Harris County

[ka5ils]

I just bought a Pro-197 and I have tried for a week and a half to get it to work on the local PD and Fire. My area Harris county, TX just rebanded and this thing only will pick up half of the conversation sometimes and none at other times. I have been working with the program that came with the cable and no luck. Does anyone PLEASE have a solution to the problem.

 

[FlashSWT]

You'll most likely need to enter custom tables due to the rebanding. Let us know what software you are using, what tower site you monitor and someone here will probably be able to help better.

Check out this article and see if it helps any: Object Oriented Scanner Software - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[Cruiseomatic]

Strange, I never knew they re-banded but everyone has been having problems since where as my PRO-164 never flinched... And it is running continuously over many different talk groups; H.C.S.O. South, E.T.M.C., Pasadena P.D., H.C.T.R.A., PRCT 3 & 8, Etc... I use Win 97 for programming. I usually run off sites 27 or 28.

 

[motorola_otaku]

Strange, I never knew they re-banded.. I usually run off sites 27 or 28.

That's because sites 27 and 28 didn't change their primary control channels after rebanding. Additionally, site 27 (Wallisville) has no 25kHz-spaced voice channels that require rebanding tables in the first place.

Just so everyone's on the same page, the following sites do NOT require rebanding tables and will track properly on old non-rebanding-capable radios:
-Pasadena (23)
-North Gessner (26)
-Wallisville (27)

 

[Cruiseomatic]

I see. That could be why. What would I need to do to re-band this radio and would it still work with my current sites?

 

[Daffy]

My BC780XLT lost the wallisville site a week after the baytown site rebanded.

Did you update your firmware yet?
I had to with my new PSR-700 for trunking.

 

[towman79]

I see that wallisville and n guesner haven't been rebanded. but why does the database say they have? does this mean you have to moniter those sites by themselves. because if you program a psr600 for multi site and load the reband tables it effects all the towers you list. or is there away to seperate them. I am listening in my truck so im all over town, i dont want to have to keep manualy changing towers.

 

[Daffy]

I just checked the Wallisville site and it indeed is still working, did they change the control freq recently?

 

[usafss]

Rs 197

I just bought a Pro-197 and I have tried for a week and a half to get it to work on the local PD and Fire. My area Harris county, TX just rebanded and this thing only will pick up half of the conversation sometimes and none at other times. I have been working with the program that came with the cable and no luck. Does anyone PLEASE have a solution to the problem.

I have two of them. They work pretty much like GRE600 for me, using Win500. BUT, you need to make sure you are using latest version of Win500 (V2.06). My older version apparently did not know the RS197 to talk to it.
One TSYS for Harris County rebanded.As downloaded from RR with editing for size and interests.
One TSYS for APCO 25 stuff. As downloaded from RR.
One conventional for all area FD and PD and Acft (divided into diff banks)
One area for DPS digital system.
still have a bit of room left over.
Seems to be working OK.
I can try to email the file if you would like.

 

[teknishun]

I believe they are now using digital radio trunking and not analog trunking.
Can your new scanner do the digital stuff? I now have a PRO-164 and
a PRO-2053 that are both useless.

 

[usafss]

They may not trunk, but if they can receive the frequencies of the site you want, there is still a bunch of stuff in analog 800mhz you can get. Also a lot of simulcast on VHF and UHF you can get. HPD and HFD are still in UHF for a while yet for example.

 

[texasemt13]

I believe they are now using digital radio trunking and not analog trunking.
Can your new scanner do the digital stuff? I now have a PRO-164 and
a PRO-2053 that are both useless.

Try looking in to Digital Speech Decoder software. A recent "breakthrough" now allows this to compile on Windows, and is being discussed in this thread.

Basically, your scanners aren't entirely incapable of helping you listen to P25 transmissions, they just need a little help from a soundcard and software.

 

[teknishun]

APCO P25 Brazoria-Galveston-Harris Counties

I have a PRO-164 that has stopped working due to the rebanding to digital of some
stuff I listen to. I need the new control freqs for Alvin, Pearland, Manvel, Friendswood, League City and Webster. Also the locations of the new towers. A rubber ducky antenna may not work if the tower sites have been moved. Will the PRO-64 pick up these new freqs or do I need a new digital trunking scanner instead?

 

[FlashSWT]

I have a PRO-164 that has stopped working due to the rebanding to digital of some
stuff I listen to. I need the new control freqs for Alvin, Pearland, Manvel, Friendswood, League City and Webster. Also the locations of the new towers. A rubber ducky antenna may not work if the tower sites have been moved. Will the PRO-64 pick up these new freqs or do I need a new digital trunking scanner instead?

Alvin, Pearland, Manvel, Friendswood, League City and Webster are all still on the analog system. They have not moved to digital yet. None of the towers have been moved as part of the "rebanding" process they have just had some of the frequencies changed, so if you could pick them up before you will still be able to now.

Your PRO-164 will continue to work just fine for the agencies you mentioned, it just needs the programming updated. You can find the new control channels here: Texas Wide Area Radio Network (TxWARN) Motorola Trunking System, Metro Houston area, Texas - Scanner Frequencies

 

[hiegtx]

One note about the Pro-164-
It will work on a rebanded analog system. However, besides the new frequencies, you also have to enter the custom tables for the scanner to track properly. For that model (and it's base/mobile sibling, the Pro-163), the only way you can do that is with software. See this page in the Wiki. (The same information applies to the PSR-300 & PSR-400, which are the GRE labeled versions of the same scanner. GRE makes the 163 & 164 for Radio Shack.)

 

[teknishun]

Alvin, Pearland, Manvel, Friendswood, League City and Webster are all still on the analog system. They have not moved to digital yet. None of the towers have been moved as part of the "rebanding" process they have just had some of the frequencies changed, so if you could pick them up before you will still be able to now.

Your PRO-164 will continue to work just fine for the agencies you mentioned, it just needs the programming updated. You can find the new control channels here: Texas Wide Area Radio Network (TxWARN) Motorola Trunking System, Metro Houston area, Texas - Scanner Frequencies

THANKS !!! A Bunch. Yes, all I had to do was reprogram the control channels for the towers that
I listen too. The Talk Groups stayed the same. My PRO-164 and PRO-2053 are both happily chatting up a storm right now. Man! You saved me a bundle of money -- I was all set to go out and by the Uniden Bearcat BCD396XT but now I do not have to. !!!!!!!!

 

[srwilson017]

Friendswood PD Channels

I have a RS Pro-163 scanner. I can't seem to pick up Friendswood channels with this scanner. I have ARC300 software and RR subscription but when I upload the files I still can't hear Friendswood. I have a Grecom 600 and I reprogrammed it and I hear Friendswood and League City fine on it. Will the Pro-163 not receive Friendswood??

I have updated my firmware to the latest version already.

What am I missing?

 

[motorola_otaku]

What tower/site is the Pro-163 listening to? Friendswood generally rides on the League City site. You also need to verify that it has the rebanding tables correctly entered on the League City site, but someone who is more versed in Radio Shack products will have to help you with that.

 

[teknishun]

Friendswood channels

QUOTE: "I have a RS Pro-163 scanner. I can't seem to pick up Friendswood channels with this scanner. I have ARC300 software and RR subscription but when I upload the files I still can't hear Friendswood. I have a Grecom 600 and I reprogrammed it and I hear Friendswood and League City fine on it. Will the Pro-163 not receive Friendswood??

I have updated my firmware to the latest version already.

What am I missing? "

Certainly the PRO-163 should pick up Friendswood just as it does League City.
All you really need to do is program in the control channels for the towers that are
nearest to you. I use the Alvin/Dickinson, Pearland, League City, and Angleton towers.

Also be sure you have the correct talk groups programmed in and that they
are not locked out. Make sure NOTHING is locked out in ref to the Friendswood
bank or channels.

For control channels try: Alvin-Dickinson 853.0875 and 852.6625
Pearland: 851.1500 and 853.6750 League City: 857.9875 and 856.9875

 

[srwilson017]

Still Not Able to Hear Friendswood

OK. I have tried this but I must still be doing something wrong. I still can't pick up Friendswood. So if I download all the Radio Reference frequencies into ARC 300 shouldn't I be able to hear them? Please give me some other things to try.