It's here!

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trunkerman63

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Steve, UPS just left the radio! It has arrived!!

I haven't even unboxed it but am about to. I wanted to let you know as soon as it came.
I need to get a haircut around 3:00 but should be back by 4.
 
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trunkerman63

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10-4, Eddy! I need to get a haircut, then will get back on. I think Steve said the first thing I need to do is run the driver CD. I will do that after I get my ears lowered.
 
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trunkerman63

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I'm back and I believe Steve said to run the CD first, so I will commence that procedure. :)
 
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trunkerman63

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Well I got the USB drivers installed but when it started telling me to execute this and that, that's where I baled out. Definitely going to need some help the rest of the way on this.
 

texasemt13

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Open the installed driver software and click the .exe file to install the drivers. You might have to go through a security question asking whether you want to run or stop the program. "Run" it.

Open your software. I'm not familiar with PSRedit but you might have to change some preferences so it recognizes which COM port your cable is connected to. Or it might find it automatically like win500. Try reading the info from your scanner before you try loading to it. It'll say something about "Importing" or "Reading" from the scanner, not "to" the scanner. If it successfully imports you should see the factory installed file come up in your software window.

Let me know where you're getting stuck and I'll see how I can help, and others will surely jump in.
 
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trunkerman63

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I'm having some health issues tonight but by what I'm reading and I know I must look dumb, I am definitely going to have to have fasteddy or someone come and help me through this.
Thanks so much, though.
 

hiegtx

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I just got home a little while ago. Had a company event this evening (end of year dinner).

I'll post the latest file revision tomorrow evening, after I get home from work. No major changes, though. I added a couple more ham frequencies fasteddy mentioned, and those other Abilene FD channels. The file that's already in the other thread will certainly give you lots to listen to.
 
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trunkerman63

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Sounds good Steve. Well I thought what that guy said on that other forum about the VHF analog was true when I pushed Weather to see how it received weather stations. I put the stock antenna on it, and could get Abilene with some fade if I moved the radio. Cisco weather was booming in on the 433, but I couldn't get it on the 600. I thought Oh no, it's true! VHF analog is a bummer. Well, I finally decided to take the Diamond antenna off the 433 and try it on the 600. WOW! Though I was in another room from where I keep the 433, I got Abilene, full scale reading, Cisco AND Sweetwater weather, and I couldn't even hear Sweetwater on the 433! So the stock antenna is either defective, bad connection or something.
Would anyone agree that the 600 is going to be much more sensitive for VHF analog than the 433?

I don't know if I could hear the Sweetwater weather where the 433 sits in the living room window, but I bet I could. I really feel that the 600 is going to be a lot hotter for not just VHF reception, but all reception on all freqs. be it analog or digital. Mighty proud of it. Now to find someone locally to help with getting it programmed, next project.
 
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fasteddy64

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Keep plugging away! I am no expert by any means but will help if I can.
I am on duty today but should have some time tomorrow or Saturday.
 
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trunkerman63

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I appreciate it, Eddy. I haven't done anything to it all day because I don't know what to do, afraid I'll foul something up. Anxious to get it going, but just afraid I'll mess up not understanding something. I thought the USB drivers installed, but was not understanding John up there, on what else to do. I'm not really sure what point I'm at.
 

hiegtx

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Keep plugging away! I am no expert by any means but will help if I can.
I am on duty today but should have some time tomorrow or Saturday.
Eddy,
I'll be in & out Saturday, but if you have a question, one of you shoot me a pm.
 

hiegtx

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Sounds good Steve. Well I thought what that guy said on that other forum about the VHF analog was true when I pushed Weather to see how it received weather stations. I put the stock antenna on it, and could get Abilene with some fade if I moved the radio. Cisco weather was booming in on the 433, but I couldn't get it on the 600. I thought Oh no, it's true! VHF analog is a bummer. Well, I finally decided to take the Diamond antenna off the 433 and try it on the 600. WOW! Though I was in another room from where I keep the 433, I got Abilene, full scale reading, Cisco AND Sweetwater weather, and I couldn't even hear Sweetwater on the 433! So the stock antenna is either defective, bad connection or something.
Would anyone agree that the 600 is going to be much more sensitive for VHF analog than the 433?

I don't know if I could hear the Sweetwater weather where the 433 sits in the living room window, but I bet I could. I really feel that the 600 is going to be a lot hotter for not just VHF reception, but all reception on all freqs. be it analog or digital. Mighty proud of it. Now to find someone locally to help with getting it programmed, next project.
I don't know which antenna comes with the PSR-600. My BCD996T (an older model Uniden base/mobile) came with a telescoping antenna. The PSR-500 (the GRE handheld digital sibling to your PSR-600) came with a "rubber duck" antenna. With a good antenna, the 600 should be more sensitive than the 433 (on the same antenna).

Attached is the latest file revision, along with a pdf file showing you what's inside. It's pretty much the same as the other one, just a couple more frequencies & talkgroups added.

Here's the instructions for downloading & opening the file (copied from the other thread, though I have renamed this new file):

To use this file, follow these directions carefully. In order to attach the file to a post, I have to "give" it an acceptable file extension. So, I added .txt to the file name to make it appear to be a text file.

What you need to do is save the file to your computer, somewhere you can find it easily, such as "My Documents" or the Desktop.
You'll save it from this post as Abilene 1.bin.txt
Now, once you've saved this file, go back to wherever it it, and right click on it, then choose "rename" from the pop-up menu.
Instead of totally renaming it, all you're going to do is erase that 'txt' (without the quotes, of course) from the end of the file name.
So, instead of it being named Abilene.bin.txt, it will just be Abilene.bin

Now, start PSREdit500 to open up the file so that you can see what's in there.
Select File->Open
Then, if you saved it to the Desktop or My Documents, use the shortcut icon to get to either of those places on the side of the 'open file' window.

For Taylor, and the counties that directly border it, I put each of those, plus Texas DPS on individual scanlists. That way, you can turn them on and off, just like you turned banks on & off on your old 433. Dyess, the Abilene EDACS system, and Texas Forest Service (for wildfires) are also on specified scanlists.

For the "second counties out" (the ones past the counties that directly border Taylor), I grouped those into four lists: Northern, Eastern, Southern, & Western Counties. Some of those will likely be out of range most of the time, but occasionally, when conditions are right, you might get them, so I added them.

For Texas DPS, I put the Abilene & Brownwood dispatch frequencies at the top of the list, along with Loraine & Big Spring. Those are also set to turn on the dark blue LED when reception is heard. (That's to show you how that works. Turn off the LED in the software, then re-send the file to the scanner, if you'd rather not see that.) After the Abilene area DPS frequencies, the entire statewide P25 Texas DPS channel plan is loaded. So, if conditions are good, you could hear other areas. The two medevac frequencies listed for Abilene are set to activate a yellow LED. (Again, just to show you that feature. I use red for fire, for instance.) All frequencies & talkgroups are set to turn on the backlight (on the display) so that you can see 'who's talking'. (This can also be turned off, or used on only some, if you prefer.)

There are about 230 frequencies and talkgroups programmed. You have room for another 1600+.
 
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trunkerman63

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I sure do appreciate all the trouble you have gone too, Steve, but to be honest I got lost miles back there. Unless Eddy can grasp all this, I really don't know what else to do. I don't know enough about this to even ask a question anymore to be honest. I do apologize for my lack of technical training which it does seem to take to understand all this. I do know that the 433 was a snap to program compared to this, but I had to be walked through with phone help, to get the trunking set up right.

Maybe one day the 600 will be going, but not without tons of help. Eddy, if I can find your email address, I'll send one today, see when we can get together. Thanks to all...
 
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trunkerman63

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Well, I did get the file saved to desk top! I feel some "dumb" wearing off! :) However I didn't get the original file several posts ago. Do I need to get it, or did this last one contain all of it, Steve? Thanks. On renaming, all it has on desktop is Abilene.bin[1]. Maybe I should bump off the [1]? I can do that.
 
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trunkerman63

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I went back into the "over my head" thread and got the original file on desktop now as well as the revision in this thread. I don't know if only one goes into the radio or both. Rereading your post, it looks like the whole works is included in the last file. If so, I can just delete the old original, is that right Steve?
 
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hiegtx

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I went back into the "over my head" thread and got the original file on desktop now as well as the revision in this thread. I don't know if only one goes into the radio or both. Rereading your post, it looks like the whole works is included in the last file. If so, I can just delete the old original, is that right Steve?
The file in this thread has everything that the file posted in the "over my head" thread had. The one in this thread, titled simply "Abilene", instead of "Abilene 1", has a handful of additional entries. I added a couple of ham frequencies fasteddy mentioned in the other thread. Also, I took another look at the Abilene EDACS system, since it showed a recent update. I noticed a few more "fire tactical" talkgroups had been added, so I put them in as well. Will you hear much on them? Who knows, but they're there, just in case. (His comments were here.)

Once you get the file loaded, and start listening, you'll have a much better idea of how far out it will reach. Some of the more distant counties may not come in all the time, but when conditions are ripe, you'd be surprised what comes rolling in. That's why I loaded them. If the signal is not there at the time, the scanner will just zip on by. Anything you decide you're really not interested in, just lock it out. I just made a best guess, and tried to give you a good selection of frequencies in your region.

As you get comfortable with the scanner, & PSREdit, you'll see how easy it is to make changes. The file on the computer, loaded with PSREdit500, is you're backup. That way, if something accidentally gets deleted on the scanner, just reload it.
 
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trunkerman63

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I sure appreciate all you've done, Steve. Eddy will be here soon and we'll try to tackle this dude!
 
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