New to Trunking - Quick Question

[Calvert1]

I just bought my first scanner (RS Pro-94) and I have a question about trunking. For example, if I wish to monitor the Richardson, TX police/fire departments, do I simply select the EDACS system, then enter the seven frequencies listed in consecutive channels?

http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=65

Thank you for any info.

 

[INDY72]

Yes! As a former owner of a PRO-94, yep you enter the EDACS in the order they are listed in (LCN) then hit search, once it picks up the Control Chan, hit manual, then program in the ID's you want to hear, then hit scan.

 

[Calvert1]

Thanks for the reply. I followed the procedure in the manual, but I can't tell if it found the control channel. The scanner is scanning the frequencies (Shows Trunk mode...displays (E) for Edacs), but I've been listening for a couple of hours with no traffic. I've done the same for several other trunked systems (City of Garland, City of Mesquite, etc), but I don't hear any traffic on any of the trunked systems I've entered.

Any clue what I might have done wrong?

 

[INDY72]

OK firstly make sure you hit trunk.... then you should get a display with the trunked systems on it, then press the numerical display corresponding to the trunked banks to open them for scanning. You should then have a block under each of the ones you wish to hear,.. then press search. the trunker will then search for cc's and once found, you will see this on the screen: -- ---

Hit manual and enter the TG ID's you wish to monitor and then hit scan.

 

[mciupa]

For EDACS, you will have to program starting at ch.01, not ch.00 or
midway in the bank.
Try this suggestion and see if you are successful.

 

[INDY72]

OK here is the step by step:
turn on the scanner, hold trunk till it beeps and displays all the banks flashing, hit the number of the bank you want to do EDACS, scroll till you get the ED display, then enter. Program all the freqs in LCN order (on the 94 you do not have to skip a chan) then hit search. Once the scanner locks on the CC and you get the display of -- --- hit manual.
Program in the ID's you wish to hear. Hit scan. You should then begin to see ID scan scrolling accross your display. When the ID becomes active, you will see it displayed and hear traffic on it.

 

[INDY72]

For Motorola here is the step by step... as before hold trunk till it beeps and displays the banks flashing, then press the number of the bank you wish to trunk as a Motorola. Scroll till iether E2-800 for Motorola Type II, or E1 for Motorola Type I is displayed, program all the freqs, no order needed for Motorola 800 systems... Then hit search, once the CC is locked on again you should see -- --- on your screen. Hit manual, program in the ID's you want, hit scan.

 

[Calvert1]

Thanks for all the help, guys. However, I have one more question:

I got to the point where the scanner found the control channel and displayed "-- ---" I entered 12-021 from the list in the link above. What do I do next? Pressing "E" doesn't save the entry. Pressing "SRC" displays "ERROR". Pressing "SCAN" just goes back to normal scanning. How do I save the talk groups after I enter them? The manual is woefully inadequate in this area, IMO.

Thanks for your guidance and patience...hopefully I'll get the hang of this soon.

 

[INDY72]

once the scanner shows -- --- hit manual, then punch in the ID, then hit enter, then manual to move to the next open slot, then repeat till you have all the ID's you wnat in the scanner, then once all the ID's are in, press scan.

 

[Calvert1]

I followed those steps: I got the "-- ---", I hit "MAN", enter the talk groups, and then "E". "E"nter does nothing after I input the talk group...doesn't beep...doesn't change the display. If I press it twice, it simply goes to the weather/ham/air/etc.

It works fine when I input individual frequencies, but not for the talk groups.

 

[INDY72]

Now it sounds like there is a problem with your scanner. I owned 2 of the 94's both the A and B versions... and both of them operated the same way except the B could trunk trak and scan conventional at the same time... and the procedure I listed never behaved the way your describing. For the enter key to kick it to service search is wierd. Is this a NEW scanner or a USED?

 

[Calvert1]

Brand new PRO-94B...the manual states that pressing "E" during normal scanning will activate the service search.

"E" works fine for saving individual frequencies, but it's not doing anything for the talk groups.

Just to be sure I'm on the right track:

I have the seven frequencies located in channels 201 - 207 (Bank 5)


Turn on scanner.
Scan Bank 5 only
Scanner finds control channel and displays "-- ---"
Press "MAN"
Enter "12-021"

"E" does nothing
"SRC" displays ERROR
"PROG displays ERROR

Manual says nothing about this...

 

[INDY72]

Hmm ok you followed the full steps for programming it as trunked and as EDACS,.. and I assume that you can scan convention just fine.... try this,... go to conventional scanning, then while scanning hit trunk.....then make sure the bank you want has the lil block under it, then hit search,.. then when you see the -- --- again try hitting manual, then typing the ID in then enter.. .... If it still won't work we will duiscuss the clear mem and try again,.. and if even then it won't work, I'd take it back and since its under warranty, you should have no trouble iether getting a replacement, or getting it repaired free.

 

[Calvert1]

Yes, it scans conventional frequencies just fine. I've got about 220 frequencies for Dallas County/City FD/PD/AIR, etc and it scans them without any problems. Lots of traffic there.

OK...turned on scanner, hit trunk...then search. All of a sudden, I started getting traffic from several different talk groups that I hadn't even tried to enter. The talk groups are displayed when the traffic comes through. No more "-- ---".

Does this mean it automatically "programmed itself" with all the talk groups in that trunking system? Or is that a function of all trunking systems?

Thank you for your time and assistance with this. I should have educated myself further before I bought this thing.

 

[INDY72]

This means its searching the TRS perfectly.. like its supposed to do,.. now attempt to program in ID's, and see if now it works... hopefully this time it will work fine... while its still searching hit manual.. then type in the ID and hit enter... hopefully it will now allow you to enter them withoput any more hassle.. And as to helping, hey thats what we are here for.

 

[INDY72]

Once you have the ID's programmed in,.. you hit scan and ID Scan should then start scrolling accross the display, and when an TG becomes active it will display that ID and you will hear traffic on it.... to keep the scanner on longer than the short transmission of that ID hit delay and the trunking delay will be on, ... with this feature, after each transmission the scanner will hold on that ID for about 5 seconds to catch more traffic on that ID,...

 

[Calvert1]

Ok...it only allowed me to enter a couple of the talk groups, but not all of them. Perhaps some of the groups listed on that page are not valid...I'm not sure, but I'll keep monitoring it.

It does go to "ID SCAN" for a few seconds, so hopefully it's working correctly.

I'm having problems with other EDACS systems, but they may be too far away for me to get a good lock on the control channel. I assume distance plays a big role in this. I'm thinking of putting an antenna on my roof and running a cable down to my office to help boost my coverage area.

Regardless, I appreciate your help. I've spent two days trying to figure this stuff out. As I stated above, the manual is very vague on a lot of the features. I'll input a couple of Motorola 800 and 900mhz systems later tonight and see if I can get those to work as well. Thanks again!

Butch

 

[INDY72]

Yes distance plays a MAGOR role in reception of a trunked system... average distance to sucessfully pick up a 800 MHz TRS is usually 20 to 30 miles maximum. Also if your not getting full signal while scanning, or entering ID's, you may lose the cc signal and then the scanner gos back to searching till it again gets the cc. Best of luck, and if you need any more help just ask. IMPORTANT NOTE***
Remember that the 94 can not trunk track digital tg's. So if any of the agencies you are listening to use digital formats for a TG forget trying them as it ain't gonna happen.

One really cool feature of the 94 B is that while your trunking, you can also have conventional banks scanning at the same time.

Have fun.
And oh yeahhhh
Welcome to the world of trunking!

 

[Calvert1]

Thanks for the info!

I'm within 10 - 15 miles of most of systems I'm trying to monitor, but I'm inside the house and also on the side of a hill, so I have a hard time getting cellular reception, too. I'm hoping the rooftop antenna will help.

Do you have any suggestions for a good, basic antenna that will work decently with all the scanner frequencies? I realize that antennae are usually designed with a particular frequency range in mind, but I don't need / want anything too elaborate. I'm pretty handy with tools, so if there are any sites with plans or drawings, I could probably fabricate something myself.

Thanks again,
Butch

 

[INDY72]

OK for a low price range antenna, I'd get me a RS Base Station Antenna, and depending on the way you want to set it up, a chimney mount, or corner mount bracket and a short zip pole, or if you have an TV antenna on a mast, mount it on that pole iether as near to the TV ant, or above it if possible. There are many more expensive antenna's on the market, and can be seen at sites like waltel's, bncantenna.com , and other places. If your skilled at manufacturing your own antenna, you could probablu rig up your own design, but its simpler to go with a premade one. If your looking for a good directional YAGI style design, waltel has a great one and as a member of radioreference.com you get a discount from there. Not sure if bncantenna.com has base antenna's but they might,.. and if you have a metal roof, you could just get an mag mounty mobile antenna and place it on the roof.