iSCAN Post-Release Discussion Thread

[DaveIN]

I got mine today but I may be returning it. It seems to work fine on conventional vhf freqs. but when I enter my local PD's Motorola 880 mhz trunking system, the audio is badly distorted, raspy, scratchy and almost motor-boating and sounds far off frequency. Most channels are not copyable at all. I tried manually searching for a "conventional" 800 mhz signal such as an SMR and they seem to sound just fine. I have another scanner nearby that I put a low-performance antenna on as a comparison and all channels were loud and clear on it - but mostly not there on the 107. I put an 800 mhz antenna on the 107 and it slightly helped but not enough to make a difference.

Welcome to Radioreference Bill. Any chance that the database has the incorrect mode selected for the trunked system? What system was it, I'd be interested to see what the difference was between setting the frequency as trunked or conventional, when you say it sounded fine searching on an SMR frequency, but scratchy on the trunked mode.

Someone else posted that they heard scratchy audio also.

 

[DaveIN]

In all seriousness, being that the scanner has no belt clip I put it in my shirt pocket and when I took it out after arriving at my destination it was in hold mode and I found later that three objects had been placed in skip. Anyone know if the scanner has a way to lock the key pad?

Sounds like the radio is going to need a case too. I'm kinda surprised that the Skip button was pushed when it looks to be on the middle set of buttons. No other button were inadvertently pushed in the pocket incident? I suppose the key lock function would be bad for a new user. They could set it on accident and then not understand how to unlock it and have to return it to RadioShack to get it unlocked.

 

[DaveIN]

Greetings,
I want to give more detail of what I mean by improving database from my last post.

Import Vermont State Police in a playlist and you will see alpha tags of 1,1,1,1,1,1,1, and so on. It also happens for frequencies in Westchester NY. Most of the different towns and city PD are tagged as POLICE. So when you are listening there is no way to tell which POLICE you are listening to (except for frequency). At that point why have alpha tags at all.
I know you can edit them via software, but that defeats the purpose of this scanner.
For trunk systems this is not a problem because the System Name and Talkgroup and Site are displayed. My suggestion if possible, is to replace CONV on the display with the city / town / agency name for Conventional channels. This would make it more useful when in unfamiliar areas.

Bill

Hi Bill welcome to Radioreference. It sounds like the database entry is not formatted correctly. If your seeing something like 1,1,1,1,1,1. You may want to look the entry up in the live database RadioReference.com - Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference Database and see what the entry looks like. If it's a problem, you can send a message to the database admin to fix it.

 

[Billknn]

Thanks for the responses

I figure the problem is either with the radio or the database. I suspect the database but can't be sure. Actually to scan that 800 mhz trunk system (El Paso PD & Fire), I have to manually lockout a channel (freq) on my Uniden and it settles down and scans just fine. If I don't do that it scans all day and hears nothing - so maybe I have a similar issue with the 107.

 

[DaveIN]

I figure the problem is either with the radio or the database. I suspect the database but can't be sure. Actually to scan that 800 mhz trunk system (El Paso PD & Fire), I have to manually lockout a channel (freq) on my Uniden and it settles down and scans just fine. If I don't do that it scans all day and hears nothing - so maybe I have a similar issue with the 107.

Do you see a "T" on the display during the trunked scanning? That should tell you if it has a signal and is decoding the trunked system control channel data. (at least this is the way it works on the PRO-106).

 

[DonS]

Do you see a "T" on the display during the trunked scanning? That should tell you if it has a signal and is decoding the trunked system control channel data. (at least this is the way it works on the PRO-106).

On the PRO-107, you won't see the 'T' while "scanning" (top line of LCD used for other things). You should see the 'T', though, while parked on a talkgroup "manually":
1. Main Menu
2. Browse Objects
3. Navigate to a talkgroup in the target system
4. Press Play/Pause/SEL
(Left or right arrow key to exit "manual" mode and return to browsing)

 

[scannerboy02]

Sounds like the radio is going to need a case too. I'm kinda surprised that the Skip button was pushed when it looks to be on the middle set of buttons. No other button were inadvertently pushed in the pocket incident? I suppose the key lock function would be bad for a new user. They could set it on accident and then not understand how to unlock it and have to return it to RadioShack to get it unlocked.

The MENU button was also pushed, when I took it out of my pocket it was in MENU (what I thought was hold) mode. The SKIP, MENU and weather buttons are raised on the edges.


Other than no key lock this is a great radio.

I have been playing with the Radio ID's and love the feature, already have several RID's tagged and can now see who's talking if I miss the units call sign.

Also love that you can hold on a talk group and it will follow the traffic between all sites in the system, something the Uniden radios will not do.

 

[RadioDaze]

The iScan is 3/8 inch taller than the 330 and thinner by about 1/8 inch. Uniden 330 weighs 9 oz loaded with batteries and the iScan is 9.2 oz loaded. As far as "feel" they are about the same... etc.

Thanks for the review, Trekker. If the Uniden didn't have that big belt clip swivel button on the back (a fairly pro feature that I actually like) then it would probably be more shirt-pocket-able and really similar to the 107. For my own purposes, and with the limited travel I do, I probably wouldn't benefit much from the 107 since I already have the 330.

 

[IEscanner]

I can say I am enjoying my 107 great reception very clear and easy to use. I have seven playlists loaded and enjoying every minute.

 

[Billknn]

The saga continues

I have pretty much determined that the problem must be with the database - although not entirely. Yes, I get a "T" when scanning on the trunking system. It stops and displays the Talk Group and radio id. Comparing it to my Uniden I got a clue. When a site/unit was xmiting on 860.250 the 107 would stop on 860.2675 - therefore the really bad audio/ off freq sound. sometimetimes it would rapidly switch back and forth between .250 and .2675 rapidly - giving it the motorboating effect. Most freqs had the same offset issue. Database issue?

I also notice that in the database on the website that this system is listed as a "splinter system" because it's on the border.I don't believe that it is a splinter system by looking at the freqs. but perhaps the scanner expects it to be - therefore the splinter read outs. Don't know how to fix this, though.

 

[Billknn]

Success!

That was the problem - "SPLINTER". It now works great.

 

[DaveIN]

Was splinter a setting in the menu?

 

[DaveIN]

I can say I am enjoying my 107 great reception very clear and easy to use. I have seven playlists loaded and enjoying every minute.

Have you tried any trunked systems? How do they compare?

 

[polaris12345678]

Alpha tags

I checked online the tags are often not clear, like 1,1,1,1, or just Police or Fire...even in the online reference. If you are putting all towns in a county in one playlist, there is no way to tell one Police from another Police via alpha tags (in most cases). Some alpha tags are more descriptive and are OK. It would be nice to blink the town name and the "alpha tag" or replace something on the display with the the town/city name. Otherwise it would require a lot of editing.
I think this needs to be looked at more closely and corrected in some way.

Bill

 

[jamesa53]

Having used the 107 for about 6 days now, I have noticed that it seems to be markedly slower in the scan rate. The 106 seems to be much faster than it is for the scan rate. Anybody else observe this?

 

[Billknn]

Re: Splinter

Splinter is a choice in the software for modifying the radio freqs of the trunked system. I don't have it in front of me now but could give more specific details this evening. Of course, one has to remove the sd card and do all mods, store them on the card, then replace the card in the radio.

 

[DonS]

Splinter is a choice in the software for modifying the radio freqs of the trunked system. I don't have it in front of me now but could give more specific details this evening. Of course, one has to remove the sd card and do all mods, store them on the card, then replace the card in the radio.

If the system is flagged as "splinter" in the database (via the web service interface, not just by any "notes" that might appear on the DB pages in a web browser), the scanner should automatically set it correctly when you perform the import operation from the scanner's keypad.

What system is it that had the problem? (A URL to the DB's web page would be good).

 

[Billknn]

for DonS

This is the DB in question:

El Paso (3802) Trunking System, El Paso, Texas - Scanner Frequencies

Apco 25 is NOT in use on this system - strictly analog - due to poor performance in digital.

I had to select "splinter" in the Trunk System "site options" tab to make this work AND lock out the channels ending in .05 (3 - I believe)

I'm no expert on these Motorola trunking systems, but the assigned freqs don't look like splinter freqs to me, but once I selected "splinter" it started to work and the display showed all the proper frequencies assigned to that system and none of the other - what I would call "splinter" freqs.

Weird but it is all working just fine now.

 

[DonS]

This is the DB in question:

El Paso (3802) Trunking System, El Paso, Texas - Scanner Frequencies

Apco 25 is NOT in use on this system - strictly analog - due to poor performance in digital.

I had to select "splinter" in the Trunk System "site options" tab to make this work AND lock out the channels ending in .05 (3 - I believe)

I'm no expert on these Motorola trunking systems, but the assigned freqs don't look like splinter freqs to me, but once I selected "splinter" it started to work and the display showed all the proper frequencies assigned to that system and none of the other - what I would call "splinter" freqs.

Weird but it is all working just fine now.

Those are definitely splinter frequencies in that system (on a Mot 800MHz system in the U.S., anything below 866.000MHz that isn't an odd multiple of 500Hz indicates either a splinter system or a rebanded system; all of the frequencies in that system are even multiples of 500).

The web service, though, is not indicating that the site is "splinter" (there's a flag in the returned data that is supposed to indicate "splinter", but that flag is not set for that system's site).

 

[Billknn]

Thanks DonS, I appreciate your input. Things have come a long ways from the days of Motrans, Motracs and Prog lines.