PRO-106 Not receiving DC & Baltimore Trunk Frequencies - Very frustrating

[szarny]

If I could get some help on this, it would be very much appreciated. I have the PRO-106, ARC-500 sw, and link to the Radio Reference Database. I wanted to receive Wash DC & Baltimore Trunked Scanned Frequencies. I have downloaded & updated the scanner with the appropriate links using ARC-500 & Radio Reference direct web interface. The data uploads to the scanner but will not receive anything from these Trunked Systems. I tried both using the edit for re-banding the frequencies & also straight from the import from Radio Reference.

Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[shadcall]

Did you assign the talk groups to a scan list?

 

[szarny]

Yes. When I import them, I have to choose a scan list, which I did. They are being scanned. But not receiving any broadcasts. Thank you.

 

[jimmyo]

Might be a bit out of range?

 

[W6KRU]

What happens when you enter the CC in analyze mode? That will tell you if you are in range of the system. See this link: Easier to Read Pro-106/197/PSR500/600 Digital Scanner Manual

 

[szarny]

I will check the CC in analyze mode.

 

[ka3jjz]

You didn't say anything about what antenna you are using, but I'm sure you are WAY out of range for the Baltimore system (assuming here you're talking about the City system). The new system is notable for really cutting down on how far away you can hear it. Mike

 

[wfagan]

Motorola Smartnet or P25?

I was in Baltimore County a few months ago, and had set up my new PRO-106 with the P25 system and realized I wasn't receiving anything, while my old PRO-96 was working fine- Realized my PRO-96 was using the older Motorola Type II Smartnet setup, rather than the new frequencies which, at that time, were only in a test or "to be" status

 

[ka3jjz]

Another gotcha - there's a report here that ARC500 does not handle rebanding properly. No one has yet sent a note on our scanner software forum about this, and certainly only one report is hardly conclusive. However, since DC did reband, this might be an issue. The way to work around this would be to apply the required custom table manually, which I'll get to in a moment

Win500 apparently does apply the rebanding table properly; we have 2 user's guides for that software, and the 2nd one has the correct values for rebanding. Those 2 guides are found at the bottom of...

Programming Your Radio Shack Scanner - The RadioReference Wiki

There's also a programming shortcut there that tells you how to apply custom tables.

HTH...Mike

 

[szarny]

Thank you about trying WIN500. I could try it. I had read the ARC500 worked well enough. I am not receiving Washington DC police but I am receiving Washington DC fire. I did drive on 95 thru Baltimore last week & did not receive anything. Maybe it is the software.

 

[ka3jjz]

Of course, many of the DC police talkgroups are encrypted, so programming them is a moot point anyway. See our database entry here...

Washington, DC Trunking System, Washington, District of Columbia - Scanner Frequencies

Anything with an 'E' in the mode is encrypted...Mike

 

[dmi]

Thank you about trying WIN500. I could try it. I had read the ARC500 worked well enough. I am not receiving Washington DC police but I am receiving Washington DC fire. I did drive on 95 thru Baltimore last week & did not receive anything. Maybe it is the software.

You should be able to hear non-encrypted TGs on DC Police like CW (Citywide) which as of now is unencrypted.

I'm not sure which firmware/dsp you are using but when I upgraded to one of the firmware/dsps (not sure which one did it) my PRO-106 no longer will track encrypted talk groups even if there is traffic on it. I'm guessing the modified the firmware so that if there's an encrypted TG bit it will disregard it entirely which is a great disappointment because it doesn't let you know if there is traffic on the TG or not.


j

 

[szarny]

Thank you. I will look at the CW talk groups to see if I can get them. I assume you are also saying that I may be able hear the encrypted TG but they will not be intelligible.