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[TexasFire]

Although I have a little bit of experience in using 700/800 MHz radios from previous jobs, I am new to using scanners to hear other agency communications. I just got on as a volunteer firefighter for a combination department in early December, issued a Motorola Minitor IV pager and the Active911 phone app, and needed a way to monitor updates on the incident-specific Ops frequency as I'm heading to the station.

My department utilizes a regional river authority's P25 Phase 1, APCO-25 Common Air Interface Exclusive system. From what I understand ... the "primary" is an analog frequency, 155.65500 and the talkgroup frequencies (Ops 1, Ops 2, etc) are digital trunked (7003, 7004, etc).

After being led astray by a few users on the Amazon community about the BC125AT being able to pick up P25 digital, I now have two scanners: the BC125AT and the Pro-651. I haven't been able to get my old laptop to "recognize the device" when attempting to program them, so both were programmed via the front keypads.

 

[ofd8001]

Welcome to RR and the fire service! I spent about 40 years as both a volunteer and career firefighter and I'm sure you'll enjoy serving and the comraderie as much as I did.

It appears to me that your department is similar to ours. The 155.655 may be the alerting frequency of your pager which notifies you of a call for service. Subsequent communications are done on the trunked radio system.

Our fire department became a Broadcastify feed provider for our operations channels. We used a system radio, connected to a computer which fed into the Broadcastify system. Then via smartphone apps, our members were able to monitor the communications concerning the incident.

Unfortunately I do not know anything about the Radio Shack scanners, so I can't offer any advice on you "recognizing the device" issue.

 

[hiegtx]

Although I have a little bit of experience in using 700/800 MHz radios from previous jobs, I am new to using scanners to hear other agency communications. I just got on as a volunteer firefighter for a combination department in early December, issued a Motorola Minitor IV pager and the Active911 phone app, and needed a way to monitor updates on the incident-specific Ops frequency as I'm heading to the station.

My department utilizes a regional river authority's P25 Phase 1, APCO-25 Common Air Interface Exclusive system. From what I understand ... the "primary" is an analog frequency, 155.65500 and the talkgroup frequencies (Ops 1, Ops 2, etc) are digital trunked (7003, 7004, etc).

After being led astray by a few users on the Amazon community about the BC125AT being able to pick up P25 digital, I now have two scanners: the BC125AT and the Pro-651. I haven't been able to get my old laptop to "recognize the device" when attempting to program them, so both were programmed via the front keypads.

Hi TexasFire

Your Pro-651 scanner was made by Whistler for sale through RadioShack. It's an Object-oriented scanner. It is essentially the same scanner as the WS1040, sold under Whistler's nameplate, and other than a few internal components, the equivalent unit to the PSR-500 and Pro-106, discontinued models manufactured by the now defunct GRE. Any comments you see about one of these models as to capability and programming would apply to the others.
Start with this Wiki page: Getting Started with your GRE/RS Object Oriented Scanner - The RadioReference Wiki

Particularly, look at the link Connecting scanners via USB - The RadioReference Wiki
You should find useful information there about getting the scanner to be recognized by your PC.

Your scanner will handle the LCRA system in use in your area, as well as the GATRRS system used by Austin and other counties near you.