Programming DC fire/police in the digital scanners

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ka3jjz

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There have been several questions lately on how to properly get the digital scanners to trunk the DC metro system, so I thought a wiki article would be in order. The article can be found here;

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Programming_the_MPDC_in_Digital_Scanners

Right now, we have screen shots of the setups for ARC396 (BCD396), Win96 (PRO-96/2096), BCTool and Freescan (both covering the 396 and 996). Some hints are at the bottom of this article.

Additional screen shots from the other digital-capable software (Trunkstar Elite/Pro, ARC996 - if different from the 396 - Scan Control, ARC250 and Proscan...and of course all 3 of the GRE compatible packages, and perhaps others I haven't thought of...) are greatly desired, as are any hints or tricks, such as P25 settings, hidden menu settings, and anything else you might think will trip up the newcomer/visitor. Don't forget to add directions on how to get to these screens.

If anyone has questions on how to proceed (uploading, modifying the article, ect.), please feel free to contact the team.

73 Mike
 
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ka3jjz

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Anyone have a pic from the 396 and 996 UASD that we can post? Or if it can't handle the 2 offsets required, that fact should also be entered on the article. 73 Mike
 
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Dewey

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The images that do not have the -DC-DC Police title are the 396 images. If it gets confusing since they're just about the same, each image's name describes what it is a picture of.

Dewey
 

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ka3jjz

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Thanks much, Dewey. Now which images are for the 396 UASD, and which for the 996?

I'll upload these and modify the article later on tonight...73 Mike
 

Dewey

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ka3jjz said:
Thanks much, Dewey. Now which images are for the 396 UASD, and which for the 996?

I'll upload these and modify the article later on tonight...73 Mike

The images that have -DC-DC Police behind the "Motorola System Frequnecies" and "Motorola Band Plan" image titles are for the 996 (the 996 system frequencies image title just shows a "-D..." at the end due to its narrow length). If I am still confusing... which is not hard for me to do, just right click the images and do the "save as" to show the image file names which apply to their content.

Dewey

Edit: This should be a lot easier; the top two are the 396 and the bottom two are the 996.
 

rdale

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How does the PSR500/600 get programmed? Can you put all CC's in one TSYS?
 

ka3jjz

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Dunno - that's a good question. The wiki article that is out there for programming the MPD in the digital scanners has nothing for the GRE PSR-500 and 600. How about it folks?

With the Obama inauguration coming up in about 2 months, it's time to update that article with information on these scanners, which wasn't available at the time it was originally written. In addition, we could also use programming tips for ARC250, ProScan, Scan Control and Trunkstar Elite. I could write the Scan Control files but I am too far away with indoor antennas to validate whether I did it correctly.

Come to think of it, tips on using ARC500, Win500 and PSRedit500 for programming the MPD system would also be very welcome.

Remember the URL is below;

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Programming_the_MPDC_in_Digital_Scanners

thanks to everyone who contributes 73 Mike
 

Dewey

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Here's the bandplan in ARC250...
 

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ka3jjz

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Can BuTel's ARC96 handle the 2 offsets needed? If it does, a screen shot would be appreciated. If not, that information is important, too 73 Mike
 

ka3jjz

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Thanks to Dewey and Steve KD4LCY we've covered ARC250 and ARC96...

So I'm still looking for screenshots for the following;

- ARC996
- ProScan
- Trunkstar XLT and Elite (XLT handles the 250, 785, 796 and 296 while Elite handles the DMA scanners)
- Win500 (how about it rdale?)
- PSRedit500
- ARC500

Thanks to all that have contributed so far 73 Mike
 
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FoleyF

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Hello all-

I'm traveling down to DC this week and have attempted to load the DC trunked system being discussed in this thread into my new PRO-106 scanner using Win500. I just wanted to let everyone know that when I downloaded the frequencies via Win500, a warning message appeared stating that there were both "MOT VHF/UHF" and "Mot 800/900" frequencies and that "you may need to play with the trunking tables to get this to operate as 1 TSYS" It also stated that it would be configured as MOT 800/900 as the default, but adjustments may need to be made.

I saw from an earlier post that someone had good luck using Win500's basic download, but this does not seem like it will work properly since it is loaded as an 800/900 system......any commentary on this?

Thanks,

Foley
 

Dewey

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Hello all-

I'm traveling down to DC this week and have attempted to load the DC trunked system being discussed in this thread into my new PRO-106 scanner using Win500. I just wanted to let everyone know that when I downloaded the frequencies via Win500, a warning message appeared stating that there were both "MOT VHF/UHF" and "Mot 800/900" frequencies and that "you may need to play with the trunking tables to get this to operate as 1 TSYS" It also stated that it would be configured as MOT 800/900 as the default, but adjustments may need to be made.

I saw from an earlier post that someone had good luck using Win500's basic download, but this does not seem like it will work properly since it is loaded as an 800/900 system......any commentary on this?

Thanks,

Foley

I cannot speak to the newest GREs and Pro-106s, BUT, the 603d does consist of two separate systems... a UHF (460's), and a "standard" 800. In everything before the newest GREs and Pro-106s, the two systems had to be programmed independently to track correctly. Keep in mind that while the 800 system is standard, the 460 system is not, and uses a custom fleetmap consisting of two bases and offsets.

Dewey
 

rdale

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I don't know that you can program it as one TSYS. I guess I'd say I didn't try ;) I just duplicated all talkgroups into both TSYS's with the same scanlists and everything. Although it might have been a better idea just to separate police and fire.

There's nothing special with the 800 side, for the 400MHz, the download set:

Lo 380 Hi 479 Offset 380 Base 453.450 Step 12.5
Lo 480 Hi 759 Offset 480 Base 460.025 Step 12.5
 

FoleyF

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RDale or anyone that may be able to help me program this into Win500 and then into my Pro-106.....I did the following:

I downloaded the 800's frequencies for Fire and loaded to 1 scanlist with all the talkgroups for DC.....didn't need to add all of them, but short on time.

Then I downloaded the 400's UHF frequencies for police and also added all of the talkgroups and loaded to a separate scanlist

I took a look at the trunking table in Win500 for the UHF frequencies and this is what it says:

380 479 380 453.450000 12.500
480 759 480 460.025000 12.500
0 719 0 851.012500 25.000

The "standard band plans" drop down does not have a selection made.

Will this work for the UHF frequencies or am I missing something?

Thanks for your assistance.

Foley
 

rdale

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I pulled the last line out of there since the 400MHz SYS doesn't use 800MHz frequencies, just to be safe.
 

FoleyF

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Just to provide an update - I made it down to Falls Church today. I programmed the DC frequencies into my Pro-106 a few different ways for a test. I programmed the entire DC system into 1 scan list. I am hearing all of the PD conversations perfectly.....The PD is on the 400's and is supposed to be the one that is trouble. I am not hearing any Fire on the 800's. I also programmed the PD and all DC talkgroups into 1 scan list and the FD and all DC talkgroups into another scanlist......again, I'm hearing the PD fine, but no FD.

Does this mean that I am out of range to hear Fire on the 800's? I'm hearing the PD fine on the 400's , but can't get any Fire whatsoever! The good news is that using Win500 you can import the frequencies without modification.....just need to figure out why I can't get the FD.

Foley
 

rdale

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Since you put everything into one system, you won't get one or the other. Sounds like Fire lost out.

You need two systems, one for 400 and one for 800.
 
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