Pro-197 loosing trunked chatter?

[mattaio]

Greetings...

Scenario: Pro-197 using Win500 and RR database feed, Win500. Runs fine for about 10 -20 mins, then it stops putting out any chatter on trunked channels. Conventional still keeps working fine. I turn it off and when turning it back on everything works fine. I thought it might have been the radio, so I returned it, got a new one and same issue.

Location: Nebraska, Douglas County. Scanner Frequencies: Omaha Regional Interoperability Network (ORION) Trunking System, Omaha, Multi-State

Variables;
- I have tried both a discone and oem antenna.
- re-imported the frequencies at least a dozen times.
- Tried changing a few variables in Win500.
- I have left the data cable connected to the PC and also disconnected.

EX: I import ORION trunks and pick OPD (Police). Everything goes fine for a while then the radio becomes silent, though the lcd still reads 5 bars and says it's scanning.

I am perplexed... Any grand masters out there whom can bestow wisdom upon me?

 

[SCPD]

My guess is may have been rebanded or changed CC's??

 

[ratboy]

The fact that it works at all would rule out "rebanding", and being able to shut if off and back on (rebooting) temporarily fixes it would make me think it's a firmware realted issue. I would check the RS site and make sure it's got the latest versions, and if it doesn't, get them. If it is up to date. Make a V-Folder with just a small number of conventional freqs in it, and see if it scans ok and add to that one without importing and see if that solves it.

 

[Mike_G_D]

The 197 has the latest firmware as is. It is simply a GRE PSR600 in RS clothes and since it came out so recently they (Radio Shack) used the latest GRE firmware and installed it in these units by default.

That having been said, I think I know what might be happening in the OP's situation. I believe that the unit may occasionally lose the correct CC and wind up on a different one (different site) which, though it has a strong signal may not have the talk groups affiliated with that site.

Firstly, make sure you are in the correct trunking mode. For that system I would try "P25 Auto" to start with. Next, check and see which control channel ("CC") you are tuned to when everything seems ok. Then, when it seems to go silent for longer than seems right check and see which CC you are now tuned to. If you see a different one from the original than this may be the problem. You need to make sure that "ShowCCInfo" is set to "Yes" in the Global Expert menu. Press "PROG", then "GLOB" (aka "F3"), then scroll down until you get to the "ShowCCInfo setting and set it to "Yes". Now you will see the CC frequency alternating with the voice channel on the display when stopped on an active programmed talk group. Unfortunately, if the site it is locked on is really "dead" (so little activity among your programmed talk groups that nothing seems to come through) then this may not work well unless you program a wild card talk group. The wild group card talk group will allow it to hear everything on that site so you may need to do this.

I notice that the RR database listing has many sites which do not list primary or backup CC's (the ones in red and blue). So, I am not sure what the RR download really loaded into the scanner. You only need the CC's and not all of the voice frequencies. For those sites, however, wherein no CC is flagged you may have to plug all of the frequencies in and listen in conventional mode to find the actual CC used.

Basically, for now, try to find the site listed that is nearest to you and use ONLY its control channels. Delete all of the others. Make sure that it is handling all of the talk groups you are interested in. Try using a group wild card talk group to hear everything handled by that site. Also, set the Multisite mode to OFF, for now.

If the above seems to work but you still want to program all of the sites into the radio (for use when traveling) then there are some other settings which may help make it work better. For now, though, let's see if this is the issue and go from there.

-Mike

 

[mattaio]

I'm on it...

TYVM, I've a few days off and will try this process. I'll keep you posted on what occurs. Thank you again!!!

 

[Mike_G_D]

mattaio,

Another thing you could try which may work and will be simpler (in a sense) is to set Multi-Site to "Stat" and set Check All CC to "Yes" for the system you are listening to. This would force the scanner to check every CC in its programmed list during each pass. It would be slower, overall, and you may miss more traffic than when only looking at the desired CC BUT you would be guaranteed to at least check that desired CC each time (along with the others, of course, which is the reason for the slower pass).

You would manually select the system you want, then press PROG + EDIT (F2) + CURR (F2) then scroll down past the EXPERT BELOW line to the Multi-Site setting and press the right or left arrow key until you see the "Stat" setting. Then scroll down to the Check All CC setting and set it to "Yes".

With this setting, as I said, you'll notice scanning takes longer and you may not hear as much during each pass (because the scanner is checking each CC in it's list rather than just stopping on the first good CC it finds) but it should be a relatively consistent amount of traffic indefinitely IF the problem you are having is what I am guessing it is. Again, this is just to prove or disprove my theory. If proven, we can go from there.

-Mike