Suggestions-Orangeburg County

Status
Not open for further replies.

JustSpeechy

Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2012
Messages
5
I just purchased a RS Pro163 and I really need some direction on the best route to go in terms of programming. I've tried manually and have been unsuccessful. I don't have very extensive needs and am trying to avoid shelling out more cash for software. I simply want to be able to monitor the local police (town, city, county) in my area. Any help would be appreciated!
 

brian

DB Administrator
Database Admin
Joined
Dec 10, 2000
Messages
2,055
Location
South Carolina
Well, Starrsoft's Win97, a programming cable and a premium RR membership would help to make your task easier, but I certainly understand not wanting to shell out more cash - that's probably another $80+ for those three items.

The PRO-163 has 10 banks of 100 channels and 150 talkgroups each, with the 150 talkgroups broken up into 5 banks of 30. I'd start by dedicating one bank to Orangeburg Co, one to Orangeburg City, and then start with surrounding counties in the other bank.

You can find the Orangeburg County conventional frequencies here: Orangeburg County, South Carolina (SC) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference. Program these in CT or DC mode and set the appropriate tone that goes with each. The radio supports alpha-tags, so you can label each channel as you program it. You'll quickly realize why most peoblem find the software to be an advantage to programming.

But keep in mind that most EMS and Law Enforcement radio traffic will be on the Palmetto 800 system. You can find that system here: Palmetto 800 Trunking System, Various, Multi-State - Scanner Frequencies

You'll want to determine the closest tower to your location - Site 23 Orangburg, Site 15 Salley, or Site 11 Holly Hill will probably be your best bet. If you have the RS 800MHz antenna, you can probably hear more than one site with your scanner. You'll want to program the red and blue frequencies from your chosen site (or sites) into a bank in MOT mode. You can program multiple sites into a single bank but leave a "blank" channel (I use 30.000MHz with ATT set) between each set of sites' frequencies.

I'd dedicate one talkgroup bank of your Orangeburg Co bank to FD and EMS talkgroups, one to the Sherrif and LE talkgroups, one to SCHP Troop 7, and the two other banks to statewide talkgroups like medical helos, PPP, DHEC, EMD, SLED, etc.

For Orangeburg City, the Public Safety department operates on an LTR-type trunked system. Unfortunately, this system appears to be a flavor of LTR (Passport) that scanners can't track. But you can still program the system's frequencies into your Orangeburg City bank and listen that way. The catch is that each repeater will momentarily key up with a "beacon" every few seconds. It may quickly drive you crazy, but there's not much you can do about it.

Post back and report how that works for you.
 

hhrj

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jul 20, 2010
Messages
178
Location
SC Low Country
Let me give you a heads up on the programing cable... Go to your nearest RS and ask them to search for a 20-047 cable. They can locate this number in the system of stores and have it shipped to the local store. Cost: $7.97 compared to $34.99 for the 20-546.
The 20-047 is old stock.

My RS found one in Ga for me last Friday, it came in yesterday and with tax I paid $8.61. So I saved $29.35 that I then applied to a 6 mo RR subscription for $15 and will buy one of the software offerings as soon as I decide through the 30 day trials the one I like the best.
Note: the RS that I used is a company store and I don't know if a franchise will do a search for you. A franchise had the 20-546 in stock and told me that the 20-047 was no longer available, it would be $34.99 period.

Good Luck
Ron
BTW: My wife said that I should buy as many as I could find...but no, I'd rather help others instead of make a profit from them.
 

JustSpeechy

Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2012
Messages
5
Thanks so much Ron and Brian. This definitely has been a tremendous help. I feel like I am so out of my league. I'll definitely keep you guys posted on how this works out for me!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top