General scanner setup for UniTrunker

[Liverdog]

[perhaps we can make the answer to this a sticky]

Rick (or other knowledgeable member):

In general, what needs to be programmed into an scanner that is being controlled on a COM port by UniTrunker? I'm not concerned about the RS232 signalling and COM port numbers, I'm asking about the scanner programming.

In my case, I am using a Uniden BC250d, but how do I setup the memory channels or search ranges for use by UniTrunker so that as a frequency becomes active, UniTrunker commands the scanner to that frequency?

I spent about 30 mins searching the RR database for the answer but I didn't see anything.

Thanks in advance

 

[SCPD]

In general, what needs to be programmed into an scanner that is being controlled on a COM port by UniTrunker? I'm not concerned about the RS232 signalling and COM port numbers, I'm asking about the scanner programming.

Ah ... right.

You don't need to program anything into the radio. To follow voice calls - you do need to have all of the channels' frequencies. If one of the channel's frequencies is blank, you won't be able to hear a call when it hits that channel - because it won't know what frequency needed to direct the radio to hear the call.

You can either fill out a band plan and apply that to the blank channels or hand-edit the channels - filling out the frequency in each one.

When there's an active call that meets your listening criteria - the radio is directed to the frequency of that call. In between calls, the radio is "parked".

There are four parking modes ...

1. park to a frequency you specify in the program.
2. park to a frequency in a specific memory slot in the radio.
3. park to the radio's own scan mode.
4. park on control channel (which doesn't work yet).

The primary advantage of #2 is where the frequency of interest is in a different mode or requires a CTCSS tone or DCS code. The program doesn't need to worry about all the details - it just tells the radio "Go to the channel in memory slot X".

Obviously #2 and #3 only apply to radios that have a channel memory (most do but the WinRadio doesn't).

 

[Liverdog]

So if I understand correctly, there is a lookup table or index in UniTrunker that needs to be populated by the user (me) which directs the software to the correct location in the scanner. Is that correct?

I will dig around in the software and see if I can find what you are describing.

 

[SCPD]

The top half of the program's screen area is the activity display. It's just a list of channels with the ID's of the two parties for an active call. If you see a frequency in the left-most column, you're okay for that channel (assuming the frequency is correct). Otherwise you either need to hand edit the frequencies or fill out a band plan to do the job for you (or grab the bandplan along with all the talkgroups in a download from the RR DB).

In some cases - the program can determine the bandplan and frequencies. In many cases it requires some effort on your part. In the case of Motorola, typing in the frequency for the control channel quite often is sufficient (eg. find and edit the active control channel).

To find and edit a channel ... locate the channel on the actiivity display. If the frequency is missing, you will instead see the channel number preceded by a pound sign ... eg. "# 123". From the main menu ... [F]ind -> [C]hannel.

Type in "123" (or whatever the channel # may be) and press enter. The channel editing panel should appear. Inside this panel is a field for specifying the channel's frequency in Mhz. Fill that out and save it.

I should add that the program does not import frequencies from the RR DB (band plans - yes; frequencies - no). The reason has to do with the ambiguous way the frequencies are stored in the database. They aren't stored by channel # (except for EDACS and LTR). In the case of multiple sites - the site #'s don't match what is seen over the control channel (site 01 might appear as 101, 202, or 901 in the DB). For this reason, I can grab talkgroups and bandplans - but leave the rest alone.

-rick

 

[Liverdog]

Ah, we're okay on that part. I was reading in too much. It's a Moto APCO P25 system. Everything's there...

I'll try again.

 

[Liverdog]

Hi Rick. I think I miss-explained my problem... All of the P25 channels/frequencies are being decoded properly in the upper window and I'm logging calls. What I don't seem to have is any commanding of UniTrunker to the scanner to listen to voice channels.

I've tried placing the BC250d in several operating modes (scan, search, hold-on-a-channel) but don't seem to be having any commanding.

I can command the scanner with other software (not at the same time with UT) with the same COM settings so I know there's connectivity...

Any other thoughts on this?

P.S. Where is "tuner" that is mentioned in another post?

Thanks

 

[SCPD]

I've tried placing the BC250d in several operating modes (scan, search, hold-on-a-channel) but don't seem to be having any commanding.

Some basic suggestions: go to the Listen panel. Turn Listen to "Yes"'. Set Ignore Listen to "Yes".

You may also want to play with setting Ignore Threshold and/or Ignore Lockout to "Yes".

P.S. Where is "tuner" that is mentioned in another post?

Attached.

 

[cg]

I finally got some of my radio/ computer combinations to work. Here are some hints that worked for me.

Also, I have an old laptop (PII 64mg ram w/ windows 95). I can get Unitrunker to work on everything except the control of the radio. I use duplicate settings between that and my Dell desktop which works 100%. Still no luck on the laptop. I think maybe there is a Win95 or slower machine issue. I even dropped the baud rates down low and had no luck.

- check the baud rate under "receiver" and verify the radio and Unitrunker match. On one setup, I had not matched them and nothing worked.
- after changes, close & restart Unitrunker. Even though I used "Save" at every level, the restart is what finally got me tracking.
- It seems like a conversation is needed to get the control to start. I used a weather channel as the park freq so I could tell when Unitrunker started taking control. If your TRS is not busy, there could be quite a delay before the radio starts following Unitrunker.

good luck

chris

 

[Liverdog]

Thanks Rick. I'm able to follow voice channels now on the BC250d.

What I was missing were individual TGs being set to "Listen[NO]" and/or "Ignore Listen[NO]".

Also, thanks cg. By "parking" the scanner on the local WX channel I was able to see that the scanner was being commanded. That was my first diagnostic step that told me that I did have connectivity after all.