Pro-164 issues with EDACS

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wsk1990

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Feb 21, 2011
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St. Petersburg
I've been messing around with my new scanner and have figured out how to program and scan the Motorola II system which controls all of the county (Pinellas, FL) fire, EMS and law enforcement agencies. However, the city of Clearwater is on a separate, EDACS standard system. I added the frequencies in LCN order as the manual instructed, and began scanning. I recieved a few transmissions, but began to notice the scanner stopping on an active talkgroup without transmitting any sort of sound at all. The Clearwater system is streamed live here on RR, so I paired up what I was getting on my scanner to what was being broadcast online (none of the talkgroups are locked out in either my bank, nor the host's). My scanner only picks up maybe half the transmissions as the one online. I'll notice that mine will cut out in the middle of a transmission, but will still display the talkgroup, as if it is still recieving even the slightest signal. For example, CPD Dispatch West will broadcast "I've got a 10-50 at 100 Court Street...", and will then go silent, but still continue to display CPD Dispatch West. During this time, online, I will hear the remainder of the transmission "...tag number alpha, zulu ect ect". The manual does say that EDACS systems require clear reception, but my scanner has this problem even when I'm in Clearwater with it. It might be because of the large volume of radio activity in Pinellas, so maybe I need a better antenna. But Hillsborough County uses a EDACS standard system as well, and my scanner does the same thing there too, so I figure it has to do with scanning EDACS. If anybody knows what would be the cause of this, please help me out! Thanks!
 

hiegtx

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May 8, 2004
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11,172
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Dallas, TX
I've been messing around with my new scanner and have figured out how to program and scan the Motorola II system which controls all of the county (Pinellas, FL) fire, EMS and law enforcement agencies. However, the city of Clearwater is on a separate, EDACS standard system. I added the frequencies in LCN order as the manual instructed, and began scanning. I recieved a few transmissions, but began to notice the scanner stopping on an active talkgroup without transmitting any sort of sound at all. The Clearwater system is streamed live here on RR, so I paired up what I was getting on my scanner to what was being broadcast online (none of the talkgroups are locked out in either my bank, nor the host's). My scanner only picks up maybe half the transmissions as the one online. I'll notice that mine will cut out in the middle of a transmission, but will still display the talkgroup, as if it is still recieving even the slightest signal. For example, CPD Dispatch West will broadcast "I've got a 10-50 at 100 Court Street...", and will then go silent, but still continue to display CPD Dispatch West. During this time, online, I will hear the remainder of the transmission "...tag number alpha, zulu ect ect". The manual does say that EDACS systems require clear reception, but my scanner has this problem even when I'm in Clearwater with it. It might be because of the large volume of radio activity in Pinellas, so maybe I need a better antenna. But Hillsborough County uses a EDACS standard system as well, and my scanner does the same thing there too, so I figure it has to do with scanning EDACS. If anybody knows what would be the cause of this, please help me out! Thanks!
Just a shot in the dark, since I don't have that particular scanner-

When you entered the frequencies "in LCN order", you did start in the second channel of the bank, right? In other words, start with channel 101, not 100 (or 201, 301, etc). Past that, I'll leave it to somebody with that model and/or that area.
 

SCPD

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Joined
Feb 24, 2001
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Location
Virginia
On the bank you have the EDACS system in, manually go to the first channel, ie. MAN 101 MAN, then press the up arrows stepping through each frequency (with squelch off) until you find the control channels (lots of noise). On the bottom line of the display you should see something like

ED: CTL-05 78%

It is the percentage that we are most interested in here. This value will fluctuate but lower readings indicate a problem in reception. This could be due to distance to the tower, antenna or placement of the scanner itself.

My bet is that you are losing the control channel for some reason. This happens to me occasionally but not to the extent that you are experiencing. I don't know what you are using for an antenna but I have had real good luck with the RS 800 MHz antenna.
 

wsk1990

Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2011
Messages
8
Location
St. Petersburg
Just a shot in the dark, since I don't have that particular scanner-

When you entered the frequencies "in LCN order", you did start in the second channel of the bank, right? In other words, start with channel 101, not 100 (or 201, 301, etc). Past that, I'll leave it to somebody with that model and/or that area.

Oooookay, thats why it wasn't working! I'm so dumb! It's coming in perfectly now, thank you!
 

futurepj22

Newbie
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
2
trouble

i was wondering if you can help me since you also have the pro 164. the other day i was scanning different banks that i have had programed by radioshack.i then pressed scan repeatedly to go to the next bank.i then turned it off. now when ever i press SCAN the whole scanner freezes. ALL other buttons work and my programed frequencies are all still there , i just have to manually go to them. why canty i scan my banks anymore? any help?
 

kamikaze1

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Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 13, 2011
Messages
239
Location
greenwood sc
weird

i was wondering if you can help me since you also have the pro 164. the other day i was scanning different banks that i have had programed by radioshack.i then pressed scan repeatedly to go to the next bank.i then turned it off. now when ever i press SCAN the whole scanner freezes. ALL other buttons work and my programed frequencies are all still there , i just have to manually go to them. why canty i scan my banks anymore? any help?

sounds like a memory issue or something wrong internaly i have pro-163 pro-164 and never had this happen i have let batterys run low where the scanner was blinking on and of rapidly and lost some freq but other then that ive never had that issue
 
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