New Scanner- Needs help..

[CSX_TampaBay]

I've looked on RR for about two hours now and I am still confused??? I bought a Pro-164, live in Pinellas County Florida. They use Motorola 2. 800 band... Years ago my old scanner I would just enter a freqs... now- there are talk groups and DEC/HEX's ??? I thought I would just enter as an example: 859.0375... But I guess some things have changed...On the RR page under the talkgroup do I enter the DEC/HEX Number??? And also program the Control Channels??? I am sure there is a post somewhere on here about what to do but I am still not sure....I've looked at the Wiki page also...Hope not to annoy anyone on here with a basic question... A lot has changed.. Do I enter the DEC as I see it or convert it somehow??
Thanks for your help and understanding....

Rich From St. Pete, Fla

 

[captclint]

I've looked on RR for about two hours now and I am still confused??? I bought a Pro-164, live in Pinellas County Florida. Do I enter the DEC as I see it or convert it somehow??

Welcome to RR. Yes, you enter the DEC in the talk group, and just the red and blue frequencies in the site. Just be sure you select control channel only mode and the scanner will figure out what frequencies to follow from the control channel.

 

[Awesomeman92]

Well someone can correct me if i'm wrong on this, but I have a feeling it's not too different from my Pro-197. First you have to create the system in the scanner, check the manual on how to do this, I'm not sure as it's different with every scanner. As far as the HEX/DEC number goes, that's kind of like each users' channel number. Each talkgroup on a trunked system has one user assigned to it, and the HEX/DEC number is how the groups are identified. Some scanners identify using HEX number, some use the DEC number, some use both. Once you create the system on your scanner you should be able to search for talkgroups, and that'll tell you which kind of number the scanner uses. Hope this at least clears some of it up for you!

 

[DickH]

Here is a simple explanation about trunking that may help.

Motorola Trunking:
The object of trunking is to allow many users to share a relatively few frequencies.
A trunking system is controlled by a computer. Information (data) is exchanged between the system radios and the computer on a control channel, sometimes called a data channel. It sounds like a strong buzz.
A large system can have up to 28 freqs., 4 of which may be used as control channels. The control channel may be changed once a day or as often as the programmer decides. Some scanners need only the control channels to track an entire system. Just put in the 4 Control Channels.

Each group of users (Fire, Police, etc.) is assigned TALK GROUPS. In a Motorola Type II system, the most common type, TGs are usually in 32 number steps starting with 16 and going up to 65536; 16, 48, 80 --- 4656, 4688, 4720 --- 28944, 28976, etc. System radios can have more than 100 TGs programmed into them.

After all the freqs. have been entered and it is "trunking", the Banks become SCAN LISTS where you enter the Talk Groups you want to hear.
Use the Talk Group numbers in the DEC column, not in the HEX column.

When a user pushes the talk button on his radio, data is sent to the computer. The computer chooses an unused freq. and sends that data to all the radios using the TG of the originating unit. This all happens in a fraction of a second and it happens EVERY TIME a radio is used.

EXAMPLE:
Fire Dispatch calling Engine 4 (TG 4528 on 856.7125)
Engine 4 answering Dispatch (TG 4528 on 852.2625)
Respond to 73 Elm Street (TG 4528 on 855.9625)
Engine 4 responding (TG 4528 on 851.6375)

If you have entered TG 4528 into your scanner, it will decode the control channel data and change your scanner freqs. to follow the conversation on TG 4528.

This should get you started, but you should read the manual carefully. You may need to read it several times.

EDACS and LTR systems use the same principles, but they can not do Control Channel Only trunking, the TG numbering is different and the frequencies must be entered into specified channels in the scanner.