Help!! Radio Shack Pro 95 & MECA

[mae5150]

Hi everyone! I have been away from scanning for awhile and would like to get back into it. I would be pleased if someone could answer a couple of questions. I used to be able to listen to IPD, now IMPD. thourgh a MECA control channel with my Pro 95. Is this no longer possible? I saw on the MECA page here on RR that a GRE PSR 500 worked with the system now. Do I have to get a new scanner? Is the Pro 95 good for anything around here anymore? I can't get a thing on it.

Regards,

mae5150

 

[AK9R]

MECA System 1 switched to an APCO P25-compliant system last year. All of the voice communications are now fully digital. You will need a digital trunktracking scanner to listen to police and fire traffic on MECA. See the listings and information in the RadioReference wiki at: Category: Digital Scanners - The RadioReference Wiki

Whether or not your Pro-95 is good for anything is up to you. It will still track and receive the analog talkgroups on SAFE-T (such as the Mutual Aid talkgroups). And it will still receive air, rail, GMRS, amateur radio, and any other service that still using analog.

 

[mae5150]

Thanks for the info W9RXR!

 

[mae5150]

W9RXR,

I see you live in Brownsburg, so do I. Do you know if Brownsburg PD also uses an APCO P25 system?

mae5150

 

[AK9R]

Brownsburg PD, like all county and town law enforcement in Hendricks County, is on Project SAFE-T. SAFE-T is a Motorola Type II trunked system that uses APCO P25 for the digital talkgroups. You will need a digital scanner to listen to the digital talkgroups.

With your scanner, you would be able to listen to the analog talkgroups on SAFE-T. All of the fire departments in Hendricks County are on SAFE-T, but with analog talkgroups. Also, the initial fire and EMS dispatches in Hendricks County are transmitted on 154.130 MHz in analog.

 

[mae5150]

Thanks Again!

 

[INDY72]

You can still listen to IPL, Eli Lilly, Citizen's Gas & Coke,... CSX, all but milair, INDOT except the TMC, Hamilton County, And Rural/Metro Ambulance services. If you want to hear any of the local LEA's except HamCo... youll need a digital capable scanner. Just a list of what you can hear on the 95...

Enjoy.

 

[mae5150]

Thanks! I have my new scanner now and have downloaded the Safe-T to hear Brownsburg. Do you know which Talk group ID's are Brownsburg? They all say "County Law Enforcement" it is kinda hard to distinguish between Plainfield, Danville, and Brownsburg!

 

[AK9R]

All of the law enforcement departments in Hendricks County are dispatched on a common talk group, 32-HCP-DISP (7312). Registration and license checks are done on 32-HCP-HQ (7296). Many of the patrol officers in the county have MDTs (laptops) in their cars, so a lot of traffic is handled via text messages and database look-ups on the MDTs.

You can sort out which unit you are listening to by paying attention to the prefix of their radio ID. 13 is Brownsburg, 14 is Avon, 12 is Plainfield, 9 is Danville, 32 is the Sheriff's Department.

Which scanner did you get?

 

[mae5150]

Thanks again W9RXR! I was hoping I could alpha tag Brownsburg PD but I guess that won't be possible. Knowing those prefix's will certainly help though. I got a RS Pro-106 and I'm playing around with ARC500 and WIN500 software demos right now. I think I am leaning toward the ARC. Any thoughts? What radio(s) do you use? By the way I am selling my Pro-95 and an old Pro-51 on ebay to help offset the cost of the Pro-106. I'm surprised at what these older scanners are bringing on ebay!

 

[AK9R]

I have several scanners, all Uniden, including a BCD396T and a BCD996T.

I have used the various ARC programs extensively in the past. I have found the programs to be a bit quirky, though they are full-featured and Gommert's technical support is usually very good. There are several ARC-related Yahoo Groups where Gommert supports his programs, though I don't know if there is one for ARC500. Lately, I've been experimenting with ProScan, but the author is not talking about supporting the GRE scanners at this time.

When I tested a GRE PSR-600 last summer, I tried all of the available PSR-500/600 programs. I ended up using ARC500. However, I only kept that scanner for about a month before trading it.

One other item Brownsburg PD...They are still using their old VHF frequency, 155.535 MHz, as a simplex talk-around channel. You may want to program that as a conventional object in your scanner.

One other thing about scanning Project SAFE-T in the Brownsburg area. My experience is that there are places around town where reception is difficult. The area around 56th and Northfield and near the high school, where I used to live, seem particularly bad. My new house is closer to the SAFE-T tower just north of Danville and I get much better reception than I did at my old house.

As for ebay, the price you see things sell for there has more to do with what someone is willing to pay and less to do with what the item is really worth. As a buyer, I get very frustrated when I see prices going through the roof. But, as a seller, I'm tickled pink.

 

[ExpendableCrew]

So that makes 3 of us in Brownsburg.

Hey W9RXR - Ever since I upgraded the firmware on my 396T to 3.0 and beyond (starting late last year), I've noticed that my MECA reception on the NW side of Indy has gone to crap. I work downtown and I notice the loss of reception around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (if going home via 16th street) or around Lafayette and 56th St. (if going home via I65 to 56th St.). I'm not sure if it's related to the firmware update which I've now upgraded to the most recent one or if it's just some coincidence and actually just a tower location issue. MECA reception up near 86th St. and Lafayette seems to be ok.

Have you noticed anything similar?

ExpendableCrew

 

[AK9R]

I don't monitor MECA. I haven't gotten around to installing my BCD996T in my vehicle so that I can monitor on my way to and from work. I know I can't receive MECA at my new house which is on the west side of Brownsburg. Sorry.