Can someone help a realll novice

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jim-s411

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I bought my wife a scanner (RadioShack 20-404/Pro-404) for Christmas. We do not have a clue how to listen to or program this thing besides hearing the weather, which lately is good.

Reading around on here I found out I need to buy a USB to Computer cable to hook up to our computer. I will do that today.

How is the best way after that to get started to listening or finding local frequencies to listen too?

Thanks in advance...Jim
 
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Welcome to the Oklahoma Forum. Bad news, the scanner you have is pretty much useless for monitoring any police, fire, OHP, EMSA, Sheriff in the Tulsa area. All these services are on the Tulsa/State of Oklahoma Motorola Trunked (TRS) radio system. Your scanner is for convention (non TRS) operation only. The best suggestion would be to return it to RS and purchase one of their trunking capable scanners. The sales person should have explained this to you at the time of purchase.
 

jim-s411

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thank you sir

Unfortunately the punk sales person didn't have a clue. I will return this puppy and get the one you suggested today.

Jim
 

peterjmag

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Jim,
He is right, Return the Pro-404 to the shack and tell them you want a Pro-164. It is a nice scanner and is on sale for 149.99 until Jan 2. I have provided a link for you....

PRO-164 1000-Channel Handheld Scanner - RadioShack.com

Please email me at peterjmag@aol.com and I will help you from there. Please don't get frustrated for scanning tends to be a learning curve but can be exciting after one learns a few things. Talk to you later...
 

plaws

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Peter,
You are awesome. Thanks, on my way to exchange the two.

Aw, shucks, thanks.

Hmm? Oh, I see - wrong Peter. Well then ...

Do as the other folks suggest. I don't know if the Pro-164 comes with the cable or not but if it doesn't, pick one up while you are there. The days of hand entering stuff on scanners are just about gone. :)

Everything else you need is on this site.

Also, let us know what area of the state you are in.
 

xerb1962

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I am thinking he is in.... wait a minute, hold it, it is coming to me, is it Tulsa? :lol:
 

jim-s411

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Ok, men and ladies (whom ever is reading) I have bought the right scanner, USB cable/software, downloaded Win97, upgraded my account here and now trying the next step...whatever that is!

I'm not completely stupid but very new to this. I just need a little help.....once and then I can help others.

I can be reached by phone @ 918-629-3237

Thanks
Jim
 

jim-s411

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Tulsa, OK
Ok, men and ladies (whom ever is reading) I have bought the right scanner, USB cable/software, downloaded Win97, upgraded my account here and now trying the next step...whatever that is!

I'm not completely stupid but very new to this. I just need a little help.....once and then I can help others.

I can be reached by phone @ 918-629-3237

Thanks
Jim
 

jim-s411

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Tulsa, OK
My issue is solved

When in doubt, go back to where you bought the goods and let them program it.

Just in case anyone wanted to know!

Jim Shaw
 

plaws

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When in doubt, go back to where you bought the goods and let them program it.

Bah. You coulda done it. :) I've been playing with computer-connected scanners (all Uniden) since about 2003 so I tend to take things for granted.

The first thing I would try if I were a n00b would be to figure out what I wanted to listen to. Once you figure that out, you need to find out where they are. Pretend it's Tulsa Fire. They're on a Motorola trunked system (Type II, but they almost all are these days, save for newer ones which are P25). Tulsa started the system, but it now covers most of the populated areas of the state (roughly the I44 corridor, Tulsa to Lawton) and other systems, like the ones in Norman, Edmond, and Shawnee, have been linked in. Pretty cool.

OK, so you need to do a couple things. You need to put in the frequencies that make up the trunked system. Some scanners only need the control channels and some need all possible channels in the system. In Tulsa's case you need to figure out which tower you want to listen to. I'm not up there, but if you were down here, I'd tell you to find the info for Site 8, which covers the OKC Metro and use those channels. No idea which is "best" for Tulsa. ALL the known sites (towers) for the Tulsa/State system are in the RR DB.

In the software, there is some way to set up a "bank" or a "system" as Motorola Type II. Once that's done, either enter the control channels or all channels in the bank and you'll be half way there.

The other thing you need to know for trunking systems is which talkgroups you want to listen to. Think of these as virtual channels that can actually show up on just about any of the radio channels in the system. Enter those into the software, too. Pretty sure the Pro-164/PSR300 has alpha tags, so you can add a tag to each channel as well that says something like "Dispatch" or Fireground 1". ALL the known talkgroups for the Tulsa/State system are in the DB as well.

Once you've got all that stuff in the software, you connect the cable, make sure the software can "see" the radio, and upload.

See? So easy!

Lots of other stuff to do with the radio, but get a system in there and play. And the nice thing with the computer-connected radios is that if you screw up, who cares? Just reload. Only takes a few seconds.
 

jim-s411

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Tulsa, OK
come to find out the store where I bought the scanner didn't tell me I needed to remove one little 3 inch USB adapter included! Otherwise I would have had the thing licked. Man it wore me out trying to figure out what to do. Seems I did everything right but I had no idea about that darn cable!

Otherwise scanner is working like a charm. I figure I will now download what is in my scanner to my software to see exactly what I am listening too.

Anyway I appreciate your response.

Jim Shaw
 
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