I just bought a Uniden Bearcat BC996T last week and while I have not programmed any LTR systems yet, I was wondering if anyone here has done that yet? I suspect that it will be pretty similar to the BC796 that I had until recently, but I am hoping that the high memory capacity will make it a little easier to map out systems when home channels are unknown.
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LTR and the Uniden Bearcat BC996T
- Thread starter JASII
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JGP
Member
You will find that the 996 does very well with LTR systems. To find new LTR frequencies, do a custom search set to c-ch only. It lets you find LTR system frequencies and Motorola control channels and lets you scan the systems. You will find this in the manual on pages 93 through 96. You can have ten custom search ranges to cover VHF/UHF and 800 frequencies.
JGP, my understanding is that LTR is not control channel based, but the control channel search should work great for Motorola systems. I tried an experiment tonight with a frequency that I already knew to be Home Channel 13 on a local LTR system. I programmed the channel in 20 different systems. Each system was programmed as a one channel LTR system with the test frequency and each system had that frequency as a different home channel number. My theory was that the frequency would only be decoded in the ID SEARCH mode when the 996 got to the system with the frequency on the correct home channel position. For the most part that seems to be working, but there have been a few times when a talkgroup came through on something other than Home Channel 13. Is this a reliable method of determining the correct home channel?
JGP
Member
JASII, let me use an LTR system used in the Milwaukee area as an example. This is a General Communications LTR system in Muskego, Wisconsin.
01 451.5500 home channel for 0-01-... talkgroup id's
02 451.7500 home channel for 0-02-... talkgroup id's
04 452.2500 backup frequency for all TGID's
05 452.1750 home channel for 0-05-... talkgroup id's
08 461.8250 backup frequency for all TGID's
The 996 will find the an LTR frequency doing a custom search set to control channel only. A system user has to be talking at the time for it to work. If the talkgroup shows 0-01-015 for the frequency, the correct LCN is 01. The only trouble is that all the home channel talkgroups (01, 02, and 05) can use all the frequencies in the system at any given time. While still in custom search, you can hold on the frequency and wait for the 253 identafier to come up. This always shows the correct LCN for the frequency, but this can take a little time.
The other way is like you pointed out. Set up twenty systems for LCN's one through twenty. Label each system as LCN1, LCN2, etc., using one frequency at a time.
As you find LCN's for the frequencies, set up the system and see if it works. There is no simple way to do this. It takes time.
01 451.5500 home channel for 0-01-... talkgroup id's
02 451.7500 home channel for 0-02-... talkgroup id's
04 452.2500 backup frequency for all TGID's
05 452.1750 home channel for 0-05-... talkgroup id's
08 461.8250 backup frequency for all TGID's
The 996 will find the an LTR frequency doing a custom search set to control channel only. A system user has to be talking at the time for it to work. If the talkgroup shows 0-01-015 for the frequency, the correct LCN is 01. The only trouble is that all the home channel talkgroups (01, 02, and 05) can use all the frequencies in the system at any given time. While still in custom search, you can hold on the frequency and wait for the 253 identafier to come up. This always shows the correct LCN for the frequency, but this can take a little time.
The other way is like you pointed out. Set up twenty systems for LCN's one through twenty. Label each system as LCN1, LCN2, etc., using one frequency at a time.
As you find LCN's for the frequencies, set up the system and see if it works. There is no simple way to do this. It takes time.
Keep in mind you'll only hear traffic from the home repeater. If the channel ID of the subscriber doesn't match the repeater ID (a trunk off or trunk out) the scanner will stop for a split second, display the LTR ID, then resume scanning with no audio passed.JGP said:
Sometimes repeaters within LTR systems aren't set up as home repeaters. Those are a bit tougher to find.
-Wayne
JGP
Member
wayne_h said:
Wayne, a trick I learned when doing an LTR frequency search is to recognize TGID's. Some LTR systems will change or add a frequency from time to time. In that short silent display time, when a new frequency with a known TGIP is seen, the frequency can be placed in the correct LTR system where it belongs. It takes a fast eye: try not to blink.
The 396 and 996 make it so much better over using a 780 for the same thing.
Joel
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