I hate being new at something...

[exalti]

I just got into scanning after some time with shortwave listening and bought the Pro95. I am perusing the RR database for frequencies in my area (Collin Co. Texas) and have a few questions.

1. I understand I can only have a single control channel in any one bank. However, what about the listings that have multiple primary control frequencies and multiple alternates? Do I pick one primary or if I want to cover everything do I need to have a separate one on separate banks? That seems silly. An example would be the Plano Public Safety list. It has four freqs in red indicating primary. WTF?

2. Should I expect a significant increase in signal strength by using an external antenna? If so, what is a recommended brand/model considering I heard the RS models are garbage? Or should I just get a better handheld antenna or even just use the one it came with?

3. Is there a repository of .P95 files for W95? I am trying to create my own but it would be nice to have others to work from or compare to.


Thanks for all the great info here. Of course my wife does *not* thank you. Go figure.....


-Al

 

[Pro-95]

Welcome Al!

Unfortunately we are all new at one time. Last time I checked no one was born with the knowledge.

Ok you can listen to the Motorola II Smartnet stuff. I'd program an entity per bank.

Collin County Public Saftey:001 Primary 866.225 866.725* 867.225* 867.725* 868.125*

Then put Plano and Mckinney in the same bank *IF* the talkgroups are different otherwise put each in thier own bank so that TG 0624 stays PD. My cursory review of the systems indicates that so far you can combine Plano and McKinney. Your scanner will only pick up what you are nearby and if you program in all the frequencies you won't loose communication if they change the control channel.

The system will only broadcast the control on one channel and if you drive from Plano to McKinney your scanner will just pick up whatever control channel is available from teh frequencies you have programmed, thus you want to program them all.

An external antenna is generally better than one down low and usually inside.

For the three systems above, I'd buy the 800Mhz rubber ducky from Radio Shack and you'll be happy. I'd go external if you *need* to.

Your scanner will not pick up any of the LTR systems so don't bother with them plus it appears as though most of the good stuff is on Moto-II.

Happy scanning.

 

[crayon]

Welcome to the group as well!

To add futher .. if you decide your going to monitor an EDACS system, each system will need to be in a seperate bank. LCN 1 equals to channel one in the radio. Do not start keying systems on channel zero.

 

[Voyager]

I just got into scanning after some time with shortwave listening and bought the Pro95. I am perusing the RR database for frequencies in my area (Collin Co. Texas) and have a few questions.

1. I understand I can only have a single control channel in any one bank. However, what about the listings that have multiple primary control frequencies and multiple alternates? Do I pick one primary or if I want to cover everything do I need to have a separate one on separate banks? That seems silly. An example would be the Plano Public Safety list. It has four freqs in red indicating primary. WTF?

2. Should I expect a significant increase in signal strength by using an external antenna? If so, what is a recommended brand/model considering I heard the RS models are garbage? Or should I just get a better handheld antenna or even just use the one it came with?

3. Is there a repository of .P95 files for W95? I am trying to create my own but it would be nice to have others to work from or compare to.

1. NO. You can program one SYSTEM per bank (with some exceptions when you can program more than one system per bank), not one control channel. Each Motorola system can have up to 4 control channels, and you will need to program all the control channels for it to work properly.

2. Yes, as long as the antenna is appropriate for the band you want to hear. If it's an all-band antenna, it should perform better, but on 800 MHz, poor quality feedline can eat any gain your external antenna will yeild.

3. Check the PRO-95 list on YahooGroups.

Joe M.