WIN 500 Software & Motorola UHF Trunked Systems

[transitman]

I've been trying to monitor different Motorola UHF Trunked systems using WIN 500 software to program a Pro-106. Unfortunately I have not heard any transmissions although I can monitor the same system simultaneously by using a Pro 164 and WIN 97 software! The WIN 500 trunking table has two columns for a Lo Channel and Hi Channel in addition to Base, Offset and Step. Does a value have to be entered into the Lo and Hi columns and if so, how do I determine what to enter as only Base, Step and Offset are shown in the database? Any information is appreciated.

[qlajlu]

There is a Wiki article here that explains how to figure Base/Step/Offset. Personally, I don't understand it, but your mileage might vary.

[qlajlu]

Originally Posted by transitman

I've been trying to monitor different Motorola UHF Trunked systems using WIN 500 software to program a Pro-106. Unfortunately I have not heard any transmissions although I can monitor the same system simultaneously by using a Pro 164 and WIN 97 software! The WIN 500 trunking table has two columns for a Lo Channel and Hi Channel in addition to Base, Offset and Step. Does a value have to be entered into the Lo and Hi columns and if so, how do I determine what to enter as only Base, Step and Offset are shown in the database? Any information is appreciated.

transitman, I've been really curious as to whether or not you were able to get up and running. Your less than helpful location (the Universe...oh, really?) has made it so I (and probably others) cannot attempt to find the system you want to import so we can see what problems there might be.

Using WIN500 makes importing most systems a relatively minor job. There is an illustrated help file here that should answer most of your questions.

It would be very nice if you would post your progress...

[transitman]

So far no luck with attempting to monitor Motorola UHF trunked systems using a Pro-106 and doing the programming with WIN500 software (although I can monitor the same system with a Pro-96 and WIN96 software). Because I travel frequently throughout the country, I keep all my frequency information in Excel formats and copy/paste the information into the specific WIN program, which is why I don't download information via Radio Reference. As noted in my original posting, does the WIN500 Trunking Table require an entry in the Lo Chan and Hi Chan column in addition to the Base, Step and Offset information which is usually shown on the database page for the specific system. A couple of Motorola UHF systems I tried to monitor (with a Pro-106) were SEPTA in Philadelphia, United Airlines in Chicago and the Culver City & Montebello systems in California. If someone has the Hi/Lo "numbers" for these systems, please post them.

A reminder, this question applies only to programming a Pro-106 with WIN500 software.

Thanks for any assistance!!

[DonS]

Yes, Win500 requires the "Lo Chan" and "Hi Chan" settings for Mot UHF systems. Try 380 and 759, respectively.

[transitman]

DonS:

Your suggestion resolved my issue. However I have a few technical questions regarding Lo/Hi Channel numbers:

1. Why are channel numbers needed only for WIN500 but not for WIN 96, 97 etc?

2. Do channel numbers correspond to a specific frequency?

3. Motorola UHF Trunked systems require Base, Step & Offset data to properly monitor the system. I understand the Step function however can you provide some information on Base and Offset or suggest another site where this information can be found?

Inquiring minds want to know!!

A request for WIN500. Can the "Alpha Tag" field in the TSYS Objects section be change to allow a name to be pasted into the field?

Thanks!

[DonS]

Originally Posted by transitman

DonS:

Your suggestion resolved my issue. However I have a few technical questions regarding Lo/Hi Channel numbers:

1. Why are channel numbers needed only for WIN500 but not for WIN 96, 97 etc?

They're needed for VHF/UHF Mot systems on the PRO-96 if the system has more than one "table entry". The PRO-97 doesn't support multiple table entries.

2. Do channel numbers correspond to a specific frequency?

Within the context of that table entry, yes:

if ( chan >= LoChan && chan <= HiChan )
  VoiceFreq = Base + Step * (chan - Offset);
<chan> = channel number received in "call grant" message

3. Motorola UHF Trunked systems require Base, Step & Offset data to properly monitor the system. I understand the Step function however can you provide some information on Base and Offset or suggest another site where this information can be found?

See the formula above. Base, Step, and Offset are all used to calculate a voice frequency when given a "channel number" from the control channel's "call grant" message.