Listening to MARCS

[Davey1]

What method do you use to program your scanner to listen to MARCS? Do you listen to just one site or multiple sites at the same time?

I have two Whistler scanners that I use for MARCS. One is the WS1040 and the other is the TRX-1.

I've found two ways to program the WS1040 that work well for me. I like to listen to multiple sites at the same time, so that I hear as much as possible. With the first method, using Win500 software, I set up one system that has all of the control channels for the (multiple) sites that I want to hear. I set the "Multi-site Mode" to stationery and check the box that says "Check All Control Channels in every Scan-mode pass." That way, when just listening to one trunked system I can hear multiple sites. The big disappointment here is that this method does not work on the TRX-1, because there is no "Stationery" setting available. This makes the TRX -1 much less versatile. The only setting available on the TRX-1 is equivalent to "Roam" on the WS1040. This is where for each system the scanner locks onto the best site and stays there. Therefore, to make this worthwhile you would have to be roaming over a large geographic area instead of at a fixed location and let the scanner lock onto the best site.

The second method I use with the WS1040 is to set up multiple systems and assign one site to each system. I have 5 or 6 systems set up to listen to at the same time. This works well and I'm successful doing it this way, too. I hear just as much. Although it shouldn't be, I have found this method to be limited with the TRX-1. If I try to listen to more than about 2 systems at the same time it seems to scan too slow and I miss too much traffic. So when using the TRX-1 I limit myself to one or two systems, which equals one or two sites.

Which method works best for you?

 

[budevans]

Davey1,

Sounds to me like you've figured out how both scanners work. The WS1040 has the advantage of having the Multi-Site Mode. Don't know why Whistler dropped it.

Regarding scan speed. That only applies to conventional channels/frequencies. Most Trunk systems (P25, Moto Type II) aren't scanned. The Control Channel tells your scanner which active user you are going to hear (which user keyed up while your scanner was listening to the control channel).

My only advice. Just go with what works best for you.

 

[CincyKid]

I've noticed some very positive things when I read about the WS1040 scanner. It's a model that I have considered getting. Am I correct that the WS1040 is not Phase II capable?

 

[Davey1]

Thanks, Bud.

And, yes, CincyKid, the WS1040 is not Phase II capable. Only Phase I. But still a very good radio if you don't need Phase II.

 

[jdolina]

I use option 2 for my TRX-2 what I do for the separate system sites is to set the dwell time different. For busy sites a shorter dwell time .08 or 1 second seems to work. For the less busy sites dwell 1-3 depends where I really want to hear traffic from.

 

[Davey1]

With my TRX-1 there does seem to be some connection between scan speed and the number of MARCS sites I'm trying to listen to. If I'm only listening to one MARCS site, plus the normal conventional frequencies I usually listen to I seem to hear everything OK. But when I activate a second MARCS site then I seem to miss calls on the conventional frequencies that I would otherwise hear. On both of the MARCS systems I'm only scanning the control channel and the alternate control channel. I have the dwell time set to 0.6 seconds, too. How can I improve this so that I listen to more than one site plus the conventional channels successfully?

 

[budevans]

With my TRX-1 there does seem to be some connection between scan speed and the number of MARCS sites I'm trying to listen to. If I'm only listening to one MARCS site, plus the normal conventional frequencies I usually listen to I seem to hear everything OK.

But when I activate a second MARCS site then I seem to miss calls on the conventional frequencies that I would otherwise hear. On both of the MARCS systems I'm only scanning the control channel and the alternate control channel. I have the dwell time set to 0.6 seconds, too.

How can I improve this so that I listen to more than one site plus the conventional channels successfully?

Davey,

Trying to monitor everything from multiple Sites means you are never going to hear what you want to hear. There are almost always multiple broadcasts happening at the same time.

From your description above it sound like you have put entire sites in one scan list. What you need to do is break down what you want to hear and put that into Scan Lists. What you don't what to hear you should set to Lock Out or Avoid.

There are three basic elements in play, Sites, Talk Group/Conventional Frequencies and Scan Lists. So a Scan List is made up of Talk Groups or Frequencies you want to listen to in specific groups. Such as by location (city, county, state) or by type (police, fire ems, hospital).

Any object, a Talk Group or a Conventional Frequency can be added or removed from any Scan List. So one Talk Group could be in every Scan List. Or it could be in no Scan Lists. You can mix and match what you want to hear by placing things into Scan Lists. It's your choice.

Example 1, you could place all of the Police, OSP and FBI Talk Groups from both sites into Scan List 1. You could then place all of the Fire and EMS Talk Groups into Scan List 2.

Example 2, you could place all of Site 1 only Police, OSP and FBI into Scan List 1. You could then place Site 1 only Fire and EMS in Scan List 2.

Again, the break down is based on what you want to hear.

 

[Davey1]

Thanks, Budevans. I think what has happened here is that I have asked the wrong question, or not made my question clear enough. I have programmed trunking scanners for a number of years, so I'm not a novice.

Anyway, let me give an example of what is happening that I don't understand with my TRX-1. For sake of this discussion I'll just talk about 2 MARCS sites, plus a few conventional scan lists. The 2 MARCS sites are Bradner, site 2-014 and Fremont, site 2-106. But that part doesn't really matter. For each site I have a control frequency and the alternate control frequency programmed. There are two separate scan lists used to do this. So I am only scanning 4 frequencies. Each scan list has about 200 talk groups, with about 90 percent active, and 10 percent locked out, with a wildcard included in each scan list.

I have 4 other scan lists active that have a total of 43 frequencies, divided among analog channels and DMR digital channels. In these 4 lists there are a total of 43 frequencies with 5 locked out for a net total of 38 active. When I listen to these 4 scan lists plus the Bradner MARCS site everything seems to work fine, and I hear lots of MARCS traffic, plus all of the conventional frequencies..

The problem occurs when I add the second MARCS site at Fremont. When I do this then the radio seems to scan so slow that I miss calls on the conventional frequencies. I know this because of what I hear on a second radio tuned to the same DMR frequencies. The second radio hears traffic that the TRX-1 never stops to listen to--it just keeps on scanning for a few more seconds until it does stop. Then the conversation may be finished or nearly finished. Why does this happen when I'm only adding two more frequencies to the scan sequence, and only one--the control channel--is actually active? Am I scanning talk groups (too many), or am I scanning frequencies (only one more when I add a MARCS site)??

My WS1040 scans 4+ MARCS sites with 4 separate scan lists without a problem every single day, with no issues like I describe above.

 

[Swipesy]

Dave,

Your terminology is confusing as to what you are talking about. Let's see if we can clarify for your Whistler scanner.

1. Systems use frequencies for their Control, Alternate and Voice
2. Trunked systems use TalkGroups NOT frequencies for their units
3. Conventional uses frequencies.

So you program System frequencies for Towers you want to hear. Simulcast systems use the same frequencies for several towers

Then you add TalkGroups to the systems. Not all TalkGroups on a System (like MARCS) are affiliated with all towers within a system. When your scanner scans it is reading the Control and Alt frequencies and NOT the TalkGroups. So it really does not matter the number of TalkGroups you have programmed as far as speed. The scanner while scanning the Control/Alt Freq listens for a Talkgroups and if programmed will give you a hit.

With programmed Conventional Frequencies the scanner will process each frequency as it passes by. I have found that with GRE/Whistler scanners that the scanner will always report a Conventional frequency hit before processing a TalkGroup hit. This has been proven by communities that have VHF/UHF frequencies and Talkgroups broadcasting the same info. I always hear the Conventional first.

So, as to your issue(s) whatever they are, are not related to your concept.. I read and understand what you have said about slow down but that makes no sense for the little bit of programming you are talking about. Without seeing your actual program, who knows. Did you use EZScan to program or manual? If manual I would be suspect that you have messed something up.

Best I can offer with what you have published.

 

[Davey1]

Swipesy,

I'm not sure which parts of my terminology you don't understand, however, I understand all of what you say. I fully understand the different parts like frequencies, systems, scan lists, and talk groups.

The only thing I might have said differently is to change the word "site" to "system." I'm talking about two trunked systems here.

To hear each system I only use two frequencies, a control and an alternate, and about 200 identical talk groups in each system. So, when I'm listening to one system plus the conventional frequencies everything works fine. But when I try to listen to two systems plus the conventional frequencies I miss a lot of traffic on the conventional frequencies. So the second system only requires the radio to scan two extra frequencies. Why does that slow it down, causing me to miss so much on the conventional side?

I would be happy to share my file with you.

 

[KC8ESL]

Davey, I see exactly what you're getting at here.

I like to make each site it's own unique system. There's a certain amount of bleed-over that if units from another county are interacting with agencies if the county you're in, chances are they'll affiliate to the tower you're listening to anyways. Otherwise, flip to another system/site to hear what's going on there. It might take a little more work and the software might work against you a little bit, but you'll have a much better scanning experience, in my opinion.