TRX-1: Can do other types of digital trunking?

[Pr999]

I know that whistler never bothered to pay Motorola and Kenwood to trunk track for DMR/TRBO and NXDN 48/96 systems so it never came included on the scanners.
But, in the TRX-1 programming software, it apparently has the ability load DMR and NXDN type C and D trunking systems, but from what I heard it's not supposed to do that. What is the full story behind all of this, because I feel like i'm missing something.

 

[RaleighGuy]

I know that whistler never bothered to pay Motorola and Kenwood to trunk track for DMR/TRBO and NXDN 48/96 systems so it never came included on the scanners.
But, in the TRX-1 programming software, it apparently has the ability load DMR and NXDN type C and D trunking systems, but from what I heard it's not supposed to do that. What is the full story behind all of this, because I feel like i'm missing something.

You are missing something and not reading previous posts correctly. They do NOT do true trunking, they scan and monitor all the frequencies but do not follow the conversation/frequency changes. But do decode NXDN and DMR.

 

[hiegtx]

Just to add slightly to Raleigh's post:
The TRX-1 & other Whistler scanners that can receive some DMR and/or NXDN systems can receive the emission codes used for those system. If you are dealing with a system that is not very busy, it may well suit your needs. However, unlike the Uniden scanners with the paid upgrades, you cannot simply hold on an active talkgroup. For non-trunked, conventional, DMR & NXDN channels, you can program the color code (RAN for NXDN), slot, and talkgroup without creating a trunked system. For the Uniden scanners, you cannot program that same level of detail (slot & TGID) conventionally, but it can be entered if set up as a single frequency 'trunked' system.

 

[Pr999]

Just to add slightly to Raleigh's post:
The TRX-1 & other Whistler scanners that can receive some DMR and/or NXDN systems can receive the emission codes used for those system. If you are dealing with a system that is not very busy, it may well suit your needs. However, unlike the Uniden scanners with the paid upgrades, you cannot simply hold on an active talkgroup. For non-trunked, conventional, DMR & NXDN channels, you can program the color code (RAN for NXDN), slot, and talkgroup without creating a trunked system. For the Uniden scanners, you cannot program that same level of detail (slot & TGID) conventionally, but it can be entered if set up as a single frequency 'trunked' system.

So it can, or can't do digital trunking? I'm confused.

 

[RaleighGuy]

So it can, or can't do digital trunking? I'm confused.

It can NOT do true trunking and lock onto a single TG and still follow the conversation, it simply scans all the frequencies and displays the TG info. It may miss many conversations on bigger systems.

 

[Pr999]

It can NOT do true trunking and lock onto a single TG and still follow the conversation, it simply scans all the frequencies and displays the TG info.

but does it mute all other non programmed talkgroups?

 

[RaleighGuy]

but does it mute all other non programmed talkgroups?

Depends how you program it.

 

[Pr999]

Depends how you program it.

If I wanted to though, how would I do it?

 

[hiegtx]

If I wanted to though, how would I do it?

It will not correctly track a trunked system; instead, it basically receives transmissions as if they were not trunked.

If you have a single conventional channel, where the database shows a specific color code, slot, and talkgroup, you can program that conventionally, with all those specific details, & it will receive it when active and the scanner is in that part of your scanlist. As long as you specified the talkgroup in your programming, you would not hear other TGIDs that might be on the same frequency. Note that if you specify, say Slot 1, then you would only hear that talkgroup when it is active on your specified frequency (and color code) and it is using Slot 1. If it instead used Slot 2, you would miss the transmission.

For a trunked system, you can set it up as a trunked system, with the sites & talkgroups entered. The scanner will then access that system, to see if any of the talkgroups you've entered, are active on one of the trunked systems frequencies, then the scanner will receive them. Again, it is not actually trunk-tracking the system, just looking to see if any of the specified TGIDs are active on one of the frequencies programmed for the site.

You can program only the specific talkgroups of interest, so it will ignore those not programmed. But if it is a fairly new system, and you suspect that there be more users that what are in the database so far, you can enter a wildcard, which will then cause the scanner to stop & monitor any active talkgroup on one of the site frequencies. Note that when programmed as a 'trunked' system, the scanner would stop on any active talkgroup that is programmed (if a wildcard is in use it would stop on any activity), regardless of which slot is used.

I've run across quite a few conventional DMR channels, especially for smaller towns, where the same talkgroup is used for both Fire & PD, but, say, Slot 1 is used for Fire, and Slot 2 for PD.

 

[Ubbe]

Whistlers way of tracking TG's makes it work the same to the user as Unidens trunk tracking, but it can be slower in operation but it can also be more reliable than Unidens trunk tracking. You have the same options in both systems to program TG's and hold on a TG and scan all unknown TG's and lock out the ones you do not want to monitor.

Whistler do TG tracking but not frequency tracking. It searches active voice channels for the TG's you have selected to monitor. When it detects a carrier on a voice channel it checks for data that indicate a voice call and then decodes the TG and try to match with the ones you have programmed. It then continues to track that TG by scanning the voice channels until the conversation ends.

Uniden detects the control channel and then waits a while to check if the data says that there is an ongoing voice call and then gets the info what frequency its on, without needing to check all voice channels. If any data error occur during the decode process it immediately aborts the rest of the sites control channels and goes to the next system. When a DMR system uses RAS the error correction are disabled and it becomes more crucial to have a 100% clean signal from the site. Uniden also has a detection if the call are encrypted that then triggers the function to skip the site and go to next system. If the slightest error are detected it skips calls and systems and it also false detect that it is an error that seems to happen more often in Hytera systems.

In some cases Unidens trunk tracking works best, a 100% receive signal and no RAS in the system, but at other times Whistler are superior to Uniden to track all calls. You'll need both scanner brands to monitor the same systems and when Uniden have problems with one system you avoid that and let the Whistler scanner handle that system, if it's not a simulcast system as you'll need a SDS scanner for that and have to cope with any issues there might be.

/Ubbe