Monitoring the control channel??

[N4JNW]

Ok, So I was in Richmond, Ky a few weekends ago to see my fiancee, and I brought along my Pro-97 which is programmed up for the Motorola Trunking system in use there. I was just beating around, and manually came upon the control channel.

Man what a racket.. It was hissing and growling at me and everything, and down in the bottom corner of my Pro-97's display was a % number. It was bouncing from 94% to 97% to 99% and then back to 93% and so on. It was just bobbling around. What was this?

Also, There was no other traffic on any of the talkgroups, but the control channel was still making this noise. So does that mean there was activity on other talkgroups I didn't have programmed in, or does the Control Channel just buzz away like that constantly?

I'm a n00b to trunking, but I'm slowly catching on.. LOL

Thanks guys..

 

[Colin9690]

The percent number indicates something along the lines of how good it is receiving the control channel. I know there is a techical term for this, it might be called "bit rate" or something like that. Anyways, if you are in the 90% range, you are getting pretty decent reception.

Even if there is no talkgroup activity, the control channel still operates. It operates 24/7, 365. Around here, they rotate the control channel in use every day at midnight, so make sure you have all the possible control channels programmed.

Hope This Helps,

 

[N4JNW]

Yes, that helps immensely. I wasn't really having any problems, just looking to quench my curiosity.

Thanks!

 

[DickH]

Ok, So I was in Richmond, Ky a few weekends ago to see my fiancee, and I brought along my Pro-97 which is programmed up for the Motorola Trunking system in use there. I was just beating around, and manually came upon the control channel.
Man what a racket.. It was hissing and growling at me and everything, and down in the bottom corner of my Pro-97's display was a % number. It was bouncing from 94% to 97% to 99% and then back to 93% and so on. It was just bobbling around. What was this?
Also, There was no other traffic on any of the talkgroups, but the control channel was still making this noise. So does that mean there was activity on other talkgroups I didn't have programmed in, or does the Control Channel just buzz away like that constantly?
I'm a n00b to trunking, but I'm slowly catching on.. LOL
Thanks guys..

I'm a n00b to trunking, but I'm slowly catching on..
By the statements you just made, I don't think you are "catching on". You said there was no traffic on the Talk Groups, but the Control Channel was noisy. If it's trunking, you will NOT hear the Control Channel, but you WILL hear the TGs.

 

[Colin9690]

I'm a n00b to trunking, but I'm slowly catching on..
By the statements you just made, I don't think you are "catching on". You said there was no traffic on the Talk Groups, but the Control Channel was noisy. If it's trunking, you will NOT hear the Control Channel, but you WILL hear the TGs.

He probably meant he was flipping through the channels manually and was hearing traffic on the frequencies.

 

[N4JNW]

I'm a n00b to trunking, but I'm slowly catching on..
By the statements you just made, I don't think you are "catching on". You said there was no traffic on the Talk Groups, but the Control Channel was noisy. If it's trunking, you will NOT hear the Control Channel, but you WILL hear the TGs.

Yeah I was in manual Dick.