Monthly Archives: November 2015

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.