PRO 95 scanner

I am having trouble progamming my pro-95 scanner. I read the manual, the wiki page and Marks scanners info. I entered the frequencies, it is set as motorola, I found the talk groups I want and put them in, I can hear traffic on individual freqencies when I set it on manual, but when I scan I hear nothing. Am I doing something out of order? I can't figure out the specific steps in the specific order and find out if I am setting everything properly.

Please help if you have a pro 95 or have programmed one before.
Thank you
Redd

I still have mine somewhere, try using Win95 to import the system (it's free) -

PRO-95 Software - Win95 - Data Management for the RadioShack PRO-95 Trunking Scanner

There are a few possible issues here, but let's start with precisely what system you are trying to hear. Go up to the blue toolbar under the site title, click on DATABASES, then click on FREQUENCY DATABASE. Then use the various pulldowns and map to get to your system. C'mon back with the URL so we can all see which one you are trying to use

This is an important question, as many system are now undergoing a process known as Rebanding, which the PRO-95 won't handle. We have an extensive discussion on this topic here...(links are always blue)...

Rebanding - The RadioReference Wiki

The other question is very simple - are you scanning in open or closed mode? Mike

Thank you both for replying, I have the Win 95 software and have used it to program other so fire agency freqs (151 - 159) so I know it works fine. but I am not clear on all the aspects of trunking programming. I would like to know if I am putting in all the required info.

I am looking for redlands fire and SB co fire depts, SB county CommCenter 06/07.

San Bernardino County 06/07 Trunking System, Valley Areas, California - Scanner Frequencies

Maybe I am not reading it right, but it looks like it has not been re-banded yet? I am scanning in open (tried both) but still nothing.

I didn't think it was important at first, because of my lack of overall results but even the bits I am hearing are poor reception. If I cannot get good reception, will that prevent the trunking control channels from working correctly? Is a clear signal an absolute for trunking?

My old stomping grounds - I miss that area. If you used Win 95 to import the system it should be setup correctly. However, there doesn't appear to be much activity on it - you can listen here: Redlands Fire

There is also a blurb on the page you linked to that states CONFIRE is used as well, maybe that's where all the action is? Try posting for help in the California forums, someone there should know for sure. It's been 25 years or more since I've scanned San Bernardino County.

InlandAZ said:

My old stomping grounds - I miss that area. If you used Win 95 to import the system it should be setup correctly. However, there doesn't appear to be much activity on it - you can listen here: Redlands Fire.

Click to expand...

Yes - but I should be hearing something and I'm not hearing anything. My question is more about what information do I need to put into the scanner (either manually or via Win95) I have all 28 frequencies in one bank in order of listing on the web page, I have alpha tag and ID numbers of talk groups in ID sub-banks, nothing is locked out and sub banks are on.

Type is set to MOT, bank is open, not closed.

There are several other boxes for data entry in Win 95, but I didn't enter anything there, are they automatic? (Motorola 800 MHZ: Normal, ID Delay:2000...)

Do I need Fleet map info?

Perhaps I should enter more talk groups and see if I can hear those?

This is how I'd try it - and, apparently there is no Web Import with Win 95 Sorry about that -

Don't forget to enable the Bank in the Settings tab, and scan the Bank in Closed Mode.

Isn't System 6/7 a splinter system? Click the Offset on.
And with San Bernardino Fire disbanding and County taking over, there likely will be a lot more chatter on 6-FIRE-3

InlandAZ said:

This is how I'd try it - and, apparently there is no Web Import with Win 95 Sorry about that -

Don't forget to enable the Bank in the Settings tab, and scan the Bank in Closed Mode.

Click to expand...

Okay, well that's a BIG difference from how I had it... You only have 4 frequencies entered, I have all 28 in the system and you have all yours set to FM, mine are MOT...

lemme try that.

The bank has to be set to MOT and all of the channel that you put the frequencys in need to also be set to MOT.

Eng74 said:

The bank has to be set to MOT and all of the channel that you put the frequencys in need to also be set to MOT.

Click to expand...

Do I load all 28 frequencies available? or just the control frequencies? (red ones)

reddgroom said:

Okay, well that's a BIG difference from how I had it... You only have 4 frequencies entered, I have all 28 in the system and you have all yours set to FM, mine are MOT...

lemme try that.

Click to expand...

Yep, it's been awhile since I loaded up anything in the Pro-95.

reddgroom said:

Do I load all 28 frequencies available? or just the control frequencies? (red ones)

Click to expand...

Just the CC's (Primary and Alternate)

Edit - looks like all are Primary, no alternates.

InlandAZ said:

Just the CC's (Primary and Alternate)

Edit - looks like all are Primary, no alternates.

Click to expand...

Pardon me for questioning your advice, I have tried to read everything I can on here to learn first without asking for too much help, but what I have read indicates that the system uses all the frequencies and switches around... otherwise why list them in the group if they do not need to be programmed in? I thought the control frequencies were the ones with the data instructions, and the actual vice transmissions are carried on the remInder of the frequencies. How will the radio follow those frequencies if I only have the control freqs programmed in? Do I have the system misunderstood?

Again, thank you for your assistance, this has been very frustrating trying to learn and figure it out.

reddgroom said:

Pardon me for questioning your advice, I have tried to read everything I can on here to learn first without asking for too much help, but what I have read indicates that the system uses all the frequencies and switches around... otherwise why list them in the group if they do not need to be programmed in? I thought the control frequencies were the ones with the data instructions, and the actual vice transmissions are carried on the remInder of the frequencies. How will the radio follow those frequencies if I only have the control freqs programmed in? Do I have the system misunderstood?

Again, thank you for your assistance, this has been very frustrating trying to learn and figure it out.

Click to expand...

Here is a simple explanation of how Motorola trunking works.

MOTOROLA TRUNKING

The object of trunking is to allow many users to share a relatively few frequencies.
A trunking system is controlled by a computer. Information (data) is exchanged between the system radios and the computer on a control channel, sometimes called a data channel. It sounds like a strong buzz.

A large system can have up to 28 freqs., 4 of which may be used as control channels. The control channel may be changed once a day or as often as the programmer decides. Some scanners need only the control channels to track an entire system. Just put in all the Control Channels.

Each group of users (Fire, Police, etc.) is assigned TALK GROUPS. In a Motorola Type II system, the most common type, TGs are usually in 32 number steps starting with 16 and going up to 65536; 16, 48, 80 --- 4656, 4688, 4720 --- 28944, 28976, etc. System radios can have more than 100 TGs programmed into them.

Digital systems are similar, but the talk groups use every number (like 2491, 2492, 2493, etc.).

When a user pushes the talk button on his radio, data is sent to the computer. The computer chooses an unused freq. and sends that data to all the radios using the TG of the originating unit. This all happens in a fraction of a second and it happens EVERY TIME a radio is used.

EXAMPLE:
Fire Dispatch calling Engine 4 (TG 4528 on 856.7125)
Engine 4 answering Dispatch (TG 4528 on 852.2625)
Respond to 73 Elm Street (TG 4528 on 855.9625)
Engine 4 responding (TG 4528 on 851.6375)

If you have entered TG 4528 into your scanner, it will decode the control channel data and change your scanner freqs. to follow the conversation on TG 4528.

ALSO: After you enter the control channels, press SCAN. Then it will start to "trunk".

Control Channel Only programming lets you program in the control channels, and the scanner gets it's information from there.

Have a look here:

Easier to Read Pro-93/95/2053 Scanner Manual

Really dumb questions: How well are you receiving the system? If it's not strong enough, no decode will occur. A better antenna may be an answer here.

The other one is something many newcomers do - did you lock out the frequencies that have a strong motorboat-like sound on them? Those are control channels and should never be locked out.

Mike

ka3jjz said:

Really dumb questions: How well are you receiving the system? If it's not strong enough, no decode will occur. A better antenna may be an answer here.

The other one is something many newcomers do - did you lock out the frequencies that have a strong motorboat-like sound on them? Those are control channels and should never be locked out.

Mike

Click to expand...

Mike, thanks for the helpful and thoughtful information. I have tried control channels only, and all freqs. I have tried normal and offset. I have tried scanning open and closed. None of the frequencies are locked out and all of the talkgroups are on. When scanning the way the manual says I should scan I hear absolutely nothing... not just a little or only static.... A b s o l u t e l y nothing. Sat for 3 hours yesterday and not a peep, while the broadcastify stream was busy. When I change the frequencies to AM, and scan, I can hear traffic, so I know the radio works, and is receiving signals. It just isn't following any traffic when in motorola mode. I am not sure, however, if the traffic I am hearing is local traffic or from some other jurisdiction far away. I can hear the a control frequency, and even drove up the hill yesterday to see if that would improve reception. AM signals got clearer, but scanning in MOT mode, still nada.

How clear does the control signal need to be? I am using a brand new radio shack 800 mhz antenna, with fresh batteries and I live only blocks from downtown redlands, so if the mobile units can receive the signal, I should be able to. I have noticed, that in my previous use of trunking, when i heard a transmission, the user ID would come up on the screen, I noticed it's not doing that now.

Is it possible the ID groups or frequencies have changed? Someone mentioned rebanding... how can I know if that has occurred or not? I got my freqs from the RR page, which stated that it has been updated recently, so I was confident they were accurate. From looking at them, they are all in the range my scanner is capable of receiving, so I don't think that's it. I could post a screen shot of my programming for someone who knows Pro95 operations and knows how they actually work to look at and tell me if my programming matches theirs.

am at a loss and ready to go back to the 151. range 800mhz seems like it is not worth the trouble, when there are so many other agencies around here till on that. It's been over 5 days now of programming trial and error with zero results. If you think you have any other ideas or diagnostic suggestions, I would love to be able to solve this puzzle.

thanks.

PRO-95

reddgroom said:

Pardon me for questioning your advice, I have tried to read everything I can on here to learn first without asking for too much help, but what I have read indicates that the system uses all the frequencies and switches around... otherwise why list them in the group if they do not need to be programmed in?

Click to expand...

Some scanners, like the PRO-92, require ALL of the frequencies to be programmed. Newer scanners only require the control channels.

I thought the control frequencies were the ones with the data instructions, and the actual vice transmissions are carried on the remInder of the frequencies. How will the radio follow those frequencies if I only have the control freqs programmed in? Do I have the system misunderstood?

Click to expand...

There are two ways you can scan, but only one way you really want to. You could scan the voice frequencies. The 'problem' is that each conversation will jump around from one frequency to another. The proper way to scan is to "trunk track". To do that, you program in the control channel frequencies, tell the scanner which talkgroups you want to hear (or just place it in open mode) and let the scanner track each conversation for you.

The PRO-95 is a much older scanner now. I use mine mostly as a receiver with a discriminator tap (advanced topic). There are several reasons you might need to upgrade including: You want to monitor a rebanded system, the channels you want to monitor are digital (P25), you want to employ CTCSS/DCS decoding to "filter" out unwanted traffic and much more.

If not already stated: the reason you're not hearing radio traffic in open mode is because you have each frequency set to FM. They need to be set to MOT.

gmclam said:

If not already stated: the reason you're not hearing radio traffic in open mode is because you have each frequency set to FM. They need to be set to MOT.

Click to expand...

Is it normal that I would hear them scanning in AM and FM but not MOT? When they are set in MOT, and I scan, I do not hear anything, open or closed - nothing. It is as if they are locked out, but they are not. I can only hear traffic on these frequencies when I manually select a single frequency or I scan in regular mode. I am not sure who this is I can hear, tho, because when I have MOT mode on, I don't even see their talk group ID. I know that info should be popping up on the screen as the radio receives traffic, but it doesn't. I originally thought that maybe I was hearing nothing

I know my scanner is old, I'm not really interested in buying a new scanner, and I would drop my interest entirely in 800 mhz if it requires much more complication. I have used my current scanner for years to listen to non-800 frequencies (mostly large mutual aid wildland fire and other fire agencies) and it works splendidly for that. I also listen to a lot of air traffic when the tankers are flying out of San Bernardino. I have used the radio to trunk before, to listen to local LE traffic, so I thought I knew how to get it working. I live in a new area now, and just thought it would be nice, since I own a scanner that is supposedly capable, to listen to the local city guys driving past my house everyday too. The screenshot above is not what I have in my radio - it was a suggestion. I tried that and it didn't work either.

Another option I could try is EDACS or fleet map settings - I didn't see any settings recommended for that, and no one has mentioned it yet, so I don't think they are involved, but a good methodical approach means I gotta try everything. Any thoughts?