stuck in Colorado Springs

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Great forum. I'm a long time scanner user but dropped out when things went digital trucking. Now I have a new 966t, have meticuliously entered all the info for the
El Paso county system, hoping to get Springs Police, only to get silence. Guess I'm missing something. What a strange new world.

I have the system type as p25, the sites as p25, all the IDs enetered but it just scans past all the sites with no stopping, even when a signal shows. The pre-programmed Colorado DTRS works just fine.

Anything anyone can offer that might be of help, or something obvious I missed?

Thanks much!!
 

RISC777

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Set to Mot Type II 800?
End Code set to Detect/Yes?
Status Bit set to On?
Control Channel set to On?

All I could come up with right now for you to check.

Oh, yeah, Control Channel Mode set to Plan 2?
 
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at least some voice but mostly noise

I had none of those set correctly. I'm getting some voice now but lots of noise. Guess I need to work through settings and figure that out. Squelch is all the way down.

I must say I read for hours and hours, and spend lots of time entering info. I thought that the El Paso County system was the same as the colorado dtrs, but it's not. Not much clearly speaks to that on the forum.

My only choice on system for type II is type II/p25. Also on the site settings there is 800 standard and 800 splinter, but no explaination of these.

Anyway, I greatly appreciate your help, and hopefuly I can contribute in the other direction to the forum soon.
 

RISC777

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It (El Paso County/Colorado Springs public safety) is not a P25 system, so using the state's TRS settings won't be "an exact match."
 

firescannerbob

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El Paso Countys system is not *YET* P25 (but will be soon, and then you'll have to re-program everything since all the TG's will change).
In any case, I can only speak for the Radio Shack Pro96, and with that particular radio, programming the El Paso County P16 system is no different that programming the state P25 system. Sounds like the 996T is not as simple to program.
One anomaly I did find with the Pro96 that you may be finding with the 996T...if you are scanning a tower (control channel) that you might be just on the fringe of receiving, the scanner may stop and just kind of flash at you and you won't hear anything. For the scanner I use on my on-line feed, I had to lock out the Fountain Valley site since it was causing that to happen. Try using only the CC's nearest you.
 

mpdonala

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OK on the 996 you have to make and adjustment to the audio output. Are you programing with the software that you get from Uniden or what is very important to know I will get my laptop out and get the exact name for what you need to change. Once you make that change you should get everything you what crystal clear. Welcome to Colo Spgs. Are you in emergency services? Thanks Mark
 
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mpdonala

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Ok I beleive if you are useing the software that you need to change the P25 Threshold level from 8 to 5 or 6. So you should have if you are using the software from Uniden is Modulation = Auto, Attenuator = on, P25 Threshold Mode = Auto, P25 Threshold Level = 5 or 6, Control Channel Only = on. This should get you up and working just fine. Have any more questions just ask. Mark
 

jimmnn

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mpdonala said:
Ok I beleive if you are useing the software that you need to change the P25 Threshold level from 8 to 5 or 6. So you should have if you are using the software from Uniden is Modulation = Auto, Attenuator = on, P25 Threshold Mode = Auto, P25 Threshold Level = 5 or 6, Control Channel Only = on. This should get you up and working just fine. Have any more questions just ask. Mark

Speaking of looks like Butel just updated the 396 software and the pro version for 996 will be available for 996 as well soon, much better than the provided Uniden software.

Jim<
 

RISC777

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Off Thread Topic

Off Thread's Topic
jimmnn said:
Butel ... the pro version for 996 will be available ... soon . . .
I got my Pro CD back a while ago, is Gommert putting out an update to Pro ?
 
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Thanks Mark, Bob, Risc, and all. Your suggestions are a huge help and I am indeed up an running without too much noise. Still have some digital Braaap going on, but it seems to be from the calhan or site 3 sites. Maybe I should lock them out and see what happens.

Question: in a MOT2 system like in the Springs, do all sites carry all transmissions? I think not, but the question goes to what is safe to lock out and what is not, if one wants to cover all of the Springs PD, for instance.

Bob, did you used to own a radio shop in the Springs?

I knew I could count on this forum for real help. As I say, hopefully I can return the favor to newbees that may come along.

It can't be underestimated, the learning process for today's trunking digital systems. I knew my stuff pretty well 7 years ago, but I'm humbled. Uniden's dynamic memory as just made the light go on again, as I'm just now "getting it".

I'm not in law enforcement or fire, but I seem to have found close friends that are. Other than than I just find monitoring of what the front line heros in this country do each day fascinating.

Let's keep COS up to date, and I'll try to do my part once I know what I'm doing.

Thanks again guys,

Dave
 

mpdonala

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Glad you are up and running. Just when you get it working it is all going to change in a month. I would lock out the calhan site to far away, that is what is causing your sound problems. Bob and I are on top of the upgrading and will try and keep the site up to date it will be alot of new info. I am currently working on mapping all of the towers with proper location lat and long and proper freqs. Glad to have you on board. Any questions just ask. Mark
 

firescannerbob

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singlechannelcrystal said:
Question: in a MOT2 system like in the Springs, do all sites carry all transmissions? I think not, but the question goes to what is safe to lock out and what is not, if one wants to cover all of the Springs PD, for instance.
All sites do NOT carry all transmissions. A site only carries the transmissions of TG's that are associated with that site. For example, a site won't carry the CSFD primary TG unless a user is in the vicinity of that site and has that TG selected on their radio. You don't say where you're at, but I'm guessing in you're in Colorado Springs. If that is the case, I would suggest the Austin Bluffs, Ski Summit, Stanley Canyon and Airport sites for CSFD and CSPD.

Bob, did you used to own a radio shop in the Springs?
Nope, sure didn't. I'm just another public servant.

Let's keep COS up to date, and I'll try to do my part once I know what I'm doing.

As Mark noted, there are some BIG changes coming to the El Paso County system with its in-progress upgrade from P16 to P25. We're working on it, and once things are in place and confirmed, we'll try to update things.
Bob
 
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firescannerbob

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janandgwen said:
Is there a firm timetable for the COS/El Paso County update? The last time I heard from the press was "next year"
It's underway as we speak. It should be completed in early December.
 

RFsponge

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Thank You All!

Gentlemen: I just spent a very frustrating couple of hours driving around Colorado Springs as my freshly programmed 996T provided me with...silence. Both in ID search and ID scan modes. I couldn't wait to get to my computer and this site to ask what in the world I was doing wrong! Thank you all for answering my questions before I knew I even would have to ask them. I will now implement the changes discussed here into the radio...

But, (Oh, there always has to be a 'but') I do have one more question: I also had my handheld 296d with me and entered freqs for a couple of sites just to see if I could come up with anything in ID search mode. Sure enough, a couple of TG's popped up almost instantly, BUT... The TGID numbers displayed were four digits long. Everything I have using the DB from RR uses five digit ID's. So what was I hearing? Is my handheld intrepreting numbers in a different way due to a bad setting? If I am successful in tweaking the settings on my 996T and use ID Scan mode, will the four digit numbers be intrepreted as or converted to five digits? Will our hero be dashed to bits on the jagged rocks below?

OK. That was like, twelve more questions...

Anyway, I thank you again in advance for your help. Much appreciated.
 

N0GTG

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Springs Trunk settings

Since this is a 3600 baud system (for now), not 9600 baud, it should be programmed as Type II (800 MHz standard), not P25, if your radio offers a choice between the two.

Unless there are RF overload problems, attenuation should be OFF. Attenuation essentially reduces the sensitivity of the radio to radio signals, so it shouldn't be used in most cases.

Although the 296/796 require setting the Control Channel Mode (i.e. Plan 1, Plan 2, etc.), the 396 (and 996?) don't. Just set Control Channel Only to ON.

Hope this helps you get that radio running at full speed.

Curt
 

mpdonala

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The 4 digit ids you were getting probly belong to Colorado Springs Utilities. If you do the above mentioned tweeks to your 996 you should have no problem listening. Hope this helps. As for your 296 I think you need to use plan 1 its been awhile since i programed mine. Thanks if I get a chance i will look at the programing of my 296 and post it here. Mark
 
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all this was a huge help to me. I L/O the Calhan site and I only occasionaly have the ear splitting Blaaaap. But I'm now able to follow most conversations.

I'm in Manitou, up on a ridge just south of downtown. It's always a challenge to get clear RF in Manitou, but I'm in a decent location.

Bob and Mark, I'll bet there's more people than you think that apprecaite your work in letting us know the scoop here. I haven't really listened, as I mentioned, for about four years when everything went trunking and digital, but it's amazing how much more traffic and activity there is here since my absence.

Anyway, my free time is mostly in the late evenings, if there's anything I can do to help you guys, such as listed to certain sites or whatever the case may be, let me know. Otherwise I'm looking forward to having the upcoming changes done and getting past that next hurdle.

Dave
 

RFsponge

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Ah!

A huge help to me as well. The 996t appears to combine the settings of MOT Type II and APCO 25 into a single selection. No way to discriminate between the two. Also, adding to my frustration yesterday, you cannot change the system type in the radio after you've created a system. (Since there is only one MOT Type II option, the point is mute) But if you screw up that step, the only option is to delete the entire system and start over. My 296d is a lot more forgiving in this area and what I had grown accustomed to. The 996t seems to do a lot more thinking than Uniden's earlier versions in the programming department and seems to depend on a lot more automation in it's processing. Probably to keep people like me from REALLY screwing things up.

Perhaps it's got something to do with Dynamic Memory and how the radio uses it.

Thank you all again from a guy who works the equipment but has no idea how the equipment works!

Rob
 
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