ALMR Behavior on Pro-(20)96

[akscanner]

I ponied up the money for a 2096 yesterday, and finally got everything to work to scan ALMR. However, I had some trouble hearing all of the traffic on a particular TG and with the scanner cutting off some of the transmissions. I believe I have fixed that by programming only 1 control channel in the scanner so it isn't scanning a bunch of different ones in the area. There are *many* CCs's where I live according to the DB, so this may have made things a bit more straightforward.

However, I am concerned about still missing traffic. I have been watching my scanner and it seems to have trouble locking in to a TG. I am listening to a tg I am familiar with, and what I am seeing is this:

a) There will be a transmission on the TG. The 2096 comes out of scan mode and displays the tg info etc.
b) The transmission will stop, and it will go back to scan mode.
c) Then the tg info will jump back on the screen as if someone is talking, but there is no audio. It usually stays for about a second then goes back to scanning. Sometimes it will flash 3 or 4 times like this before going back to scan mode.

I am wondering if any of my fellow ALMR scanners have seen this? Perhaps I overlooked a step?

Thanks!

[gregmoss]

Did you check your multi-tables settings and other information using the win96 program? You can't do it manually, you have too use the win96 program too enter these values listed below, such as tables, muti-tables etc. Also Check your cc's, some might be really week depending on your location. I'm currently Using the pro96 or pro2096 with ALMR here in anchorage without any problems. What frequencies are you using? The VHF ALMR system still remains too be abit more complicated than thought. Are you in anchorage? Also check your cc make sure it's in Motorola mode.

Good Luck!!

Base Freq: 136.000
and use a Step: 12.5kHz
The other table settings are as follows:

CH Lo CH Hi Offset

8192 12287 8192

20480 24575 20480

24576 28671 24576

28672 32767 28672

32768 36863 32768

36864 40959 36864

[AlaskaRadar]

Try Global attenuation... that sometimes has a bearing on my 2096 here in Fairbanks... In NP no att... and in FBKS, ATT on. Let me know if it helps you like it seems to help me. Thanks

[kikito]

Originally Posted by akscanner

c) Then the tg info will jump back on the screen as if someone is talking, but there is no audio. It usually stays for about a second then goes back to scanning. Sometimes it will flash 3 or 4 times like this before going back to scan mode.

I am wondering if any of my fellow ALMR scanners have seen this? Perhaps I overlooked a step?

Sounds like a reception problem. I know if the scanner locks on to a weak control channel, it sometimes has problems decoding and it behaves just like what you describe. Sometimes it might even have good reception of the control channel but the voice channel is weak and/or distorted due to interference or other factors.

Also, just like others have mentioned, check your Tables settings and experiment with the Attenuator or different antennas or re-positioning the scanner.

As far as missing transmissions, you will miss some in many of the talkgroups if you only scan one control channel since the nature of the system, just like cellular phones, is for the user's radios to roam among all the available towers and stick to the best one and not transmit on any others that have no users tuned to the particular talkgroup. Sometimes they might transmit for a few minutes on one tower and as they move around, so will their transmissions move to another "closer" tower. If that makes sense to you....

[gregmoss]

Hello i have quite a few frequencies for the anchorage area. If anyone else would like too trade or brain storm frequency info. I'm a avid scanner listener, who's always on the hunter for newer frequency info.

[kikito]

Well, I'm not from the Anchorage area as you know, but I do know almost for sure that in the near future almost everything Public Safety related in Anchorage will go to the ALMR system using the 700MHz band. It will interface with the rest of the VHF and 800MHz portions of the system throughout Alaska.

So when that happens, the current GRE scanners (Pro-96/2096) will not trunktrack the 700MHz band. You will be able to program the frequencies conventionally and listen but not properly follow the talkgroups. Only the Unidens will work correctly on the 700MHz band at this time.

[gregmoss]

Originally Posted by kikito

Well, I'm not from the Anchorage area as you know, but I do know almost for sure that in the near future almost everything Public Safety related in Anchorage will go to the ALMR system using the 700MHz band. It will interface with the rest of the VHF and 800MHz portions of the system throughout Alaska.

So when that happens, the current GRE scanners (Pro-96/2096) will not trunktrack the 700MHz band. You will be able to program the frequencies conventionally and listen but not properly follow the talkgroups. Only the Unidens will work correctly on the 700MHz band at this time.

Thanks, Kikito. Please no more bad news my friend Okay do you know when this rebanding will take effect? Too my knowledge the Public Safety was suppose too reband the ALMR system using the 700MHz band, and the rest of the VHF and 800MHz portions 2 years ago. I haven't seen this change take effect yet. Apd's uhf radio system is like 20+ years old. And their still using their UHF radio system, No signs of anything happening soon. So hopefully anchorage scannner users can still enjoy using their (Pro-96/2096) for properly following ALMR the talkgroups and APD until the change.

[kikito]

Originally Posted by gregmoss

Okay do you know when this rebanding will take effect? Too my knowledge the Public Safety was suppose too reband the ALMR system using the 700MHz band, and the rest of the VHF and 800MHz portions 2 years ago. I haven't seen this change take effect yet.

I don't remember the exact date but the FCC site has a ballpark timeframe (by region) for the rebanding effort that's going on nationwide. However, it looks like it's taking longer than expected and who knows when it finally happens in Alaska. BTW, the rebanding thing is only for the 800MHz band and certain chunks of it. They basically will move many licensees several MHz down from their current allocation. Rebanding has NOTHING to do with the VHF, UHF or 700MHz bands, only within the 800MHz band.

ALMR will probably stay on VHF for the most part except for a few sites here and there operating in 800 and 700 and that's mostly in "dense" city areas like Anchorage. The 700MHz band thing is another nationwide effort to re-allocate a good chunk of that spectrum from the TV Broadcasters and assigned it to Public Safety.