Author Archives: Rich Carlson

About Rich Carlson

June 12, 2015 - Scanner Master is extremely proud to announce that Rich Carlson, past-president of the Chicago Area Radio Monitors Association (CARMA) and one of the nation's leading scanner experts, is now part of our team. Rich recently retired as a Sergeant for the Winnetka, Illinois, Police Department and is now assisting Scanner Master customers in choosing the right scanner for their area, answering technical questions and helping us to develop new products and services. Rich is a highly respected member of the monitoring community who has decades of experience with all types of scanners and communications receivers, antennas, software and accessories. He has a great knowledge of the radio systems that we all monitor as he himself helped to institute and manage many in his time. We couldn't be more excited to have Rich on board. Rich Carlson, N9JIG, has been a railfan since the late 1970's and a radio listener since the 1960's. He has written several scanner guides, including the Scanner Master Illinois Communications Guides. He was a Director of the Chicago Area Radio Monitoring Association, the largest scanner club in the USA and edits the renown CARMA Profiles. He has written several articles for Monitoring Times and other publications. He also owns the Illinois Highways Page at www.n9jig.com. He has a collection of over 25 scanners and dozens of transceivers and specialized receivers. Professionally, he was a Sergeant with an Illinois police department, in was charge of 9-1-1, Communications and Records. He is happily married with a grown son.

The Digital Blues (or why does my local digital system sound like #$^?)

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So you bought that fancy new digital scanner and while it usually works great, sometimes on certain digital systems it doesn’t seem to sound right. Sometimes it just drops words or phrases but sometimes it drops the whole conversation.

You try moving the scanner around or connect to a better antenna and it doesn’t help or even gets worse. Before you throw the scanner against the wall in frustration read on:

We feel your pain! The problem isn’t you or in or the programming. It is called “Simulcast Digital Distortion” or more commonly “Bit Error”. Our friends at RadioReference have a great technical explanation of this in their Wiki at http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Simulcast_digital_distortion

The 10 cent explanation of this is that you have signals from more than one tower arriving at your radio at ever-so-slightly different times. These signals compete with each other and tend to null each other out. This is why sometimes the radio will stop but you won’t hear any or part of it.

There are a couple things you can do to help get past this issue. If your radio has an attenuator function try that first. This reduces the signal and hopefully will force your radio to only be able to receive a single tower site. You can also try moving the antenna around the room to see if you can find a “sweet spot”. If you are using a telescoping antenna try adjusting it to different lengths or angles. Also try opening the squelch all the way. If all you are listening to is the digital system then this will not affect other channels.

If all of this fails then you may need to try a directional antenna. Commonly called “Yagi’s” these antennas will direct your reception in a single direction and hopefully force your radio to hear only a single tower.

This type of digital distortion usually is less prevalent with newer models of scanners and firmware updates usually reduce it as well. Make sure you have a current model scanner and that its firmware is up to date.

 

Favorite Scanner: Uniden HomePatrol   

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This weeks Favorite Scanner comes from our Programming Manager Greg Jolly. Greg likes the Uniden HomePatrol best for its ease of use.

The Uniden HomePatrol was introduced several years ago to address several concerns. Many people wanted to listen to their local police, fire and other radio activity but did not know (or want to know) how to program scanners. The HomePatrol brought a whole new dimension to scanning: instead of learning frequencies you just put in your ZIP Code.

The HomePatrol really makes Greg happy, being the ScannerMaster Programmer it makes his job easier! It just requires a periodic update to keep it humming along.

The HomePatrol 2 was introduced recently to cover those areas using “Phase 2” digital, otherwise it works the same as the original HomePatrol.

 

Scanner Tip of the Week: Plural Radios, Single Antenna

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So you really got bit by the scanner bug and have several scanners to really keep tabs on the action. You really want to have a better antenna for them all but don’t want an antenna farm growing on your roof or your attic. What to do?

There are several good ways to share one antenna with 2 or more radios. There are also several bad ways. The bad ways might work good enough to hear some local stuff but that is about it.

The best way to share an antenna with multiple radios is by use of a Multicoupler. A Multicoupler has a connector for the antenna and 2, 4 8 or more ports for radios.Multicouplers allow signals from the antenna to pass thru it to multiple radios and prevents interference between them. “Active Multicouplers” have low power pre-amps in them to overcome the connector loss present whenever you put something between the radio and its antenna. “Passive Multicouplers” do not have the amplifier and will degrade the signal a bit.

Stridsberg makes several models of Multicouplers tailor made for scanners. Stridsberg is the most respected name in scanner multicouplers and ScannerMaster is proud to carry them. Up to 8 scanners can be connected to a single scanner antenna without loss. Check these out at https://www.scannermaster.com/Multicouplers_for_Police_Scanner_Radios_s/43.htm

If your needs are less stringent then you could use a splitter. Splitters are different in that they merely provide a way to share an antenna with two or more radios. These do not have the circuitry to reduce or overcome signal loss. Splitters can usually be used in the reverse way, to allow 2 antennas to feed a single radio, something that multicouplers usually cannot do.

One could just use coax “T” or “Y” adaptors but these provide no protection against interference or signal loss and are not recommended.

Regardless of the methods use there is no substitute for quality cables. Using high-quality coax, both for the downlink from the antenna and for the jumpers to the radios will reduce the loss and increase the signal strength. Don’t forget to use quality connectors if you make the patch cables yourself. Avoid the use of adapters as much as you can, everyone adds a little more loss to the line.

Favorite Scanner of the Week: Bearcat BC780XLT

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Here at ScannerMaster we have decided to highlight some of our favorite scanners of the past and today. For the first entry in the series we have chosen what may well win the “Favorite Scanner” award from more people than any other radio: The Bearcat BC780XLT. Both Jonathan and Rich C. chose this as our favorite scanner from the past.

The “780”  as it is well known, came out in 2000 and was an instant hit with the scanner community. It had 500 channels and came with trunktracking capabilities for Motorola, EDACS and LTR, computer access and many other features.

It was joined in 2003 by the BC785 which had 1000 channels and added a digital card for use on digital conventional and trunked systems, and that in turn was quickly replaced by the BC796D that added support for 9600 Baud digital trunked systems.

The BC780XLT combined a compact package that was equally at home mounted in a vehicle as it was on the desktop. Dealers were sold out as soon as they came into stock and despite it’s high price of about $600 (about $1000 in today’s dollars) people couldn’t get enough of them.

An entire cottage industry for accessories for the 780/785/796 scanners was created. ScannerMaster designed an internal battery pack for the series so one could use it in the field. A nylon carry case so one could carry it around with them was sold for it as well. A Remote Head kit was built to allow more flexible mounting in vehicles, and many other accessories were developed.

The BC780 t is still used by many today for aviation and railroads as well as other analog uses.

BC780XLT

BC780XLT

Scanner Tip: Indoor Antennas

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Chances are, if you have a scanner in the house, you have wondered if you need an outside antenna. While an outside antenna will almost always work better than an indoor antenna, sometimes that just isn’t feasible. If you live in a rental property, apartment or condo, or in an HOA restricted area you may not be able or allowed to install an outside antenna. Sometimes you just don’t want to go thru the work to do it. Maybe the spouse or significant other just won’t allow it.

There are alternatives, but as they are also compromises, they may work as well. They may however be good enough to allow you to listen to your targets. Depending on your unique situation, some or all of these ideas may or not work for you. Remember: There is never a guarantee that any of these ideas will ensure that you will be able to monitor your targets.

Let’s start with the simple ideas first. Your new scanner comes with a back of the set (or side of the set for a Home Patrol) antenna. This is usually a metal telescoping rod or a rubber-duck style antenna. Sometimes better reception may be had by a simple relocation or tilting the existing antenna. Maybe move the radio with its antenna closer to a window or away from the large metal objects will help.

The next step would be a better BOS (Back Of Set) antenna. ScannerMaster sells a variety of antennas, from direct replacements (if you lost or broke the one that came with the radio) as well as more advanced antennas. If you mostly monitor 700/800 MHz. systems a specialized antenna for these bands will work better than a general use antenna.

If these don’t help, then you may need a remote inside antenna like the Nomad. The Nomad is a wire antenna and is amplified (active). This allows you to mount the antenna in a better location and leave the radio where you want it.

The next step might be using a base station antenna indoors. ScannerMaster has several of these types. Basically this means a base station antenna with some sort of base to support it along with appropriate coax and connectors. These can be set up on a balcony or behind the drapes for aesthetic purposes.

You can also try a mobile antenna adapted to home use. Try a magnet mount antenna on top of a large metal cabinet, window air conditioner or balcony railing. Window mount antennas can be mounted on an apartment window just like you would on a car. Suction cup mounts work in a home just as well as in a car.

If you have access to an attic then you might try putting a base station antenna there. Try to stay away from large metal objects. If you have metallic shingle liners or solar panels they would likely interfere with your reception.

If you install an antenna outside, either on the roof or a tower, make sure to properly ground the installation to protect from lightening and watch out for electrical wires! Consider having them professionally installed. Use a high quality coax. Usually thicker cables work better at higher frequencies and longer distances. 50 or 75-ohm cable is fine for scanners since you will not be transmitting thru them. We will have a blog post soon all about Coax!

When bad things happen to good scanners: Heap Errors

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On certain Radio Shack, GRE and Whistler scanners, specifically the ones using Object Oriented programming, one can be beset with an error message that reads “Heap Error” along with some seemingly random text.

These are caused when the radio doesn’t know how to deal with an Object programmed into the memory, usually a Talkgroup (TGRP) not assigned to a  Trunked System (TSYS).

If you can get into the radio programming you should make sure ALL talkgroups entered as Objects are assigned to a Trunked System. This is pretty easy to do in ARC500 or other programs but a lot more difficult without software. These radios are hard enough to program manually let alone find orphaned TGRP objects.

When programming by hand be sure to associate every TGRP with a TSYS BEFORE saving it. When programming with software sort the TGRP list by TSYS and make sure all are assigned to a TSYS. If it says “New” for the TSYS then you need to change or delete the TGRP. Also check for duplicates in your list of TGRP’s. These can also cause errors.

If you don’t have software to program the radio and can’t get into the radio to edit the objects you may well have to reinitialize it and start all over. (Press 0, then 1, then enter during the startup screen.) While this will erase the radio it will get rid of the dreaded Heap Error. If you have software you can usually read the radio even if a Heap Error is present.

Object Oriented programming is used for the following scanners:

GRE: PSR310, PSR410, PSR500, PSR600

RadioShack: PRO-106, PRO-197, PRO-651, PRO-652

Whistler: WS-1040, WS-1065

Scanner Tip: Antenna Connectors       

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Ever wonder why some scanners have different type of antenna connectors? Ever wonder what BNC, SMA or PL259 stand for? Read on and learn!

Most scanners these days have either a BNC or an SMA antenna connector. BNC’s are the ones with the round barrel (about the same diameter as a pencil) and 2 little nubs that you twist on and off to. SMA’s are smaller threaded connectors. Both SMA and BNC mounts have a small center conductor that is surrounded by a ground that is the barrel.

Why are these used for scanners? Well, it is because they work well at a reasonable cost. For years the BNC has been pretty much the standard scanner antenna connector, replacing the old “Motorola” antenna connect that had been around since dirt was invented. Some old scanners used the “UHF” connector. Almost all scanners over the last 10 years or so use either the BNC except for some handhelds that use the SMA.

Until scanners started to standardize on the BNC handhelds use a wide variety of connections, including several different threaded connectors, earphone style plugs and permanently mounted antennas. Most mobile or desktop scanners used Motorola connectors since these were also used on most car radios. Some old scanners used SO-239’s (the female part of the UHF connector), which were common for CB’s and other two-way radios. By the 1980’s many scanners started showing up with BNC’s, both handhelds and base/mobiles.

As handheld scanners shrunk in size some started having SMA connectors replacing the BNC’s. This save a bit of room but forced the manufacturers to produce new antennas and include adaptors. Some scanners that have SMA’s also come with a BNC adapter to allow you to use your existing BNC antennas and accessories, ScannerMaster also sells these adapters.

BNC’s is a bayonet type connection. These press in, with the nubs fitting into grooves. They get locked in with a slight twist and this provides a good physical and RF connection.

SMA’s are a fine threaded connection, the connector itself is smaller than the BNC, both inside the radio and out. With smaller radios, like the BCD396 series, this little bit of extra space helps. Since most scanner users already have BNC antennas, coax connectors and accessories, the manufacturers often include an SMA to BNC adapter to let you use all your existing goodies. Some high-end radio receovers come with “N” connectors. Look close at these and you might notice that a male “N” connector will fit onto a female BNC. They were developed by the same guy, the “N” in both connectors comes from his last name: Neill.

BNC connectors get their name from the bayonet layout (“B”), and the developers, whose last names started with “N” and “C”. SMA stands for “Sub-Miniature Type A”. There are also SMB and SMC but you will likely never see one.

Many two-way radios these days use “Mini-UHF” connectors, these are smaller versions of the venerable UHF connectors. “UHF” connectors actually do not work well on UHF frequencies. The original UHF connector was so named before WWII, when anything about 30 MHz. was a radio wasteland suitable only for hobbyists and experimenters.

All these connectors come in a Male or Female version. This is based on the center pin/socket. The connectors with a pin are male. The UHF connector is a little odd, in that it has common names for the distinct parts. The SO-239 is the female, used on the radio while the PL-259 is the male used on the coax. “SO” stands for Socket, “PL” stands for Plug. Most other connectors use the same name but with female/male parts, such as SMA, BNC and N.

Scanner Tip: It is a Digital World!

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Many areas of the country have switched to “Digital”. What does this mean for the scanner listener? What is “Digital” anyway?

First, before we go any further, the number one question we get about digital scanners is whether they will also work on analog. The answer is YES. All digital scanners work just fine on analog channels, always have and always will.

Digital radio means that instead of using a regular AM (where the amplitude [strength] is changed) or FM (where the frequency is modulated or changed) signal , a digital signal type is used. This is a signal that is converted to the base 0’s and 1’s, compressed, and sent out on the airwaves. A digital receiver then converts it back and lets you hear it.

There are several types of digital that are of interest to scanner listeners. The most common for police, fire and other public safety use is APCO’s P25 system. This is widely used by both trunked and conventional (non-trunked) radio systems across the country. Several manufacturers, like Motorola, Harris and others sell P25 systems and equipment. While the P25 standards are supposed to ensure that any companies radios will work on the various systems, in practice some companies often add new “features” that tend to lock out other company’s radios from working with the system.

P25 comes in several flavors. “Phase 1” is the original single channel-per-frequency protocol used on conventional systems and most trunked P25 systems. “Phase 2” P25 effectively splits channels using TDMA (See technobabble below) to allow 2 simultaneous conversations on the same frequency, effectively doubling the capacity of a trunked system. If your system uses Phase 2 be sure to get a Phase 2 capable scanner!

Technobabble here: Phase 2 uses Time Division Multiple Access, more commonly known as TDMA. The radio system divides a radio signal into timeslots of tiny fractions of a second. In Phase 2 systems a certain time slot is assigned to the “0” channel and the other slots are assigned to the “1” channel. This allows 2 conversations to be held at the same time on the same frequency. The communications are restored at the receiver so it can be processed and heard by the user. Decoding software like UniTrunker or Pro96Com will show these sub-channels as “851.0375/0 and 851.0375/1”.

Some areas of the country have gone to a system called “OpenSky”, manufactured by Harris. While these systems have not been successful in many instances, the systems in place cannot be monitored by scanners. Harris has since dropped OpenSky from its catalog and is selling P25 systems now.

One trend that is growing in some areas is the use of various “DMR” systems. These are sold under various trade names like MotoTRBO, NXDN and others. They all use fairly similar digital protocols but current consumer scanners do not cover them. There are some SDR (Software defined radio) and advanced receivers (like the new AOR DV1) that will allow one to monitor these systems. The reason many agencies select these is usually cost, the radios are fairly cheap, especially when compared to P25 radios. While they may not be as durable, the replacement costs are often less than a repair would be. Businesses however have embraced these cheaper forms of digital radio and they are common on business channels. Railroads have agreed on using NXDN digital modes but implementation has been very slow. Ham radio operators use some of these also, as well as D-Star.

Do not confuse digital voice with encryption. While it is true that many digital systems are encrypted these days, most are not and these are perfectly legal to listen to. Also do not confuse digital voice with digital data. Most police and fire agencies use some sort of data systems for MDT’s or video, these systems cannot be monitored without huge budgets and massive computing power. Listening to digital transmissions on an analog only scanner will not work, you will just hear noise.

Some people hear and understand received digital communications better than others. The absence of background noise sometimes makes it uncomfortable for some users, since it can be mistaken for non-radio conversations. Digital certainly sounds different than analog but occasionally causes issues with things like firefighters protective gear. Usually it is just a matter of getting used to how it sounds. In addition, when digital signals are weak they tend to get garbled. Many agencies call this “going digital” since it makes a weird noise.

Digital scanners are more expensive than analog ones. This is mostly due to licensing requirements for the technology. While prices have gone down recently they still are usually about twice as expensive than analog scanners with similar features.

Will there be more scanners with DMR modes like TRBO and NXDN? We don’t know yet, but if and when they do become available we will be among the first to have them. The AOR DV1 is available now and does receive several of the digital modes.

AOR DV1 Firmware Alert

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The AOR DV1 has another new firmware update (v1507f) available at http://www.aorusa.com/support/firmware.html.

Below are the updates included in this release. Future releases will address other issues. Please contact AOR directly at http://www.aorusa.com/ with questions and suggestions.

The installation instructions are fairly simple, copy the firmware file to the SD Card, turn the radio on and press a couple keys. The instructions are included with the file.

Following features have been implemented:

* Backup to and restore from SD card

Following bugs have been removed:
* Fixed “auto-store” bug when SEARCH is running.
* S-Meter indicator stayed sometimes on even though power was off.
* When the file 99999999.wav was present in the SD card, the next recording was mistakenly named 10000000.wav. Now the recording after 99999999.wav is made impossible.
* Priority receive was not always functioning.
* Could not go out of settings screen after priority receive activation.
* Receiver would not restart properly if the function key was pressed before switching the receiver off.
* Invalid characters on LCD when time settings accessed during memory receive.
* Incorrect memory channel content switch when priority mode was activated during memory scan
* When erasing a search bank the LCD froze on “writing” indication.
* Memory bank editing was not possible during SCAN.
* Erasing search bank 39 in search group settings was impossible.
* Auto-store function: If memory bank 39 was full, channels 46 to 49 were not kept in memory after a reboot.
* Invalid characters on screen when “writing” was displayed.

FUNCTIONS AND BEHAVIOR CHANGES:
* When SEARCH is stopped and the [ENT] key pressed, the currently received frequency and settings are copied to VFO-Z.
* VOL/SQL maximum value changed from 100 to 99.
* (PC remote control through Hyperterminal commands). When receiver is turned off with the QP command and USB cable disconnected, the next time the receiver is turned on through the front panel, it will start in a “non-remote control” state.

Scanner Tip: Everything you need to know about trunking but were afraid to ask

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In the old days of scanning things were pretty simple, you put in the local police frequency to listen to the police. In many parts of the country however, this no longer works. Most cities, many counties and even entire states use Trunking Systems. What are trunking systems and how do they work?

The best way to explain how a trunking system works is the analogy of a set of bank teller lines. The bank has 5 tellers, you can line up at any of the 5 lines and hope your line goes faster than the others. Then you get stuck behind the lady that wants to have her penny jar counted by hand…

These days however, banks have a single queue and you go to the next available teller when you reach the head of the line. This is exactly how a trunked radio system works: All users are in one queue and get assigned the next available channel. Instead of having a separate frequency for the FD, one for the PD and another for the ambulance, they just go to the next channel that isn’t being used.

All this is controlled by a computer system called, appropriately enough, a “Controller”. The Controller watches the system and when a radio requests to talk it assigns that radio and any other radio in its group to a channel. All this happens in a fraction of a second.

Radios have all the frequencies used by the system programmed into them and the system is broken down into various virtual channels, called “Talkgroups”. Talkgroups are assigned to various uses like channels would have been before. For example, Mayberry PD might be assigned Talkgroup 101 for Dispatch, 102 for Car-Car and 103 for Detectives. Mayberry FD might be assigned Talkgroup 123 for Dispatch, 124 for Fireground and 125 for Tactical. If Mt. Pilot is sharing the system they might be assigned Talkgroup 287 for Police Dispatch and so on.

There are several types of trunking systems but they all work in much the same way. There are differences in the way they get programmed into scanners as well. The main types of trunked systems in use by Public Safety agencies in the USA include Motorola, EDACS, LTR, APCO25 Phase 1 and APCO25 Phase 2.

For scanner listeners these trunked systems add a layer of complexity to the programming. Depending on the type of scanner and the type of trunked system the method used to program differs. For newer Unidens you program in a “System” to identify the type of trunking, then “Sites” to put in the frequencies used and lastly “Groups” for the talkgroup listing. Whistler, GRE and Radio Shack scanners with Object Oriented programming work differently. On LTR and EDACS systems you have to identify the proper “LCN” channel numbers, these are usually well documented at www.radioreference.com. Motorola and APCO25 systems do not need the frequencies in any particular order.

HomePatrol and other scanners with the Database feature will have these Trunked System parameters already programmed so you can just select the Service and location to listen to them. They do all the heavy lifting for you.

Keep an eye on the ScannerMaster Blog for our explanation of Digital operations!