Motorola used as scanner?

[mgolden2]

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Can a motorola handheld or mobile be setup to be used as a receiver-only for a trunk system? In other words, my city has an 800 mhz trunked system and i wonder if i can get a used motorola radio (ebay maybe), have it programmed with the trunked system info/channels, and be able to listen to everyone on the system. Thanks in advance

 

[SQUAD109]

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Nope

 

[colby4601]

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Nope

:roll: Yes, you can. Stop feeding misinformation.

 

[davidgcet]

you can do it, just if you are not authorized to be on the system you can get in big trouble. my advice is IF you use a radio as a scanner on a moto system, do it quietly.

keep in mind that Moto trunk radios only scan 8-10 talkgroups at a time. if you need to scan more than that you would be better served with a trunking capable scanner.

 

[tkallst]

The radio can here the traffic on the system but may not be able to keep up with only one conversation with out having that talk goup programmed in the radio.

Another question is when and if Kansas City will be migrated over to newer trunking system.

 

[n5ims]

:roll: Yes, you can. Stop feeding misinformation.

That may very well not have been spreading "misinformation" as you indicated. The OP specifically asked "and be able to listen to everyone on the system" and since the FD alone has over 25 talkgroups, this "Nope" may not have been to the question "Can it be programmed to scan a trunked system", but to the combination question as asked by the OP. Since the Motorola will not scan a large number of talkgroups this "Nope" could easily be supported as an answer.

 

[SQUAD109]

i mean yes sure you can but you will have a very expensive brick so go for it!

 

[mgolden2]

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Thanks for the replies. Appreciate it!

 

[zz0468]

Here's the scoop. Yes, it can be done, but:

Software requires a software key to enable programming trunked systems.

Keys are closely held by system admins, and they aren't given out.

One can create a key, if one knows what they're doing. If you have to ask how, you're in over your head.

Creating a radio that won't transmit at all can be done. If you have to ask how, you're in over your head.

The radios are limited in their scan capabilities.

The software can be difficult to obtain. If you have to ask how, you're probably in over your head.

So, in the end, it can be done. It's being done. But it's not really a beginner project.

 

[colby4601]

That may very well not have been spreading "misinformation" as you indicated. The OP specifically asked "and be able to listen to everyone on the system" and since the FD alone has over 25 talkgroups, this "Nope" may not have been to the question "Can it be programmed to scan a trunked system", but to the combination question as asked by the OP. Since the Motorola will not scan a large number of talkgroups this "Nope" could easily be supported as an answer.

I'm doubting that. Highly.

 

[N4KVE]

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Can a motorola handheld or mobile be setup to be used as a receiver-only for a trunk system? In other words, my city has an 800 mhz trunked system and i wonder if i can get a used motorola radio (ebay maybe), have it programmed with the trunked system info/channels, and be able to listen to everyone on the system. Thanks in advance

Can you use a Motorola radio to listen to trunked systems? Yes. Should you use a Motorola radio to listen to trunked systems? No. If the trunked system detects your radio is monitoring, it can be "stung" & turned into a paperweight. GARY N4KVE

 

[mgolden2]

Can you use a Motorola radio to listen to trunked systems? Yes. Should you use a Motorola radio to listen to trunked systems? No. If the trunked system detects your radio is monitoring, it can be "stung" & turned into a paperweight. GARY N4KVE

dont want that to happen! thanks so much!

 

[radioman2001]

Motorola radio's can monitor trunked systems quite well, they work way better than a scanner. They may have limitations, but the receiver is 100 times better. The information is out there, you just have to look, and try it. As far as getting stunned, there are depending on the size of the system over 65 million ID combinations, ( rough guess, I would have to look that up i the service manual) chances are if you don't have your radio transmit, the system will never know you are there. If you are trying to use it on an 800mhz system, the radio better be a newer one, or one that is or has been rebanded.
Now for a personal note. I am not trying to start a flame war, but it seems that this board is getting like Batlabs. Don't do this or don't do that. The poster was looking to see if a Motorola radio was capable of monitoring a trunked system, it is and can be done quite easily. I am not going to tell how, that's for the individual to find out for themselves. Advising where to look, may tread on feelings of "we may get shut down for providing it" is wrong. The last time I checked the internet is still free and not incumbered by narrow minded thinking. If you are the Admin of a trunked system, and you dislike the spreading of this kind of information, well then you should be screaming in Motorola's ear for that security, not blaming someone who is using a hole in you system the size of Mack truck to listen to it.
Enough said.

 

[davidgcet]

to add to your statement about rebanding, folks make such a big deal out of nothing. the ONLY channels the radio has programmed are the 1-4 control channels. when a system is rebanded, you simply repro to the new CC and are back to work. having a RB capable radio is nice, but absolutely not necessary if you have a means to program it. the CC tells the radio the freqs for the rest of the channels, the only reason you even program in specific freqs for the CC is so that the radio can quickly tell if the system is in range or not.

i do not advocate using a radio illegally, if you are caught you can be in major trouble. like you said though, unless you TX or the site admin happens to see the unknown ID the odds are slim of getting caught. just keep in mind newer radios only have an auto affiliate option and that means they DO let the system know they are there, be it analog or digital. older units could be set to affiliate on PTT so if you never keyed there was no way to tell you were listening.

 

[radioman2001]

I never looked at it that way, but I thought the channel numbering was different. If the CC said to go to channel 125, the actual frequencies are different. Gota look again, I have a new in the box Syntorx 9000e, I could use on NYC.

 

[GTR8000]

to add to your statement about rebanding, folks make such a big deal out of nothing. the ONLY channels the radio has programmed are the 1-4 control channels. when a system is rebanded, you simply repro to the new CC and are back to work. having a RB capable radio is nice, but absolutely not necessary if you have a means to program it. the CC tells the radio the freqs for the rest of the channels, the only reason you even program in specific freqs for the CC is so that the radio can quickly tell if the system is in range or not.

This bit is so absolutely and fundamentally wrong, I don't even know where to begin to correct you. Please, before you next decide to post, make sure you know what you're talking about. I've seen so many of your posts that are completely incorrect that I've literally lost count. Worse is that whenever any of us corrects you, you just shrug it off as no big deal, and yet you continue to post bad information while claiming to work in the industry. That's one of the obvious pitfalls of an open forum like this, you get all kinds of bad advice from self-dubbed "experts". :roll:

Now, as for correcting the content of your post so that the rest of the readers aren't dumbed down by it, here is how rebanding actually affects Motorola systems, and why it is a big deal:

The control channels in a Motorola system NEVER pass along specific frequency information*. They only pass along the FCC channel number, which is how the unit knows what frequency to tune to. These FCC channel numbers were thought to be set in stone, that is until rebanding came to town. When certain sections of the spectrum were abandoned for public safety use and turned over to Nextel, many of these FCC channel numbers were all of a sudden invalid and corresponded to the wrong frequency. Trouble is, the FCC channel numbers were hard coded into the units in most cases, so when the new post-reband frequencies were assigned to the old FCC channel numbers, it required new firmware and/or software in each unit so the radio understood the correct FCC channel number to frequency assignment. Non-reband capable units will continue to tune to the old frequencies (generally speaking 866-869 MHz), which obviously means the unit will not function correctly.


*This is true for other trunked systems as well, EDACS, LTR, etc. The control channels in those systems pass along the LCN, which a frequency is assigned to by the system designer or administrator. Less complicated than a Motorola system, and not as drastically affected by rebanding because there was no set in stone table of what frequency went with what LCN hardcoded into the units.

 

[GTR8000]

Motorola radio's can monitor trunked systems quite well, they work way better than a scanner. They may have limitations, but the receiver is 100 times better.

Ease up on the hyperbole, otherwise it's hard to take you seriously.

Now for a personal note. I am not trying to start a flame war, but it seems that this board is getting like Batlabs. Don't do this or don't do that. The poster was looking to see if a Motorola radio was capable of monitoring a trunked system, it is and can be done quite easily. I am not going to tell how, that's for the individual to find out for themselves. Advising where to look, may tread on feelings of "we may get shut down for providing it" is wrong. The last time I checked the internet is still free and not incumbered by narrow minded thinking. If you are the Admin of a trunked system, and you dislike the spreading of this kind of information, well then you should be screaming in Motorola's ear for that security, not blaming someone who is using a hole in you system the size of Mack truck to listen to it.
Enough said.

The difference is that on Batlabs, most of the posters actually have a clue what they are talking about. Not generally the case around here (see previous post). The unfortunate part is that this site has a much larger audience, which means there are that many more people dumbed down by bad information passed off by self-dubbed "experts".

 

[radioman2001]

The fact that I prefer a REAL radio as opposed to a scanner with a wide band pipe as a receiver may be my opinion, but I will tell you that in fact in RF congested areas, scanners don't make it. I was not talking about features, I was talking about quality of the receiver. That's why my comment about 100 times better.
I agree that maybe the users on this forum are less that radio tech quality, but the statement still stands. Either you are here to help or not. I actually preferthe predecessor to Batlabs before they became Batlabs. Do you remember psycho.net?

 

[krokus]

You just saved me the effort of having to type the same basic thoughts. Thanks!

 

[davidgcet]

not all systems when rebanded will have a different frequency for a particular FCC chan id. so far i have personally rebanded over a dozen 800 systems(public safety, CMRS, and private) and not one of them had a channel number that was different from the channel numbers used during the 1990's. many areas WILL have some of the "new" channel numbers and thus will be affected, it really depends on what the new assignments are. so to correct my prior post, in many cases the only change required is to change the CC. of course should the system later add a repeater and it gets one of the "new" channels all bets are off. feel better now?

and yes i know the systems only pass along a chan id number, since these numbers are assigned to specific freqs i used freqs interchangebly.