MTA Trunked System

[Gary335]

I am using a Radio Shack Pro-94 scanner and am trying to program the Maryland Transit Administration's trunked system, but I am having no luck hearing anything. I am rather new to scanning and i'm not sure if i'm doing this correctly. The MTA uses a Motorola Type II Smartnet system, and i'm not even sure if my scanner can scan smartnet systems. any help is appreciated.

 

[NINN27]

your 94 can scan smartnet systems

as for programing, follow your manual (if you anywhere near Arundel Mills Mall in AACo, send me an email at NINN27@aol.com with your phone number and we could meet up somewhere so i can help you out)

 

[Gary335]

I follow the manual step by step but I still am unable to hear anything. I think that the problem is that it can't find the data channel (I think that's what it's called) to begin trunking. I entered the frequencies exactly as their shown on this site but it doesn't pick anything up... Unfortunately, I don't live near Arundel Mills.

 

[TinEar]

I know they are active because I listen to them in a conventional mode by just programming their frequencies. I don't have enough room for another trunked system which is why I do it the way I do. Their activity is fairly heavy and the system is very loud and clear. At some point each night they apparently stop transmitting and just broadcast a steady carrier with no modulation on it. I don't pay close enough attention to it to know what time that takes place.

 

[Gary335]

I am always able to hear something in conventional mode but I noticed that i miss a lot of responses and i thought that maybe i would miss less in trunked mode.

 

[n3bxv]

I can't hear the Control Channel from my location, can someone confirm which freq it is on? I also can hear voice traffic, but no control so no trunking.

 

[Gary335]

i believe that's the problem im having...does anybody know the control channel?Or possibly can someone list all the frequencies in the system so i can make sure i have them all?

 

[n3bxv]

http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=2539 has the information. Where are you located?

Edited to add - I moved my Rube Goldberg Antenna around and I now hear the control channel on 495.0375.

 

[Gary335]

i am located in dundalk. the information in the link you provided is what i used, but i can't trunk for some reason.

 

[Gary335]

is there any particular order in which you have to enter the frequencies?

 

[n3bxv]

Try taking a look at this page http://marksscanners.home.comcast.net/94/94-3.html#Programming_a_Motorola_Type_II_System

It gives details on programming your radio. I "think" you have to choose E2-UHF for this system and then program the offset and Base freq, there is another lnk on how to do that from the page above. I don't have a Pro-94, so I can't give you any specifics but that page looks comprehensive.

 

[Gary335]

thanks for the link. this looks like good info. I don't have time to try it tonight, but ill try tomorrow and see what happens.

 

[Metro174]

MTA's trunk system as well as their police channel sound like crap on the east side of Baltimore City and County. It is not uncommon to totally lose signal there. Until something is done with adding a tower you might always have difficulty hearing them in Dundalk.

 

[Gary335]

Thanks for the link n3bxv. The problem was that I needed to enter the base frequency and the offset. Now that those are set I am able to trunk the MTA system. Thanks again for your help.

 

[n3bxv]

Glad to help. Enjoy.

N3BXV Chuck