Discrim tap

[friedthat]

Okay so when i use , lets say, trunk88, i have the 296 tapped. Now do i just plug into sound card. or do i also need to plug in the data cable?? can anyone give me an informative answer on this. i am a TOTAL newb. with this and i have READ carefully the yahoo trunk88 forum but there is not alot for real newb questions.. i am just trying to understand how this whole thing works. in terms of how the data is getting from the scanner to the computer and how it is interpreting the data?

thanks

 

[slicerwizard]

You need a discriminator tap feeding either a data slicer or a sound card. That's all. Which you need depends on the program you're using. Some programs will only work with a slicer and some will only work with a sound card. Others will work with either.

TRUNK88 needs either a data slicer connected to a serial port or a true SoundBlaster Pro or SB16 compatible sound card. DOS programs (TRUNK88, Treport, Trunker, etc.) generally have fewer issues with Windows 98 and earlier OS versions (W95, DOS5, DOS6, DOS7).

 

[friedthat]

hmm okay so what aout UniTrunker i got the latest version, seems pretty user friendly. but i am trying to get it to decode P25 on fleetnet. and i am having some troubles, yes i did thediscriminator tap, and with this prog, you can do either.. soo that being said. is there some way of this program being able to decode or should i jsut disable the apco card? in the faq is says somthing about putting an amp b4 the soundcard for P25 systems so it will bring the "highs" out more or something..
any one that is currently taping with a 250 or a 296 or decoding Bell fleetnet in general

 

[jellotor]

I tap much cheaper scanners (BC760XLT in this case) for use with trunker. What you do is dependent on what you are willing to do as far as adding buffer amps, resistors and so forth. With mine, I don't generally add anything to the scanner in terms of buffering and they work fine for what I need 'em for.

Before you assume the problem is with the scanner or the program determine whether or not your reception of the control channel is sufficient for decoding. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you're going to want to have at least 3 bars of reception on a 250D/296D before you can use a trunker program to decode that control channel. Adding an external antenna may help.

Rick includes a scope program with UniTrunker. It's a handy tool for determining whether or not your signal to the sound card is good enough to decode. Do a little rummaging around on the Trunker forum here...and I bet someone has had the same problems that you are having before.

 

[slicerwizard]

hmm okay so what aout UniTrunker i got the latest version, seems pretty user friendly. but i am trying to get it to decode P25 on fleetnet.

There is no "P25" data on Fleetnet for UniTrunker to decode. Fleetnet control channels only come in the plain old 3600bps Motorola Type II flavour, so buffering/filtering is probably not an issue.

If you're running the audio to a sound card, record a short sample (ten seconds or so) and post it here.

 

[friedthat]

hmm okay alot of info i got from those posts thanks, but i was able to find out that i didnt need a buffer amp. (i just spoke to soon) and my reception is full bars, and the odd thing i find is that the only program that will even romotely decode my control channel, is UNiTrunker.
But it doesnt show any cool data like type of call or description, or other interesting stuff that i would want to see. and whenever a talk group is active it shows the correct talk group and radio id BUT under the frequency it shows 0.00000 and to the left of that is a lot of LCN numbers down in a row. but i am not on an EDACS system it is a type II VHF ...
anywho, i guess i will wait the response from this post before i ask any other newb questions

 

[slicerwizard]

It doesn't show talkgroup names or frequencies because you haven't entered them (or a bandplan). If you're running under Windows and using a sound card, I think the Windows version of Trunker is what you should trying out; I'm pretty sure it will show more information than UniTrunker.

 

[friedthat]

It doesn't show talkgroup names or frequencies because you haven't entered them (or a bandplan). If you're running under Windows and using a sound card, I think the Windows version of Trunker is what you should trying out; I'm pretty sure it will show more information than UniTrunker.

hmm well i got trunker v3.8.3 , but it says you need a slicer, and i dont have one nor do i want to make one. but any ways i ran it and under status it says "WantCTS" and acc:0,0% . soo that being said any ones that will show all the cool info that doesnt need a slicer.

thanks

 

[mikewazowski]

I think your misunderstanding the software.

As slicerwizard has already pointed out, you haven't entered any of that cool info. The software has no idea what the cool info is until you enter it.

All the software can do is display radio id's, talkgroup id's and channel numbers.

If you want radio id and talkgroup id descriptions, you need to enter them in yourself.

If you want frequencies instead of lcn's (channel numbers), you need to setup a bandplan or edit in the correct frequencies in case of the lcn's.

What you currently have is a system which is just showing you the raw data. You must do some work yourself before it will start to show you the cool info.

 

[friedthat]

I think your misunderstanding the software.

As slicerwizard has already pointed out, you haven't entered any of that cool info. The software has no idea what the cool info is until you enter it.

All the software can do is display radio id's, talkgroup id's and channel numbers.

If you want radio id and talkgroup id descriptions, you need to enter them in yourself.

If you want frequencies instead of lcn's (channel numbers), you need to setup a bandplan or edit in the correct frequencies in case of the lcn's.

What you currently have is a system which is just showing you the raw data. You must do some work yourself before it will start to show you the cool info.

hmm maybe you are right , for some reason ( and maybe this comes from me misunderstanding one of the pics i seen on this forum a while back) I thought you would be able to see the info from dispatch i.e the fire truck that is responding etc or like the urgency of the call.
oh well i dunno what the big deal is to do all this when all you see is the T/G ID the radio id , basically the same stuff you see when using BACUSD or however it is spelt.

it seems you get more info being Decoded on a pager freq.

 

[mikewazowski]

Maybe I'm right? Do you somehow distrust what myself and others are telling you?

The software can show you the fire truck responding in if you annotate the radio id with the fire truck. You must do this yourself or find someone who has already done it.

The picture you saw was from somebody who had entered all this information in for their local system. If you do the same sort of work yourself, then you too can have that sort of information displayed.

As for call urgency, the trunking system and the radios that are on it care nothing about call urgency. The data going out over the control channel only deals with the radios on the system and their operating parameters. Stuff like frequency assigned to a specific talkgroup call, page alerts, individual calls, whether a talkgroup is digital or analog, encrypted or unencrypted, etc.

Yes, you would get call details on a pager frequency but other then Caledon FS and Toronto EMS, there aren't many pager frequencies out there that carry such detailed information.

 

[jellotor]

oh well i dunno what the big deal is to do all this when all you see is the T/G ID the radio id , basically the same stuff you see when using BACUSD or however it is spelt.

Trunker programs, while they don't allow you to tune multiple recievers to multiple talkgroups on one system, do allow for some flexibility as far as being able to see the amount and type of usage on a trunked system. ID logger software generally doesn't allow for the same kind of flexibility.

As Mike stated, the cool info comes from doing some listening and comparing notes. There just ain't any other way.