New To Scanning

[JAM55]

Hi all,
Been reading a lot on how to set up my new BCT15X I got. Almost gave up on it because of the "great" cd manual that came with it!!! I did go to the Easier to Read BCT-15 Scanner Manual, and that did save me from taking this thing back, as I find it difficult to program. After I got the hang of it, I was scanning my state of MA, but I get RI agencies on the MA scan??? Anyway, I did link the frequencies with the cities around me, through your database lists, and made my own system / group. My issue now, is that my towns PD comes up when there is a transmission, but it's all static. I noticed the TYPE is RM and MODE is P25. Am I correct in sayying I will not be able to listen to their calls? The county is Bristol, and Town is North attleboro. Any help will be greatly appreciated as I find this hobby interestng.

 

[n4yek]

Am I correct in sayying I will not be able to listen to their calls?

The BCT15XT does not decode P25 digital, it is an analog only scanner. Sorry

 

[JAM55]

Thanks n4yek,
I figured as much. I just thought I read somewhere that you could hook up something like a dongle to decode the P25 transmissions. Does that have any truth to it?
Thanks.

 

[DJ11DLN]

Thanks n4yek,
I figured as much. I just thought I read somewhere that you could hook up something like a dongle to decode the P25 transmissions. Does that have any truth to it?
Thanks.

You would need a discriminator tap in your scanner, then wash the raw audio through digital decoding software on your computer. A dongle is a USB Software Defined Radio. Tons of info on here about all of it just do a search.:wink:

 

[n4yek]

You would need a discriminator tap in your scanner, then wash the raw audio through digital decoding software on your computer.

The software DJ11DLN is referring to is called DSDPlus, it decodes P25 pretty good.
You would have to scan all the channels on a trunk system, except the control channel, to be able to hear any traffic. The down side is that you would hear ALL users of the trunk system and would not be able to track one particular agency using the scanner this way.

If you have an agency that just uses one frequency, the program is a big money saver and works great.