PRO-651 (P25) Doublecheck -- Am I going crazy? - Broken? - Need Antenna?

[n8thanael]

I'm new to scanning. My little brother is in love with firetrucks, police etc. and has begged our family to get him a scanner, so I've bought this for him and I'm trying to get this thing figured out so he can hear stuff going on.

I've read the "Factory" RadioShack .pdf manual
http://mvc.nataley.com/Radio_Shack_PRO-651.pdf

I've read the "Easier to Read" online manual here:
http://new.marksscanners.com/106_197/106_197.shtm

But I just want to double check with all you pros out there because something is not right and I'm not sure what to do. I don't have another scanner that does work to troubleshoot with.

(Confirmation Please: 1)
I've determined I have a (P25) Motorolla I system here in Coshocton County.
Coshocton County, Ohio (OH) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

(Confirmation Please: 2)
I've determined all control, active and other trunking frequencies for my county as well as talk-groups
Ohio MARCS-IP: Multi-Agency Radio Communications (P25) Trunking System, Various, Ohio - Scanner Frequencies

---- >> EASY COUNTY DATA REFERENCE <<----
here is an EASY place to see all of this information collected together:
Untitled Document

(Confirmation Please: 3)
PRO-651 Scanner Setup:

I've set my TSYS object to P25 Auto and have the TGRP (TrunkGroup) object setup 3 different ways:
Scan List 1: P25 Auto....All Control, Active & Other Frequencies... Only POLICE Talkgroup ID's
Scan List 2: P25 Auto....All Control, Active & Other Frequencies... Only FIRE Talkgroup ID's
Scan List 3: P25 Auto....All Control, Active & Other Frequencies... Only EMS Talkgroup ID's
++ Multi-site: OFF

Scan List 5: P25 Auto....Only Control & Active Frequencies... Only POLICE Talkgroup ID's
Scan List 6: P25 Auto....Only Control & Active Frequencies... Only FIRE Talkgroup ID's
Scan List 7: P25 Auto....Only Control & Active Frequencies... Only EMS Talkgroup ID's
++ Multi-site: OFF

Scan List 10: P25 Auto....Only Control & Active Frequencies... ALL Talkgroup ID's
++ Multi-Site: Roam...( Hi:95 | Low: 75 Default )

Scan List 11: CONV ... All Frequencies Between 100-400mhz ... Only FIRE
Scan List 12: CONV ... All Frequencies Between 100-400mhz ... Only EMS
Scan List 13: CONV ... All Frequencies Between 100-400mhz ... Only PUBLIC
Scan List 14: CONV ... All Frequencies Between 100-400mhz ... Only POLICE

-- when I try and scan these scan list groups 1-10 all I get is a continual PST, PST, PST... like it wants to tell me a secret...It seems like the signal is strong and the [T] like goes on quite a bit...I would think I'm picking it up, but I hear no voices.

Here's a video of what my scanner is doing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWIzqluZ4Nc

Here's a composite picture of my location vs. the location of the towers in my area & the general coverage circle as best as I could put it together.
http://mvc.nataley.com/scanner_locations.jpg

I don't know If my location (ME - on map) has anything to do with it... from what I can tell on the maps and the location of the towers in my county, perhaps i'm too far away.

My little brother is delayed, so I want to just HAND him this scanner all ready to go because he's not really going to know what to do with it except turn it on and squelch it. He lives basically in the perfect location (HIM - on map) - Should I go to his house and trouble shoot all this? Should I buy a new antenna or am I not setting up the trunking group right?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading this long post!

 

[phask]

No ide on a RD scanner - but I can almost guarantee you do NOT want separate groups for fire, ems, etc that duplicate the same sites. That will slow it down a LOT.


Hope someone comes along to help ..

 

[budevans]

n8thanael,

How are you programming your scanner? By hand directly in the scanner or are you using a software program? Along those lines, do you have the USB cable for your scanner?

If you have the USB cable, my suggestion is to use a software program that lets you download the settings to your scanner. Programs like Win500 and PSREDIT500 are easy to learn and use. They have a very organized structure that makes the process very easy. Also both programs allow a 30 day free trial period. So you can try them out, if you like one you can purchase it.

Regarding setting up your scanner for MARCS-IP Coshocton. You need to setup just one TSYS (Trunking System), give it a name (like Coshocton MARCS). Since MARCS-IP is a P25 system, you only need to enter the (5) sites Control and Alternate Control frequencies. 773.33125 771.15625 770.90625 770.40625 774.55625 773.23125 773.73125 772.88125 852.8125. You may receive traffic from one or more sites. That's it you've got the whole county covered.

Next in the Talk Group area you add the 19 Talk Groups listed for Coshocton. Once the Talk Groups and their Descriptions are added, you can designate which scanlist or scanlists that a Talk Group belongs to. Using your example, you can set all Law in Scanlist 1. Fire in Scanlist 2 and EMS in Scanlist 3.
FYI: you can put Talk Groups in one or more Scanlists.

That's the shortest version I can present. As an example I'm including a picture of my setup in WIN500 for the TSYS Cleveland Special Events. Here's a link to the WIN500 web page. http://www.starrsoft.com/software/win500/

I hope this helps.

 

[n8thanael]

RE: Thanks for the replay budevans...

@budevans.... By Hand - No USB, too much $$ right now. Software looks great, buy my christmas money has already gone into this scanner :-J

Ok, this is very very helpful, I just wanted to confirm I knew what I'm doing since it was my first time in setting this up.

"Since MARCS-IP is a P25 system" -- I'm using P25 Auto right now... i was just afraid that I had that wrong...I didn't want to get into setting up a P25 "Manual Table" - that i'd read about in other places... it seem like I have it right, I'm considering putting together a home-brew base-antenna to see if I can get better reception.
I've confirmed those control & alternate frequencies... they are all set to the same TSYS -- but not in this order... is the order you provided below important?
773.33125
771.15625
770.90625
770.40625
774.55625
773.23125
773.73125
772.88125
852.8125

My talk group ID's are separated into scan lists 5 (POLICE),6(FIRE),7(EMS) ---
I moved my scanner out to the living room on a table... and i actually picked up two Police calls... I think i've got a location/antenna problem ---

BUT Thanks for your confirmation, I'm going to delete the other TSYS objects I've programmed in - I think they are wrong now..... I don't think I need Multi-Site on mine... I'm not sure how to find out though if that's correct.

 

[wa8pyr]

I don't think I need Multi-Site on mine... I'm not sure how to find out though if that's correct.

In Coshocton County, you will need to use Multi-Site mode when monitoring multiple sites. Luckily for you, you won't have to deal with the dreaded P25 simulcast issue.

Best thing to do is determine which sites you can hear most reliably, then enter only those sites, and set the radio up for Multi-Site Stationary. It will then check each control channel every time it scans by. I suspect being in Coshocton that the Coshocton tower (zone 3/site 81) will be the most reliable by a long shot.

 

[n8thanael]

Fixed

So my brother has it working. Being UN-experienced in this I was making this WAY too complicated. Thanks for your replies everyone. A good snow made the scanner light up like a Christmas Tree all day long - Coshocton county is not very busy otherwise.