Where are the BCDx36HP Users in Maryland?

[troymail]

I know there are several out there - either have a new radio, waiting for it to be delivered, or are on the fences thinking about it.....

Chime in --

Got one?

What area are you in?

Any digital simulcast systems (P25 Phase 1 or Phase 2) in your area?

How is the radio doing compared to what you had before?

What radio are you comparing the x36 to?

Just curious.....

 

[emtLarmy15]

536 will be ordered next week!


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[S1099]

Troy - I ordered the 436hp from The Ham Station today - with any luck, I may receive it on Friday. I will keep you posted. I am glad you're enjoying the 536.

 

[MacGnG]

i'm getting a 436, should ship friday. i'll let you know how it works out around here.

 

[troymail]

i'm getting a 436, should ship friday. i'll let you know how it works out around here.

Where's here? What systems will you be listening to? What radio do you have now?

 

[MacGnG]

live in Balto city, work in the county, go to howard a lot.

i played with a 396 for a lil bit but decided to get the 436 since i figure the newer model has a longer "life span" and more features. plus the zip code feature is awesome.

only reason i ordered from scanner master was because of free shipping and no sales tax.

one of the local shops was taking pre-orders but i was trying to save a few bucks.

i guess i coulda got it a bit faster if i picked it up from the store… but I've been waiting since december so whats a few more days.

 

[guyiv]

Got my 436 today. I am in Salisbury. I was listening to the OCPD patch earlier when I was in Ocean City. It sounded good, but not much activity tonight. The receive sensitivity is much improved.


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[troymail]

Got my 436 today. I am in Salisbury. I was listening to the OCPD patch earlier when I was in Ocean City. It sounded good, but not much activity tonight. The receive sensitivity is much improved.

I highly recommend keeping your radio in ID SEARCH mode on the FiRST system with all of the various sites programmed (OC, Worcester, Wicomico, Dorchester, Federalsburg, Talbot). Very little has been heard down that way as far as I know but thing should be "lighting up" soon I'd expect - at least a couple of new MSP talkgroups.

Also curious if Wicomico is close to deciding on the direction to take on a new trunked radio system (I think they were considering coming onto FiRST like Kent did - at least looking at the option). Even if they were to do that, I could be quite a ways out into the future.

 

[coopermj]

NE MARYLAND RECEPTION

Hi

Are there any users in Northeastern Maryland (Cecil County) monitoring FIRST?

I live just over the line in Delaware and was using the other brand of radio that would receive FIRST. I for the life of me could not get a lock in DE although it showed a fairly strong signal. I tried an outside yagi and also my Diamond Discone with no luck. In random areas of the house I would get an occasional burst of comms. Radio worked great inside a metal bldg in Elkton where I worked, but faded in the truck around the Glasgow area (Rt 40 & Rt 896). I'm really hoping that the new unit will work for me at home, but I really don't want to invest unless I know for sure.

Also, while I know the rage is all about trunking, has anyone tried dx'ing on conventional vhf/uhf public safety freqs with the new units?

Please let me know of your experiences (if any, good or bad) in the areas described above.

Thanks much.

 

[guyiv]

Troy

From what I have seen the fire departments have been buying APEX 7000XE or that is is what they look like.

I had FiRST decoding Wednesday and I was seeing an (ENC) guessing encrypted TG of 8591 on Wicomico. That was before I got my 436 yesterday


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[etc]

Who sells the 436HP in central Maryland?

 

[troymail]

Apparently bearcatwarehouse.com (Clarksville Maryland) is an option. The next closest might be HRO in New Castle DE and Woodbridge VA.

 

[troymail]

Hi

Are there any users in Northeastern Maryland (Cecil County) monitoring FIRST?

I live just over the line in Delaware and was using the other brand of radio that would receive FIRST. I for the life of me could not get a lock in DE although it showed a fairly strong signal. I tried an outside yagi and also my Diamond Discone with no luck. In random areas of the house I would get an occasional burst of comms. Radio worked great inside a metal bldg in Elkton where I worked, but faded in the truck around the Glasgow area (Rt 40 & Rt 896). I'm really hoping that the new unit will work for me at home, but I really don't want to invest unless I know for sure.

Also, while I know the rage is all about trunking, has anyone tried dx'ing on conventional vhf/uhf public safety freqs with the new units?

Please let me know of your experiences (if any, good or bad) in the areas described above.

Thanks much.

No guarantees but I can tell you that my PSR800 isn't able to receive Baltimore City and County from my home location but the 536 can. I even seem to be able to hear the Baltimore site of FiRST from Laurel/Howard County. I'd think it might be even easier from your location given the "environment".

 

[redburgundy]

My 436 arrived two days ago. I live in the Rockville/Potomac area. Loudoun comes in well. Fairfax is not perfect but much better than with any of the GRE receivers. DC Fire comes in OK. Lots of synthesized voice dispatches on DCFD TG 01.

The Prince Georges signal is too weak, but today I drove into the District and PG was received fine. Arlington and Alexandria transmissions were also receivable there.

I briefly tried out the conventional frequencies, and I was able to hear the Frederick Barracks of the MD State Police at my home, which has never happened before. This is all with the stock antenna.

One problem--reading the display.
Mounting the 436 in a holder in my car, the reflections were so bad that I couldn't read the display. It's also partly because the display is so busy and the characters are so small.
And there seems to be no way to reliably turn on the backlight when receiving digital transmissions.

Also, speaker output sometimes sounds muffled.

 

[troymail]

My 436 arrived two days ago. I live in the Rockville/Potomac area. Loudoun comes in well. Fairfax is not perfect but much better than with any of the GRE receivers. DC Fire comes in OK. Lots of synthesized voice dispatches on DCFD TG 01.

The Prince Georges signal is too weak, but today I drove into the District and PG was received fine. Arlington and Alexandria transmissions were also receivable there.

I briefly tried out the conventional frequencies, and I was able to hear the Frederick Barracks of the MD State Police at my home, which has never happened before. This is all with the stock antenna.

One problem--reading the display.
Mounting the 436 in a holder in my car, the reflections were so bad that I couldn't read the display. It's also partly because the display is so busy and the characters are so small.
And there seems to be no way to reliably turn on the backlight when receiving digital transmissions.

Also, speaker output sometimes sounds muffled.

The stock antenna does OK -- but you can definitely extend the reception range/quality using a RS 800 Mhz rubber duck antenna.

I've found that the lower the volume, the more the 536 sounds muffled. If I turn it up and move into another room (listen remotely) it sounds better. Not sure how far you can go on the 436 without distortion

I've been using the 536 in my truck and while driving it it sometimes very hard to see the display. You get hung up looking at the 5 line display and either don't think about or don't want to switch to the 3 line mode which presents less information but all in larger font. Changing the contrast doesn't help me much - but it would be really nice if it could be made brighter.

 

[troymail]

I'm interested in hearing reports from users on how well the radio performs on Motorola systems with digital voice - Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery, (non-Phase1/Phase2 P25 systems). Specifically, in your opinion, how does your x36 perform on digital reception/decode on these systems compared to your other radio(s)? What radio(s) are you comparing the x36 results to? How far are you from the system (in county, two counties over, etc.)?

I've noticed differences myself and I'll post but I wanted to hear other users' thoughts before posting my observations (I don't want to influence what you think in your observations/reports).

 

[redburgundy]

Dallas Lipp submitted this report regarding Montgomery County:
The 436 seems to be clipping more of the start of the messages and generally doesn't sound as good as the 396; the 436 generally sounds a little choppy even when then 396 sounds good.
See http://forums.radioreference.com/un...ulcast-performance-thread-13.html#post2121020 for his whole report.
I can echo that.
I had my GRE PSR-500 side by side with my BCD436HP, holding on the same TG. The 436 often clips the start of messages. I also occasionally hear a burst of noise on the 436 that does not occur on the PSR-500. And sometimes the 436 renders a communication at very low volume. I'm located in Montgomery County near Fire Station 33.

 

[troymail]

Ditto poor reception on the Upper Shore system... More complete report later....

 

[spannman21048]

Finksburg MD with a BCD536HP

I am in Finksburg, MD which is in Carroll County and very close to Baltimore County. I have been listening to scanners for most of my life. I also own a few old scanners, but this is my first capable of receiving digital signals.

All of the surrounding counties (Baltimore, Howard, Montgomety and some of the PA Counties) are all digital, so I could only listen to Carroll County and the Maryland State Police.

I received the BCD536HP last Thursday and finally had some time this weekend to play with it.

I have been able to receive Montgomery, Frederick, Baltimore, Howard, Harford and some PA counties from my home, which is awesome. I have missed listening to these other counties.

Still learning about the Sentinal software, favories and quick keys. I just need some time. I really enjoy this radio so far.

 

[dwlipp]

As noted by redburgundy above (http://forums.radioreference.com/2121186-post17.html) I have posted a few items over on the http://forums.radioreference.com/2121020-post257.html about my observations of the 436's performance so far; my basic experience with a few hours of time monitoring Montgomery County’s Motorola Type II system that uses the P25 CAI is that my 396 out performs my 436.

Of course the 436 will handle X2 & P25 Phase 2 modulation that stops the 396 dead in its tracks...