

Wulfe

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Oct 20, 2016
Messages
34
Location
Spanaway.wa
Not sure how to (push the band plan out in the control channel data stream). So your scanner will obtain that information automatically.
suggested by creating a new FL with ONLY the Orting site and ONLY the two PCSO dispatch channels? did that! Orting has these these freqs in the edit ban plan in the radio settings (But Not in the South simulcast setting). 851.00625 / 6.2500 and 762.00625 / 6.2500 also the same freqs but the step changes to 12.5000. Both simulcast are in about the range of about 769 mgh So why is the Orting band plan feqs in that 762-851 range.band and not in the south simulcast. The only thing in the radio now,after I did the full "Clear User Data" .is South sound 911/ Law/ PCSO,EAST & west/ south simulcast/ Orting. Tacoma/ buckly/ and WSP west seattle, Iremoved out of the system.
Still nothing coming through my area. Nothing with in about 4-5 miles of me. all out side of me.
 

Wulfe

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Joined
Oct 20, 2016
Messages
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Location
Spanaway.wa
suggested by creating a new FL with ONLY the Orting site and ONLY the two PCSO dispatch channels? did that! Orting has these these freqs in the edit ban plan in the radio settings (But Not in the South simulcast setting). 851.00625 / 6.2500 and 762.00625 / 6.2500 also the same freqs but the step changes to 12.5000. Both simulcast are in about the range of about 769 mgh So why is the Orting band plan feqs in that 762-851 range.band and not in the south simulcast. The only thing in the radio now,after I did the full "Clear User Data" .is South sound 911/ Law/ PCSO,EAST & west/ south simulcast/ Orting. Tacoma/ buckly/ and WSP west seattle, Iremoved out of the system.
Still nothing coming through my area. Nothing with in about 4-5 miles of me. all out side of me.
I tried to send you my hpe. formated file so how do I change it so I send it. I have it all ready in my down loads.
 

b1100mac

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Unless things have changed since I moved out of tacoma, I was told by the Pierce County radio guy that the south repeater or south simulcast which is on Graham Hill is used for data only. I do not know if that is still the case but possibly so. Nevertheless, I never had it in my 436. For info west Seattle simulcast is only active when by chance a pierce county deputy would go to Seattle then his radio with associate with that tower. So again it got shut off. I actually downloaded all of the south sound 911 system in my program, then muted or shut off all but Orting in the checkbox area. I had a $30 Yagi antenna pointed from Parkland to Orting. (S.E.) i heard everything Pcso Had to offer. Remember east & west are the only talkgroups in the clear, all the rest are encrypted (e & w tac, records etc)
I had 3 436’s with a three way splitter on the yagi (east, west & fire) and i heard everything. fire of course was on the other complete system along with tacoma pd, and lakewood pd and county and tacoma fire . also remember that the wsp talkgroup on the ss911 system is a patch so troopers can talk with deputies and vice versa,but it is switchable By them to make it work. Sometimes wsp radio would leave it up on their console so you heard all tacoma wsp traffic
my recommendation is to find some good soul on this site who has his radio set up right that is willing to meet up with you with his laptop an put his program in your radio. I met some great scanner enthusiasts when i set up their 436 or 536 radios.
 

hiegtx

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I tried to send you my hpe. formated file so how do I change it so I send it. I have it all ready in my down loads.
To post or send a file on the forums, it has to be one of the approved file types, which do not include the hpe files for Sentinal, nor the file types used by most other programming software, But you can work around that.

Use Windows Explorer to find your exported *.hpe file on your PC.
Click on the file to select it
Now, <Right><Click on the file.
That will get you a pop-up menu with a number of choices
Select "Send to"
That then gives you a few more choices.
Select the one labeled as "Compressed (zipped) folder
You will now have two files with the same name, one with the hpe file extention, the other ending in zip
You can attach the zip file to a post, or send it thru a message on the forums.
 

Wulfe

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Joined
Oct 20, 2016
Messages
34
Location
Spanaway.wa
Unless things have changed since I moved out of tacoma, I was told by the Pierce County radio guy that the south repeater or south simulcast which is on Graham Hill is used for data only. I do not know if that is still the case but possibly so. Nevertheless, I never had it in my 436. For info west Seattle simulcast is only active when by chance a pierce county deputy would go to Seattle then his radio with associate with that tower. So again it got shut off. I actually downloaded all of the south sound 911 system in my program, then muted or shut off all but Orting in the checkbox area. I had a $30 Yagi antenna pointed from Parkland to Orting. (S.E.) i heard everything Pcso Had to offer. Remember east & west are the only talkgroups in the clear, all the rest are encrypted (e & w tac, records etc)
I had 3 436’s with a three way splitter on the yagi (east, west & fire) and i heard everything. fire of course was on the other complete system along with tacoma pd, and lakewood pd and county and tacoma fire . also remember that the wsp talkgroup on the ss911 system is a patch so troopers can talk with deputies and vice versa,but it is switchable By them to make it work. Sometimes wsp radio would leave it up on their console so you heard all tacoma wsp traffic
my recommendation is to find some good soul on this site who has his radio set up right that is willing to meet up with you with his laptop an put his program in your radio. I met some great scanner enthusiasts when i set up their 436 or 536 radios.
(my recommendation is to find some good soul on this site who has his radio set up right that is willing to meet up with you with his laptop an put his program in your radio.) I met some great scanner enthusiasts when i set up their 436 or 536 radios.
Yes you are right. I am trying to meet Saturday with the Tacoma Ham radio club. Who help me get my License a couple yrs ago. I know some in that group has scanner a so. So hopefully I can get some help. Because they programing there own radio. And are advanced enough to know about Radios. I all so have been reading about this Simulcasting issues. Maybe they Know about that.
My Ham radio instructor for getting my License was dyslexic as I am. I think it was the only reason I was able to pass the first test.
Thanks for your help Tring to get me through all this.
[/QUOTE]
 

Wulfe

Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2016
Messages
34
Location
Spanaway.wa
To post or send a file on the forums, it has to be one of the approved file types, which do not include the hpe files for Sentinal, nor the file types used by most other programming software, But you can work around that.

Use Windows Explorer to find your exported *.hpe file on your PC.
Click on the file to select it
Now, <Right><Click on the file.
That will get you a pop-up menu with a number of choices
Select "Send to"
That then gives you a few more choices.
Select the one labeled as "Compressed (zipped) folder
You will now have two files with the same name, one with the hpe file extention, the other ending in zip
You can attach the zip file to a post, or send it thru a message on the forums.
To post or send a file on the forums, it has to be one of the approved file types, which do not include the hpe files for Sentinal, nor the file types used by most other programming software, But you can work around that.

Use Windows Explorer to find your exported *.hpe file on your PC.
Click on the file to select it
Now, <Right><Click on the file.
That will get you a pop-up menu with a number of choices
Select "Send to"
That then gives you a few more choices.
Select the one labeled as "Compressed (zipped) folder
You will now have two files with the same name, one with the hpe file extention, the other ending in zip
You can attach the zip file to a post, or send it thru a message on the forums.
This is very helpful I think I under stand what you say. Thank very much.
 

Wulfe

Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2016
Messages
34
Location
Spanaway.wa
Unless things have changed since I moved out of tacoma, I was told by the Pierce County radio guy that the south repeater or south simulcast which is on Graham Hill is used for data only. I do not know if that is still the case but possibly so. Nevertheless, I never had it in my 436. For info west Seattle simulcast is only active when by chance a pierce county deputy would go to Seattle then his radio with associate with that tower. So again it got shut off. I actually downloaded all of the south sound 911 system in my program, then muted or shut off all but Orting in the checkbox area. I had a $30 Yagi antenna pointed from Parkland to Orting. (S.E.) i heard everything Pcso Had to offer. Remember east & west are the only talkgroups in the clear, all the rest are encrypted (e & w tac, records etc)
I had 3 436’s with a three way splitter on the yagi (east, west & fire) and i heard everything. fire of course was on the other complete system along with tacoma pd, and lakewood pd and county and tacoma fire . also remember that the wsp talkgroup on the ss911 system is a patch so troopers can talk with deputies and vice versa,but it is switchable By them to make it work. Sometimes wsp radio would leave it up on their console so you heard all tacoma wsp traffic
my recommendation is to find some good soul on this site who has his radio set up right that is willing to meet up with you with his laptop an put his program in your radio. I met some great scanner enthusiasts when i set up their 436 or 536 radios.
sorry if I all ready asked you But which Yagi directional antenna did you get. And can I get it through Amazon. I have a freind that can order it for me.
 

b1100mac

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Feb 23, 2013
Messages
191
Location
Corvallis, Montana
Just a 700-800 yagi about 14-16 inches long. I put it on a piece of electrical conduit out a window so i could tweak it.
Also be aware of what coax connectors come on the yagi, i used pl259 on the antenna itself and cable tv connector on the radio itself with the proper adapter which you will need to get also. If your coax run is long like mine was (80’) i would recommend using LMR240 low loss coax. Send me an IM with your contact info and i will look around my stuff and might be able to send you most of the stuff you need if you pay for shipping. I might still have a yagi...bob
 

rlmurray56

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Puyallup, WA
Wulfe, I went back through your various posts and Something occurred to me. Are you receiving ANY audio at all on TG-40106 PCSO East when you just sit on that channel and listen ? Or no audio of any type at all ? I noticed you have been saying that you were hearing nothing for your "area" of Parkland/Spanaway. Now, I'm curious if you are simply saying you are not hearing specific sheriff calls into those areas ? That TG covers the ENTIRE East Pierce County, not just Spanaway/Parkland and you will hear EVERYTHING at some point , and at some point you WILL hear sheriff calls into the Spanaway/Parkland area as well. I hope that makes sense. I listen to this TG frequently from both/either the Orting and Buckley sites using just a 12" indoor antenna with an RTL-SDR dongle and computer software.
 

Wulfe

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Oct 20, 2016
Messages
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Location
Spanaway.wa
I do hear audio on TG 40106 PCSO East, but it is all out side of my Spanaway area. No spanaway / Parkland area. I all so use to have the RTL_SDR system on my computer. Nothing there eather ! I under stand I should be hearing every thing on TG-40106. But I am Not. Even if I go out side my apartment. Or go out to the Graham Puyaup area. I don't get it. I am starting to think McCord Air Force base right next to me Is Blocking it some how. But that don't make any since eather. (Why would they) I can sit hear and hear it on my pphone or computer. But not on the radio itself.
I even drove over to the tower a few blocks away so I would not be right on top of it. Still nothing in about a hrs time of just sitting there. read up on the simulcasting and some fixes for it. Turn squelch all the way down an so on. Even just tried Orting, buy it self with out the South sound Simulcast. Both ways , Even just buckly with the PCSO east .Reset every thing on the scanner and started fresh , Incase there was a memory issue bleeding over.
I think I have tried every thing every one has been trying to help me through this. I may be going to try a directional antenna soon with help from B1100mac .
 
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