Primary Control Channel and Alternate Control Channel

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prthorsenjr

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Woodstock, Va.
Howdy,

I have a question regarding trucking and control channels. Where I live, according to the information provided here, there is a Primary Control Channel and three Alternate Control Channels. Would I input all 4 Control Channels (ie. frequencies for these Control Channels) or do I only need to input the Primary Control Channel? Also, the other frequencies listed for my city/county are black, versus blue or red (for Primary/Alternate). Does that mean that they are not active and are not used and are there for informational purposes only?

Any and all information is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in Advance,

Pete
 

UFEMTFF

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prt7u said:
Howdy,

I have a question regarding trucking and control channels. Where I live, according to the information provided here, there is a Primary Control Channel and three Alternate Control Channels. Would I input all 4 Control Channels (ie. frequencies for these Control Channels) or do I only need to input the Primary Control Channel? Also, the other frequencies listed for my city/county are black, versus blue or red (for Primary/Alternate). Does that mean that they are not active and are not used and are there for informational purposes only?

Any and all information is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in Advance,

Pete
If you have a scanner that is capable of "Control Channel Only" mode, you only need enter the primary and alternate CCs. If you have a scanner that can't work in Control Channel only mode, you'll have to enter every frequency (Black, Blue and Red).
 

Don_Burke

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On most scanners, you only need the active control channel to be programmed.

I put in at least the primary and alternate channels and will put all the channels in if I have room.
 

prthorsenjr

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Location
Woodstock, Va.
Wow, that was fast ...

UFEMTFF,

UFEMTFF said:
If you have a scanner that is capable of "Control Channel Only" mode, you only need enter the primary and alternate CCs. If you have a scanner that can't work in Control Channel only mode, you'll have to enter every frequency (Black, Blue and Red).

Thanks a lot for the rapid response. I thought about mentioning that this would be for a Radio Shack Pro-96. Not having the radio at present and being new to the whole "trunking" and "digital scanning" I don't know if this particular scanner is capable of "Control Channel Only" mode as you mentioned above.

Do you know if it does?

Thanks for the the information.

Pete
 

mikey60

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Sep 15, 2003
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Oakland County Michigan
prt7u said:
Howdy,

I have a question regarding trucking and control channels. Where I live, according to the information provided here, there is a Primary Control Channel and three Alternate Control Channels. Would I input all 4 Control Channels (ie. frequencies for these Control Channels) or do I only need to input the Primary Control Channel? Also, the other frequencies listed for my city/county are black, versus blue or red (for Primary/Alternate). Does that mean that they are not active and are not used and are there for informational purposes only?

Any and all information is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in Advance,

Pete

The Primary and Alternate control channels should be all you need to enter on most scanners (unless you have an older scanner like the Pro-90). The data carried on the control channel will tell the radio which frequency to tune to hear the voice traffic.

The Frequencies marked in black are the channels that are used only for voice or data, but are never used as control channels. In most cases there is no need to enter these into your scanner.

Mike
 

seamusg

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Grand Blanc, MI
prt7u said:
Howdy,

I have a question regarding trucking and control channels. Where I live, according to the information provided here, there is a Primary Control Channel and three Alternate Control Channels. Would I input all 4 Control Channels (ie. frequencies for these Control Channels) or do I only need to input the Primary Control Channel? Also, the other frequencies listed for my city/county are black, versus blue or red (for Primary/Alternate). Does that mean that they are not active and are not used and are there for informational purposes only?

Any and all information is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in Advance,

Pete
If this is the system you're talking about:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=2081
It looks like you'll need a digital scanner, since most of the TGID's are listed as digital. For the Trunked system the black frequencies for site 001 are the voice channels, and with a scanner that is CC only capable, it will get them from the CC information. I'm not sure what the other frequencies are you refer to.
 

prthorsenjr

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Location
Woodstock, Va.
Pro-96

Seamusg,

seamusg said:
If this is the system you're talking about:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=2081
It looks like you'll need a digital scanner, since most of the TGID's are listed as digital. For the Trunked system the black frequencies for site 001 are the voice channels, and with a scanner that is CC only capable, it will get them from the CC information. I'm not sure what the other frequencies are you refer to.

Thanks for the information. Yes, that is the system I am talking about. The scanner I am thinking of getting is the Radio Shack Pro-96, it's on sale at the moment and I am thinking of getting it.

Pete
 

fmon

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Eclipse, Virginia
prt7u said:
UFEMTFF,



Thanks a lot for the rapid response. I thought about mentioning that this would be for a Radio Shack Pro-96. Not having the radio at present and being new to the whole "trunking" and "digital scanning" I don't know if this particular scanner is capable of "Control Channel Only" mode as you mentioned above.

Do you know if it does?

Thanks for the the information.

Pete
Yes, the 96 is CC only. The active control will decode the correct unprogrammed voice freqs, thus any black frequency programmed as Motorola will be ignored anyway.
 

LEH

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Yorktown, Virginia
To expand on some of the responses and part of the original question.

The primary control channel is the one used most often, but is not always a control channel.
The alternate control channel(s) are channels used as a control channel some of the time.

There are some systems that rotate the control channels around their listed CCs. Occasionally a system will use a system channel that has not been noted as a control channel. If you hear no activity, then you may want to add other channels until it starts working.

Control channel only applies only to Motorola systems. If you are tracking an EDACS system, then you will need all the channels in your scanner and they must be in the specific order of the LCN's.
 

ecps92

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Location
Taxachusetts
Put in ALL 4 of the Control Channels. If your system switches/alternates control channels [some change, based upon 8 / 12 / 24 hrs periods] you won't hear them, until the control channel returns to the only one you programmed.



Don_Burke said:
On most scanners, you only need the active control channel to be programmed.

I put in at least the primary and alternate channels and will put all the channels in if I have room.
 
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