NEWBIE with pro 164, need programming help

[born2fly]

HI All,

Ok I decided to replace my 30+ year old Lafeyette crystal scanner with a more 'modern' one as a christmas gift to myself. Well, what a shock. 'Trunking', 'control channels' ....what the ??? yeah, I've been out of the loop for too long I guess. Anyway, I'm very computer literate, read through many related messages and came to the conclusion it would be quickest & easiest to get a software program & a cable from RS, so I did. I purchase a subscrition here as well as ARC300.

Turns out not very good support for that program by vendor, so I was wondering anyone else is using that software with their pro164. According to the instructions when I download trunking info, I should get an option to save/create in the bottom right of the window, I don't. Also when I download data, I only see control freqs displayed in database despite checking off the talkgroups I want to use.

So I was wondering how to 'correctly download & save trunking info'. I also tried to read the existing data into ARC300 from my scanner but seems scanner & computer can't connect. Checked to make sure correct port was being used & driver was correctly installed, still no luck - any suggestions as to what I may be doing incorrectly?? I also noticed that this scanner seems to 'drop' conversations right in the middle of them, is there a way to correct this ? Tried adjusting squelch, ATT and global ATT, zeromatic, but no luck.

Wow, so much new terminolgy & concepts to catch up up. I'm really suprised there are no illustrations or short videos on programming this scanner or diagrams explaining/showing trunking heirarchy in general.

Anyway If their's anyone out there that can get this greenhorn educated a bit, I am greatful ! My local RS does not do programming.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[N8IAA]

Rich, sorry for your problems. Try Software for RadioShack PRO-series (PRO-92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 99, 163, 164, 106, 197) and GRE PSR-series (PSR-500, 600, 300, 400) scanners for your programming pleasure. It will make your life easier. As far as connecting the pc to the scanner, in the start menu, right click on my computer, click on properties, then click on USB ports. This will show you which port your cable is on. Go to the connection tab in the software and make sure that the correct port is enabled. Your scanner will now accept the data And you surely don't want your loco RS to do the programming B>P
HTH,
Larry

 

[born2fly]

Larry,
Thank you for the info. Persistence pays off. Re-booted my computer, now it (ARC300) is working fine. I was able to download the info I need to my scanner, thing are MUCH better, Now I just need to learn how to 'select' what I want to listen to and not. All trunked to bank 0. Still trying to figure how everything works on this new stuff.:0

Rich

 

[N8IAA]

Larry,
Thank you for the info. Persistence pays off. Re-booted my computer, now it (ARC300) is working fine. I was able to download the info I need to my scanner, thing are MUCH better, Now I just need to learn how to 'select' what I want to listen to and not. All trunked to bank 0. Still trying to figure how everything works on this new stuff.:0

Rich

Rich, how many different systems are you TT'ing in one bank? You may want to separate them into different banks so that you can hear them. When you put in multiple systems in one bank, the scanner will always listen for the strongest Control Channel signal. This limits how you can monitor the other systems. You can fill up the other banks with the conventional VHF and UHF to the limit of 100 channels per bank. That is why the 106 has a different method of doing CC's. It allows for more frequencies to be spread out over 20 banks/scanlists.
Larry

 

[born2fly]

Larry,
thanks for the reply..

I'm still trying to get 'up to speed' with the learning curve. Now that I have been able to download the data in, I trying to understand how to manipulate data locations, lock out, ect. What I just noticed is that radioreference didn't have the frq for my FD, so now that I've located those (12) I need to figure out how to place them in the scanner. I guess, by default, all the talkgroups I selected downloaded into bank 0.

Still trying to come to terms in understanding trunking heirarchy.

Thanks again,
Rich

ps - yeah, shoulda went with win97 instead of purchasing ARC300. **hindsight!!**

 

[DonS]

You may want to separate them into different banks so that you can hear them. When you put in multiple systems in one bank, the scanner will always listen for the strongest Control Channel signal. This limits how you can monitor the other systems.

Like the PRO-96, the PRO-164 will handle multiple systems/sites in a single bank. As long as you separate the sites with a "blank" channel, the scanner will not merely lock onto a single CC and stay there. Instead, it will also look for CCs in each such "block" of system frequencies.

For example, presuming the following were in bank 0:

00	SantaClaraCity04	 867.337500	  MOT 	 
01	SantaClaraCity05	 867.862500	  MOT
02	SantaClaraCity06	 868.625000	  MOT
03	SantaClaraCity07	 868.887500	  MOT
04	Bank 0 Chan 04  	   0.000000	   FM
05	SanMateoSouth 08	 488.262500	  MOT
06	SanMateoSouth 09	 488.287500	  MOT
07	SanMateoSouth 10	 488.987500	  MOT

The scanner would look for a CC in channels 00-03 AND in channels 05-07. As long as the two systems didn't have overlapping talkgroup IDs, the behavior would be almost exactly as if you'd programmed the systems into two separate banks.

And, yes, with the above programmed, the scanner will correctly calculate voice frequencies. For the 800MHz system, it would use the "Normal" setting I've programmed; for the 400MHz system, it would use the VHF/UHF "table" I've programmed. (The scanner chooses the table based on current CC frequency.)

 

[born2fly]

Setting up banks

I want to move the trunked items I downloaded from RR into different bank to organize things,
do I need to move the control channels for the specfic frqency (TG) into the new bank as well?

Currently everything resides in bank 0, FD, PD, ect.

I'd like to separate PD precnts & FD into differnt banks. In one bank I'd like to put local (village) PD & FD in same bank.

I have conventional freqs for both, Radioreference has control codes & a freq for my local (village) PD, not sure if I should just use the conventional freq instead of setting up trunking for that one channel. Any Suggestions??

Thank you for your help!

Rich

 

[N1BHH]

If you use Win97 or any other Windows based software, it's simply copy and paste. First, plan out what you want to do, then just follow your plan. You can do anything you want. Keep it simple. Just input the information wherever you like it.
Win97 - Data Management Software for the PRO-97, PRO-2055, PSR-300, PSR-400, PRO-164, and PRO-163 Scanners

 

[KC5EIB]

If you are using a program like WIN97. Copy the whole bank to the new location and then delete what you do not want from each bank.

 

[radioray1000]

Make sure your cable (21-047) doen't have an adapter at the end of the 3.5mm stereo plug.