New Culver City (PD / FD, etc.) Programming Help Needed

[BoboPinky]

Hello RadioRef people. I just yesterday took the plunge and bought my first digital / trunking scanner, the GRE800. I've been a HAM for nearly two decades, and scanner buff for longer than that. As you may know, for the past 15+ years CCPD / FD / LG has been trunked, but using an analog signal, and as you know, they've just gone digital.

So, so far I'm very happy (only 1/2 day into ownership) with the 800. I've go LAPD, LASO and other fun playing nicely in the radio. Made sure I had the current software (programming) and radio updates.

I've been all over RR, looking at the ICIS Trunked System posts, and anything else I can find on Culver City. If I'm understanding things right, it sounds like some have been successful in getting CC to play, but it also seems like they are using "Oat Mtn."??? programming of ICIS??? Also, if I have it right(?), the RR database has not been updated to allow programming via the database???

I have current Culver City RR database plugged in as scan group 1 in my 800, and it does scan, but I never hear anything, though the scan will stop from time to time, and I see my "S-Meter" full scale (for about the length of an average transmission). Like I say, I've been successful in getting LAPD / LAFD / LASO, etc. to play nicely.

Can anyone suggest, in somewhat newbie terms, how I might get CC playing (manually?) to a new digi / trunk guy?

Also, could anyone confirm that the RR database, for CC, is not correct - yet?

Thank you in advance.

 

[LAflyer]

You can check out the ICIS specific thread regarding bits of information following the recent system upgrade.
http://forums.radioreference.com/gr...nked-system-posts-your-new-findings-here.html


As far as programming, program the ICIS Culver City site. The data in the Db is confirmed working.

Lastly I believe on the -800 you need to program the system as "P25 Auto" and not the default MOT VHF/UHF trunk setting for it to work properly.

 

[BoboPinky]

Thanks LAflyer... in the "shack" now, at the computer here. Going to work on the programming. Will post update as soon as I have more.

Thanks again.

 

[BoboPinky]

Still no luck scanning anything from CC, or from the ICIS group that containes CC (Beverly Hills, Burbank, Glendale, etc. etc. - all things that I should be hearing something from).

I'm loading up scan group 1 on my 800 is this way:

From the GRECOM software select California.
Select Los Angeles
Select Systems
Select Interagency Communicatons Interoperability System / Various / Motorola
Click Talk Groups
Select Culver City (have tried just selecting CC and or ALL the others as well)
Select all of the TGID's
Click Import Selected Channels (to Scanlist 001)
Next, bring up the Scanlist tab and confirm that they (31) are there
Next, bring up the Trunked Radio Systems tab
Here I see the ICIS as the Alpha Tag, type is Motorola (wich I've tried as Moto and as Project 25)
When setting to Projet 25 I've tied both (Site Options / Trunking Tables) as Standard and as Auto Fill (clicking Apply to All Sites).

I then Copy Config to Scanner Memory.

In the scanner / Scanlist 001 I do see all of the entries, but never hear, and rarely have the scannner stop, on any entery.

Now, I am able (Scanlist 002) able to hear LAPD, etc. The current aftermarket antenna is tuned for 440 / 450, so should be fine for this (heck it is bringing in LAPD on 800mhz), AND I live in Culver City, so I do not think it is signal issue.

I've just run through all these steps again (now working on this issue for 4+ hrs) and the scanner has been scanning 001 for 25min. As quite as Culver City is, I would have heard something by now. I know prior to the digital change, there was radio traffic all the time.

Is there anyone on RR that is currently scanning Culver City successfuly?

Can you see any faults in my programming steps?

Thanks in advance.

 

[LAflyer]

For starters yes, there are plenty of folks that manage to scan Culver City just fine, myself included at times (on a different model of radio)
In the linked ICIS thread I provided earlier you can see there are folks that follow CC regularly.


While I am not familiar enough with the programming for your radio, I believe clumping together all the ICIS sites in one bank is going to be a problem. Essentially each site is almost its own system. You want to listen to Culver City, you need the Culver City site and talk groups, want to listen to Beverly Hills, need the BH site and TGs etc.

Lastly have you manually checked that you are even within reception range of the Culver City site? Program in the data control channel and make sure your radio receives it. If you cannot receive the data channel, all the tinkering in the world with the radio wont allow you to track and listen to the system.

 

[BoboPinky]

For starters yes, there are plenty of folks that manage to scan Culver City just fine, myself included at times (on a different model of radio)
In the linked ICIS thread I provided earlier you can see there are folks that follow CC regularly.


While I am not familiar enough with the programming for your radio, I believe clumping together all the ICIS sites in one bank is going to be a problem. Essentially each site is almost its own system. You want to listen to Culver City, you need the Culver City site and talk groups, want to listen to Beverly Hills, need the BH site and TGs etc.

Lastly have you manually checked that you are even within reception range of the Culver City site? Program in the data control channel and make sure your radio receives it. If you cannot receive the data channel, all the tinkering in the world with the radio wont allow you to track and listen to the system.

Flyer,

Yes, I agree, about clumping, I want to end up w/ CC in Scanbank 001, it is the primary "thing" I want to scan. I only tried putting all the, PD's in this case, in one scan group, from the ICIS, just to see if I could hear anything. Since then I'm back to only having CC in group 001. I'm here, as I type, using a Yaesu VX-2 handi talky with about a 2" rubber duck, scanning the 6 CC freqs, and I hear data bursts "full scale" on that little radio at 482.06250 and full time data at 482.36250, which is the data control freq if I'm reading RR right. (Interagency Communications Interoperability System (ICIS) Trunking System, Various, California - Scanner Frequencies).

So, I'm sure I can receive the required freqs. I think it is a matter of having the correct type (Moto or Project 25), trunking table types (Standard / Custom / Autofill) and such. I can say 100% that one of two things are correct.

1) my radio is defective.

or

2) the "default" load of the ICIS containing Culver City (not changing anything as far as type - Moto vs. P25, etc.) is wrong.

I fully admit, I am a novice when it comes to digital trunking scanning, so there is likely some learning curve here too.

Still working on it.

 

[BoboPinky]

Learning more and more.

Accourding to info / help in the GRECOM programming software:

Trunking Tables need to be set to Custom:

"Custom: This setting is used for all VHF and UHF trunked radio systems."

My current / default table is set like this:

Ch-Lo = 500
Ch-Hi = 759
Offset = 500
Base Freq = 481.550
Step = 12.50

Now, is this correct? Accourding to RR Interagency Communications Interoperability System (ICIS) Trunking System, Various, California - Scanner Frequencies
it seems to be.

On another note, it was suggested early on in this thread that the System be set to P25 Auto. I think this may be incorrect. If I set my programming / radio this way, it never stops scanning (not that I've ever heard any audio), but with it set to Moto Type II the scan will stop (at the same time I hear data via my other analog radio tuned to the 6 freqs w/ the data freq locked out), and the display on the scanner does seem to show the correct channel i.e. "Culver PD Tac1"

So, if anyone cares to tackle this, or is using a GRECOM 800, what do you have set for your Custom Trunking Table?

I gotta guess someone owns this exact radio in LA and listens to Culver City.

Man, I thought programming my D-STAR radios was hard!

 

[BoboPinky]

HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New DB update today - Jan 7th 2012. WORKING.... soooooooooooooo... what does that say? Sure, maybe DB was working for others (model radios), but not the 800, not 'till now, not for CC.

Remember, I just got this raido yesterday. So, being a good kid, and doing like you should, I updated EVERYTHING, then went about pulling my hair out for hours yesterday and again today.

So, just for fun, I started back at scratch... well, lookie here, a NEW update just publised at some point today!

Now my scanner, using the RR DB is working. Sheesh.

 

[LAflyer]

Glad you got it working, however I have no idea what you mean by a new Db today.

If you look here at the RR Db website you'll see nothing in the system has been updated since January 2nd, and nothing that deals with Culver City since late December.
Interagency Communications Interoperability System (ICIS) Trunking System, Various, California - Scanner Frequencies

Anyhow enjoy your listening...

 

[BoboPinky]

Well, from within the GRECOM PSR-800 software, you can go to (menu) Updates. From there you can:

Check for CPU Firmware updates
Check for DSP Firmware updates
Check for Library Updates
Check for Software Updates

Yesterday, first thing I did all of these. There where a few, at the moment I don't remember which exactly, but I know there was a "Library Update".

Since yesterday I have not updated anything, I was just going back and forth within the software, trying to get CC to work. Everything other than CC ICIS was working fine, things that were not ICIS related, i.e. LAPD and non digital freqs.

Not wanting to give up, I decided to, short of uninstalling everything, run through things from the get go. So, software / firmware updates.

Well, you say no DB updates? Ok, well then some DB, or "Library" was updated (via the web - the GRE software connecting to the web for a 17mb update). When I selected Check for Library Updates from the menu, it said - "A new file is available Jan 7, 2012, this is a large file and may take several minutes to update 17mb, do you wish to continue?"

I thought GRE used RR as its DB? Maybe I'm wrong?

Anyway, not only does my radio work now, after the update and a re-import of the DB (via the GRE software), but the Trunking Screen is populated slightly differently.

I'm a happy camper, have taken screen shots (after almost 4.5 hrs of beating on this today, I want to document how I got where I am), and look forward to going further with my new toy and RR.

 

[LAflyer]

Ah ok, yes the update you are getting is not directly from RR, but from GRE.

Uniden does the same. They use the RR Db, manipulate it, and push it out at some regular publication time schedule.

In the future it would probably be easier or atleast more accurate if you program your radio directly using what you see online on RR, as the Db here is live and is a living document, not simply data grab from time period, which could be days or weeks old and fail to reflect the changes in between.

 

[BoboPinky]

Ah ok, yes the update you are getting is not directly from RR, but from GRE.

Uniden does the same. They use the RR Db, manipulate it, and push it out at some regular publication time schedule.

In the future it would probably be easier or atleast more accurate if you program your radio directly using what you see online on RR, as the Db here is live and is a living document, not simply data grab from time period, which could be days or weeks old and fail to reflect the changes in between.

LAfllyer,

Yes, this started to dawn on me, that GRE maybe was "massaging" the data, last night after I finely got it working. I knew they were getting the data from RR, and thought it was coming direct, in a format that could plug right into the radio(s). So, as I've been saying from the get go, this is my first digi / trunk (program via computer) scanner. Most all of my amatearu radios, including my digital ones, program this way, so it is not new to me, but in these cases I'm the one building the DB right in the programming software.

Its funny, my very first scanner was a Bearcat 4-6 (RadioPics Database - Bearcat - THIN SCAN - BC FOUR-SIX TS). It was easy to program, as you know, it was crystal controlled. I think I was 12 y/o when I saved my pennies to by this one. The 6 freqs it scanned were the 6 here in Culver City. That was 30+ years ago.