Thinking of getting a Provoice radio

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joebu

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Hi Everyone,

When i was a boy, my dad had a scanner and we would listen to police and fire on it. I really enjoyed it. It was great being able to listen to what was going on around the city, especially if something was happening in our neighborhhod. I was wanting to be able to do the same now, but after research I see that there is no scanner that can monitor what I'm now wanting to listen to (APD and AFD). So after reading some more, I understand that although no scanner can provide what I want, i am able to get a radio that can. I'm hoping you could help me with the following.

1) What radio would I need to get, and what are some prices I should expect to pay?
2) How difficult would it be to program the radio
3) What other advice could you provide on going to provoice?

Thanks
 

lep

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I am no expert as thankfully no one in my immediate area is using it. But, from the reading I have done, what you want is NOT possible as the radio must affiliate. That is, I am doubtful passive monitoring is an option. But, your mileage may vary.
 
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lep is correct. If you had a Provoice, it would be a useless multi-thousand dollar brick in your hand. The radio is a computer that has to be in contact with the control computer, and it can't do that if the control computer hasn't invited it to the party. One of the upsides for law enforcement, is that a stolen or missing radio can be removed from the system, preventing eavesdropping.
 

kayn1n32008

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lep is correct. If you had a Provoice, it would be a useless multi-thousand dollar brick in your hand. The radio is a computer that has to be in contact with the control computer, and it can't do that if the control computer hasn't invited it to the party. One of the upsides for law enforcement, is that a stolen or missing radio can be removed from the system, preventing eavesdropping.

Actually, if it is EDACS ProVoice with out ESK, a Provoice radio, like an LPE200 or Jaguar, can be used to passively monitorEDACS PV talk groups. There are certain settings that MUST be set correctly, in order to prevent the radio from affiliating, off the top of my head I am not 100% sure what they are, but I know one is to assign the PTT button to something other than PTT. I know a few people that monitor PV with out any issues. If there is encryption being used then forget it with out a KVL, and knowing what the correct encryption key is.


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kayn1n32008

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I am no expert as thankfully no one in my immediate area is using it. But, from the reading I have done, what you want is NOT possible as the radio must affiliate. That is, I am doubtful passive monitoring is an option. But, your mileage may vary.

While one can passively monitor EDACS, Opensky can not be passively monitored, as the radio MUST be provisioned on the system, so it can download a code plug to operate, if it is not provisioned, it will NOT receive anything.


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MrAstroSaber

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YOU CAN DO IT!!! There are ways to listen to an edacs trunking system with provoice and NOT log into the system. In fact you can also block the radio from even transmitting. So yes you can do it. I like the LPE200 its a great radio and small and light weight. I have the 700p but started with an LPE200. As for programing well you need the software, NOT CHEAP, also you need a programing cable, Hard to come by a good one and also not cheap, and last the software is not very friendly to first time users. That means I would not try to program a trunking system on my first time ever playing around with the software and a radio. Now your best bet is to find someone with all the above to help you out. That way you know its done right, legal, and most of all so you don't put someones life in damager with a radio that logs onto a trunking system. If you really want you can email me and I can give you a ton of info and maybe point you in the right way.
 

MrAstroSaber

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FYI there are many Provoice radios out there like the LPE200, 700p, Orion, and 700m you can buy for around $300 to $600 bucks. I was buying used LPE radios with provoice at one time for $200 bucks a pop. That was radio and antenna only but another $100 and I had battery and charger. If you do program the radio wrong and it logs into the system or trys too yes the controller can fry the radio remotely but if its done right it can be done and its 100% legal. As long as the radio is not stolen and it can not transmit. They may not like it they make take your radio and have it de-programed NOT FRYED, and give it back. But the fact is you can listen to a provoice system.
 

n5ims

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You could also use a low end analog scanner (that covers the necessary frequencies, however) that has a discriminator tap (most are pretty easy to tap) and use the DSD software to do the ProVoice decoding for you. No expensive radio (just an old low end scanner needed). No need to program that radio exactly right. No having that expensive radio bricked when you program one little thing a bit incorrectly. You will need to connect the tapped scanner to a computer running the DSD software however.

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Digital_Speech_Decoder_(software_package)
 

FiremanSparky

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Thinking of getting a ProVoice radio

Hi everyone, thanks for all of the input, I really appreciate it. I found this radio on eBay, and it comes with a battery and charger. Model this the radio you speak of?
GE Ericsson M A com LPE 200 800 MHz Radio H9S85X Excellent Condition Qty Avail | eBay

That radio would not work on a ProVoice system; It would need Feature 29 "IMBE Vocoder Operation
(EDACS ProVoice)" in the feature set. See the linked auction description for the feature's this radio has.

Hope this helps
 
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Fowler

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APD and Bernalillo County are in the process of a RFP for a new 700Mhz system. Unknown what flavor
 

ShyFlyer

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Knowing how government works, it will probably be quite a few years before the new system is operational.

Thankfully, there's the online feed.
 

Forts

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If you catch ebay at the right time you can get ProVoice radios very cheap. Friend of mine picked up a Jag 700P (with no accessories mind you) for $30. Surplus places have been dumping them for a while now.
 
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