mototrbo listening

[mrscanner2008]

If I bought a MotoTRBO radio Will I be able to listen to Mototrbo frequency in my Area?

I found 3 MotoTRBO systems that I want to listen to.

What do I need to listen to these system? do I need some programming software??

thanks for the info

Mrscanner2008

 

[Josh]

1) probably
2) A Mototrbo radio on the band(s) the frequencies you want to listen to are on
3) You'll either need to have the seller of the radio or the radio shop program it, unless you would rather dole out additional funds for a programming cable and customer programming software (CPS).

-Josh

 

[mikewazowski]

If I bought a MotoTRBO radio Will I be able to listen to Mototrbo frequency in my Area?

Not likely.

What do I need to listen to these system? do I need some programming software??

Yes, you will need programming software and the parameters of the system in order to listen.

Unfortunately, MotoTRBO radios don't have a carrier squelch type setting so without the parameters, you won't hear anything.

 

[motomeso]

If I bought a MotoTRBO radio Will I be able to listen to Mototrbo frequency in my Area?

As long as you know what Time Slot, Digital Colour Code and Security Key (If used) you will have no problem listening in. With 2 available time slots, thousands of colour codes and 255 security keys you won't have much luck unless you can get some help from somebody on the inside.

I found 3 MotoTRBO systems that I want to listen to.

What do I need to listen to these system? do I need some programming software??

thanks for the info

Mrscanner2008

You need the radio, programming software, programming cable and the proper information and Knowledge to program the radio.

 

[bhughey]

Mototrbo

If I bought a MotoTRBO radio Will I be able to listen to Mototrbo frequency in my Area?

I found 3 MotoTRBO systems that I want to listen to.

What do I need to listen to these system? do I need some programming software??

thanks for the info

Mrscanner2008

You can buy a Mototrbo radio and software from motorola or a motorola dealer. The problem is not the money involved it is the ammount of "Digital codes" there are about 6 million to try. If you workred on it every day for 18 hours a day it would take you 49.4 years to enter all of the codes. Of course you wouldnt need to enter all of them who knows, you might get lucky after 3 years!

 

[Forts]

What we need is a handy little decoder app of some sort that would show the group ID and time slot being used. Beyond that, as long as privacy isn't being used you would be good to go.

 

[mam1081]

Every system that I have programmed in is just on the default settings, and you are able to hear the conversation. It makes security sound like it's just too complicated....almost like everyone with FRS using "privacy code" 01.

 

[N1GTL]

The color code options I have seen are 0 - 15 so thats 16 possible codes. The other number is the radio ID which goes up to 16776415. That shouldn't matter though as it is not a trunking type system where the radio has to register to be allowed on the system. The other option is the time slot. If you put two channels in a portable radio, one for each time slot and then scan between them, as long as you have the correct color code, it should work.

These repeaters are not designed to be super secure. They just make use of TDMA to get two conversations on the same frequency.

 

[polkaroo]

What we need is a handy little decoder app of some sort that would show the group ID and time slot being used. Beyond that, as long as privacy isn't being used you would be good to go.

I should be getting my hands on a Trbo radio in the near future.

If I can post WAV files of the transmissions, I wonder if it's possible to somehow decode the header info that I would assume contain all the codes, or at least know where they are in the scheme of things?

 

[Forts]

The color code options I have seen are 0 - 15 so thats 16 possible codes. The other number is the radio ID which goes up to 16776415. That shouldn't matter though as it is not a trunking type system where the radio has to register to be allowed on the system. The other option is the time slot. If you put two channels in a portable radio, one for each time slot and then scan between them, as long as you have the correct color code, it should work.

These repeaters are not designed to be super secure. They just make use of TDMA to get two conversations on the same frequency.

Do you not need the Group ID though for the group you wish to follow? When programming a digital channel it wants you to assign a group list to it. I assumed that without this list (or with the list empty) the radio would ignore all traffic.

 

[squeakfour]

Is there any news, of Grecom or Uniden, designing a scanner for Mototro?

 

[knowmototrbo]

I haven't heard of any third-party scanner, but one that does follow the ETSI DMR standard should work, again if it does exist.

As far as the Group IDs for the calls, you wouldn't hear anything if you weren't in the same group or they were doing private radio-to-radio calls. You might hear audio if you were on the correct color code/private key and they were doing simple All Calls.

Since they are digital radios, all of the header information is inside data packets. I do know that if you had access to the MotoTRBO API you would be able to configure the radio to forward this information to an attached PC through USB. From there you could read the Group IDs off of their protocol and then just configure your radio to use the same IDs. Access to the API has been done over the past couple years by the third-party application providers. As far as I know it wouldn't take too much, but you would need access to those docs, would be a nice open project someone could undertake.

 

[MattSR]

Have a think about this - how does DSD recover the audio if the colour code is needed?

hmmm...

 

[mikewazowski]

The colour code is not needed to listen using DSD.

It's kind of like listening in carrier squelch mode.

A real MotoTRBO radio might need it to make sure it's on the right repeater but DSD just ignores the colour code information.

 

[bryan_herbert]

Is there any news, of Grecom or Uniden, designing a scanner for Mototro?

Thats what I wanna know too. Communications Enterprises and BearCom, California's largest radio suppliers and licensers are pushing all new business radio clients to lease MOTOTRBO or NEXEDGE gear. They recently outfitted our local hospital (Henry Mayo) with a brand new MOTOTRBO system.

 

[Pontotocscanner]

mototrbo

is ther still no news of a scanner for these radio systems my county just went to them and i cant pick them up any help would be very welcomed

 

[rma0100]

Latest mototrbo information

The following are the opinions of Motorola Dealers that I talked to at length and were very forthcoming. Two independant dealer who said all the SAME STUFF. Read on.

As many of you know a lot of Public Safety organizations are going MOTOTRBO. After reading all the posts I decided to go right to the source. The MOTOTRBO uproar is growing at a steady rate. So, I contacted two Motorola dealers in my area and had long conversations with them. First of all, the header and colour and digital information IS NOT transmitted over the air so forget about intercepting their transmissions and trying to break it down. Their not dumb enough to do something like that.

Second: They are keeping the programming information very close to the chest. It is password protected so even if you had a working radio you could NOT LIFT OR EXTRACT THE INFORMATION!

Third: Public Safety Transmissions are in the public domain. According to federal law, the public has a right to listen to it. However, the Public Safety organizations also have a right to scramble it. BUT NOT ALL of it. In some countries like Ireland their public safety radio traffic is encrypted TETRA 100% of the time BUT their laws allow it. Our Federal laws DO NOT.

As more and more public safety organizations go MOTOTRBO the uproar will grow to the point where someone like Uniden will file a law suit to achieve the information in the same manner that P25 was done. That's what it will take and that will take a couple of years to achieve. Imagine the financial impact to Uniden if the scanner hobby went away. It could cost them millions and millions!

Even the Motorola reps that I talked to couldn't do it if they wanted to. They also felt it was unfair.

Now, please remember that these ARE NOT my opinions. They are the opinions of people who work for Motorolsa and know MOTOTRBO better than any of us. As well, I talked to two independant dealers who told me the same exact thing.

So, for now we are dead in the water and it's happening nationwide.

 

[jcardani]

1. DSD currently can monitor voice on non-encrypted MOTOTRBO systems.

2. The color code, slot, and talkgroup ID *is* transmitted over the air. Ian Wrath's DMR decode program currently decodes the slot number and color code present in the DMR layer 2 protocol. Protocol layer 3 is where the talkgroup ID resides. Hopefully Ian can start layer 3 soon.

 

[rma0100]

Well, Maybe the Notorola guys are all wet

OK, I'm an analog guy. Where can I get DSD and what is it? I'd like to have it ASAP. What steps do I need to take?

Thanks for the info

 

[Highpockets]

OK, I'm an analog guy. Where can I get DSD and what is it? I'd like to have it ASAP. What steps do I need to take?

Thanks for the info

Check it out here:

Digital Speech Decoder (software package) - The RadioReference Wiki