BCD396XT New to talkgroups, any help much appreciated

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W6VVM

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Hello all, this is my first RR post. I have never programmed a Talkgroup system before. I am having some difficulty understanding the logic behind it as I have only set up conventional systems in the past.
Any assistance would be great, and from any 396XT owners/experts would be awesome! This is the system I am trying to program:
Mammoth Mountain & June Mountain Ski Areas Trunking System, Mammoth Mountain, California - Scanner Frequencies
Thanks to everyone in advance!

Also if anyone thinks this post would be better located somewhere else, please advise. Thanks.
 
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W6KRU

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Are you wanting to program your scanner manually or with software? If you want to use software, which variety?
 

W6VVM

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I used FreeScan to program my scanner but have never really seen (or looked for) anything involving talkgroups in it. I don't mind doing this one manually, its just that going through all the system options (number tag, ID scan/search, fleet map, status bit, end code, edit site, etc...) I'm having a hard time making sense of these settings with the info I've got from the page on Mammoths system.
I'm going to Mammoth this weekend and thought it would be a quick frequency/tone dump into FreeScan. Not so much...
 

captclint

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I used FreeScan to program my scanner.
I'm going to Mammoth this weekend and thought it would be a quick frequency/tone dump into FreeScan. Not so much...
it is a quick dump..just a different menu.
File, Import, RR Trunked. Log on as usual. Then select CA and Mono county. The Mammoth Mountain system will appear in the drop down box under State and county. Click on it and you will see sites on the left and talk groups on the right. If both boxes are checked, hit the import.
However, there is a warning that the fleet map is not complete, so you scanner will not track this particular system., but this is how it done for any trunking system. If you go on the CA forum, they may be able to give you the fleet map.

To get conventional, you need to log back in again and select File, Import, RR conventional
 
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ka3jjz

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The tricky part with this system is it's a VERY old type 1 system, which uses fleet maps. I'm pretty sure that Moto's position on these types of legacy systems is to migrate them to a type 2, which would be far easier to program. In fact, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Freescan has some problems programming this system properly - there aren't all that many type 1's out there anymore - that's the sort of thing that would be difficult to test properly.

I believe you CAN have blocks of zero in a fleet map like this - ignore the MOT settings and use the ones below that. Those are size codes, and likely as not, unless the import automatically brings them in, you would need to manually enter them.

I would take Capt's advice and go to the California forum and see what the story is...Mike
 
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W6VVM

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This is starting to make some sense. Thank you, Captain and Mike for all your assistance. I attempted to fill in the data last night using FreeScan and when I imported it using your instructions this morning I was happy to see most of it matched what I had done, minus some settings.
So I have manually entered the size codes in the appropriate blocks (0 and 2 are 11, 6 and 7 are 4) and left the rest zeros.
Am I accurate in saying that with the 9 frequencies in my scanner, I will pick up all traffic within range, however with incomplete fleetmap data, won't be able to sort one conversation from the next and it will just be a cluster of radio traffic?
Also, am I to understand that there is a slight chance that the blanks are actually zeros and the scanner will work properly?
It will be interesting to see when I get up there this evening. Thanks again guys.
 

ka3jjz

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Not being in California, and not knowing the system, it's not possible to accurately speculate on whether you're going to hear all the traffic or not. If the fleet map is correct and complete, then you should be good to go. There is a chance that the size codes for the missing blocks could be empty rather than zeros - however this is something only a local would know for sure.

Once again, go down to our California forum and ask about this system - it's entirely possible that this system, being so old, simply hasn't been updated because no one has sent in updates. Just click on the blue text...Mike
 

W6VVM

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Thanks Mike. All my forum searches led me to a member who is a Mammoth resident and I believe provided the information that is there. I PM'd him asking about the subfleets and if he doesn't respond I will post something.
 

Anderegg

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I wonder if the Type I systems allow Control Channel Only scanning? I would do control channel only and use ID SEARCH on the 396 and press enter to add any talkgroup that sounds interesting..........obviously this is just to play around with, you def want to program with Freescan.

Paul
 
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