Help/suggestions for listening to LTR MultiNet on a PSR-500

Status
Not open for further replies.

compgeed

Member
Joined
May 22, 2008
Messages
4
Hi all! New guy here.

I have a PSR-500 and I am trying to find the best way to listen to my local PD (Waterbury, CT). The radio system they are using right now is LTR MultiNet ( http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=1001 ). From all that I have read and been told there is no way to track MultiNet. I've entered the frequencies manually but rarely hear anything - sometimes just part of a transmission - but mostly nothing. I have a RR subscription and I am using PSREdit500 for software. I've tried downloading the settings but that does not seem to work at all.

Not sure if it will help at all but I did find out that the portables they use are EF Johnson 8567 units ( http://www.efjohnson.com/PDF/manuals/18560381.pdf ).

Can anyone offer me help in programming the 500 the best way possible for this situation? I'm looking for the "Idiot's Guide" version since I am new to the modern scanner times. The last time I had a scanner I had to pop a crystal in to program it... lol.
 

mikey60

Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2003
Messages
3,543
Location
Oakland County Michigan
Hi all! New guy here.

I have a PSR-500 and I am trying to find the best way to listen to my local PD (Waterbury, CT). The radio system they are using right now is LTR MultiNet ( http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=1001 ). From all that I have read and been told there is no way to track MultiNet. I've entered the frequencies manually but rarely hear anything - sometimes just part of a transmission - but mostly nothing. I have a RR subscription and I am using PSREdit500 for software. I've tried downloading the settings but that does not seem to work at all.

Not sure if it will help at all but I did find out that the portables they use are EF Johnson 8567 units ( http://www.efjohnson.com/PDF/manuals/18560381.pdf ).

Can anyone offer me help in programming the 500 the best way possible for this situation? I'm looking for the "Idiot's Guide" version since I am new to the modern scanner times. The last time I had a scanner I had to pop a crystal in to program it... lol.

About your only option is to program the frequencies in conventional mode. With a little luck, law enforcement will be common on one or two frequencies without too much other stuff intermixed.

Mike
 

compgeed

Member
Joined
May 22, 2008
Messages
4
About your only option is to program the frequencies in conventional mode. With a little luck, law enforcement will be common on one or two frequencies without too much other stuff intermixed.

Mike

So then does that mean that other agencies use the same group of frequencies as the PD? Is this what MultiNet is? Sorry if that's a dumb question but I am still trying to get a handle on all this technology. Thanks!

Scott
 

mikey60

Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2003
Messages
3,543
Location
Oakland County Michigan
So then does that mean that other agencies use the same group of frequencies as the PD? Is this what MultiNet is? Sorry if that's a dumb question but I am still trying to get a handle on all this technology. Thanks!

Scott

LTR Multinet is just another form of a trunked radio system (aka TRS). With trunked radio, there's never a guarantee that the next transmission you hear on a specific frequency will be the same agency as the last one. Frequencies in a TRS are used as needed, whenever a user of the system needs one.

One way to look at trunked radio is like waiting in line at a bank. When you enter the bank during a slow time, you pretty much choose the first teller you see. That's basically what trunked radio does, when the user presses the PTT button on the radio, the radio gets the first available frequency in the group to use.

The system then transmits a code on the channel (on LTR anyway) that tells all other radios that a specific group of radios (aka a talkgroup) is on this frequency.

Unfortunately, LTR Multinet systems cannot be tracked with any scanners currently on the market. The only option you have is to scan the frequencies conventionally. You may hear police one moment, and the local DPW crew the next, and unfortunately, you won't have any control of that, other than to hit the scan button to try to catch another transmission.

Mike
 

compgeed

Member
Joined
May 22, 2008
Messages
4
That clears it up for me. It's kind of what I was thinking after doing some reading up on LTR. Thanks a bunch!

I hear they might be going digital soon so maybe it will turn for the better as far as listening goes.

Scott
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top