LTR scanning with a non-trunking receiver

[kd7lxl]

I don't have a trunk-tracking scanner, but decided I wanted to listen to the local system a bit.

System in question:
Washington State University Trunking System, Pullman, Washington - Scanner Frequencies

I've got the frequencies programmed in conventionally, and am scanning, and hearing lots of interesting stuff. Usually the transmission is easy to identify contextually, so it's interesting even without knowing the talk group. However, the data bursts are getting a little annoying. I'm new to trunking and curious what I can do next...

The radio I'm scanning with now is a Yaesu VX5R. I understand the LTR data bursts are sub-audible. Could I filter them somehow with CTCSS or DCS? My guess is no, but figured it couldn't hurt to ask because I don't know much about the control data It doesn't appear that the audio is using a PL.

I don't have a discriminator tap on this radio, but I think I have that available on another radio. Is it worth wiring up and attempting to decode with software?

 

[BC_Scan]

time to step up If you haven't allready (with a trunk scanner)

Yeah you can listen if you want without trunk scanning receiver (but I wouldn't) , the data bursts you are hearing you could just remove that freq from lists and not have to hear it,
but seriuopsly you could (if you had trunk tracker) be the first to map this sytem and update the system for DB, because the freqs there don't necessarilly correspond to the order they fit into for proper trunk tracking,
you would also be able to id the people talking ,ie security, tradespeople, electrician, plumbers hvac etc, housing talk groups , catering etc,
you cant filter them out by ctcss/dcs. each ltr freq is capable of 250 diff users or 250 diff channels so the ltr talkgroup assigned is the channel :ie 0-01-001, 002-250 etc,
our local university is 4 freq ltr and I have discovered about 60 different channels in use
take the radio listening hobby to another level buy a P25 trunk tracker Uniden/Gre any you wont be unhappy
leave the vx5 to what it does best
decoding with software a whole other thread , awesome is all I can say (do it for sure) and see what you get,

 

[kd7lxl]

I'd like an APCO/P25 capable scanner, but I can't afford one right now (the shopping I've done shows they are all ~$500). I feel like it would be silly to spend $200 on a non-digital scanner when what I really need is the digital (this area has no P25, but I'll be graduating in less than a year and moving to an area that is using P25).

With LTR, removing data burst frequencies from scanner won't help. According to the wiki here, there is no dedicated control channel; data is sent on voice channels. After listening to this system I can confirm that. So if I dropped the data channels, I'd be dropping the voice channels, leaving nothing to listen to

I have access to a few radios with discriminator taps so I think I'll investigate the computer decoding options.