TRBO DMR Waukesha area

I just got my brand new UNIDEN 436 and it's great. It's taking me a bit of time to get used to it since it's quite different than my 250D with really no channels or banks but after 38 years of scanning pretty much the same way, I guess I won't get it right away.
The scanner is DMR ready and captured a few DMR freqs. last night. But I really want to monitor a Waukesha area TRBO DMR system that appears to have sites in New Berlin and Muskego.
I have not been able to pick up this system in search and am using the furnished antenna.
Is there something I need to be doing to pull this system in?
Thanks for any advise you guys can give.
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=8387

CrabbyMilton said:

I just got my brand new UNIDEN 436 and it's great. It's taking me a bit of time to get used to it since it's quite different than my 250D with really no channels or banks but after 38 years of scanning pretty much the same way, I guess I won't get it right away.
The scanner is DMR ready and captured a few DMR freqs. last night. But I really want to monitor a Waukesha area TRBO DMR system that appears to have sites in New Berlin and Muskego.
I have not been able to pick up this system in search and am using the furnished antenna.
Is there something I need to be doing to pull this system in?
Thanks for any advise you guys can give.
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=8387

Click to expand...

1. Menu --> Srch/CloCall Options --> Broadcast Screen - Set All Band Off

You could also go to Menu --> Srch/CloCall Options --> Broadcast Screen and set it off per band, specifically setting it to OFF for the band that has your 454 mhz freq search in it. But it's much easier just to disable Broadcast screen on all bands at once.

454 mhz typically / historically contained paging transmitters, and still does in many areas. The Broadcast Screen will avoid 454 mhz. And that's no good for the two sites you are trying to monitor since they have 454 mhz control channels.

2. LCN Order / Active frequencies

Your scanner will only properly trunktrack if the all of the active frequencies are listed for a site, and in their proper LCN order. For the sites you want to monitor, the LCN order may be incorrect and/or some active frequencies on the site may be missing.

It looks like the Muskego site is using a combination of frequencies from:

a. 454 mhz spectrum
b. WPNV903
c. WPCA638

It looks like the New Berlin site may be using a combination of frequencies from:

a. 454 mhz spectrum
b. and perhaps from FCC licenses in neighboring areas like Muskego or Waukesha (just guessing)

It is probably best to program each of those sites in with all of the frequencies that you know of for those sites, and then run LCN Finder (during a busy time of the day) in an attempt to determine what frequencies are active and what their LCNs are.

Mike

I appreciate that.
So many menu's and submenu's and going back and forth but I'll get it right at some point.

CrabbyMilton said:

I appreciate that.
So many menu's and submenu's and going back and forth but I'll get it right at some point.

Click to expand...

I here ya. Definitely a lot to navigate through and remember. I think Broadcast Screen defaults to ON in all Uniden scanners. So anybody who thinks there might be notable activity on 454 mhz / 152 mhz that they want to search for needs to turn it off.

Good luck!

Mike

Perhaps I'll just enter or 'search those as conventional and see what happens too.
One thing that annoys me about that scanner is that it seems to lack a resume feature. It gets hung up on a system and generally I use the knob to get it to move on but a single button would be nice. I know I'm still used to my trusty 250D and I might be missing something on this 436.
But hey, it's great to hear things that I was missing that left analog.

The New Berlin site no longer exists (replaced by Muskego).
The Muskego site LCNs are correct.
Start by seeing if you can receive the Muskego site control channel on 454.03125.

I'll try that. Still learning but making small progress.

mtindor said:

anybody who thinks there might be notable activity on 454 mhz / 152 mhz that they want to search for needs to turn it off.

Mike

Click to expand...

maby im missing something, but, why turn off? if u want to scan something should it be set to on, not off???

monstermatt2 said:

maby im missing something, but, why turn off? if u want to scan something should it be set to on, not off???

Click to expand...

Broadcast Screen

Broadcast Screen ON = ignore paging frequencies
Broadcast Screen OFF = scan/detect activity on paging frequencies

wirr said:

The New Berlin site no longer exists (replaced by Muskego).
The Muskego site LCNs are correct.
Start by seeing if you can receive the Muskego site control channel on 454.03125.

Click to expand...

I put 454.03125 in and I got obvious data noise but nothing else.
I also tried to enter the system name TRBO for a trunked search name but it didn't accept it.
I'll try again but perhaps I'm using the wrong name for the system.

I finally figured out why I wasn't receiving that system.
It wasn't programmed in the first place. Funny that it has systems that aren't anywhere near where I want to monitor but not that one. So I programmed it the old fashioned way and it works perfectly.
So lesson learned is never ASSume.