PRO-2055 Help!

[gmclam]

I assume you performed a hardware reset on the scanner before programming it - not to be confused with a software reset.
Some scanners also have an EEPROM test mode that might be interesting to run there. It will also clear memory to do the testing, but should narrow down what is going on.

 

[lil_jimmy_norton]

In my experiance the PRO-2055 has an odd thing that must be done with EDACS systems, and may need to be done on MOT as well. The control channel frequencies need to start at channel 1 in the bank not channel 0. I don't know why this is, but I've programmend MANY scanners by hand and this one had me stumped, until I read the manual, and it made a amall mention of this.

It may be worth a shot.

 

[N8IAA]

Take out the conventional frequencies from the trunking banks. Do a hard reset. Get the Win97 programming software. Get the cable from Radio Shack. Reprogram the radio with the trunked CC in the banks you want. In the alpha tag row on Win97--put in the county or system in that bank. Program the conventional frequencies in other banks. Make sure you are using something other than the antenna that came with the radio. Get a good dual band antenna (ham), or get a really good scanner antenna. Mag mount preferred. CHP is lowband I presume, join the yahoo groups for N CA. Hopefully this has helped!

Larry

 

[N8IAA]

Page 7 of the manual PC/IF is a mono 1/8" plug on the front of the radio below the Volume knob, and above the headset knob. program the red and blue frequencies for San Fran. EDACS must be programmed in order of frequency starting with X1-X?. Must be ED mode for bank and frequencies. Lo band and Hi band VHF should be in it's own bank, just like the motorola and edacs. The new cables from the Shack are USB to mono. The old programming cables are DB9 to mono.

Larry

 

[N8IAA]

Oakland is EDACS Aegis. Won't be able to copy that even with a digital scanner! Just the analog channels. Get into the California forum and ask your questions there. The people will be more knowledgable than those of us from different parts of the country. Learning about TT scanners is always hard at first, but gets easier with time. But this is a great place to learn the basics.

Larry

 

[gmclam]

....EDACS must be programmed in order of frequency starting with X1-X?. Must be ED mode for bank and frequencies. Lo band and Hi band VHF should be in it's own bank, just like the motorola and edacs. ...

There is no "rule" that EDACS will use channel 1. They certainly will NOT use channel 0. In the database there is a "site" number is smaller text immediately before a frequency. Program the frequency into that "slot" of a bank you are dedicating to the EDACS trunk you want to receive.

For example:
The city of Oakland is shown as (partial listing):
01 866.12500 02 866.32500 03 866.40000
If you are programming this trunk into bank 0, then it gets programmed as follows:
000: unprogrammed
001: 866.1250
002: 866.3250
003: 866.4000

Someone mentioned posting in a California forum; I am in Northern California and some of the other replies are either from people in California or who understand the scanner being programmed.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

 

[RSHWNBE]

Is the computer based programming easy? I just ordered the data cable. The manual is so confusing for the scanner.

 

[ScanDaBands]

Is the computer based programming easy? I just ordered the data cable. The manual is so confusing for the scanner.

It's great , say you decide to take off for a weekend somewhere out of state or even upper state , just use Win 97 to make a new file from the RR database for the area you're going.....upload it to the scanner and whamo , you're off to see the wizard......he he

 

[brian]

So you think you programmed the system correctly. You say you programmed the control channels indicated for your target system listed in the radioreference database. But the scanner won't stop on any transmissions when you set the bank to MOT mode. Here are some possibilities:
1. You don't have the correct control channel frequency programmed. Manually step through the control channel frequencies you programmed in MOT mode. One should sound like a idling diesel engine. If none sound like that, then you don't have the correct frequencies programmed.
2. If you do have a control channel programmed, hold the channel in manual mode. Check that the System ID listed on the bottom line of the display matches the system ID listed on the target system's radioreference database page. If it doesn't, you won't hear anything you want to hear.
3. Triple-check that you have the talkgroup ids programmed properly. If they aren't and you're scanning the bank in closed mode (a "-" below the bank number when scanning), you won't hear anything. Follow the instructions in the manual. Hint - press Program, then Trunk.
4. Are the talkgroups you want to listen to actually active on the system? Change the bank to open mode (Function 5, a "+" unde the bank number when scanning). See if the talkgroups that you want to hear actually display while the system is active.
5.You are scanning the corrrect bank? Look at the channel number of the data channel. For instance, channel 501 (in the top left corner of the display). The 5 indicates bank #5. When you press scan, does the number 5 show up in the line of active banks?

Sometimes the problem is a simple oversight in the scanner's settings or programming, and sometimes the information in the radioreference database isn't accurate (incomplete, incorrect or out of date).

Hope that helps.

 

[RSHWNBE]

So you think you programmed the system correctly. You say you programmed the control channels indicated for your target system listed in the radioreference database. But the scanner won't stop on any transmissions when you set the bank to MOT mode. Here are some possibilities:
1. You don't have the correct control channel frequency programmed. Manually step through the control channel frequencies you programmed in MOT mode. One should sound like a idling diesel engine. If none sound like that, then you don't have the correct frequencies programmed.
2. If you do have a control channel programmed, hold the channel in manual mode. Check that the System ID listed on the bottom line of the display matches the system ID listed on the target system's radioreference database page. If it doesn't, you won't hear anything you want to hear.
3. Triple-check that you have the talkgroup ids programmed properly. If they aren't and you're scanning the bank in closed mode (a "-" below the bank number when scanning), you won't hear anything. Follow the instructions in the manual. Hint - press Program, then Trunk.
4. Are the talkgroups you want to listen to actually active on the system? Change the bank to open mode (Function 5, a "+" unde the bank number when scanning). See if the talkgroups that you want to hear actually display while the system is active.
5.You are scanning the corrrect bank? Look at the channel number of the data channel. For instance, channel 501 (in the top left corner of the display). The 5 indicates bank #5. When you press scan, does the number 5 show up in the line of active banks?

Sometimes the problem is a simple oversight in the scanner's settings or programming, and sometimes the information in the radioreference database isn't accurate (incomplete, incorrect or out of date).

Hope that helps.

1. There's a couple channels that sound like that. However they change from day to day for which one of the trunked frequencies does that and if I scan with those on, all I get is that noise and nothing else. It's quite annoying.

2. Where can I cross reference this information?

3. Checked ok.

4. Checked ok.

5. Checked ok. Everything's on bank one.

Does it matter if I have Motorola trunk freq's and regular FM freq's on the same bank?

 

[RSHWNBE]

SUCCESS!!! I just had to unlock the data channels! THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP, BRIAN!

 

[ScanDaBands]

SUCCESS!!! I just had to unlock the data channels! THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP, BRIAN!

Brian you have hit heaven here on RR when it comes to help , these people are FANTASTIC here......

 

[RSHWNBE]

Actually I was thanking the guy Brian that posted that last response. I'm Jason.

 

[RSHWNBE]

Can you guys tell me why the the signal isn't as strong as it was before I unlocked those frequencies? It seems sort of garbled now. Do I just need a better antenna? If so, what should I go with so that I can still get the best reception across all frequencies?

 

[RSHWNBE]

I got a new 800MHZ antenna and it's still the same. When it's scanning in trunking mode and it locks onto a voice channel, it's more distorted and unclear than it is if I just locked onto that particular frequency manually.

 

[gmclam]

Here in Sacramento the county uses a Motorola II system from two sites. I've noticed that if I am receiving the control freq from site 1, often the voice is poor. When I lock out that site and receive the control channel from site 2 (which is closer to me), the conversation will clear up. Of course this depends on whether the control info is being sent from both sites and the specific voice channel being used at that moment.

 

[brian]

You never indicated exactly which trunked system you're monitoring, so this is a guess, but I think clam might have answered your question. I'm also assuming you're using a PRO-9x radio or its base equivalent.

You mentioned that among the frequencies you programmed, two sounded like data channels. If you programmed all of those trunked frequencies in one "block" (a set of contiguous channels in the scanner's memory) then the radio is going to monitor the first data channel it finds and track it. If that is a data channel associated with a transmission site farther away from you, it'll not have as strong of a signal.

Try to figure out which control channels is associated with which site (if it is indeed a multi-site system). Lock out the data channel associated with the site farther away from you. The scan it and see if it works better (since it should pick up the closer data channel).

Also, make sure to use descriptive alpha-tags for the data channel frequencies. Then you can see which site the scanner is scanning.

Or you could program a conventional channel in FM mode between the two data channels, and it would scan each data channel. You can see then if one is received better than the other.

Hope that helps.

Brian