Why Does My SDR Deocode Audio While my BCD436HP Won't?

[ScubaJungle]

No. Total distance is not the issue. If one transmitter is a lot closer than all the others, you'll have good reception. But if you have two or more transmitters at roughly equal distances, you'll get crap reception regardless of how close or far they are.

I think I'm not conveying what Im trying to say properly, sorry - what I meant was, that when I was in a location that had multiple towers at similar distances (which should be crap reception), I was receiving fine. At home, where one tower is closer than all the others, I do not receive well on the BCD436.
Hopefully that clears it up a bit. I need to find a map of the system sites to confirm this, and point it out.

 

[jonwienke]

Distance isn't the only factor, terrain is just as important. Signal strength is the key factor. Multiple signals with similar strength will give you trouble, regardless of strength. But if one transmitter's signal dominates what your receiver is hearing, then it will work fine.

 

[ScubaJungle]

Distance isn't the only factor, terrain is just as important. Signal strength is the key factor. Multiple signals with similar strength will give you trouble, regardless of strength. But if one transmitter's signal dominates what your receiver is hearing, then it will work fine.

That would explain it then, I was probably getting one transmitter dominating the rest in the car, and at home, I'm getting multiple weak signals at near/same time, causing trouble for the scanner but not the SDR.
Thanks for the help and info, I appreciate it!