You can easily monitor Connect Plus passively. It's been talked about many times on here. Capacity Plus is even easier, just set your talkgroups to RX only. Capacity Plus doesn't have any sort of user authentication, whereas Capacity Plus does (if you attemp to affiliate to the system).
Yes. Moreover, on smaller DMR trunked systems, you really don't even need a Tier III (trunking) radio because, unlike P25 trunked systems, DMR trunked systems generally sit on the same channel for "replies" that occur within 4-6 seconds of eachother and transmit the talkgroup information on the audio channel without needing to "sit" on the control channel. And there is much less "hopping" from one frequency to the next in most DMR trunked systems.
Thus, I use a cheap-o $200 Connect Systems CS701 radio to monitor a 6-channel VHF public safety Connect+ trunked system and it works fairly well. I didn't say perfect. I sometimes miss up to 1 second of the first transmission of a conversation, but then I hear all replies within 4-6 seconds of each other without missing anything.
Just program all channels in the system, program a Digital RX group with the talkgroups you want to monitor, and program a scan list for all of the channels in the system. Now set a channel to "auto scan". Set a scan delay equal to the usual system channel hang time. Park your CS radio on that channel and it will simply scan all the channels in the trunked system "looking" for the talkgroups you're interested in. When it finds one active, it will sit on that channel and monitor the conversation until 4-6 seconds elapses after the last reply. Then it will move on.
Repeat the above for different talkgroups, if you want. Make a channel called "County Fire" (that auto scans the 6-8 channels used by the system, each with a Digital RX group containing the fire talkgroups). Make a channel called "County Sheriff" (that auto scans the same 6-8 channels used by the system, each with a Digital RX group containing the sheriff talkgroups). And make a channel called "Fire and Sheriff" (that auto scans the same 6-8 channels used by the system, each with a Digital RX group containing both the fire and sheriff talkgroups). And on and on. Once programmed this way, you pick a channel to sit on, and you're sorta "tracking" the system and what you want to hear.
Works fine for $200. Invest more, and track better, if you've got the cash. This is the poor man's MotoTRBO handheld TrunkTracker scanner.
Dan
