Pro-97 Trunking

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dmorris89

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OK, so I can program regular frequencies on my Pro-97, however, I'm confused as to how to put the actual trunking frequencies in. On the trunking page (located at Scanner Frequencies: Saint Mary's County Trunking System, Saint Mary's County, Maryland) it lists 10 regular frequencies above the actual trunking freq's. What are those for?
Also, when inputting the trunking freq's into the scanner, how do I do it? I think the whole DEC and AFS thing on that page has me confused.
Thanks for the help in advance.
 

rdale

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Start with the Wiki on trunking, linked above. It will help a lot.

The 10 "regular" freqs you ask about are the "only" frequencies you enter. The rest are talkgroups, which again the Wiki will help you understand.
 

dmorris89

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OK, I read that and I have to admit I'm still kind of confused. Do I have to enter those frequencies for every bank that I plan to add trunk channels to? For example, I have 10 banks (0-9). I plan to have them set up like

0 - Fire
1 - Police
2 - Mutual Aide
3 thru 9 - Everything Else

So, for those four banks, do I need to put the frequencies in all four of them, or just one bank?
 

mikey60

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OK, I read that and I have to admit I'm still kind of confused. Do I have to enter those frequencies for every bank that I plan to add trunk channels to? For example, I have 10 banks (0-9). I plan to have them set up like

0 - Fire
1 - Police
2 - Mutual Aide
3 thru 9 - Everything Else

So, for those four banks, do I need to put the frequencies in all four of them, or just one bank?

If Police, Fire, and Mutual Aid are all on the same trunked system, you will have to enter the frequencies on each bank that needs to access that system.

Mike
 

gmclam

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PRO-97 and trunking

OK, I read that and I have to admit I'm still kind of confused. Do I have to enter those frequencies for every bank that I plan to add trunk channels to? For example, I have 10 banks (0-9). I plan to have them set up like

0 - Fire
1 - Police
2 - Mutual Aide
3 thru 9 - Everything Else

So, for those four banks, do I need to put the frequencies in all four of them, or just one bank?
I HIGHLY recommend that you just put the trunked system into ONE bank and leave it that way. Separating talkgroups out by function does not work like separating conventional channels. The PRO-97 is very inefficient at best at trunking, and when you put the same system into multiple banks, you will MISS transmissions.
 

mikey60

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I HIGHLY recommend that you just put the trunked system into ONE bank and leave it that way. Separating talkgroups out by function does not work like separating conventional channels. The PRO-97 is very inefficient at best at trunking, and when you put the same system into multiple banks, you will MISS transmissions.

Speaking of which, the Pro-97 does have "sub-banks" in the talkgroup area. Depending on the size of the system you may be able to use that to separate the talkgroups you want to listen to. This would allow you to work past the problem that's mentioned above.

Mike
 

AlmostHandy

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I HIGHLY recommend that you just put the trunked system into ONE bank and leave it that way. Separating talkgroups out by function does not work like separating conventional channels. The PRO-97 is very inefficient at best at trunking, and when you put the same system into multiple banks, you will MISS stuff.


I agree with this. Each bank can be effectively separated into 5 different sub-banks. You can put up to 30 talkgroups in each sub-bank.

So, you would enter all ten system frequencies into the same bank, and then separate your talkgroups based on type.

Put all 20 fire TGIDs into 0-0
Put all 20 law-talk TGIDs into 0-1
Put the 6 hospital TGIDs into 0-2
Put the Public Works and City TGIDs into 0-3
And put the Interop TGIDs into 0-4

This way, you can easily turn sub-banks on and off, to accommodate your listening needs.

On my Pro97, I have it set up the way gmclam says you shouldn't, (same system into multiple banks), but this is because I will almost NEVER need to scan both banks at the same time.

Here is a screenshot of my current Bank overview, as I have it laid out in excel, just to give you an example of how you can sort with sub-banks.

Banks 0,1,2,3,7, and 9 are Trunked Systems, with the system frequencies in Bold Red.
Talkgroup sub-banks are in Purple.
Conventional freqs are in blue.
Black freqs are not programmed in as of yet.

 

dmorris89

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I believe I have it worked out the way I want it. There was a fire earlier, and they switched to one of the tac channels and I was able to pick up the transmissions. Thanks to everybody that has helped.

One other question I do have, however. I understand that the PRO-97 isn't very efficient for trunking, however, is there any way to actually be able to listen to one trunking channel, by itself? I can do it by pressing PGM, then TRUNK and manually going to the trunked channel, however, I can't recieve incoming transmissions. Is there any known way to listen to one trunked channel?

**Edit, just saw the post above, I believe I will do that. Thanks :)
 

AlmostHandy

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Also, it's important to know the difference between open and closed banks, because TGID subbanks can only be turned on and off when the main bank is in Closed Mode.

This is from the easy to read manual:
Easier to read manual said:
Open and Closed Modes
Each channel bank can be set to open or closed mode.
In open mode the scanner will receive:

(1) all channels in AM, FM, CT, and DC modes, that are not locked out.
(2) all IDs in MO, ED and LTR modes, even if they are locked out in the ID list.
In closed mode the scanner will receive:

(1) all channels in AM, FM, CT, and DC modes, that are not locked out.
(2) only IDs in MO, ED, and LTR modes that are programmed into the ID list, and not locked out in the list.
In other words,
If you want to hear all IDs, scan in open mode. If you want to hear specific IDs, program them into the scan lists and scan in closed mode. If you want to hear specific IDs and not hear other IDs, program them into the scan lists, lock out the ones you don't want to hear, then scan in closed mode.
 
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AlmostHandy

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Oh, and to pause on a Trunked ID, quickly press and hold TRUNK while the ID is displayed. ID hold mode appears in the display and an H will appear to the left of the channel number while receiving. To resume scanning press SCAN.
 

dmorris89

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First of all, thanks for the help. I now understand way more than I did before. I took AlmostHandy's advice and stored everything in one bank. Earlier, we had a gas leak and everyone was switched to 'tac-4.' I went to tac-4 with them (through scan mode), and I don't hear any audio. However, I do get the entire display when they talk on tac-4. Is there any reason why I'm not picking up the audio?
 

ReCall

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The Pro-97 is a very good scanner for St. Mary's, it will do all the trunking you want in St. Mary's and Calvert , hands down, Charles is Digital. but you can still put in the VHF and 8call/ 8TAC

I like the way you have this, this is the way I have 2 of my 97's laid out for fire call this way.
0 - SM Fire
1 - Sheriff
2 - Mutual Aide
3 thru 9 - Everything Else

Just hit Pause to lock on any channel or TAC you want to stay on, hit pause or scan to leave, you don't need to do any more.

I do all my files with Win97, I'd never get it done by hand !

check your PM
 
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gmclam

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I went to tac-4 with them (through scan mode), and I don't hear any audio. However, I do get the entire display when they talk on tac-4. Is there any reason why I'm not picking up the audio?
Is there any chance you had the scanner channel set to AM ?
 
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