Anyone else scan Tacoma?

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outdrdude

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I have all the trunked freq's in my scanner (pro95) and am in downtown Tacoma most nights as thats where I work. I rarely pick up any Tacoma id's however lawscan is always up but very scratchy and difficult to hear. Any ideas? I've tried the stock rubber duck antenna and a RS extendable with the same results. Any ideas? I do get Lakewood from time to time.
 

outdrdude

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Thank you for that! I'm familiar with the page you made reference to. How are you telling which frequencies are digital?
 

DickH

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Thank you for that! I'm familiar with the page you made reference to. How are you telling which frequencies are digital?

Since frequencies are neither digital or analog, your statement leads me to believe you may not understand how trunking works and your scanner is not really trunking.
Be aware that when the system is re-banded (866 to 868 freqs. change to 851 to 853 freqs.) the PRO-95 will not work 100%. It will only track the freqs. that have a 5 in the 4th decimal place, like 851.2125, etc.

Here is a simple explanation of how a Motorola trunking system works.

Motorola Trunking:
The object of trunking is to allow many users to share a relatively few frequencies.
A trunking system is controlled by a computer. Information (data) is exchanged between the system radios and the computer on a control channel, sometimes called a data channel. It sounds like a strong buzz.
A large system can have up to 28 freqs., 4 of which may be used as control channels. The control channel may be changed once a day or as often as the programmer decides. Some scanners need only the control channels to track an entire system. Just put in the 4 Control Channels.

Each group of users (Fire, Police, etc.) is assigned TALK GROUPS. In a Motorola Type II system, the most common type, TGs are usually in 32 number steps starting with 16 and going up to 65536; 16, 48, 80 --- 4656, 4688, 4720 --- 28944, 28976, etc. System radios can have more than 100 TGs programmed into them.

Each bank contains 5 sub-banks where you enter the Talk Group IDs you want to hear.
Each sub-bank holds 30 Talk Group IDs.
Use the Talk Group numbers in the DEC column, not in the HEX column.

How it works
When a user pushes the talk button on his radio, data is sent to the computer. The computer chooses an unused freq. and sends that data to all the radios set to the TG of the originating unit. This all happens in a fraction of a second and it happens EVERY TIME a radio is used.

EXAMPLE:
Fire Dispatch calling Engine 4 (TG 4528 on 856.7125)
Engine 4 answering Dispatch (TG 4528 on 852.2625)
Respond to 73 Elm Street (TG 4528 on 855.9625)
Engine 4 responding (TG 4528 on 851.6375)

If you have entered TG 4528 into your scanner, it will decode the control channel data and change your scanner freqs. to follow the conversation on TG 4528.
 

outdrdude

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Thank you for the information. I had a basic idea but now much better. My scanner is following the ID's. I set it up with the win95 program. Looks like I'll be needing a new scanner. Any suggestions?
 

DickH

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Thank you for the information. I had a basic idea but now much better. My scanner is following the ID's. I set it up with the win95 program. Looks like I'll be needing a new scanner. Any suggestions?

Check out the WIKI for rebanding info and which scanners will work. Some need to have custom band plans that can only be put in via software. When you find one that seems OK be sure to ask here for correct info. Sometimes WIKI falls short.
 
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