How to program your scanner for SAFE-T P25

[bigk641963]

Okay I have been trying to program my new Whistler WS1088 since Christmas. I had a quick setup all in Scan list one. (all but Indiana state police). And a few things I did not want. Decided this weekend to try to personalize the setup. It has not gone well. I do seem to have the local agencies again but it is now only if I scan all the preset scan list (150-180). Not sure but thinking I am double scanning in Scan list 1-3. So at this point I am totally confused.
I just want it to scan all the fire/ems, police(including State police), emergency agencies(excluding Ham radio) and weather alerts for the Tippecanoe Co. area. I am wanting to use it as a companion with my ham radios when I assists in the skywarn nets during sever weather. Just for info I have been using the whistler ez-scan software on the computer. Thanks for any help that can be provided.

 

[INDY72]

Tippecanoe uses the Tippecanoe County P25 system.Tippecanoe County Public Safety(P25) Trunking System, Lafayette, Indiana - Scanner Frequencies State and surrounding areas use the SAFE-T P25. Indiana Project Hoosier SAFE-T (P25) Trunking System, Statewide, Multi-State - Scanner Frequencies


Set each as an separate system in your scanlist.

With the SAFE-T, use only the sites closest to you.
The Tippecanoe TRS is an simulcast, so be aware you may experience LSM Multipath Distortion depending on the scanners location/antenna location in relation to the 3 tower sites.

 

[bigk641963]

Ok, best I can tell I have these trunk system programed.
Indiana Project Motorola
Indiana Project Project 25
Evanik Industrial Motorola (think not needed?)
Tippecanoe Project 25
Tippecanoe Motorola
RA-Com Lafayette Motorola
Emergency Radio DMR
Which I think cover those.
I check those links which said I need software, but non seemed to be for my Whistler WS1088 so not sure what to do? Thanks Is this really this complicated or am I missing something?

 

[INDY72]

Ok, best I can tell I have these trunk system programed.
Indiana Project Motorola NO LONGER NEEDED
Indiana Project Project 25
Evanik Industrial Motorola (think not needed?)NOT NEEDED
Tippecanoe Project 25
Tippecanoe Motorola NO LONGER NEEDED
RA-Com Lafayette Motorola NOT NEEDED
Emergency Radio DMR
Which I think cover those.
I check those links which said I need software, but non seemed to be for my Whistler WS1088 so not sure what to do? Thanks Is this really this complicated or am I missing something?

See the bold type in your quote for stuff you do NOT need as they are not primary systems, with the SAFE-T Motorola no longer even online in that area. It is only online in the Northeastern quarter of the State. All of the rest has been upgraded to the P25. 99% of Tippecanoe County Agencies are now on the P25 version of the County TRS, very little use of the Motorola at all and it should be offlined soon. The ERS DMR system is an SMR used by a few public Safety users, but mainly by businesses. RA-Com is used by businesses, Evonik is ONLY for that business.

 

[bigk641963]

Ok, that is pretty much what I thought. But having the extra wouldn't keep me from hearing the state police would it? I am going to try reprograming with out the extra stuff,

 

[INDY72]

Having the extra slows scanning down. And as stated, the Motorola version of the SAFE-T is offlined in that area, and only takes up space in your scanlist, slowing speed as it looks for Control Chans that no longer are there. Also you ONLY need the SAFE-T P25 sites closest to your area.

 

[INDY72]

http://www.in.gov/ipsc/images/P25_Phases_Status_March2017_with_proposed.pdf This is the latest map of the SAFE-T system.... You can use it to pick the sites you need.

You are in Phase 4, which was converted about 2 weeks ago. the last Phase, 5, should be going for conversion at the end of this month assuming no delays... Crossing fingers now! The proposed sites are new sites being built/conversions of other systems to SAFE-T. They will be online by the end of the summer if things go right, by end of year if delayed. 3 of which look to be simulcasts. Steuben, Porter, and LaPorte, once all the new sites are done.

 

[bigk641963]

OK, here what I am doing and what is happening:
open software
Library Import
Preferred
Indiana
trunk Systems
Indiana Project safe T(p25)
edit down to only wanted sites
import to scan list
tab scanner/SD card
Copy configuration to scanner/SD card
put card in scanner
Scanner
check scan list 1
Menu
scan

It comes up nothing to scan

what am I missing?

 

[INDY72]

Have you checked the items to be scannable? The playlist, each item in it etc? I did similar thing the first couple of times I set my BCD436HP up . I forgot to set the Favorites List, and the Systems, and Departments/Sites Quick Keys to ON. I imagine there is an similar functioning OS with the Whistlers...

Also make sure you have BOTH the Tippecanoe P25, AND the SAFE-T P25 in your scan listings! SAFE-T is State Agencies, and the Counties surrounding Tippecanoe. Almost all of the Tippecanoe Agencies are on the new Tippecanoe P25.

 

[INDY72]

Easier to Read Whistler WS1080/1088 Handheld Scanner and Software Manual
That may actually help you too!

 

[bigk641963]

Thanks for all your help. I am thinking I am just missing some little thing. Once I find it, it will be all good. I just can't see why I can load one v-scanner file and it works as expected but I try to load the one I want ant it won't. I guess I will keep reading and trying.

 

[bigk641963]

After some reading I got an idea and took the scanner outside. Apparently I need a better antenna. I have an after market. But it still isn't enough( a basic wire with suction cups). Any suggestion that won't break the bank.

 

[INDY72]

GRE/RS/Remtronics 800 MHz duckie.. Kicks A** no matter what scanner you have it on!

 

[bigk641963]

Looks a lot like the 800 MHz radio shack one I ordered last night.

 

[DJ11DLN]

The RS 800 duck and the Remtronix are identical, same antenna. They work very well on 800 and pretty good on UHF and VHF-Hi. But you may be in a situation where you have too much signal, so if it still doesn't perform, try straightening out a paperclip and inserting that into the center terminal on the radio. I live on a hill and my experiments with outdoor antennas have all resulted in almost total loss of the Safe-T system, while enhancing everything else, because I get too much signal and overload the scanner. Some days even the RS duck is too much so I have that handy paperclip that will almost always bring a silent (on Safe-T) scanner back to life. This is caused by signal propagation, which they told us wouldn't be an issue because of the "very high" frequencies used in the Safe-T system...but they (the people trying to sell the system...3 guesses who "they" are, LOL) were wrong.

Beyond that, you have to assign all objects you wish to scan to a scan list. They should default to Scanlist 1, but sometimes this doesn't happen, but it's easy to fix. Simply click on the Scanlists tab and you will see in the far right column the scan lists assigned (or not). Click on each object twice and the scan lists box will come up; just click the list you want the object in. If you want multiple objects in the same list, hold down the CTRL key and click each one, they will all highlight and then you can put them all in the same list easily. Objects can be in multiple scan lists, and you can rename the lists to whatever you want on the General Settings tab. Then once you load the profile to the SD card, make sure the scan lists you want are enabled. You can do this in the General Settings tab or it's easy to do in the scanner menu.

A word about the SD card. They corrupt easily and many people who use these scanners with cards, Whistler/Grecom/RS or Uniden, will carry a spare card loaded up and ready. This is in case the radio suddenly gets powered off improperly, which can cause corruption on the card and the scanner to not work at all or to work poorly. You'll see a utility under the Scanner/SD Card dropdown in EZScan to prepare the SD card; at the very least, use it before loading your profile. I tend to use SD Formatter, which is a free utility that will do a deep-level format, whenever I made changes to my SD scanner cards, prior to loading.

 

[bigk641963]

Thanks, I don't think over loading is my problem. But good info and I will keep it in mind. Used it out doors today worked good. Apparently my house is working as a jammer. LOL. Least I have an idea of the problem now. Just got to get the best solution. Thanks again.

 

[DJ11DLN]

If you're noticing a big difference in performance between indoors and outdoors, then you likely either have aluminum siding or foil backed insulation. Either will turn your home into a giant Faraday cage and an external antenna will be a must rather than a wishlist item. Try setting your scanner next to a window, where it can "see" towards one of the sites you have programmed...if you notice a big jump in performance on that site, then you've got problems and will have to put an antenna outside if you want it to work properly in your home.