New to Trunking. Advice solicited.

[Bustergrn]

Greetings,

I've been lurking here for a few weeks trying to learn all I can about Trunking and the radio systems in and around Tulsa. I am an LEO in another county and have a desire to listen in around my residence in BA. I used to live in Phoenix back in the VHF/UHF conventional days and was able to easily program and listen on the old school Bearcat scanner. I understand how trunking works and the different types in play in the Tulsa area. I mistakenly purchased a PRO-90 from EBay. I am starting to regret it as already I cannot scan ECADS like BAPD/Fire, Bixby and Jenks. Tulsa is Type II Secure so I think I may be able to listen there. But that is where I am at a loss. I think I am smart enough to get it programmed but, honestly, will it be worth it?

My main questions are; Will the PRO-90 allow me to scan Tulsa PD/Fire? Can I at least listen to BAPD/Fire in a conventional mode or am I totally screwed in regards to BA? Is the PRO-90 easy enough to program that I, the scanning n00b, could grasp it quick enough to keep what hair I have left attached to my head? And lastly, what would you recommend that will scan multiple trunked systems (preferably Tulsa PD/Fire, Tulsa County SO and BAPD/Fire), be PC programmable, be handheld and be sufficient to handle the planned upgrades that may take place in the near future (ie: Digital)?

Your help is appreciated.

--Buster

 

[n5usr]

Tulsa is on the state system, so your scanner should work - at least for a while. Problem is rebanding, if they change frequencies due to rebanding up there then at that point your scanner won't as it doesn't support rebanding.

As for what you can hear, just by loading the state system, you get everything listed there:

Scanner Frequencies: State of Oklahoma DPS / City of Tulsa Trunking System, Various, Oklahoma

Setting up that one system nets you a whole lot more than Tulsa. You will even hear things from other parts of the state, if a system user up that way happens to have their radio set to receive a talkgroup for another area. Some are retransmitted anyway. I have occasionally heard Tulsa traffic here in OKC, which is kind of interesting, usually it's OHP traffic from other troops though.

I'm not familiar with anything else up that way, a quick look at BA shows it's EDACS, but analog - you wouldn't be able to trunk-track it, but you could plug in the frequencies and listen if you *really* wanted to. If they are busy at all, that gets really annoying as you wind up hearing bits and pieces as a conversation hops around the available frequencies. (I did that for a while with the state system before I got a trunk-tracker.)

I have no idea what it's like to program the PRO-90. But I'm now a firm believer in software programming anyway, I know *how* to program my trunking scanners by hand, but doubt I'll ever bother to do more than enter a random conventional frequency or add a single talkgroup by hand again!

As for which scanner, that can be a religious war at times... I have a PRO-164, which is a RS-branded GRE PSR-300, which is easy enough to program, has alpha-tags, and handles analog stuff just fine. (EDACS as well, I can't listen to OCPD since they're Provoice but I sure can listen to the zoo, Civic Center, airport valets... ) It's also a fair bit cheaper than a digital scanner would be.

The only digital scanner I've used is the PRO-106 (GRE PSR-500) and I *love* it. Not for the digital - I haven't even tried that yet - but for the new programming method, which doesn't waste huge amounts of memory space like the old "banks of channels" style programming. (Who wants to turn 100 frequencies at a time on/off?!?) I also find it much easier to use, now that I've worked with it for a while, but many do find it difficult to program by hand. The available software makes it easy though.

Do note, since BA is EDACS, if they decide to use Provoice NO scanner will receive that. Long as they stay analog, you're fine.

 

[Freqed]

If you didn't pay that much for the Radio, keep it and program the State's DPS System and use it on the job to help interact with OHP and Coweta. Sometimes just hearing what is going on around you while your working will help you out. Finding something newer to handle the other systems and also have a display with alpha Tags will also help you quickly figure out who is talking. The third thing to consider is if you will be using this at home as well as in the Cruiser, any of the newer Din size radios are great for moving from the car to the house. A BC780 XLT would be a good start although a little larger than the newer radios it has decent screen display and alpha tagging. TPD is using some Digital in their undercover operations on the non-trunked channels, but that about it. Also the newer Control Channel Radios are a lot easier to program when you just need to enter the CC's instead off all the freqs. Trying to Listen to BA, Bixby or Glenpool/Jenks in conventional mode is hard as EDACS puts out tones after the transmissions that keep you scanner latched on that freq while the conversation moves to another one. Also you will have to hear everything that the systems have on them instead of being able to just track the ID's you want to hear. Also you will figure out real quick that Computer Programming assistance is really the way to go, there are some freeware programs out there to help you get started learning about using it, but I like Butels software myself.

 

[PolarBear25]

Just my two cents

I am a bought and sold PRO-106 man, because P 25 is a coming. It still love my PRO-2052 good tough radio.


Just my two cents.

 

[Bustergrn]

I think I've got a good solid grasp of what I need and what I want to get. Thanks to some key players here on RR who have some units to sell, I should have what I need sometime next week. I've decided to go with a PRO-162. It has the ability to scan multiple trunks and honestly, I doubt digital will be here in the next year or two anyway. If it happens, then I guess I'll be looking for a digital. For now, this one is the right price for what I need in the short term.

Yes Freqed, I do need it in my car when I am working but it's not a necessity. Fortunately, all the people I need to listen/talk to in the county I work in are VHF and are programmed into my mobile Radius and in my new (to me) HT1000 that will be here in a a week or so. We have some Radius handhelds but hitting the repeaters is tough with them so I only carry those until the HT gets here. I actually enjoy listening to BAPD and am able to stream them on my in-car MDT via scanamerica. It's kind of a round about way of listening to them but I doubt I'd be able to hear them 40 miles outside of their city anyway.

I have little reasons to interact with Coweta as they are a county and a half away from our city (where I work, not live). OHP assigned to our county uses the county VHF dispatch channel to talk to all of us so, yeah, I guess it would be cool to hear Troop B's dispatch.

Anyway, thanks for the help. Looking forward to chatting with all of you here in the Oklahoma forums.