Whistler WS1040 on Phase 1 problem

[SirScottyM]

I work for the city of Cleveland. I just got a WS1040 to listen to what is going on at work. I live 5 minutes from the airport, and reception is crap from where I live. I am trying to listen to the Cleveland 800Mhz P25 Phase 1 system. All 5 Cleveland Police districts are loud and clear (same network). When I try to listen to Airfield Maintenance, I get nothing!! Talkgroup ID is 56057. I even verified it on the Broadcastify Calls page. I can hear the conversations on their fine, but I get nothing on the WS1040. I even had it at work, went to a couple of our radios and dead keyed, and still nothing. They show up on Broadcastify, but nothing on the WS1040. I notice that the signal strength while full most of the time can go from 5 bars to zero and back again randomly. I am using the stock multiband antenna at the moment. I ordered that REMTRONIX 800B antenna that everyone raves about, but it will not be here till next week because of the holidays. HELP!!!!

 

[cmjonesinc]

It could be the site you are monitoring. Not all sites carry every talkgroup on a system. It also appears a good bit of simulcast sites are used on that system, which could cause issues with that scanner. I'm not familiar with the area so perhaps someone else might be able to say which site(s) would carry the 56057 tg. If simulcast is causing a reception issue using a better antenna isn't likely going to help. A directional antenna or something to attenuate the singal could possibly be better. It would also help to know what control channel(s) you're monitoring.

 

[SirScottyM]

I have all four of the listed channels for Cuyahoga County. We carry hand helds all over the facility and they 'peg the needle' so to speak as far as signal strength.

 

[cmjonesinc]

I would start by programming the sites in individually and see if one of the non simulcast ones has good coverage. Then if that site carries the talkgroups you want to hear I would stick with it. If the only site that works well is the simulcast one you could try turning on the attenuator and see if that helps the losing signal problem. A subscriber radio such as your handheld is going to handle simulcast fine. That particular scanner however may have some problems. You may be able to use your handheld radio to see which site it is affliated with depending on if it has a screen and how it is configured. That may aid in solving your problems.

 

[tvengr]

What programming software are you using? Looking at the site locations, it appears that the Cleveland Simulcast site would be the one with the airport talkgroups. Can you receive Cleveland PD using only the simulcast site?

 

[Ronaldski]

I certainly feel its simulcast issues. If you take the radio farther away say into another bordering county but still have reception from Cleveland it will come in since your not getting hit by all the towers at that point.

They do mention about getting signal strengths going all over as well.

Also WS1040/WS1065 vs Simulcast 800

Unidens do much better in simulcast areas, SDS' were created to address it and works perfectly IMO. Are expensive though.