Win500

[poppafred]

Anyone on this group using Win500 to program their scanner?

[bubbaearle]

Yup.....Don Starr rocks!

PSR 500

Questions or issues?


That's a cool observatory ya got on your webpage!
I need to get my telescope out again and stargaze a bit before the skeeters get too bad!

[401402]

i do and its allright

[btritch]

Yes Sir...Love It!

[poppafred]

I just won a Pro-197 on eBay and I am going to have a bunch of questions.

How hard is it to program AWIN into your scanner using Win500?

[bubbaearle]

Since you're an RR Premium Member you can use Win500 to download the AWIN system from the web.

I program AWIN by ASP Troops. I'll send ya my Troop D file so you can see how I lay mine out.....I'm at work now but I'll try to rember to do it when I get home.

I helped btritch when he first got his PSR 500 and I bet he can give ya some pointers too.

I usually have my scan lists set up like this:
1 - ASP Troop X
2 - ADEM & MAC channels
3 - Highway Police / Highway Dept.
4 - Federal Agencies
5 - State Agencies
6 - Statewide Events
7 - Local Business
8 - Aero Comms
9 - MilAir Comms
10 - EMS / AeroMedical
11 - 1st county in Troop x
12 - 2nd county in Troop X
13 - 3rd county in Troop X
14 - 4th county in Troop X
15 - 5th county in troop X
16 - 6th county in Troop X
17 - 7th county in Troop X
18 - 8th county in Troop X
19 - Utilities - Lights/Gas
20 - Local HAM Radio

My SKYWARN scanlist has all counties that border mine & our local Skywarn chnnels, etc.

Others have their own lay-outs that work for them.....YMMV - your milage may vary.

[poppafred]

I already have a programming cable that I use on my Pro-97 analog scanner. I can import those frequencies to the Pro-197 with Win500 so that will take care of those.

When you download from RR.com with Win500, should you assign the downloads to a scan list or put everything into "0" and work from there? Do you have to physically change the order of the frequencies in Win500 to put them in a scan order or is it so fast it doesn't make a difference? My thoughts were that as long as services were grouped together on the list, it would make them easier to work with but wouldn't effect the scanning.

Is the AWIN talkgroup list current on RR.com? I imagine it is but something in my head said ask anyway! No offense intended to the ones who handle that.

My Pro-97 allowed me to open a bank and scan all talkgroups. How do you do that with the digital scanners?

Maybe I should wait until the USPS delivers the scanner to ask all of this.

[bubbaearle]

I aint forgot about ya poppafred....I just aint figured out how to send files thru PM

PM me with an e-mail address and I'll send ya my Troop D file so you can kinda see how you could set up AWIN & local stuff.

My way aint the best way - but it works for me.

[bubbaearle]

Sent ya an e-mail poppafred!

[fmon]

Originally Posted by poppafred

I already have a programming cable that I use on my Pro-97 analog scanner. I can import those frequencies to the Pro-197 with Win500 so that will take care of those.

Nice Ebay bid. You must have RS cable 20-047 to work with these scanners.

Originally Posted by poppafred

My Pro-97 allowed me to open a bank and scan all talkgroups. How do you do that with the digital scanners?

Assign a Wildcard under Group or Radio ID column and note under Type, is a pulldown if you click in Group. Leave as Group but you may want to assign a second Wildcard on next line and change it from Group to Private.

[bubbaearle]

Originally Posted by fmon

Assign a Wildcard under Group or Radio ID column and note under Type, is a pulldown if you click in Group. Leave as Group but you may want to assign a second Wildcard on next line and change it from Group to Private.

poppafred.....

I made one AWIN TSYS with ONLY the TGID's that I want to listen to for my particular Troop.

I also made a duplicate AWIN TSYS with ALL known AWIN TGID's locked out and only a GROUP & PRIVATE wildcard enabled......see my notes.

I did it that way so I wouldn't get previously ID'd TGID's from neighboring Troops bleeding over and only unknown TGID's are received. It wastes room in memory but I don't come close to using it all with my set-ups so I don't worry about it.

Although, now I'm thinking about it.......I could just make one TSYS with ALL known AWIN TGID's and lock out what I don't / can't listen to.

I may do that.....the wheels are turning in my pea brain......

Maybe Friday will be a slow day at work.......

[poppafred]

Originally Posted by fmon

Nice Ebay bid. You must have RS cable 20-047 to work with these scanners.
Assign a Wildcard under Group or Radio ID column and note under Type, is a pulldown if you click in Group. Leave as Group but you may want to assign a second Wildcard on next line and change it from Group to Private.

Yep, that's my cable. I also downloaded the new drivers mentioned on the StarrSoft Win500 page and installed them.

I created both the group and private wildcard entries so that should be covered.

Now, am I correct that I can list and lock out a talkgroup and the wildcard will not show it when it is active becasue it is locked out?

It should only show unlocked and new TGRP numbers that are NOT listed?

This is gonna be fun!

[fmon]

Originally Posted by poppafred

Now, am I correct that I can list and lock out a talkgroup and the wildcard will not show it when it is active becasue it is locked out?

It should only show unlocked and new TGRP numbers that are NOT listed?

This is gonna be fun!

If you've stored it (F3 STOR), Lock out is not required on the newly found ID. The TG will list as text tag*ID xxxxx on line 3 if hit on again until you either change the tag in scanner or make change in Win500 and send to scanner. In the mean time, the wild card continues to look for more non stored TGRP's. Remember also, pressing only Lout on these scanners is temporary. Next turn on unlocks TG's or conventional frequencies. I think FUNC Lout is permanent until changed internally or via software.

[poppafred]

Okay, the scanner arrived, programmmed without a hitch with Win500 (anyone need the frequencies for Las Vegas or Seattle/Tacoma?) and is over here chattering away. I have a 144 mHz ham antenna up at 40 feet so I am hearing a LOT of different signals.

I was doing a search while goofing around and picked up what sounds like control channels for a trunking system in the federal frequency range and punched STORE (F3) but now, I cannot find that one again. A manual search found 406.9875, 407.3875 & 407.5875, all control channels. Later, while still searching, I picked up a conversation from that system. It was not encryted.

So, can I take those control channels and create a new TSYS with a wildcard and monitor that system?

Also, can I create a single wild card in TGRP's and make it available in all the lists, regardless of the system, Motorola, P25 and EDACS?

[bubbaearle]

Originally Posted by poppafred

Also, can I create a single wild card in TGRP's and make it available in all the lists, regardless of the system, Motorola, P25 and EDACS?

I had trouble understanding this when I first got my PSR 500........

Even though a TSYS may contain up to 32 frequencies it is considered a single OBJECT and will have a unique OBJECT ID.

Each TSYS will have it's own set of TGID's & WILDCARDS (Group or Private) and each will have a unique OBJECT ID and will only be associated with the TSYS it was created in. You can assign TGID's & WILDCARDS to any scanlist.

How's it going with the new toy? Did my file help ya out or confuse the hell out of ya?

[poppafred]

Originally Posted by bubbaearle

How's it going with the new toy? Did my file help ya out or confuse the hell out of ya?

After I looked over your file, it all started to make sense. I clipped and pasted the Mil Aero freqs and some others you had listed. Thanks! And there is NO WAY that I could have done this without Win500!

I went in Wednesday and created a second AWIN TSYS with a different name, added only the towers in my immediate area and the talk groups that MIGHT be of interest. It scans a LOT faster and seems like it works a little better. I have been dinking around with some of the extended settings. Tweaked the TSYS settings on roam and found a good combination for my area. It doesn't seem to shift towers as often anymore.

I bought an AA-7 Active Antenna Kit from Ramsey Electronics. It arrived yesterday and I got it assembled and working. Switched around to several different antennas giving it a try and realized I had wasted $53. Don't get me wrong, the active antenna works great. It is just that when I tried an antenna that was resonant for the 800 MHz bands, everything was so loud, the amplifier didn't really help!

You won't believe the antenna I finally wound up deciding to use.

I put a 90° BNC elbow on the rubber ducky off my Pro-97 portable and I can hear EVERYTHING now! The AWIN tower 25 miles southeast is 4-5 bars and 99%, so I don't think an amplified antenna can help that. The local sheriff and police are 4-5 bars and clear as a bell. Makes me feel a little chagrined to know I could have saved that $53 and still had great reception.

I am looking for a coiled cigarette lighter cord for the scanner now. I want to be able to take the scanner with me sometimes but don't want to have to hardwire the car and the truck. I asked on the Radio Shack forum here and got all kinds of answers, none about a coiled power cord. I even emailed GRE and they said there had not been any interest in one. Even said that I was the first person to even ask about it. I would make my own if I knew the specs for the power plug for sure. I think it is an EIAJ-4, 5.5mm diameter with a 1.0mm pin. At least that was the closest I could come to it. Someone said something about a Type "T" adapta-plug at Radio Shack but their online store doesn't list that one or it's specs. Anyone here found anything they could use? If not, I will figure something out.

We had a strong storm blow through here today. Top wind gust was 50 mph here at my home but apparently a lot higher elsewhere. NOAA radar reported heavy rotation north of Ozark (county's north seat) and they had a fire in the dispatcher's office! They had to shift to Mutual Aid 3 on AWIN and there I sat in the catbird seat with a Pro-197! I caught every transmission. Those guys were earning their pay this afternoon. and the volunteer firefighters were really working hard too. Trees down, power lines down, wind damage, everything all happening at the same time. Talk about a mess. I am just flat PROUD of these guys! We have some of the absolute best. Some may be volunteers but their attitudes are 100% Professional.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. I am getting tired and have a tendency to ramble a little when the eyelids get heavy.

The Pro-197 Rocks!

[btritch]

Ummm.....Sorry to change the subect BUT I have to ask, HOW was there a fire in the dispatch center!?

[poppafred]

Originally Posted by btritch

Ummm.....Sorry to change the subect BUT I have to ask, HOW was there a fire in the dispatch center!?

They were saying last night that they believed that the building had taken a direct lightning hit at the height of the storm.

Building A/C was out, some lights were not working right, radio for the county sheriff was completely out. Probably got a power supply. I heard the dispatcher say during the storm that the console was smoking, later a deputy told everyone that they had been a fire inside the dispatch center and for everyone to go to Mutual Aid 3 on AWIN and then the Fire Dept brought out and set up their portable repeater to get the dipatch center back on the air. All this while everyone is responding to a NOAA radar report of heavy rotation.