New User on a BC246T

[SysFail]

Hi All

I just purchased a 246T and I am in awe of how complicated it seems to be to work.
My old Sportcat SC150 has served me well for years and years and was quite simple to operate. I am getting a huge amount of traffic between 856.00 and 869.00 but it is all random stuff..fire-ambulance-police-construction etc..I realize that this must be the very concept of trunking, but i cannot seem to figure out how to put these into the scanner so they make sense when I listen. My PC knowledge is a 10 out of 10 but even with this hooked up to the computer I am still not grasping the concept here.

ANY help would be much appreciated!
Thanks!
SysFail

 

[mciupa]

Hi SysFail . We need a starting point.
What trunk system are you interested in monitoring ?
Using the WIKI link for trunking basics and the DATABASE for your home location will provide you with what you need to start enjoying your radio.

Get back to us with some details :wink:

 

[SysFail]

OK I tried the database and got a range of freqs for my area ( NE of Indianapolis) I found a bunch of "control" channels screeching out tones constantly.

857.7625
858.7625
859
860 has the constant tone...

This seems to be the main group...I have heard everything from the pendelton jail to fire ambulance and police on these...to janitors talking about waxing floors lol

I am still reading the information on trunking systems...but I wont dont get is how to tell the scanner to follow the convos??

Thanks!

 

[JnglMassiv]

You need to find what system or systems are within range. Go to the radiorefernce database (link at top of the forums page) and select your area. Then see if you can figure out what you want to listen to. The selected system can then be programmed.

Or tell us where you're monitoring...

 

[hiegtx]

If you are NE of Indianapolis, and talking about Pendleton, am I correct that you are in (or near) Madison County?

It looks like much of the county sheriff ops are on this LTR trunked system. It has two 'sites' listed, apparently one for the sheriff depart usage, the other for rural law enforcement usage. As it's an LTR, where you have to enter the channels in their specific LCN slots (this system has some LCN's that are empty; that's not uncommon), you'd need to set it up as two separate systems in your 246.

To receive the conventiontional frequencies in use in the county, you'll need to create a 'conventional system' in the 246. You can either put all the various agencies into one "Madison County" system, then break the various cities and/or agencies into groups within that system. or make each one their own system. That choice is yours.

You'll find that the scanner is much easier to program using software rather than by hand. Besides being easier (and faster) to enter frequencies & text tags for the channels & trunked systems talk groups, it's also much more clearly defined when displayed all at one time on the pc screen rather than moving between multiple menus on the scanner itself. I'm using Uniden's software (the full version), though some prefer Butel's ARC246 software.