396XT - Question about a P25 Site and TalkGroup

[TNCatbird]

Hey y'all,

I've been spending hours and hours going through all the great info here at RR. Now I'm ready to start asking questions.

I got a 396XT for my birthday and am slowly having some success programming it with a combination of Freescan and manually. But I've come across something that I'm not sure about.

I've set up a P25 system for my area based on what is found at Tennessee Valley Regional Telecommunications System Trunking System, Varies, Multi-State - Scanner Frequencies . Many of the counties in this area are just now switching to the P25 system and not all are up yet. But I do know that at least 2 are. One is Roane County which I'm hearing just fine. The other is Meigs, where I live. I programmed the freqs for it just as I did for Roane, and it is being scanned, but am not hearing anything. One thing I noticed is that the Roane entry picked up the band plan automatically but the Meigs band plan is still showing blanks. Is this a case where it has to be entered manually for some reason?

I've read a bit about that in the "Easier to Read" manual but am still pretty vague about if/when/how to do it manually.

The only other thing I could think of to do is to up the P25 wait time on the site setup. Am I missing something else - some other reason it's not picking up?

Any help would be appreciated. And please be gentle...I'm slow at this stuff.

 

[ofd8001]

Any time I get suspicious or concerned that I may have a system programmed incorrectly, I'll create the trunked system as a conventional system programming all of the voice AND control channels. If I receive traffic on the voice channels or hear the data of the control channel, then I know I can receive the system.

If I receive the system, then I try to figure what I might have done wrong programming it as a trunked system. Usually it is a case of one simple thing and I smack my head saying "I should have thought of that".

If I do not receive anything, then I figure the system isn't being used because it is still new and hasn't been migrated to. Or I just might not be able to receive it due to location. The worst possible thing is that the system is completely encrypted and I won't be able to hear anything even if I was right next to a transmitter, though completely encrypted systems are rare.

Getting the "hang" of the "new way" of how modern scanners are programmed can be challenging, but patience and persistence has paid off for me and countless others. I'm sure you'll get it figured out.

Good luck!

 

[ButchGone]

All the individual sites should be programmed the exact same way, as P25 systems. Keep in mind you will not hear all counties or all talkgroups on all towers all the time. For example, if you are listening to the No Pone (Decatur) site, you'll hear mostly Meigs units and occasionally Rhea County. The only time you will hear Roane units on the No Pone site is when a Roane unit is close to Decatur and affiliating with the site. If you live in Meigs, keep nearby sites in your scan rotation like Evensville, Roosavelt Mnt, etc so you can hear stuff going on a county or two over.
BG..

 

[puzzleriddle]

Perhaps a "smpler way" just use your premium membership & import from rr yourself?

 

[TNCatbird]

Thanks for the replies guys.

puzzleriddle, I did a combo of importing and using EZGrab and all the freqs entered just fine. The problem was that I wasn't hearing anything on the Meigs Co freq that I imported.

ButchGone, I listen to all surrounding counties and am getting everyone just fine on their freqs, both conventional and trunked, except for Meigs. I hear Roane just fine on their trunked system and Rhea is only using the trunked system as an occasional backup - they're still primarily on their conventional system.

ofd8001, I appreciate your suggestion and did it right away. I should have thought of that myself. What can I say... I'm more gray than blonde now but I still have the gene I guess!

I got what sounds like a very faint data signal, full of static, on the control channel freq. Once in a while "DAT" pops up on the display, confirming that I'm receiving something. But the signal strength indicator is either blank or only shows 1 bar.

Meigs is still using conventional freqs for fire/EMS traffic and I'm getting those on my old Pro79 and the even older Uniden base scanner. We have some wire strung up in the room as an antenna for that. But not on the 396. So... I decided that it might be an antenna issue. The No Pone tower is at the other end of the county from us and there are a couple of ridges between it and us.

So my husband, who is as frustrated as I am about this, and I went for a ride. We figured if we got close to the antenna and still couldn't hear anything than that meant that it was encrypted. I really didn't think that was the case... Meigs Co is very small and rural and doesn't have the money for something like that. So we drove around for a while and still didn't hear anything until we were almost back home. Then we topped a hill and BINGO there it was - clear voice coming in 5/5 on the trunk system I had programmed. And then some traffic on one of the conventional freqs as well.

I checked and freqs have now been entered in the band plan for the trunk system I programmed for Meigs. I think that must happen as some kind of initialization that happens the first time the scanner receives a strong enough signal on that control channel.

So back home now and I've gotten just a glimmer of a signal one time and that's it. But at any rate, at least I now know that 1. Meigs Co isn't encrypted and 2. I programmed the system correctly. I'm pretty convinced that the problem is simply one of reception at my location. Does that make sense? I'm going to do some research but does anyone have any suggestions for alternate antennas?

Thanks again for the help.

 

[jimg]

Thanks for the replies guys.

puzzleriddle, I did a combo of importing and using EZGrab and all the freqs entered just fine. The problem was that I wasn't hearing anything on the Meigs Co freq that I imported.

ButchGone, I listen to all surrounding counties and am getting everyone just fine on their freqs, both conventional and trunked, except for Meigs. I hear Roane just fine on their trunked system and Rhea is only using the trunked system as an occasional backup - they're still primarily on their conventional system.

ofd8001, I appreciate your suggestion and did it right away. I should have thought of that myself. What can I say... I'm more gray than blonde now but I still have the gene I guess!

I got what sounds like a very faint data signal, full of static, on the control channel freq. Once in a while "DAT" pops up on the display, confirming that I'm receiving something. But the signal strength indicator is either blank or only shows 1 bar.

Meigs is still using conventional freqs for fire/EMS traffic and I'm getting those on my old Pro79 and the even older Uniden base scanner. We have some wire strung up in the room as an antenna for that. But not on the 396. So... I decided that it might be an antenna issue. The No Pone tower is at the other end of the county from us and there are a couple of ridges between it and us.

So my husband, who is as frustrated as I am about this, and I went for a ride. We figured if we got close to the antenna and still couldn't hear anything than that meant that it was encrypted. I really didn't think that was the case... Meigs Co is very small and rural and doesn't have the money for something like that. So we drove around for a while and still didn't hear anything until we were almost back home. Then we topped a hill and BINGO there it was - clear voice coming in 5/5 on the trunk system I had programmed. And then some traffic on one of the conventional freqs as well.

I checked and freqs have now been entered in the band plan for the trunk system I programmed for Meigs. I think that must happen as some kind of initialization that happens the first time the scanner receives a strong enough signal on that control channel.

So back home now and I've gotten just a glimmer of a signal one time and that's it. But at any rate, at least I now know that 1. Meigs Co isn't encrypted and 2. I programmed the system correctly. I'm pretty convinced that the problem is simply one of reception at my location. Does that make sense? I'm going to do some research but does anyone have any suggestions for alternate antennas?

Thanks again for the help.

I ordered the W-881 Super Gainer with BNC from Scannermaster. It is 16" long and covers 25-1900 mhz. I use it as a portable antenna and when in the car, I can install it on my duckie window mount, with
BNC, and it receives great. You can view both of these products on the Scannermaster web site.

 

[ofd8001]

I've heard stories that nearby electronic equipment, such as computers, will de-sense a scanner, and by simply moving it around in a room, the reception improves.

A different antenna is probably your answer. I use the Radio Shack 800 model that seems to work quite well. Lastly, and it wrecks the whole notion of portability, but if you are trying to grab a distant signal, an outside antenna is an option. The higher the better and use the best cable you can afford. I have my 996 connected to an outside antenna, but the scanner stays in one place at home.