Help with SF Type II Smartzone for BCT15x

[brennank]

Can one of the FreeScan pro's please take a look at my file? I am having a hard time programming this Motorola Type II SmartZone system for my BCT15x.

This is the system I am trying to program.
San Francisco County/City Trunking System, San Francisco, California - Scanner Frequencies

I have only really ever done conventional and LTR systems, so this is a whole new ball game. I am just assuming I don't have it programmed correctly because I never hear anything. When the radio is scanning it will jump to full signal bars a few times, but never stop on a talk group. I was assuming that was the signal strength of the control channel?

I uploaded my FreeScan file in a zip. That way I don't have to email it. They really should allow some more file extensions to be uploaded here...


Thanks for the help and I appreciate any guidance you can give me.

 

[ka3jjz]

You'll never, ever hear the SF system from where you are - too far (unless you're there now). Be that as it may...

I see a couple of things here -- one will definitely stop the scanner from hearing anything, and the others are efficiency notes

The database has this system marked as having undergone rebanding. Therefore you must change your site types to Type 2 custom reband. Then in the resulting table you will enter the values shown in the pic at the bottom of this page, from the FreeScan user guide

Freescan Create Site - The RadioReference Wiki

Now I would not assign the same site QK to both sites. Again, according to the db, the public works talkgroups are only heard on the PWRS site. It would be advantageous to assign a different site QK to that site. What this allows you to do is to turn off that site if you get bored with hearing that traffic. Site 1 will still work as normal. If you have questions about how that system works, go down to our California forum and ask questions there.

Another thing I would do is to drop every frequency except the ones shown in red / blue. You have the use Control Channel option turned on. What this does is it forces the scanner to use a calculation to figure out the next voice channel that a conversation will jump to. You don't need to have every frequency in the system - the scanner, combined with the data coming over the housekeeping channel (control channel) will figure that out for you.

Remember do a REPLACE not an ADD to fix the data in your system.

Mike

 

[brennank]

Thanks for the tips! I will give that a go and see what happens.
I figured I would post here as this wasn't necessarily specific to the SF systems, but if I run into further trouble I will move myself down there.

Yes, I am actually in San Francisco. I am living downtown for the next few months on a project.

Thanks again.

 

[brennank]

Worked perfectly. I guess I never fully understood re-banding. I was under the impression that only affected the older radios.

Either way, thanks for the assistance. After I finished programming it took about 10 seconds to start picking up some traffic.