Harris County

ka5ils · #1 (**permalink**) 12-16-2011, 02:36 PM

I just bought a Pro-197 and I have tried for a week and a half to get it to work on the local PD and Fire. My area Harris county, TX just rebanded and this thing only will pick up half of the conversation sometimes and none at other times. I have been working with the program that came with the cable and no luck. Does anyone PLEASE have a solution to the problem.

FlashSWT · #2 (**permalink**) 12-17-2011, 06:40 PM

You'll most likely need to enter custom tables due to the rebanding. Let us know what software you are using, what tower site you monitor and someone here will probably be able to help better.

Check out this article and see if it helps any: Object Oriented Scanner Software - The RadioReference Wiki

Cruiseomatic · #3 (**permalink**) 12-21-2011, 07:40 AM

Strange, I never knew they re-banded but everyone has been having problems since where as my PRO-164 never flinched... And it is running continuously over many different talk groups; H.C.S.O. South, E.T.M.C., Pasadena P.D., H.C.T.R.A., PRCT 3 & 8, Etc... I use Win 97 for programming. I usually run off sites 27 or 28.

motorola_otaku · #4 (**permalink**) 12-21-2011, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cruiseomatic

Strange, I never knew they re-banded.. I usually run off sites 27 or 28.

That's because sites 27 and 28 didn't change their primary control channels after rebanding. Additionally, site 27 (Wallisville) has no 25kHz-spaced voice channels that require rebanding tables in the first place.

Just so everyone's on the same page, the following sites do NOT require rebanding tables and will track properly on old non-rebanding-capable radios:
-Pasadena (23)
-North Gessner (26)
-Wallisville (27)

Cruiseomatic · #5 (**permalink**) 12-21-2011, 11:21 AM

I see. That could be why. What would I need to do to re-band this radio and would it still work with my current sites?

Daffy · #6 (**permalink**) 12-22-2011, 08:15 AM

My BC780XLT lost the wallisville site a week after the baytown site rebanded.

Did you update your firmware yet?
I had to with my new PSR-700 for trunking.

towman79 · #7 (**permalink**) 12-22-2011, 07:14 PM

I see that wallisville and n guesner haven't been rebanded. but why does the database say they have? does this mean you have to moniter those sites by themselves. because if you program a psr600 for multi site and load the reband tables it effects all the towers you list. or is there away to seperate them. I am listening in my truck so im all over town, i dont want to have to keep manualy changing towers.

Daffy · #8 (**permalink**) 12-22-2011, 07:39 PM

I just checked the Wallisville site and it indeed is still working, did they change the control freq recently?

usafss · #9 (**permalink**) 12-22-2011, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ka5ils

I just bought a Pro-197 and I have tried for a week and a half to get it to work on the local PD and Fire. My area Harris county, TX just rebanded and this thing only will pick up half of the conversation sometimes and none at other times. I have been working with the program that came with the cable and no luck. Does anyone PLEASE have a solution to the problem.

I have two of them. They work pretty much like GRE600 for me, using Win500. BUT, you need to make sure you are using latest version of Win500 (V2.06). My older version apparently did not know the RS197 to talk to it.
One TSYS for Harris County rebanded.As downloaded from RR with editing for size and interests.
One TSYS for APCO 25 stuff. As downloaded from RR.
One conventional for all area FD and PD and Acft (divided into diff banks)
One area for DPS digital system.
still have a bit of room left over.
Seems to be working OK.
I can try to email the file if you would like.

teknishun · #10 (**permalink**) 12-23-2011, 07:24 PM

I believe they are now using digital radio trunking and not analog trunking.
Can your new scanner do the digital stuff? I now have a PRO-164 and
a PRO-2053 that are both useless.

usafss · #11 (**permalink**) 12-23-2011, 07:47 PM

They may not trunk, but if they can receive the frequencies of the site you want, there is still a bunch of stuff in analog 800mhz you can get. Also a lot of simulcast on VHF and UHF you can get. HPD and HFD are still in UHF for a while yet for example.

texasemt13 · #12 (**permalink**) 12-24-2011, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teknishun

I believe they are now using digital radio trunking and not analog trunking.
Can your new scanner do the digital stuff? I now have a PRO-164 and
a PRO-2053 that are both useless.

Try looking in to Digital Speech Decoder software. A recent "breakthrough" now allows this to compile on Windows, and is being discussed in this thread.

Basically, your scanners aren't entirely incapable of helping you listen to P25 transmissions, they just need a little help from a soundcard and software.

teknishun · #13 (**permalink**) 01-03-2012, 10:50 PM

I have a PRO-164 that has stopped working due to the rebanding to digital of some
stuff I listen to. I need the new control freqs for Alvin, Pearland, Manvel, Friendswood, League City and Webster. Also the locations of the new towers. A rubber ducky antenna may not work if the tower sites have been moved. Will the PRO-64 pick up these new freqs or do I need a new digital trunking scanner instead?

FlashSWT · #14 (**permalink**) 01-04-2012, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teknishun

I have a PRO-164 that has stopped working due to the rebanding to digital of some
stuff I listen to. I need the new control freqs for Alvin, Pearland, Manvel, Friendswood, League City and Webster. Also the locations of the new towers. A rubber ducky antenna may not work if the tower sites have been moved. Will the PRO-64 pick up these new freqs or do I need a new digital trunking scanner instead?

Alvin, Pearland, Manvel, Friendswood, League City and Webster are all still on the analog system. They have not moved to digital yet. None of the towers have been moved as part of the "rebanding" process they have just had some of the frequencies changed, so if you could pick them up before you will still be able to now.

Your PRO-164 will continue to work just fine for the agencies you mentioned, it just needs the programming updated. You can find the new control channels here: Texas Wide Area Radio Network (TxWARN) Motorola Trunking System, Metro Houston area, Texas - Scanner Frequencies

hiegtx · #15 (**permalink**) 01-04-2012, 09:47 PM

One note about the Pro-164-
It will work on a rebanded analog system. However, besides the new frequencies, you also have to enter the custom tables for the scanner to track properly. For that model (and it's base/mobile sibling, the Pro-163), the only way you can do that is with software. See this page in the Wiki. (The same information applies to the PSR-300 & PSR-400, which are the GRE labeled versions of the same scanner. GRE makes the 163 & 164 for Radio Shack.)

teknishun · #16 (**permalink**) 01-05-2012, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlashSWT

Alvin, Pearland, Manvel, Friendswood, League City and Webster are all still on the analog system. They have not moved to digital yet. None of the towers have been moved as part of the "rebanding" process they have just had some of the frequencies changed, so if you could pick them up before you will still be able to now.

Your PRO-164 will continue to work just fine for the agencies you mentioned, it just needs the programming updated. You can find the new control channels here: Texas Wide Area Radio Network (TxWARN) Motorola Trunking System, Metro Houston area, Texas - Scanner Frequencies

THANKS !!! A Bunch. Yes, all I had to do was reprogram the control channels for the towers that
I listen too. The Talk Groups stayed the same. My PRO-164 and PRO-2053 are both happily chatting up a storm right now. Man! You saved me a bundle of money -- I was all set to go out and by the Uniden Bearcat BCD396XT but now I do not have to. !!!!!!!!