Pro-97 Help!!

[lisam27]

I am trying to scan only the talkgroups that I want to listen to. I just got this scanner and I'm frustrated to say the least. I have followed the instructions for programming the talkgroups and I can see them listed. However it will NOT scan these talkgroups and I do not know why or what is wrong. I only want to listen to a specific sector of Orange County Sheriff in Florida.

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=205

I entered the control frequency in red on that page and then Sector 5 talkgroups.. but it's not working.. what am I doing wrong???? Thank you!!

 

[LEH]

First a couple of things to check.

1. Are you hearing the control channel when you manually select it (or if you select manual while scanning the bank it is located in)? Should sound like a motor boat or gas powered weed eater.

If not, then enter one of the other alternate control channels and check if you hear the motorboating. If you are not receiving the control channel, then the radio will not be able to receive anything (except when the system assigns the control channel as a voice channel).

2. Make sure you have the system set as a Motorola 800 system.

Now for some bad news. The system you are trying to listen to is analog and digital and the PRO-97 will not decode digital. So even once you get the system set up, it will not hear a good many of the talk groups. They too will sound like a motorboat.

 

[N8IAA]

I am trying to scan only the talkgroups that I want to listen to. I just got this scanner and I'm frustrated to say the least. I have followed the instructions for programming the talkgroups and I can see them listed. However it will NOT scan these talkgroups and I do not know why or what is wrong. I only want to listen to a specific sector of Orange County Sheriff in Florida.

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=205

I entered the control frequency in red on that page and then Sector 5 talkgroups.. but it's not working.. what am I doing wrong???? Thank you!!

Lisam27, if you read the whole page, you would have noticed that all PD TG's are now encrypted(as of April, 2008). In fact, there was a rather lengthy thread about this starting back in March of this year. No way to monitor even with a digital scanner. Don't feel left out, a county I used to monitor went totally encrypted last year. Sorry to be the bearer of this bad news(
Larry

 

[lisam27]

N8IAA - Orlando Police Department is fully encrypted. Orange county sheriff is not as far as I'm aware of. Orlando went fully encrypted in April of this year and Winter Park Police is encrypted. As far as I'm aware of Orange County Sheriff department will not being going encrypted until about 2012.

 

[N8IAA]

N8IAA - Orlando Police Department is fully encrypted. Orange county sheriff is not as far as I'm aware of. Orlando went fully encrypted in April of this year and Winter Park Police is encrypted. As far as I'm aware of Orange County Sheriff department will not being going encrypted until about 2012.

What tower site are you trying to monitor on your scanner? You say that only the red CC is entered, are there any blue CC's? They need to be entered also just to be safe. Also, if all you want to enter is the TG's for Sector 5, and their alphatags, push MAN, F, then T and use the up/down arrows to go to the scan list for the TG's. Enter the TG's and their alphatags. Push the scan button. Then when it is scanning, push F, then the Delay/. button. Under the flashing bank number should be a (- sign) not a (+ sign). Then you are in the closed mode and will only hear the TG's programmed.
HTH,
Larry

 

[N8IAA]

Lisam27, have you thought about purchasing the Win97 software? It makes programming this scanner a breeze. I truly like my 97. I recently purchased the newer version of the radio--Pro-163(mobile/base version). I use Win97 to program it also. You will need the RS USB programming cable, part # 20-047. The 97 is a versatile scanner. You have a ton of milair to listen to on the eastern shore of FLA. The 97 shines monitoring milair
Larry

 

[lisam27]

I'm using the win 97 program which I just got working. There are other freq in blue which I have added as well in the MOT Custom Trunking table but there's only room for 3 and there's 3 blue and 1 red. I have added the freq to the MOT custom trunking table and the TG and I have locked out everything else. I upload the information to the scanner and it says it's completed but then when I hit scan etc the channels that I locked out on the program are NOT locked out. I don't understand why!! I'm getting frustrated. I only want to have sector 5 because my fiance is a Deputy and that's the only sector I want right now. But I just don't understand why nothing that I'm locking out is being locked out from the program.

 

[n2mdk]

It's a MOT Type II system there is no custom trunking table all the frequencies need to be added to the standard frequency bank. You need to set the bank as closed it will continue to pick up everything that isn't locked out. If you can zip your p97 file and post it so we can have a look at it.

Load the p97 I just made up in Win97 and see how it's set up

 

[lisam27]

Here is the zip file for what I've done.. I'm sure it's wrong.. please let me know if I saved it correctly and it works. Thank you guys so much. I'm really confused!

 

[N8IAA]

I'm using the win 97 program which I just got working. There are other freq in blue which I have added as well in the MOT Custom Trunking table but there's only room for 3 and there's 3 blue and 1 red. I have added the freq to the MOT custom trunking table and the TG and I have locked out everything else. I upload the information to the scanner and it says it's completed but then when I hit scan etc the channels that I locked out on the program are NOT locked out. I don't understand why!! I'm getting frustrated. I only want to have sector 5 because my fiance is a Deputy and that's the only sector I want right now. But I just don't understand why nothing that I'm locking out is being locked out from the program.

That is the problem! You must remove the frequencies from the custom trunking tables and put them in the area that says alphatags, frequency, rx mode. This is where the frequencies need to be entered When you remove the frequencies from the custom trunking table, re-enter the 406.000 frequencies in all three spots. If you didn't change the offset and step, you will be OK. Make sure that when you enter the frequencies in the BANK area, that the RX mode is MOT(you can get this in a drop down window by double clicking on the area) and selecting MOT. Do this for all the frequencies. In the area above this is where you will see bank, tag, closed, and type. Double click on type and choose MOT. If you have the TG's entered in the window with the Alphatag, ID, and Lout you are now ready to get the scanner going on the system. Under file, click on save and it will prompt you to Save As. Make up a name for the file and add .p97 at the end! Turn the scanner on, plug in the cable and click on Scanner. Then click on upload to scanner. Wait until the upload finishes and remove the cable from the scanner. If you are using the USB cable, the scanner will reboot and start scanning the OC SO department. If you need to, Let me know what the frequencies are and I will put together a file for what you want to listen to.
Larry

 

[lisam27]

You guys are awesome! Thank you! Ok the Orange Orlando.p97 looks awesome with the sectors already input. Can I load this into my scanner and lock out the sectors I don't want to listen to at the time? Or do I need to make my own following the format of that file??

 

[n2mdk]

You can use mine just load it into the scanner. It only contains the Orange Co Sheriffs talkgroups.
You can locKout any of the talkgroups you don't want.
My file will get you started and then you can learn from there.
I can add things and then re-upload the file if you give me an idea of what else you might want included.

 

[lisam27]

Thank you so much! That is perfect!!!! Orange County was all I wanted. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!! I have sector 5 right now loaded... when it says scanning down or scanning up and it's quiet.. I'm assuming nothing is going on at the time and it will just pick up when something is happening? So far I have just heard one unit check and quiet the rest of the time. Thank you so much again!!

 

[n2mdk]

Your welcome, as long as you have heard something then it should be working OK.
You can check the control channel by hitting MAN as long as you hear the noise you should be fine.
It will also show you the % of decode on the bottom line.
Over time you will learn how it all works.

 

[N8IAA]

You guys are awesome! Thank you! Ok the Orange Orlando.p97 looks awesome with the sectors already input. Can I load this into my scanner and lock out the sectors I don't want to listen to at the time? Or do I need to make my own following the format of that file??

I am sending you the your file back. Bank 2 is now where you will monitor the Orange County SO dept. If you want to enter more TGID's to the list, just keep putting in what you want
Larry

 

[lisam27]

Thank you both so much!! I REALLY appreciate it!