i live in sterling, va (loudoun county).....i dont know how to really program trunk settings in the 800mhz range.....not only for this county but for other counties....whats these steps and tables...whats off freq. offset...etc...i dont understand any of this i read and i can not understand i have a radioshack pro-164..please help me
so lost and confused
- Thread starter FFEMTCURRENCE
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Hi craymonkeys,
Welcome to Radioreference! I just took a look at the Database for Loudoun County VA and if you are trying to monitor any public safety communications you are going to need a digital scanner like a PRO-106. The PRO-164 will not work.
If you are going to monitor something else (analog) in your area I would suggest you read the WIKI a few times (there is a collaborative section in the WIKI for Loudoun County) and the owner’s manual for your scanner. Take your time and I would also suggest that you look at what software programs there are to program your scanner; most of them have a free 30 day trial.
Jim
Welcome to Radioreference! I just took a look at the Database for Loudoun County VA and if you are trying to monitor any public safety communications you are going to need a digital scanner like a PRO-106. The PRO-164 will not work.
If you are going to monitor something else (analog) in your area I would suggest you read the WIKI a few times (there is a collaborative section in the WIKI for Loudoun County) and the owner’s manual for your scanner. Take your time and I would also suggest that you look at what software programs there are to program your scanner; most of them have a free 30 day trial.
Jim
captclint
Mentor
PSR-300/400 Software would make the job fairly easy. You can download any trunk system in the database, complete with the proper parameter set-up, frequencies and talk groups. I only have experience with ARC products, and I highly recommend. However, Jim is right. Most of what you probably want is digital, unless you want to try Loudoun County Public Schools
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ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Before you go and spend a lot of money, I would read about the new system - which is unmonitorable - Loudoun is now installing in the Virginia forum. I'm unsure of the timeline, but once it's complete, Loudoun public safety is going to be gone from the scanner world - unless someone comes out with a new TDMA compliant scanner....73 Mike
hmm
ok how about Fairfax County i dont understand the banding stuff
ok how about Fairfax County i dont understand the banding stuff
captclint
Mentor
If you mean Fairfax County Public Safety Trunking System , this is digital also.
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
If by 'banding' you mean 'rebanding', this article from our wiki covers it well...
Rebanding - The RadioReference Wiki
73 Mike
another q
ok i use arc300 and when you import the freqs from radio reference why does thee 800mhz band column stay on 405.00mhz...if i had a digital scanner what would i do to make it correct using the fairfax county not city county trunked signals...i read the wiki still dont understand the trunk settings...by the way thank for all of your help so far...sorry for the small pics..umm the default trunk setting on the bottom is 406mhz...what would i have to do to set it up correctly
ok i use arc300 and when you import the freqs from radio reference why does thee 800mhz band column stay on 405.00mhz...if i had a digital scanner what would i do to make it correct using the fairfax county not city county trunked signals...i read the wiki still dont understand the trunk settings...by the way thank for all of your help so far...sorry for the small pics..umm the default trunk setting on the bottom is 406mhz...what would i have to do to set it up correctly
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captclint
Mentor
A wild guess would be that since your scanner, and ARC300, does not handle digital, it may fail to load it correctly from the RR database. I have ARC246 for a non-digital, and it seemed to load correctly, so really don't know why.
If you want to try a trunking download, try downloading this system: Loudoun County Public Schools Trunking System Since there are no talk groups to download, you will need to run your scanner in the OPEN mode (See page 55 of your manual) in order to hear anything
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so this arc300 program doesnt import the trunk settings and tables automatically with RR
captclint
Mentor
Yes, it does except in rare cases where some minor adjustments are needed. I just tried to load a pure digital system into my ARC246, and it failed to load at all because it could not set up the digital system in a non digital scanner and software. So this is not a failure of either the software or the Download.
The Fairfax County Public Safety is a Moto System that uses Analog and Digital voice, so ARC246 was able to load it. However, all of the Talk Groups are digital voice, so I would not be able to listen. Basically, I think ARC300 should have loaded it correctly. Because this is basically an academic excersize, since you can monitor it, I don't think there is much point trying to figure out what is happening on this download. Try another one you can monitor, as I suggested You might also want to try WMATA , which does have talk groups to download.
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what is a good digital program when i upgrade so i can hopefully just transfer over the RR data is ARC300 Program good for that.....i looked but im a newbie and i really thank you for not getting to mad at me with all these questions maybe one day i can return the favor to everyone thanks
N8IAA
Member
I know that this is not making any sense to you
But, what everyone is saying, is that the scanner you have and the programming software you are using, will not download digital systems into an analog scanner, or, into the program. You can put the frequencies in manually, but the scanner will not be able to decode them into anything that you can understand. It will be nothing more than a lot of digital noise. They are also suggesting that your county is going to another type of P-25 digital. My suggestion is that you wait to see what comes out next year from GRE and Uniden. There have been, and continue to be major changes in the types of systems, and digital modes.HTH,
Larry
captclint
Mentor
Uniden scanners can be programmed by FreeScan (an excellent free program), and will import your ARC300 files. Likewise, some ARC programs should be able to import your files when and if you ever get a digital scanner. You can ask which ones on the software forum when you are ready to get a digital scanner. However, it really doesn't matter too much since any of these programs will re-load all your existing data from RR, and well as any new digital systems, so just concentrate on whether you really want a digital, and then look at what software is available to download for whatever model you decide. My advice is to avoid Radio Shack, as they are customer unfriendly, and are very slow to issue firmware upgrades to fix and improve their models.
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As to the band plan, none isrequired on 800 MHz systems. You pick either Standard, Splinter, or Rebanded (in the pics you show, Standard is selected). I think you are looking over at the VHF/UHF table, which is not used when it is an 800 MHz system.
Of course, as mentioned, the point is moot since all the channels on that system are digital. You need a BCD396XT or other digital scanner to monitor the channels on that system.
Of course, as mentioned, the point is moot since all the channels on that system are digital. You need a BCD396XT or other digital scanner to monitor the channels on that system.
Dromanchyk
Member
Loudoun county now unmonitorable ?
I saw someone's post that loudoun county went to a new system that is basically unmonitorable, until a new type of scanner comes out. Is this true ? I have a pro 106, and see the new frequencies listed in the data base. If I put them in (have no idea how to do that) or find a way to download them, will I then be able to monitor loudoun CSD, or is my 1 year old scanner a paper weightt as far as LCSD ? Thanks
I saw someone's post that loudoun county went to a new system that is basically unmonitorable, until a new type of scanner comes out. Is this true ? I have a pro 106, and see the new frequencies listed in the data base. If I put them in (have no idea how to do that) or find a way to download them, will I then be able to monitor loudoun CSD, or is my 1 year old scanner a paper weightt as far as LCSD ? Thanks
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
As I understand it, if one joins as a TDMA talkgroup, then ALL of them become TDMA and unmonitorable. If a talkgroup joins as a regular digital (FDMA) then ALL of them are monitorable. I think- I'm not entirely sure on this - that this is part of the testing phase to shake out the bugs. Once all the bugs are worked out, it appears Loudoun's public safety system will be totally unmonitorable, except for a few talkgroups they will likely keep for interop with other counties. It's confusing, I know - which is why I recommend asking this question in the thread in the Virginia forum that is discussing this in great detail.
Bottom line - it's a mess. 73 Mike
Bottom line - it's a mess. 73 Mike
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cool thanks for the help everyone ok 1 more question do you want only the primary control channel or both the pri and alt control channels or all the channels on a digital freq
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bump?
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Regardless of the audio of the system (analog vs. digital), you always want to program both the primary and alternate control channels. That way if the control channel changes frequency, the scanner can continue to follow it. This trick ONLY works with Motorola systems; EDACS and LTR systems must have all the frequencies programmed to work.
If you find one day that the scanner is no longer trunking your system, this is one of the first things to check.
If you find one day that the scanner is no longer trunking your system, this is one of the first things to check.
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