Pro 96 Difficulties

[Harponis]

Pro 96 issue

I just got a Pro 96 scanner off Ebay. I am trying to program some local systems in the Atlanta GA area, (Atlanta and Cobb P25 TRS). I entered all the control channels, and followed the guidelines in the owners manual for programing a motorola digital system.
I entered everything and set the bank to trunk, but I am not getting any talk groups or activity. When I manually view the entered freqs, I am not getting any data or percentages of decode?? Basically it scans in open mode and nothing happens. I know when I used to put an analog control channel in, I could always hear the noise, and see random talkgroups popping up. However, I am getting nothing. Is that the same in P25 systems.

I am trying to get the win96 software, but wanted to find out if there is any thing I can do in the meantime. I entered freqs for Atlanta's P25 and Cobb County P25 systems, and got nothing, even when in the Atlanta and Cobb county areas today.

I was also thinking that the radio may have been rebranded, (how would I know) and may be missing somethings. not sure how that works or affects me. I was pretty good with my old Pro 95 analog trunking scanner, but a bit rusty on these digital systems.

Appreciate any tips or help.
Ralph

 

[N8IAA]

I just got a Pro 96 scanner off Ebay. I am trying to program some local systems in the Atlanta GA area, (Atlanta and Cobb TRS). I entered all the control channels, and followed the guidelines in the owners manual for programing a motorola digitial system.

i entered everything and set the bank to trunk, but I am not getting any talkgroups or activity. When I manually view the entered freqs, I am not getting any data or percentages of decode?? Basically it scans in open mode and nothing happens.

I am trying to get the win96 software, but wanted to find out if there is any thing I can do in the meantime. I entered freqs for Atlanta's P25 and Cobb County P25 systems, and got nothing.

Appreciate any tips or help.

Do you have the USB programming cable? Win96 is free for thirty days. You may want to get the scanner firmware updated. No firmware update needed. But, you will need the software to enter the custom tables for ATL and Cobb. Been too many years since I've had my 96.
Larry

 

[BaLa]

Have you set all the Control Channels to MO (Motorola) Mode?

And you say you're not getting any Talkgroups or Activity.
Are you hearing/able to pickup the Control Channel Noise?

If no..then that's your problem.

 

[Harponis]

Yes, all frequency channels set to motorola mode. not hearing any control channel noise or talkgroup activity.

 

[BaLa]

Do you have another Scanner to see if you can pickup the Control Channel with it?
It's possible there's something wrong with the Scanner.
You could also be in a bad area.
What kind of Antenna do you have for it?

As long as you don't pickup the Control Channel you WON'T be picking up any Talkgroups.
Regardless if you have the Tables Setup or not ^.

 

[N8IAA]

Do you have the USB programming cable? Win96 is free for thirty days. You may want to get the scanner firmware updated. No firmware update needed. But, you will need the software to enter the custom tables for ATL and Cobb. Been too many years since I've had my 96.
Larry

As I pointed out, you will need Win96 to enter the custom trunking tables to hear Atlanta and Cobb. Otherwise, you'll need to get a 106 or 396XT.
Larry

 

[BaLa]

As I pointed out, you will need Win96 to enter the custom trunking tables to hear Atlanta and Cobb. Otherwise, you'll need to get a 106 or 396XT.
Larry

That's not even true anyway.

Besides
It doesn't matter how many Tables he enters...if he can't hear the CC the Scanner won't follow that system anyway.

 

[Harponis]

I have the stock antenna. I do have an old pro 95 that I can use to check for cc noise. Is the radio reference database for Atlanta and Cobb control channels the correct ones. If not, can someone give me the correct control channels so I can put in.

If the radio has been rebranded, could that be the problem, and how would I tell. I appreciate you guys helping with info!!

 

[N8IAA]

I have the stock antenna. I do have an old pro 95 that I can use to check for cc noise. Is the radio reference database for Atlanta and Cobb control channels the correct ones. If not, can someone give me the correct control channels so I can put in.

If the radio has been rebranded, could that be the problem, and how would I tell. I appreciate you guys helping with info!!

The CC's are correct in the RR database. If you live in Atlanta, for the Cobb system, use these: 853.7875, 853.325. For Atlanta: 857.4625, 857.4875, 857.7875, 857.8875.
Larry

 

[BaLa]

Make sure the Frequencies posted above are in your Pro96.
If you still can't hear the Control Channel on your 96.
Program those same frequencies in your 95.


If you can't pick it up then it's probably your location.
Might try opening the Squelch a little.

 

[Harponis]

I put the Cobb CC frequencies that you provided, and all the others from cobb via RR database. I went out to the store and sat in parking lot, as it sits high up on a hill. I did hear the CC noise, and was getting the following displays on the CC channel with noise

96: SY17D 00%
96: BEE00 80%
96: T0102 80%

the percentages were changing at various levels all the way up to 96%, I then turned the squelch down and picked up TG 30429, marietta Police, and Cobb Police Pct 1 but it was garbled some, and then clear some. other TG appeared also but was not clear, sounded like when your digital cable tv sound is acting up LOL

I put the CC freqs for the Fulton County analog TRS and monitor it fine. I noticed when the marietta TG and others came up, it had "DG" in the upper right corner on the screen.

That being said, I think maybe I am too far out to get a good signal completely? I plan on taking the scanner downtown Atlanta on Monday and see how it does with this and Atlanta TRS.

I live in Douglas County area and would figure I could get Cobb better, as Douglasville Police is on their system,

thanks
Dano

 

[BaLa]

The DG means it's Digital Audio P25.
You will notice it also sounds different then you're used to with Analog.

The Cobb TRS has several different Sites.
Try Site 103 - 857.76250/857.93750
Should have better luck with it.

 

[N8IAA]

I put the Cobb CC frequencies that you provided, and all the others from cobb via RR database. I went out to the store and sat in parking lot, as it sits high up on a hill. I did hear the CC noise, and was getting the following displays on the CC channel with noise

96: SY17D 00%
96: BEE00 80%
96: T0102 80%

the percentages were changing at various levels all the way up to 96%, I then turned the squelch down and picked up TG 30429, marietta Police, and Cobb Police Pct 1 but it was garbled some, and then clear some. other TG appeared also but was not clear, sounded like when your digital cable tv sound is acting up LOL

I put the CC freqs for the Fulton County analog TRS and monitor it fine. I noticed when the marietta TG and others came up, it had "DG" in the upper right corner on the screen.

That being said, I think maybe I am too far out to get a good signal completely? I plan on taking the scanner downtown Atlanta on Monday and see how it does with this and Atlanta TRS.

I live in Douglas County area and would figure I could get Cobb better, as Douglasville Police is on their system,

thanks
Dano

Use the Douglas county tower for the Cobb system. You should be able to hear Atlanta where you live. But, you'll need a better antenna than the garbage one that came with the scanner. Go to RS and get the 800MHz antenna. It will make a huge difference. Make sure your squelch is turned just above the threshold of noise.
Larry

 

[Harponis]

I downloaded win 96 and used it to program the scanner with Cobb TRS. under the section where you set the cc, ("MOT 9600 CC") do I check normal, splinter, custom or extended?

 

[Harponis]

I am getting activity on the Cobb TRS but the talkgroups are not clear. sounds like it cutting in and out, and garbled. adjusted the squelch and it still is coming in garbled

 

[Harponis]

went to RS and got the 800 mhz antenna, also

 

[N8IAA]

I downloaded win 96 and used it to program the scanner with Cobb TRS. under the section where you set the cc, ("MOT 9600 CC") do I check normal, splinter, custom or extended?

Normal.
Larry

 

[blue5011]

I then turned the squelch down and picked up TG 30429, marietta Police, and Cobb Police Pct 1 but it was garbled some, and then clear some.

I would back the squelch off completely since you are listening to a digital signal.

 

[Harponis]

The unit seems to be working fine.

However, I took the scanner to downtown atlanta today and was not getting very good digital signals on the Atlanta TRS.

The control channel had only 38-60% decode rate percentages, and the voice channel traffic was choppy.

While downtown, I did get perfect reception on MARTA TRS, and Fulton analog TRS.

 

[MTS2000des]

The unit seems to be working fine.

However, I took the scanner to downtown atlanta today and was not getting very good digital signals on the Atlanta TRS.

The control channel had only 38-60% decode rate percentages, and the voice channel traffic was choppy.

While downtown, I did get perfect reception on MARTA TRS, and Fulton analog TRS.

This is the reality of modern digital scanners. Without boring you with the technical details, systems like Cobb, Atlanta, and DeKalb use a technology known as CQPSK-LSM simulcast.

Since the scanner manufacturers use "cheap and dirty" methods of demodulating and decoding P25 signals, they are not optimized for this method of transmission used on these systems. So, the reception will vary widely from very good to poor to non-existent, regardless of the signal level.

Some people call this simulcast distortion. This is factually incorrect, there is no distortion of the signal in the radio system, it is a failure of the design of the scanner to properly demodulate and decode the type of signal you are tuning in.

The reason why MARTA comes in so good is they are not using CQPSK-LSM, but straight up C4FM, which a common discriminator tap design like your Pro 96 uses will work fairly well with.

Until someone builds a scanner that uses an I/Q demodulator design in the receiver front end, consistent reception of these CQPSK-LSM systems will be hit or miss on consumer scanners. It's why I gave up on even bothering with them years ago. (my XTS5000 and even 15 year old Astro Spectra Plus work just fine on simulcast systems)