Congratulations on your new Pro96. First off make sure you have the channel set to EDACS as well as the bank set to EDACS. You may also consider purchasing WIN96 programming software that makes programming the PRO-96 a breeze (30-day free trial, $30). That being done and it still not tracking I have the following information that may be useful. Sorry if I’m a bit long but I wanted to be thorough.
I checked the FCC Database and it looks like the Ft. Wayne AEP frequencies and channel assignments are a bit different from what’s listed on RadioReference.com (RR). Although I'm not in the Ft. Wayne area, your problem is sort of reminiscent of an experience I had when I started tracking Howard County’s EDACS system. From that experience I’ve come to believe that the “Freq ID” field in the FCC database listings correlates (with certain logical exceptions as explained later below) to the logical channel number (LCN) assignments for an EDACS system. The FCC doesn’t say which is the control channel, but it’s an EDACS system, so you should program your scanner with all frequencies in the proper LCN order anyway.
Try the following lineup I deciphered from the FCC database (could still be wrong but its worth a shot):
CH. 01 855.6625
CH. 02 856.7875
CH. 03 857.7875
CH. 04 858.7875
CH. 05 859.7875
CH. 06 BLANK
CH. 07 860.3375
It appears 855.3875 is now on a different antenna than the 6 frequencies listed above. See FCC listing at
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/licenseFreqSum.jsp?keyLoc=14884714&licKey=1927925&x=11&y=7
My Methodology:
While tracking Howard County’s EDACS system using the LCN provided from RR I never heard beeps (3 beeps and no tracking indicates the wrong LCN) but I thought I was missing traffic. So to ensure I was up-to-date, I checked the FCC database and found their license given on RR had expired. They were issued a new license with all the same frequencies but there were now different “Freq ID” assignments (or LCN order) listed so I decided to change the LCN order in my scanner to reflect the new license. To my surprise I stopped receiving most transmissions and started hearing the beeps after the transmissions I did hear and there was no tracking of conversations going on.
Trying not to become discouraged, I looked up Howard County’s expired license in the FCC database and found that the “Freq Id” assignments actually matched the LCN order given on RR. I reprogrammed my scanner using the original LCN order from RR (same as “Freq ID” assignment of expired FCC license’s) and my scanner immediately started tracking EDACS transmissions again. It turns out I was not dropping transmissions because of the wrong LCN but because of how far away I was (2 counties west in Tippecanoe Co.). It seems that my scanner’s reception of some frequencies in the system wasn’t as good as for others and I had fooled myself into thinking that maybe I had the wrong LCN. I felt stupid for not taking distance into account but it helped me learn something I could pass on.
In conclusion, it seems that Howard County chose to continue using the old LCN order instead of the one indicated on their new license. In your situation it looks lie the AEP may have indeed changed their LCN and frequencies to match their license. I would suggest you become familiar with the FCC databases search engines
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp for new information that may have not made it to RR. The FCC advanced search engine
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchAdvanced.jsp gives you the ability to search licenses by certain details of the license. The license page gives tons of information through the use of tabs, list boxes, and links to information filled popups.
Good Luck.
