New Scanner BCD996XT And Central New York Trunking

[jhendrickson]

Hello, it was suggested I try the NYState Forum Threads; for Xmas I received a BCD996XT. I have it programmed conventionally and it works fine. I live in Earlville, New York on the border between Madison and Chenango Counties and in my location I reach from Earlville to Oneida, Binghamton/Endicott, Delaware County, Oneonta, Cooperstown, Unadilla, Sidney, Norwich, once in awhile Cortland County and up into Oswego/Red Creek area--picking up EMS stuff, State Police, Sheriff Departments, and other goodies.It really depends at the moment as to how much I want to hear.

But my current problem is Trunking and Programming for such. Is there anyone in/around the Earlville area who is a member of this Forum, and do they pick up the Trunking system that is the "Project 25 Phase 1 (FDMA)" under the "System Name--Central New York Interoperable Communications Consortium (CNYICC) Network" covering Onondaga,Cayuga, Oswego and my county, Madison County. Does this person register any activity in this area from Madison and possibly the other three counties.

And if so, would they be willing to contact me and help me to program my 996XT. I have, I think, everything in place--Freescan downloaded, a USB-1 cable for hooking my laptop and scanner up. I've done much reading and attempted programming this System but can't tell if I'm in the right ballpark.

I know this is many words but it is the best I can do. Willing to reimburse for time if this person exists and can help.

Thank you,
Jeff Hendrickson, Earlville, NY 13332; 315-691-2466 and leave a message if I don't answer.

 

[k2hz]

I don't believe Madison County is on the air yet on CNYICC.

If you are in Earlville, you would be out of range for the other counties in the system.

When Madison is active, there should be info in the database and on this forum of what you need to program your scanner for the system.

 

[jhendrickson]

Thank you about Earlville and Trunking

Hi K2HZ, thank you for the quick reply; your answer, it is just as I suspected because I followed the instructions for programming from two different sources and everything looked normal except no traffic (ASA terminology '63''-67). And my conventional frequencies are still very active. I'll program the other counties in this system just to see if there is anything there. Thanks again. Jeff

 

[k2hz]

Welcome to the forum!

Don't be too disappointed if you are not able to receive the other counties on CNYICC.

Conventional systems used a high power transmitter at at high location to cover a whole county and there was usually considerable overlap into adjacent counties. The CNYICC and other multi-site trunked systems use several lower powered transmitters at multiple sites throughout the county on each frequency to get the coverage. Outside of the county, you may receive signals from multiple sites that are out of phase and interfere with one another. This is not a problem inside the county if the system is properly designed and synchronized. Public Safety radios also are more tolerant of of handling the multiple signal issue than scanners which are notoriously poor in this regard.

If you read the numerous posts about the Saratoga Co system and others you will see the frustration it can cause for the scanner listener.

If you do receive any of the CNYICC activity at your location please post details on this forum. Many are anxiously awaiting developments on implementation of this system.

 

[jhendrickson]

Thanks Again

Hello k2hz--thank you again for replying. One thing in my favor is that there is a tower about a mile away. My reading shows what you are telling me and I won't be disappointed if I cannot pick up other counties, but it might be worth a try especially with my long range and "up there" outdoor attenna. Besides playing with it maybe trying other counties will sharpen my skills and knowledge about this whole thing. I talked with a fireman from a neighboring community and he told me yesterday that they are hoping the Madison Trunking should be going by the end of the year. I'll keep things posted if I find out anything more or discover the activity as you suggested. Thank you again. Jeff

 

[k2hz]

Try the 2 conventional channels associated with Onondaga Co CNYICC:
453.850 (82.5 pl) Fire Dispatch
460.025 (82.5 pl) EMS Dispatch
They simulcast the associated trunk groups and I can hear them in areas where there there is no reception of the trunking system.

 

[jhendrickson]

Trunking and Conventional

Hi k2hz, I've noted the two Syracuse conventional channels and will give them a try this week. Thanks, Jeff

 

[jhendrickson]

FreeScan programming My UnidenBCD996XT

Hello k2hz--Sorry for delay in getting back to you, I'm retired but they called me back to work but have today free. I have my Uniden Purchased USB-1 cable and downloaded all the drivers and have connected from Computer to Scanner, tested it and the computer says the connection is made on COM-3 Port to the Scanner and everything tested fine. No problem there, just screwing up the courage to take the steps.

So I have my computer on and Scanner on with Scanner currently scanning. The FreeScan program is downloaded and ready to go. My Premium Service with RadioRef is valid. Where do I go from here--for instance do I put the Scanner into any specific setting before attempting a download.

I have a screen and task bar saying "Virtual Control" and need your guidance if you are willing. I would like to program the scanner to the P25 Standard Central New York Interoperable Communications Consortium
(CNYICC) Network for starters, covering Onondaga, Madison, Cayuga, Oswego Counties. I may not get anything but then again because of my antenna and the selectivity of this scanner I might get lucky. But the practice might be good for me and being in Southern Maidson County (Earlville) I will be all set up for when Madison County begins to switch over to Trunking during and by the end of this year.

So if you are willing, looking for your guidance. Thank you.

Jeff/Earlville

 

[dave3825]

I have my Uniden Purchased USB-1 cable and downloaded all the drivers and have connected from Computer to Scanner, tested it and the computer says the connection is made on COM-3 Port to the Scanner and everything tested fine. No problem there, just screwing up the courage to take the steps.

So I have my computer on and Scanner on with Scanner currently scanning. The FreeScan program is downloaded and ready to go. My Premium Service with RadioRef is valid. Where do I go from here--for instance do I put the Scanner into any specific setting before attempting a download.

I have a screen and task bar saying "Virtual Control" and need your guidance if you are willing. I would like to program the scanner to the P25 Standard Central New York Interoperable Communications Consortium
(CNYICC)


Jeff/Earlville

The Virtual Control is just what it says. It shows you your scanner on the pc screen and lets you control it via your mouse.

If you have freescan and want to program the scanner via Radioreference web service, do the following. Connect your scanner via the usb cable. Click file in freescan
then mouse over import
then you will see some entries
you want Radioreference trunked

Put in username and password then hit connect. After you successfully connect, just use the boxes below to navigate to the system you are looking for..

Once you have downloaded the system, give it a quick key that is not used by anything you have already put in the scanner. Then look in the top bar for the 3 little scanners. One of them is upload to the scanner...

I have not ever used freescan with the webservice but its much like the butel software I have for my uniden.

If you already have systems in your scanner, be sure not to erase them via freescan. When you hit upload a box pups up listing systems stored in freescan. Make sure the one you just downloaded is the one you have checked..

 

[k2hz]

I am glad that dave3825 responded with the Uniden programming info because I could not help you with that.

As far as I know, only Onondaga is fully operational so you will probably need to update the other counties
as they become active and more info becomes available for download.

If you don't receive anything after you get the systems downloaded to your scanner, try to program the control channel listed in red in the DataBase as a conventional channel and see if you hear the constant digital signal. If you can't hear the control channel then you are out of luck unless you can find a location where you get a strong control channel signal.

 

[jhendrickson]

Hello Dave3825 and k2hz--, thank you both for responding to my posting asking for help; I used the USB-1 cable to connect my laptop and scanner I downloaded the drivers and established a COM Port, in this case it was COM3. Then I opened FreeScan and learned how to use the Virtual Control--it took a little tweaking of backing out and into everything before I was sure the download of the P25 CNYCC was done correctly. I disconnected and put the scanner back on the antenna and just as I was advised there was activity probably because of distance and the fact my county's system not operational at all yet. I also programmed the control channels directly as Conventional channels and nothing there either. So when I get to it again I'm going to try a couple of other Trunking Systems that are around 20-30 miles away from my antenna.

One more quick question. In my BCD996XT under Program System in the Menu I have one System of Conventional Channels and this systemt is very active. The other System is the CNYCC Trunking System which I downloaded yesterday--I've tried Keys of all types but regardless when I turn on my Scanner both Systems are being scanned. Is there a way, without me reading everything over again to separate the two Systems so it is my choice to tell the Scanner which one I want to monitor?

Thank you again for your help, I know I get wordy, but I know I have much more to learn and I read and read and ask questions.

Jeff/Earlville

 

[dave3825]

I've tried Keys of all types but regardless when I turn on my Scanner both Systems are being scanned. Is there a way, without me reading everything over again to separate the two Systems so it is my choice to tell the Scanner which one I want to monitor?
Jeff/Earlville

You need to assign any system you program/upload a quick key. Then you can easily turn systems on and off..

Info on what quick keys do
Easier to Read BCD996XT Digital Scanner Manual

I don't have that scanner and am not sure of its menu commands. Hopefully someone with a BCD996XT will chime in and explain how to set up quick keys via the scanner

Doing it with freescan

Connect scanner

hit download from scanner
hit queue all systems in the d/l dialog box
check all systems
hit start download

when done hit ok

All thats in your scanner is now on your pc screen. Now lets tweak free scan to make life easier.

Click view and check the following

show system types
show quick keys
Under view, look for highlight trunked systems and highlight trunked sites. Check both.

Now all your systems are labeled in the systems list on the left side

Cnv = conventional
mot1, mot2, mot2, mot anything = motorola trunked
edc = edacs trunked
ltr = ltr trunked

You have digital so im not sure what exactly a digital system will show up as. p25 possible but again Im not sure.

Now, on the list on the left, only the trunked systems will be highlighted. Conventional systems will not.

Click on a conventional on the left, and look for quick key in the main window. Its next to system name.

Hit the drop box and give that system a number. Pick like 1 till you get used to this. Unless you already have systems numbered.

On trunked systems, its a little different. When in the left window you click a trunked system, some info gets displayed in the main window. Now in the left window, expand the trunked system by either double clicking it or clicking the plus sign. You should see the system name highlighted yellow in there. Click that, and on the main window you will see quick key listed. Give that system a number. Go with 2 untill you get used to all this.

I just looked at the cnyicc system. I am assuming that when you did the webservice download, it created the following groups with in the system.

Intersystem/Mutual Aid Talkgroups
Cayuga County (06) Auburn Fire Talkgroups
Cayuga County (06) Auburn Police Talkgroups
Onondaga County (34) Fire Control Talkgroups
Onondaga County (34) Sheriffs Office Talkgroups
Onondaga County (34) County Government Talkgroups
Onondaga County (34) Schools Talkgroups
Onondaga County (34) Syracuse Fire Talkgroups
Onondaga County (34) Syracuse Police Talkgroups
Onondaga County (34) Syracuse Local Government Talkgroups

These all need a group quick key assigned to them if the webservice did not do it automatically.
When you click on the cnyicc system and expand it, do these 10 groups show up and do the have numbers after them ?

And when you click the cnyicc system on the list. do you see tgid groups enable? These need to be checked/enabled. If they are not, the scanner will not scan these groups.

If the groups are there and have numbers after them, Hit file save. Saves to your pc. Then click upload to scanner. Check all systems and hit upload.

(on mine, for any quick key thats 2 digits, I must hit (. no) then the 2 digits) Not sure on your scanner.

Now when your scanner is on, you can hit (1) or (2) while scanning and it will turn those on and off..

Keep in mind that you saved the scanner contents on your pc. If you make any changes via your scanner, the file on your pc will not reflect those changes the next time you open the file on your pc. You would first have to connect scanner and download scanner to pc again...

I would love to have a digital scanner but its not in the budget right now. I have only a few digital things here on Long Island but have family up in Cauga County that I visit often..

 

[jhendrickson]

Progress In Downloading FreeScanSoftware

Hello, First let me thank k2hz and dave3825 for the help with learning and downloading Trunking onto my 996XT. Early evidence that it is done correctly I believe--though I didn't save the download into my FreeScan software and therefore not on my computer--I'll have to retrace probably at some point. I'm still quite the novice.

But I've downloaded the CNYICC P25 System which covers 4 upstate counties of Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga and Madison. Madison is not up and running yet. I may be out of range of Onondaga and Cayuga but last night I picked up Oswego. Now I'm not up to par yet with "Keys" and separating the Counties so I can scan only one at a time--in other words my scanner is scanning them in sequence and I have to learn how to separate them. When it has been scanning Oswego County in the past and then again last night I've noticed there is during the scan "volume/activity" bars show on the Scanner Display. So I timed the Scanner Hold button to stop on that frequency and it was 460.07500 which showed up under Oswego County on my display. The site/frequency was quite active but I did not figure out what public service this site/freq was involved with. So I now know my download was okay to a point. Oswego County is distance wise further away from me than Onondaga County--so there is hope that I maybe be able to pick up some distance besides Madison County once that county is up and running. Now i believe I have much fine tuning or adjusting to do to get more traffic going.

I've printed off the posts suggesting how to work with keys and checking within the CNYICC system to make sure everything is downloaded the way the program was supposed to download with FreeScan.

One last thing, does anyone know what has happened with New York State Police Troop C (Sidney, Oneonta, Binghamton, Norwich) conventional frequencies? I can't find any Troop C traffic at the moment; have they gone to some kind of Trunking System or maybe have new frequencies or something going on I'm not aware on?

Again,
Thank you,
Jeff, Earlville, NY on the border between Madison and Chenango Counties

PS--The Uniden Firmware update, 1.06 went well.

 

[k2hz]

One last thing, does anyone know what has happened with New York State Police Troop C (Sidney, Oneonta, Binghamton, Norwich) conventional frequencies? I can't find any Troop C traffic at the moment; have they gone to some kind of Trunking System or maybe have new frequencies or something going on I'm not aware on?.

There is very little activity on NYSP Troop frequencies since routine calls for NYSP cars are handled through County 911 centers and are usually dispatched on the County Sheriff's channel. There usually is still car-to-car activity on 154.665 110.9 PL if you are close enough to hear the cars.

 

[dave3825]

Early evidence that it is done correctly I believe--though I didn't save the download into my FreeScan software and therefore not on my computer--I'll have to retrace probably at some point. I'm still quite the novice.

If you did all that and did not save it to free scan, do this. Load up free scan, connect scanner to pc. On the top window next to file edit, click scanner. Select download. In the download from scanner dialog box, hit queue system list. Once your systems pop up, hit the check all then hit start download. Btw, make sure the last 4 boxes above the start download button are all checked, EXCEPT, the one that says erase systems. That should not be checked.

After the download is complete, hit file, save as, give it a name and pick a spot you can navigate back to at a later time. Now its saved on your PC. Just keep in mind that if you make any changes either in freescan or the scanner, the files will be different until you sync them.

So if your on the road, and make a change to the scanner, and you want your freescan file to be the same, repeat the above steps to get the content on your pc, and then save it overwriting your freescan file...

Now if your in freescan, and make changes, you first save the freescan file, then download the systems you changed to the scanner.

That way everything always matches.. This is how I do things with freescan and my scanner. Others might have different advice to offer.

As far as troop c, or the systems you listen to, I'm not familiar with those for I am down here on Long Island paying $4.00 a gallon for gas

 

[k2hz]

Considering your location, I doubt you are hearing Oswego County.

460.075 is Chenango Co Fire Dispatch (conventional FM not P25 trunked) which should be quite strong at your location.

This is another problem with attempting to receive CNYICC outside of the target county. The same frequencies are in use in nearby counties.

 

[jhendrickson]

Bubble Popped!!

Hi k2hz, your analysis makes sense to me. When I find it again I'll make sure and let you all know. The frequency sounded as though it was inside my scanner room. Thanks. Jeff