Steve...update of sort.......I did a Discovery of Truncked in that system and had 4 hits from the KCMO PD and Fire. Took a very long time for those 4 and haven't heard them since. When they were in process they were 3 bars each.........so its something but not much.
Did you try the back of set antenna, as opposed to your external discone?
I'm beginning to think you have simulcast issues. Take a look at the
map for the East Jackson County simulcast. See how the transmit sites are scattered out? These are all transmitting the same thing, on the same frequencies. That signal, on a given frequency, arrives at your location in waves, with just enough difference in timing that it hampers the scanners ability to receive & decode the transmissions properly. However, the East Jackson county site may not have the KCMO activity you want.
The map for the main Kansas City simulcast is
here. Again, there are multiple locations transmitting the same traffic, which can be a problem. However, look closely at the map. There is one site off to your west. If you used a directional antenna, aimed at it, that would reduce the conflicting signals from other directions.
Attached is a favorites list I put together. I edited it down to just the agencies and sites that I suspect would be in range for you, If there is still too much that does not interest you, you can edit it in Sentinel to either delete the excess, or simply mark them as "Avoid" (locked out).
The file is named as kcmo.hoe.txt. The *.hpe file format is not allowed by the forum. So, I renamed it by adding
.txt to it. Save the file to your pc, noting where you saved it. (If you 'save' it as kcmo.hpe, you can skip the next step.)
In Windows Explorer, right click on the kcmo.hpe.txt file and choose 'rename' from the pop-up menu.
Rename it to
kcmo.hpe.
Start Sentinel
Click on the drop-down File menu.
On that menu, choose 'Import from hpe file (Favorites list) and click OK.
Sentinel will ask what Favorites list you want to import it to. Choose the 'New favorites list' button at the bottom of the poop-up window.
Give it a name (I'd just use KCMO) and let Sentinel import the file.
You can click on the list to expand it & see what is there either in the main Sentinel window, or in the Favorites list editor.
To load the list in the scanner, first edit your profile. The Profile Editor can be accessed from the drop-down Edit menu, or by clicking on the icon on the second row (top of the Sentinel window) that resembles a pencil over a piece of lined paper. (It's just under the
V in the
View drop-down menu.
In your profile, click on the Scan Selection tab/ Make sure that the list is selected both to be downloaded to the scanner, as well as be monitored (both of those columns should be
On).
Write it to the scanner, and see if there is any improvement. You might also try the back of radio antenna, not extended, and place a baking sheet (like for cookies) beside it so that the antenna is 'facing west to east, with the sheet on the 'north' side to block signals from that direction (the other simulcast sites).
