AWIN Programming Difficulties

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TheCosmicCowboy

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I have a Radio Shack PRO-164 scanner... I'm trying to program the AWIN system used in Sebastain County... Needless to say I'm not having much luck... The guy at Radio Shack wasn't much help... Is there anybody around the Fort Smith area that can help me or give me some pointers??? My PRO-96 receives AWIN just fine, but I can't get the PRO-164 to receive AWIN...
 

TheCosmicCowboy

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The guys at Radio Shack couldn't offer much help with the programming of this scanner. The one they use to clone with is out of date. Does anyone on this forum know of a place or person around the Fort Smith area (western AR & eastern OK) that I could consult with for some help? I bought the software and cable and that seemed to make things more complicated. I have a PRO96 and have no trouble operating it, but the PRO106 is a different animal all together. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...
 

03msc

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The guys at Radio Shack couldn't offer much help with the programming of this scanner. The one they use to clone with is out of date. Does anyone on this forum know of a place or person around the Fort Smith area (western AR & eastern OK) that I could consult with for some help? I bought the software and cable and that seemed to make things more complicated. I have a PRO96 and have no trouble operating it, but the PRO106 is a different animal all together. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...

I can't help you much as I'm relatively new to the digital (got my Pro 106 a month ago or so) but I can say that getting the software and cable made a world of difference and it is so much easier. It's the slower method but I enter things manually (as opposed to the download from RR feature) and have had no problems. I'm not sure what issues you're having, per se, but the database provides all of the information needed - control channels for the counties you're going to scan and then the talkgroup IDs for whatever you want to listen to are all there. It took me about an hour or so to read through the AWIN database page and finally I "got it" and understood what it meant.

I'm in north central / northeast AR so I can't help you with specifics beyond what I said here, really...like I said, still relatively new.
 

TheCosmicCowboy

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I got the scanner to pick up the AWIN. Although, now I'm trying to tag the radio ID and not having much luck. It seems like when it locks up on a radio ID and I hit save, that is the only ID it will scan. I'm trying to figure out how to enter them manually and not having much luck there. By the way, right now, I have most of the frequencies entered listed under Troop H, which is my part of the world. The scanner seems to be receiving most transmissions in the area. Thank you for your help O3msc. Would you tell me more about using the software and cable?
 

03msc

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I got the scanner to pick up the AWIN. Although, now I'm trying to tag the radio ID and not having much luck. It seems like when it locks up on a radio ID and I hit save, that is the only ID it will scan. I'm trying to figure out how to enter them manually and not having much luck there. By the way, right now, I have most of the frequencies entered listed under Troop H, which is my part of the world. The scanner seems to be receiving most transmissions in the area. Thank you for your help O3msc. Would you tell me more about using the software and cable?

Do you currently have software, I presume? If so, is it the Radio Shack software? If so it's Butel. I can't help a whole lot but I'll try...maybe someone wiser than I will chime in!
 

TheCosmicCowboy

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My software and cable is from Radio Shack. I loaded the disk into the drive and installed it. Once it was installed, the window said Butel. I think entering the frequencies manually would be a good way to oranaize and arrange my scanner according to where I am, and what I want to scan. The directions in the manual are horrible. I'm sure I won't have any trouble entering the frequencies and groups once I figure out where to put them. Can you give me some step by step on the process of entering the information? Thanks!
 

03msc

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My software and cable is from Radio Shack. I loaded the disk into the drive and installed it. Once it was installed, the window said Butel. I think entering the frequencies manually would be a good way to oranaize and arrange my scanner according to where I am, and what I want to scan. The directions in the manual are horrible. I'm sure I won't have any trouble entering the frequencies and groups once I figure out where to put them. Can you give me some step by step on the process of entering the information? Thanks!

OK, I am going to attempt to help you but I am going to warn you ahead of time - I am, in no way, an expert at this so if I skip something or something isn't exactly how someone who is a pro would do it please forgive me. With that being said...

I would first setup your trunk system for AWIN in your area. Open the scanner software and it should come up to the Object Browser (left panel is what I'm talking about). Within this will be Scannable Objects: Conventional, Talkgroup, Limit Search, Service Search, Spectrum Sweeper. Below that is Trunk System Objects with Trunk Systems. Let's start there.

[NOTE: I am using "Expert" view under the view menu so it shows all columns.]

Click on Trunk Systems > the right side should now be a big gray area with TSYS: at the top in the blue bar

From the taskbar at the top, click Add (green plus sign on the button) in the Object section > a new line should appear

You'll want to double-click on the first 'cell' under System Type > this makes that cell have a drop-down

Select "P25 AUTO" from the drop down

In the Alpha Tag cell (next one to the right) you can double-click and name this system [I live in ASP Troop B so I named mine "AWIN B" but you can name it whatever you want; I did this because I also have AWIN A, AWIN C, and AWIN I because I have different trunk systems setup for those areas as they are tied to different objects in different scan lists for when I travel to those areas...but don't get confused by that right now...]

After you've named it, the next cell to the right is the Frequencies column and the cell says double click. When you double-click this you will have a window popup and this is where you enter the frequencies [I only entered the control channels for my area (I entered all counties' control channels that Troop B covers in this AWIN B system)] You will find these frequencies by looking at the AWIN page in the RR database on this RR website. Look for the towns/counties that you are near or want to scan.

After you have entered all frequencies you wish to enter, click OK at the bottom of that window. They are now tied to this system (you can double-click it again to see that they are there if you want to verify.

Mine has nothing in the columns "LockOut", "Attenuator", "Narrow FM", or "AudioBoost"

Dwell says 0 (that's a zero)

Digital AGC and SuperTrack are both "On" (double-click in the cell and it'll toggle between on and off)

Multi-Site on mine says "Stationary" (again, double-click and you'll get a drop-down menu)

Threshold High is '95' and Threshold Low is '75'

T-Tables says "Default" (Edit T Tables has data in there but I've never touched it; assume it is the default data)

Fleetmap says "Type 2"

The next 2 - Edacs Invert and LTR Automove are blank (this is a P25 system is why, I'm assuming)

Object ID it will assign itself from the radio and Check All CC says "Yes"

That's the end of this post on setting up the Trunk System. I'll talk about Talkgroup setup next...

If that didn't help feel free to ask questions.
 

03msc

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Talkgroup Objects

What you'll do next is setup the Talkgroups that you want to listen to. You will find the Talkgroup IDs on the same database page for AWIN as the frequencies (scroll down to find what you want - the Troops are listed in alpha order by troop letter and then counties are also listed, if your county uses AWIN. You'll see.

After you find what talkgroups you want to monitor, you'll look at your software and under the Scannable Objects on the left side click on Talkgroup (the list is Conventional, Talkgroup, Limit Search, etc.)

Again, the area to the right is gray and (I don't remember) it may have a few blank lines waiting for you to fill in objects. If you need more lines later you can click on the Add Object button (green + sign) on the toolbar.

In the Talkgroup ID column you'll enter the Talkgroup ID of what you want to listen to from the database page. For example: in the State Police: Troop B - Newport Talkgroups section I enter 201 for Troop B Dispatch. The Talkgroup ID is in the DEC column on the database page.

In the next cell of the software you can enter what Alpha Tag you want it to have - you can make it match what the database shows as the tag or your own - mine says "Troop B Disp"

The Scan Lists column is where you select which scan list(s) on your scanner you want this particular object to be in - my local, Troop B stuff is in my scanlist 1 so I entered a 1 there. [NOTE: You can use the keyboard and type a 1 or you can double-click on this cell and check the boxes from the popup for whichever scanlists you want it in.]

In the Trunk System column you'll select the system we just setup previously (the previous post). Just double-click this cell and a drop down will appear - make sure the Trunk System we setup (and you named whatever you named it) is selected. This is what tells it what frequencies to scan, among other things.

T Type on mine is "Group"

LockOut column is blank (Unless you want something locked out, which I wouldn't think so...)

Priority column...I have priority "On" for the main dispatch channel but not for any of the other objects

LED Mode and LED Color are your preference - you can have the LED light up a particular color, which you select, when it receives if you want. I don't have it on - in other words mine is set to "Solid" and then the color is "0" (that's zero) which means it stays off

Latch LED is blank on mine.

Backlight - again, this is preference...you can have it turn on the backlight when it receives something if you want

Alarm - this is if you want it to beep or something when it receives a signal (mine is off but it's your preference...you can always edit it later if you want it, and there are about 6 or 7 different sounds I think.

I have Delay set to On and Delay Time is set to 20

AudioBoost I have off (it's plenty loud for me...I use this on some Conventional objects but not any Talkgroup objects)

Leave the last 2 columns alone, too...it'll auto-assign the Object-ID

That is your first talkgroup setup! Now if you want to hear something else - such as, using my area as an example, Troop B car to car or Tac 1 or Tac 2, etc. - you will follow these instructions from this post again, adding the Talkgroup ID number (from the DEC column on the RR database AWIN page).

After you have entered what you want you'll upload it to the scanner!

[TIP: Always remember to save, save, save! If you're entering a lot of stuff and then the power goes out, for example, you'll lose it if it isn't already uploaded to the scanner...when you start this process, go to the File menu and "Save As" and save the file somewhere on your computer, a flash drive, something. This will help you recall it later should the power fail or you need to reset the scanner.

Conventional Objects are easy to enter - you follow these basic steps outlined in this post but you won't select a Trunk System because, well, it isn't a trunked system, of course. Conventional are just your basic VHF or UHF frequencies that many county and/or rural departments use for police and fire communications. If you can enter these Talkgroup objects you can figure out the Conventional fairly easily.

Hope this helps!
 

TheCosmicCowboy

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You are awesome!!! Thank you so much... You instructions are much better than the manufacturer's... I''ll give it a try when I get home. Let you know how it goes in a few days... Thanks again!!!
 

TheCosmicCowboy

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When entering the Talk Group IDs and tags, do I need to enter all the info in every line, or just for the first line??? Thank you so much for your help... So far so good..
 

TheCosmicCowboy

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OK... Thanks... I'm on the road right now... I started on the programming the other day... Its not too hard once you get going... I'll finish when I get home... Thanks again for your help... By the way... Will the scanner still pickup talk groups that I don't have ID'ed??? Will they show up just a number with no tag is what I'm asking???
 
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03msc

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OK... Thanks... I'm on the road right now... I started on the programming the other day... Its not too hard once you get going... I'll finish when I get home... Thanks again for your help... By the way... Will the scanner still pickup talk groups that I don't have ID'ed??? Will they show up just a number with no tag is what I'm asking???

Glad I could be of assistance! To answer your question, if you want to listen to the Talkgroup you'll have to have the ID in the radio. [I am not familiar with doing searches from the scanner, etc., so perhaps there is a way but, following my instructions you'll have to enter all IDs you want to monitor.]
 

N1BCM

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OK... Thanks... I'm on the road right now... I started on the programming the other day... Its not too hard once you get going... I'll finish when I get home... Thanks again for your help... By the way... Will the scanner still pickup talk groups that I don't have ID'ed??? Will they show up just a number with no tag is what I'm asking???

My BCD996T shows the known named groups and the id number of new unknown talk groups in [id search scan mode] and only known named groups in id scan mode].
 
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