PSR-500: AFRRCS monitoring with a GRECOM PSR-500

[jloriginal]

what kind of radio do you need to listen to afrrcs? I have a grecom psr500

 

[Jay911]

The PSR500 will do it, but you will have some limitations because the 500 doesn't really support multi-site trunking (well), and there are limits to how many talkgroups you can program in to the radio.

Any radio that can handle a 700 MHz P25 Phase I system will do, if you want to buy a newer radio than what you've got.

If you do use the 500:

- If you are going to use the radio in one place 24/7, never going anywhere, you can probably get away with programming one site's data into a TSYS, probably the closest site to you. You may or may not get all comms because not every talkgroup is broadcast on every tower site.
- If you are going to be moving around, or don't get satisfaction with the above method, you can try to program in as many control channels as possible into one TSYS. However, the TSYS as far as I know can only handle 32 frequencies and there are nearly 230 (IIRC) in the entire AFRRCS network. You will have to experiment with programming in different frequencies to figure out which ones work best for you.

 

[jloriginal]

Afrrcs

Thanks Jay. I tried uploading using your suggestion. I am picking up chatter but it all sounds encrypted like cps. Not sure what im oing wrong unless my psr500 is outdated.

 

[mciupa]

Moved from AFRRCS thread which should be used as a repository for new information and timeline of the project.

 

[jloriginal]

Thanks

 

[Jay911]

Do you have talkgroups programmed in or are you just using wildcards and picking up whatever talkgroups are in use? If you're using wildcards, that's surely why you're hearing encrypted comms. AHS EMS is one of the busiest agencies in this part of the province and they are almost 100% encrypted.

 

[jloriginal]

Jay i just plug into win500. There an afrrcs site on there. I just upload what i can. Thanks once again for your response.

 

[jloriginal]

I wish i knew how to program my psr500. If its not on win500 im screwed

 

[Jay911]

I used to have a WIN500 file for the radio. The problem with PSR500/600 is they don't work well with multi-site systems, if you create multiple TSYS's (one for each site), you have to duplicate the list of talkgroups for every TSYS, and it gets messy.

Do you plan to use your PSR500 generally stationary (in one spot) or on the move? If you're in one spot, you can probably program it for just one site of the system and should be able to get away with it. If you're on the move, it gets a lot more difficult because you have to find a way to have multiple sites in the radio without making it really complicated.

If you want, I can create a WIN500 file sometime with just one site built. Even if you are roaming around the Calgary area the one site I pick (Spy Hill) will probably work for you. Let me know.