Advice for setting up TRX 2 in UK

Status
Not open for further replies.

Brasso_78

Newbie
Joined
Aug 5, 2017
Messages
2
Location
Northants
Hi, I've just purchased a trx2 which should arrive next week.

I've read through a number of the threads on here and am interested in any advice in setting up the scanner for use in the uk. I've only previously had analogue scanners the last being a handheld uniden. this is my first digital.

I appreciate the scanner will not be plug and play and wanted to understand the best way to get up and running.

Thanks.
 

Ubbe

Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2006
Messages
8,944
Location
Stockholm, Sweden
It's easy to program it. Make a scanlist to match each bank on your current analog scanners and enter all analog frequencies.

You probably already have searched the radiowaves many times with your scanners and have logged where the digital channels are.
Program those in one scanlist and set the scanner to IF out from the earphone jack. Connect that to your computer and install DSD+ and let it decode the data.
You will then know what type of datasignal you have, NXDN or different flawors of DMR.

Then delete that frequency from the scanlist and enter it in a trunked system. You can only handle talk groups in systems.
Do the same with all digital channels. Always have recording set to enable on all channels and systems until you have figured out what they are and what system they belong to.

Start checking what systems use the same talk group numbers and perhaps you recognise voices and type of operations to make conclusions what frequencies should belong to the same system.
Just move them to the same system without bothering about channel numbers and such as there is none that have to be entered.
TRX scanners don't care about different types of DMR systems as it scans just the voice channels. Very easy to program digital systems in a TRX.

/Ubbe
 
Last edited:

BrianG61UK

Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2016
Messages
355
Location
England
I get the impression that very few frequencies have multiple users and multiple talk groups in the UK.

Could you explain more about moving frequencies to systems. For instance:
How to decide whether to start a second site or put everything in one.
Do you need a TG wildcard and a PV wildcard or just one or the other?
WTF does PV stand for anyway?
What does the Compress button do?

I've never been able to make Systems work at all.

I'm sure this will help Brasso_78 as well as me.
 
Last edited:

Ubbe

Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2006
Messages
8,944
Location
Stockholm, Sweden
The biggest advantage with digital systems is that you CAN have multiple users and TGs using a single frequency or very few frequencies compared to analog.
Not much point in going digital otherwise.

It actually doesn't matter if you have frequencies from different sites entered in the same site. TRX quickly scans all frequencies for active calls.
It is much more difficult with a Uniden as it demands exact LCN numbers and sites.
To more easily keep track of things I enter each frequency in a system as a seperate site and name the site with the frequency. You can add a * or a - to the name when you have figured out if that frequency is correct for that system or not and you could have a ? for unknowns.

You should always have wildcards for TGs and PVs enabled in all systems to keep track of what is going on and in use.
If you do not want to listen to some TGs you can easily enter them and lock them out.

I guess PV stands for Private Voice calls. It is voice calls between two users without using a TG.

Click the Help button at the bottom of the EZScan screen. It gives good information about the things it actually knows about.
"Compresses the Talkgroup information file by removing unused space from the file."

To make systems work, only input one frequency in each system, if you're not absolutly sure that several frequencies belongs to the same system.
Always add wildcard to TG and always have record enabled.
You don't have P25 in UK and probably not LTR systems. You have DMR and NXDN and EDACS.
If you cannot judge system type by ear, there are webpages with audio examples, get a 3.5mm plug male-male audio cable and connect to a PC and install DSD+.
Just run DSD+ with defaults and it will decode the audio if you adjust the levels in your PCs mixer settings and the volume control on the TRX.
Entering a frequency in TRX using Fn+0 will also display what type it is when the mode is set to AU.

You have probably already monitored trunked analog Motorola with your other scanners.
So you already have those bandplans and frequencies to enter in the TRX the same way as you had in your analog scanners.

/Ubbe
 

Brasso_78

Newbie
Joined
Aug 5, 2017
Messages
2
Location
Northants
Thanks for the advice #Ubbe and #BrianG61UK

Youtube videos gave a good steer - albeit with quite a bit of waffle.

Well, the scanner has arrived and after reading all the reviews saying how hard it is. I didn't have anything to worry about. Up and running in a couple of hours, following some prep on what frequencies I wanted in Excel.

A couple of tweaks once in use but I just see that as a little refinement. Software seems reasonably easy to use. Very happy with sound quality. Just need to get my external antenna installed now when it finally stops raining.

Just need to find some more digital channels locally - that'll keep me amused.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top