Beeps after transmssions

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Luggo

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I have a Pro-97 scanner trying to listen to the Lubbock County, Texas system. I think I'm hearing most traffic, except DPS (state police). The question is, I hear normally following each verbal transmission a series of beeps usually 4-5 before the scanner continues scanning following a voice transmission. Occasionally I get a very loud "horn like" transmission that is generally much louder than the voice transmissions.

I'm very much an amateur with this thing, so no advice is too elementary. If someone could explain why I am hearing this, I don't recall hearing it about a year ago, I would appreciate it.
 

rdale

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Do you have it programmed as an EDACS trunked system?
 

Luggo

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I believe I do. It was programmed at Radio Shack by the guy referred to at all of the local store locations as the "scanner guy". He is apparently the only employee in Lubbock who really knows what he is doing. The scanner worked fine (without these beeps) for a long time. I stopped using the scanner for about a year and when I began using it again, it is doing what I described. The only change I can find from the database is the addition of another control channel. He downloaded all of the Lubbock frequencies into Bank 0 so that is the only one I use.

I am not smart enough to give you a very technical answer, but if you have a specific question I will look at the bank and try to tell you.
 

n4yek

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I would take the scanner back to Radio Shack and see if that guy still works there that programmed it the first time. If he does, tell him what it is doing and he might know exactly what to do for you.
 

GrayJeep

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Beeping after transmissions on an EDACs system tells you that the system isn't trunking properly.

This is caused by one of two things- either the system is programmed incorrectly in the scanner, or the signal strength received isn't strong enough for the scanner to trunk properly.

Since you said that it used to work until a new control channel appeared in the listing, the problem is likely that you need to re-enter the frequencies for the system in their proper numbered channel order.

You can use the manual or the RR Search function to look for postings explaining how to do that.
(This problem description gets posted fairly regularly.)
 

Luggo

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I have re-programed the scanner and it appears to be working fine, eliminating the above problems. I followed the directions in the Pro 97 Wiki.

My remaining questions are:

Is it possible to lock out specific talk groups? During the day the garbage men and water department dominate the traffic. Can their specific talk groups (or others) be blocked?

The instructions prepared by David Cabatu are terrific, I completed parts A, B, C and got to D, titled programming Talkgroup Id's. What does that do? Does it add, identifying information to the display based upon what is being transmitted? The initial paragraph in Part D is confusing to me, it almost reads as this s optional.

Same basic questions for Part E & F of the instructions. It seems to be instructing you how to add a text display to what you are listening to.

My fear is messing up what I have already done, because it is working well now as far as clarity and listening to stuff.

Thanks for the help, this forum and the Wiki is invaluable to a noob.
 

GrayJeep

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I have re-programed the scanner and it appears to be working fine, eliminating the above problems. I followed the directions in the Pro 97 Wiki.

My remaining questions are:

Is it possible to lock out specific talk groups? During the day the garbage men and water department dominate the traffic. Can their specific talk groups (or others) be blocked?

Good for you!

Just push Lockout while the unwanted talkgroup is talking. There is also a way to lockout talkgroups while editing the list but getting them in the act is easiest.

You can work thru the rest. Assigning text which appears on the screen while a talkgroup is active is known as "alpha tags." (for "alphanumeric")
 

Luggo

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Will that lockout anything besides the offending talkgroup? In locking out the garbage trucks will it also lock out the police or fire?

Thank you
 

captclint

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Will that lockout anything besides the offending talkgroup? In locking out the garbage trucks will it also lock out the police or fire?
No, that is the point of having a separate talkgroup for each group of users with common needs. When a particular garbage truck company has a talk group, other garbage truck companies will not hear the conversations of their competitors, and the police will not hear anything except those users assigned to a talk group ID(TGID) So you may need to lockout several different TGID assigned to various garbage truck companies, but you will be able to hear the police and fire.
 
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Luggo

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Lubbock, TX
Thank you to everyone, it seems to be doing fine, sans garbage trucks and water department stuff. You folks are terrific
 
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