Trunk Table Settings

[bjgwilliam]

Do I need to customize the trunk table settings for my Uniden BC898T for the UCAN network?

Thanks in advance....

 

[bchris]

BC898T Tables

bjgwilliam,

I browsed over the user guide for your scanner, and it looks like you do NOT need to enter or modify any band plan. This is a surprise to me, I thought you would need to, but according to the following clip from your manual, it sounds like you do not. UCAN is a Motorola Type II 800 MHz system.

Programming Motorola Systems
Programming Channels and Entering Trunking Frequencies

1. Hold down TRUNK for about 2 seconds. The scanner beeps and BANK, TRUNK, and
the bank letters A-J blink.
2. Press a bank key to select the bank where you want to store the frequencies.
3. Select Motorola scanning by turning the rotary tuner or repeatedly pressing HOLD
or LIMIT to select one of the following Motorola scanning choices:

• E2-800 (Motorola Type II 800 MHz)
• E2-900 (Motorola Type II 900 MHz)
• E2-HI (Motorola Type II VHF)
• E2-UHF (Motorola Type II UHF)
• E1 (Motorola Type I)

Then press E on the keypad.

<page 42>

Programming Trunked Systems

4. If necessary, repeatedly press HOLD or LIMIT until PRO9 F appears. Then press
E on the keypad.
5. To enter trunking frequencies, use the keypad to enter the first frequency, then press E
on the keypad. (Press . to enter the decimal point).
Note: To clear a mistake while entering a frequency, press . twice then enter the
frequency again.
6. For each additional frequency, select the next channel by turning the rotary tuner or
pressing HOLD . Then use the keypad to enter the next frequency, then press E on
the keypad. (Press . to enter the decimal point).
7. If you selected E2-800, E2-900, or E1 in Step 3, stop here.
Otherwise, if you selected E2-HI or E2-UHF in Step 3, follow these steps to enter the
band plan (base frequency, spacing frequency, and offset channel) for the system you
want to scan.

Good luck and let us know if you find out otherwise.

bc

 

[bjgwilliam]

bjgwilliam,

Good luck and let us know if you find out otherwise.

bc

I did find out that I needed to input the following modifications/rebanding.


Band Plan Base Freq (lower) Base Freq (upper) Offset Polarity Spacing
1 851.0250 854.0000 440 + 25 khz
2 851.0125 868.9875 0 + 25 khz

Even though the trunking was working at times I was missing nearly half of the transmissions. I don't know what was causing it to miss them, I'm sure someone more technical could explain why. However after imputing the changes the scanner worked flawlessly for my area. (Utah County) This being said, I cannot get anything out of "Salt Lake County Simulcast" Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[bbrasmussen]

UCANN is a rebanded system, so once you entered the new band plan you were able to hear all of the channels. Depending on the LCN and frequency you might have been able to hear a few of the channels without entering the new band plan, but to hear all of them correctly you need to have the band plan entered so the radio can properly follow the conversations.

As for SL County Simul not working, you probably need to enter the same bandplan into the bank so that it would be applied to that site as well as UT County. Sorry I'm not very familiar with the 898, but I've had similar issues when programming the different UCANN sites into my 346XT. Sometimes I'll forget to modify the bandplan after programming a system, and a double check and quick fix of the band plan has done the trick to get things working.

 

[RoninJoliet]

I also have a 898t scanner but im in ILL, i checked the SLCounty system and it seems they were licensed with freqys that did not need rebanding...I think it should work fine with out entering any "tables" for that system...My local city here Joliet, IL rebanded and the tables work perfect...In rebanding "Motorola" changed the #ing system of the new freqys and the older scanners do not recognize that scheme so the tables are used to re-evaluate the #ing so when the CC for the system chooses the freqy its correct ...ex: old freqy of 868.xxxx was freqy #-456, now 853.xxxx dropped 15mgz is now #-456...Hope this helps you....

 

[bjgwilliam]

Okay,
So i can get everything to work with my Ut. County Simul, however when trying to get Salt Lake Co. I'm not having any luck. Even if I try putting in the CC for SL County as I do with Utah County still nothing. Is the CC for SLC 853.11250?

Any Ideas?

 

[bbrasmussen]

Yes. The CC for SL County is 853.1125 which is part of the rebanded system. I guess the question is what talkgroups are you trying to listen to? SL County itself along with all the cities in the valley are part of UCANN, and you should be able to hear them on that system. The only system that you have to be careful of in SL County is Salt Lake City. They are NOT part of UCANN and have their own 800 MHz system that is not rebanded. So if you were trying to listen to those talkgroups on UCANN you wouldn't hear anything.

The only other thing that comes to mind is are you able to receive the site from your location? Perhaps your scanner is programmed properly and you just can't receive SL Simul? You could try a different site such as Point of the Mountain (CC 853.7250) or Nelson Peak (CC 853.5500) and see if you can pick those up.

Brandon

 

[bchris]

The only other thing that comes to mind is are you able to receive the site from your location? Perhaps your scanner is programmed properly and you just can't receive SL Simul? You could try a different site such as Point of the Mountain (CC 853.7250) or Nelson Peak (CC 853.5500) and see if you can pick those up.

Brandon

I can Rx SlCnty and especially Nelson from my house in South UtCnty, however I have pretty good line of sight and a Yagi antenna. I can never Rx Point of the Mtn anywhere in UtCnty until I drive North at least past Lehi on I-15.

Okay,
So i can get everything to work with my Ut. County Simul, however when trying to get Salt Lake Co. I'm not having any luck. Even if I try putting in the CC for SL County as I do with Utah County still nothing. Is the CC for SLC 853.11250?

Any Ideas?

Brandon has good advice. If your system pauses on the SL system (as you have it now), hit the HOLD key right then. You should hear constant FSK data. If not, you could enter 853.1125 as a conventional channel just to see if you can hear it. Again, it should be constant FSK data. If still not, do this same thing with something you know you can get, like the UtCnty system & freq, or maybe Nelson. If you are hearing the freq, set the system to search mode instead of scan (sometimes called Open instead of Closed mode). If you get stuff now, double check your talkgroups.

I did find out that I needed to input the following modifications/rebanding.

Band Plan Base Freq (lower) Base Freq (upper) Offset Polarity Spacing
1 851.0250 854.0000 440 + 25 khz
2 851.0125 868.9875 0 + 25 khz

Did the scanner allow you to choose MOT type II and still modify the tables? If so, thats great. Now we know.

bc

 

[bjgwilliam]

Thank you all for the responses'. I will give all of the suggestions a try and let you know how it turns out. Yes the scanner allowed me to choose the MOT type II system and then customize it to the table listed. (All without using any software.) After doing so I am able to listen to all of the transmission in the talk groups without missing a one.