Is it me? ... or is it them? PRO-164 MO Question #576,453

[nebadnez]

Hello. I am using a Pro-164 and am attempting to monitor a trunked Motorola Type-II Smartnet system. I think I have everything programmed properly (I use WIN97). Still, I am not hearing any talk... therefore I would like to know if it is my programming or do they just have nothing to say?

I programmed the four frequencies into my empty bank 7.
CH700 860.93750 (the control freq)
CH701 859.93750
CH702 858.93750
CH703 856.93750

ID Bank 7-0 ON
TGID# 01
MOT: 00112

ID Bank 7-0 ON
TGID# 00
MOT: 00016


ID Bank 7-0 ON
TGID# 02
MOT: 00144

ID Bank 7-0 ON
TGID# 03
MOT: 00272

I began to scan only bank 7 and nothing. When I switched to MAN I noticed that CH700 would sound like an idling diesel semi no matter what the squelch level. At the bottom of the display it said something like MO: CONTROL AP-5 99%. (I apologize... cant remember the exact phrase) CH701,702,and 703 did not display any such message and were silent until I cranked up the Squelch and then I just heard static.

What's goin on here?

 

[Astrak]

Okay well first off what system are you trying to monitor? State/County/City/System. When you press MAN and hear the "dieseling" sound you are hearing the control channel of the system that's why the scanner says MO:..... you don't need to program the rest of the frequencies with your scanner, it can figure those out itself. Just program the frequencies labeled control channel or control channel alternate if any. Anyway, if you leave the bank in "open" does it pick anything up? I think it's FUNC+0.

 

[raisindot]

Hello. I am using a Pro-164 and am attempting to monitor a trunked Motorola Type-II Smartnet system. I think I have everything programmed properly (I use WIN97). Still, I am not hearing any talk... therefore I would like to know if it is my programming or do they just have nothing to say?

One thing you might want to try is setting the squelch at the halfway mark or more--a tip I read in my Pro 162 manual. I've found that the lower the squelch (i.e., the more static it allows in), the harder time is has locking on to trunking channels. At the halfway mark, it seems to pick up a lot more.

Not sure what kind of antenna you're using, but you might improve results using the Radio Shack 800Mhz antenna or the RS extended frequency antenna (found on clearance at RSs these days) or the Diamond antenna people use around here.

Suzie

 

[DELCOLHFC]

Have you set bank 7 to "MO" ? The mode for both the Control Channel and the bank must be set to "MO".

 

[nebadnez]

I would say it is a county system... Wisconsin Dept of Corrections - Chippewa Valley Correctional Treatment Facility. The bank is open, but it doesn't seem to be picking anything up. The bank and the channel are both set to MO.

 

[KC5EIB]

If the system is not digital, try monitoring the voice frequencies in the FM mode, can you hear conversations? Also make sure the Control channel is not locked out. Unit will not trunk track is it is.

 

[texasemt13]

I'm just throwing this out there- haven't used my Pro-97 in a long time...

I recall that for trunking systems (especially in older RS models), you had to leave the first "channel" (in your case- "700") completely blank, and begin in "channel" X01, programming the frequencies. Is this not the case?

 

[detroit780]

Pro97 Trunking

Not for Motorola, you need to leave channel 1 blank for EDACS and LTR.

Les

I'm just throwing this out there- haven't used my Pro-97 in a long time...

I recall that for trunking systems (especially in older RS models), you had to leave the first "channel" (in your case- "700") completely blank, and begin in "channel" X01, programming the frequencies. Is this not the case?

 

[texasemt13]

Not for Motorola, you need to leave channel 1 blank for EDACS and LTR.

Les

Ah, thanks for the clarification.

 

[nebadnez]

PRO-164 Trunking Conundrum. More Info

I believe I need all four frequencies because they are either control or alternate control freqs. Today I got very near to the location I am trying to listen to, and on my (CH702) 858.93750 (a alternate control freq) I heard the constant buzzing/idling diesel sound. The display read:

MOT: Sys - AC05 99%

The display never changed when I was on this channel. What does this mean? None of the other three freqs for the system gave any info like this or produced the buzzing noise. The other three freqs just produced static when the squelch was turned high.

 

[N8IAA]

I believe I need all four frequencies because they are either control or alternate control freqs. Today I got very near to the location I am trying to listen to, and on my (CH702) 858.93750 (a alternate control freq) I heard the constant buzzing/idling diesel sound. The display read:

MOT: Sys - AC05 99%

The display never changed when I was on this channel. What does this mean? None of the other three freqs for the system gave any info like this or produced the buzzing noise. The other three freqs just produced static when the squelch was turned high.

Maybe you don't have all the frequencies programmed in MOtorola mode?? Then push the scan button. You won't hear anything but the data noise (the constant buzzing/diesel sounds) on the control channels. Nothing but static on the non-control channels. This is the way trunked systems work. Check and make sure all frequencies are in MO mode
Larry

 

[nebadnez]

PRO-164 trunking

Larry,

I definately have the four freqencies for the system programmed in MO mode. Again, what is that 99% business? Does that need to get to 100% to decode the system?

 

[GregFromOregon]

hit PGM then hit TRUNK then hit MODE to make sure you are in trunk mode. just because you have the channels set to MO doesn't mean it will track a trunk sys.

 

[DELCOLHFC]

I believe I need all four frequencies because they are either control or alternate control freqs. Today I got very near to the location I am trying to listen to, and on my (CH702) 858.93750 (a alternate control freq) I heard the constant buzzing/idling diesel sound. The display read:

MOT: Sys - AC05 99%

The display never changed when I was on this channel. What does this mean? None of the other three freqs for the system gave any info like this or produced the buzzing noise. The other three freqs just produced static when the squelch was turned high.

The info displayed tells you that the system is a "MO"=Motorola, "AC05"=The system I.D. (unique to that system), 99%= The decode rate by percentage. 99% is pretty darn good, better than any system I monitor! The steady diesel noise is the control channel data stream that tells all the system components what to do and when. If you hear that noise on different channels at different times they rotate the control channel, I have a local system that does that everyday, if thats the case leave all the primary and alt control channels programmed. With this info showing you should have no problem monitoring the system once you get the programming correct.

1. At this point you have to ensure that all the control channels are programed and set as "MO" and are not locked out ("LO"=locked out, "lo"=unlocked) Double check each one!

2. Press PGM then press T (TRUNK) then press MODE (keep tapping the MODE button until it displays "MOT" for Motorola) This sets the BANK to trunk track Moto systems. (It seems like this may be what you are missing.) In WIN97 be sure to use the BANK TYPE dropdown to set it to "MOT".

3. From your first post it looks like you have the four listed TG's loaded correctly, but till you get this straightened out I would leave the bank in OPEN mode to just maybe catch some other non-listed TG's on the system. Maybe the TG assignments have changed since that information was submitted to the database.

4. If you still have no luck I would ask about this particular system (use it's name in the thread title) in the Wisconsin forum, maybe some locals can shed some light on something we are all missing here.

Good luck and let us know it works out for you!

 

[KC5EIB]

Larry,

I definately have the four freqencies for the system programmed in MO mode. Again, what is that 99% business? Does that need to get to 100% to decode the system?

No, the data channel does not need to run at 100% to work and I have not seen 100% on my own scanner.