I'm lost & do not know how to program my own P25 misc. Frequencies?

[CorwinScansNM]

Hi everybody,

I hope that there are some good brains & engineers here that can help me out with programming some miscellaneous P25 Trunked scanner frequencies that I discovered on my own during custom scans in 2 different frequency ranges. I have been doing my own little homework during custom scans off & on on my new purchase of Uniden BCD536HP & writing down the frequencies that my scanner lands on that have the annoying known boat motor noise that most will tell & explain as P25 Trunked frequencies.

Now that I have these list of unknown misc. P25 frequencies that I wrote down & discovered in 2 different scanner frequency ranges, I do not know how to program the Band Plan, the Spacing (kHz) or the Offset for these which I am sure I need in order for the scanner to pick them up clearly & correctly. The real strange thing about this is that in the Sentinel Software Band Plan for the P25 Trunking System, I do not see an option for the (Offset)? I see only Base (Mhz) & Spacing (kHz) options & then the Band Plan numbers & letters.
I am planning on & am trying to do this setup of P25 scanner frequencies in the Sentinel Software for my Uniden BCD536HP with 2 different P25 Sites. Please see my attached images for further viewing.

I hope that someone here can help guide me on this confusing programming of P25 Frequencies that I wish to get programmed correctly & get running on my BCD536HP Scanner. I just can't seem to get a hold of or a good understanding quite on how to do the whole P25 Band Plan & all of its options with one of them not even showing up in the Sentinel Software being the (Offset).

 

[jonwienke]

Band Plan you can probably leave alone. Don't assume the channels are P25 unless the scanner has identified them as such. DMR and other digital formats sound similar to P25 when monitored as analog FM.

 

[sparklehorse]

The Database section here on Radioreference has a search feature. You select your state, type in a frequency & hit search. If your signals are P25 there's a good chance there will be information about them in the database. It should point you to the system(s) they are part of.

 

[ChrisABQ]

Just looking through the database, most of your frequencies are unknown or are not valid frequencies. What part of NM are you in?

 

[CorwinScansNM]

Just looking through the database, most of your frequencies are unknown or are not valid frequencies. What part of NM are you in?

Bernalillo County, NM with EDACS & EDACS ProVoice Communications used as I am aware.

I was just doing my own custom search scanning in my specified frequency ranges trying to pick up some other unlisted scanner frequencies, trunked frequency types & systems in my area like P25 that are not listed on the Internet yet or RadioReference.com. Thus, doing my own homework & making notes of frequencies that I think are P25 trunked etc. by sound or tone & then trying to figure out how to put them on my scanner correctly to see if I hear or pick up anything from my noted scanner frequencies that I heard strange trunking hums or tones on & that I chose to write down & make note of for this testing purpose.

 

[CorwinScansNM]

Band Plan you can probably leave alone. Don't assume the channels are P25 unless the scanner has identified them as such. DMR and other digital formats sound similar to P25 when monitored as analog FM.

Hmmm, interesting? That puts another confusion on my thinkings of tones associated with a certain trunking system. I have to say that tracking down trunking systems & frequencies manually & by hand is quite hard as I am finding out. However, that is how us scanner enthusiasts get to picking up & hearing unlisted trunked systems & frequencies around us that are nowhere to be seen or listed on the Internet because the information about them is not yet known, discovered or available yet on the web. It is just tricky & takes lots of time, patients, programming & then testing using advanced digital trunking scanners like the Uniden BCD536HP.

 

[sparklehorse]

If they're not in the RR database you could always buy one of the cheap RTL-SDR dongles, plug it into your PC and tune Unitrunker to one of the suspected Control Chanel freqs. If it's P25 Unitrunker will give you a bunch of information about the system, including the other freqs used. If it's an analog Motorola system I think you'll still learn a lot about it.

 

[ChrisABQ]

I think that most of the stuff in our area is pretty much in the DB. The LTR systems, the P25 at the base and so on. I know that I can catch the control channels for the Colorado DTRS system here in ABQ but have never been able to get voice. I cannot receive Santa Fe city's MOT or Los Alamos P25 either. We also have a TON of DMR here in town, lots of digital to play with. Also the City/County EDACS has a tower outage on Sandia, so waiting for the fix on that.

 

[CorwinScansNM]

The Database section here on Radioreference has a search feature. You select your state, type in a frequency & hit search. If your signals are P25 there's a good chance there will be information about them in the database. It should point you to the system(s) they are part of.

Oh, OK. Thanks! I will start using this quick feature of RadioReference.

 

[CorwinScansNM]

If they're not in the RR database you could always buy one of the cheap RTL-SDR dongles, plug it into your PC and tune Unitrunker to one of the suspected Control Chanel freqs. If it's P25 Unitrunker will give you a bunch of information about the system, including the other freqs used. If it's an analog Motorola system I think you'll still learn a lot about it.

Wow, interesting & good idea that is. I looked at them & I also looked at the back of my Uniden BCD536HP scanner. Turns out that is has a USB Port on it where I guess you plug in the included WI-FI DONGLE for wireless access & location receiving. Thus, I was wondering if it would work to plug a RTL-SDR dongle with a USB on it into the back of my BCD536HP Scanner instead of a computer? Would this work or be a solution worth trying out? Just asking & wondering on this idea.

 

[sparklehorse]

Wow, interesting & good idea that is. I looked at them & I also looked at the back of my Uniden BCD536HP scanner. Turns out that is has a USB Port on it where I guess you plug in the included WI-FI DONGLE for wireless access & location receiving. Thus, I was wondering if it would work to plug a RTL-SDR dongle with a USB on it into the back of my BCD536HP Scanner instead of a computer? Would this work or be a solution worth trying out? Just asking & wondering on this idea.

The Wi-Fi dongle on the 536 is what the radio uses to send audio and other data to the Siren app on your phone. I'm not sure what plugging an RTL-SDR into the USB port on a 536 would do, but I would not try it. The RTL-SDR is a mini- receiver. You pop it into the USB port on your computer, connect an antenna to it, and then tune it to whatever frequency you like (within its limits) using software like SDR#. With 2 of them, and the right combination of software programs, you can turn your laptop into pretty sophisticated scanner for monitoring P25 systems, NEXEDGE, DMR, etc. Not as easy or convenient as a consumer scanner, nor as many features, but pretty effective nonetheless. And cheap.

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[CorwinScansNM]

The Wi-Fi dongle on the 536 is what the radio uses to send audio and other data to the Siren app on your phone. I'm not sure what plugging an RTL-SDR into the USB port on a 536 would do, but I would not try it. The RTL-SDR is a mini- receiver. You pop it into the USB port on your computer, connect an antenna to it, and then tune it to whatever frequency you like (within its limits) using software like SDR#. With 2 of them, and the right combination of software programs, you can turn your laptop into pretty sophisticated scanner for monitoring P25 systems, NEXEDGE, DMR, etc. Not as easy or convenient as a consumer scanner, nor as many features, but pretty effective nonetheless. And cheap.

.

Thanks for the advice & suggesting me not to try out my idea with the RTL-SDR. I will pass on my idea of putting it into the back of my BCD536HP where the Wi-Fi Dongle plugs in. Thanks again.