Must admit up front that I am fairly new to digital scanners and trunked systems. That being said I am trying to setup my Uniden BCD 396XT for a road trip from Arkansas to Houston. Setting up for the state of Arkansas did not seem to be a problem with their AWIN system, but I am at a loss for Texas. Is there no statewide or regional trunked system similar to the AWIN system? Any recommendations, suggestions would be appreciated. Again I am new to this hobby, so please keep it simple if you respond. Thanks for your help.
Hi Diamond
There is no "statewide" trunked system in Texas, though there are a couple of sizable regional systems. The system that you'll encounter the most, especially in the Houston Metro area, and much of East Texas (depending on your route) will be this one:
Texas Wide Area Radio Network (TxWARN) Project 25 Trunking System, Various, Texas - Scanner Frequencies
Houston PD & FD are using a number of P25 Phase II talkgroups on that system, which your 396XT cannot monitor. However, you can still hear the essential portions of their traffic on Phase I TGID's. See
this.
Looking at the TxWARN P25
system, the talkgroups labeled with a "D" in the Mode column are Phase I. Your 396XT will have no problem with those. This system, besides the Houston area, encompasses a number of counties along I-45 north, as well as other counties in East Texas. The only protion of the TRS using Phase II talkgroups (those labeled with a "T" in the Mode column) are in the immediate Houston metro area. The rest of them are digital, with some encrypted.
Another system you might wish to load, regardless of which route you plan to take, is that of
TX DPS, the state troopers. Since you're a premium subscriber, you can import this via software, such as FreeSCAN, ARC-XT, or ProScan. Import the 'Statewide APCO-25 Channel Plan" frequencies and you'll have most all of what you need there.
In the Houston area, some agencies are still using the analog version of
TxWARN, so you may want to import and load selected groups and sites from it as well.
If you can be more specific on which route you plan to take in Texas (I-30 to Dallas, then down I-45, or US 59 south from Texarkana, for example), then more specific recommendations could be made.
