Pro-97 Question

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97971

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I have my Pro-97 programmed as follows

Bank 0- County Police/Fire (150 talkgroups full) closed
Bank 1- Local Police/Fire (150 talkgroups full) closed
Bank 2- Misc County Chatter (150 talkgroups full) closed
Bank 3- Unidentified (0 talkgroups empty) open

All on the same Motorola system unfortunately.

My problem is I love having all talkgroups identified (descriptive alpha tag) so it's possible to know exactly what I'm listening to. I want to have an open bank for finding unidentified talkgroups and whatever else I'm missing. But when the scanner cycles through the banks in scan mode and stops on bank 3 to listen to something it will show the talkgroup ID number, which most of the time is identified in bank 0,1 or 2. Is there any way for bank 3 to cross-check the ID against the other banks to see if it is known? Is there anything I can do besides looking for a scanner with 500+ talkgroups for each bank?

I blame this darn premium account :D

Bank 0- County (1000 talkgroups, in customizable sub-groups) open <---now there's a setup :D
 

bigjstud1108

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I have my scanner set up in a similar fashion. I just entered all the known Talk group id’s and locked out all the ones that I had in the other banks.
 

loumaag

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With 450 TG's ID'd, it is not likely that he could do that with the open bank.

Actually this is another one of those reasons people have other types of scanners (those that can be computer controlled) so that you can utilize all that software that is out there for doing exaclty what you descirbe. In this case a Uniden and IDTracker would come in pretty handy.
 

gmclam

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PRO-97 trunk monitoring

I am amazed that there really is 450 TGs you want to hear all on the same system. But regardless of that, you're actually going to miss a lot of calls the way you have it set up. Not that there's a better way for that many TGs to exist in a PRO-97. But here's what happens:

The scanner is "locked" onto the control channel in bank 1. Data is sent telling it that a County PD TG is transmitting. The '07 sees the bnak is closed and then looks at the TG list associated with bank 1. It does not find the TG, so the transmission is ignored. Eventually the '07 advances to the next bank (2). While "locked" onto the control channel there, it receives TG data for LOCAL FIRE. The bank is closed so the TG list is checked for bank 2. TG not found, transmission ignored.

This scanner is just not that sophisticated. It seems the intention is for people to program in a system once into a single bank. If the user wants to hear more than 150 TGs, I guess they just expect we'll run it with the bank open. I've found that so many calls are missed from my local TRS, even when one (and only one) bank is dedicated to my TRS and other banks are conventional only; that I now run 2 scanners all the time. One scanner monitors ONLY the TRS, while another scanner monitors all conventional stuff.

I think the suggestion about using UniTrunker is a good one. Once you get it hooked up and running you'll see just how much total activity is going on at any moment. You'll get a good overview of the TGs being used, and how often. I ran UniTrunker for several weeks, then used the data to select the most active/important 150 TGs I wanted to hear.
 

loumaag

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gmclam makes a good point here. I guess I am so used to using multiple scanners that I just assume everyone has more than one. In my case I usually have one scanner monitoring just my local PS TG's (League City, TX on STARNet) in one bank and that is basically all that scanner does. I have several scanners with the same programming on them so that I can use any one of them to do the same job by activating the same bank number. When I am in the car (only using one scanner there) I decide what limited things I want to listen to (usually based on where I am) and limit my choice to that.
 

sinor35

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Pro 97 Question.

I have a pro 96 but the same thing applies. I did enough research and you really do need more than one scanner if you want to get the whole picture. My friend in PA has 6 scanners and 2 base scanners that he never misses a thing. I plan on getting a GRE PSR 500 Scanner for the simple reason it can hold a total of 1800 objects (Talkgroups) in one scan list. Plus the 380 mhz band is open. I have some P25 systems here in Maryland that are blocked on the pro 96.

I still love my pro 96, however I want a computer controlled scanner and the gre fits the bill.

Robert
 

N1BHH

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I still don't know why someone would want to enter every single talk group. I for one am not interested in hearing the dog catcher, the trash trucks, the elderly shuttle, etc. I really think most are a waste of space. As an example of what I do, I don't enter the talk groups, I let the scanner listen for them, press the Trunk button when they talk (to enter them) and then when I get a sufficient amount of talk groups I am interested in, I close the bank. But I haven't found a need to do it, because there aren't more than 60 talk groups that I have in any one bank, except for one bank which covers Cape Cod. And then it's only around 75.

Some systems have just too many unused and underutilized talk groups that I am just not interested in to begin with. I own a PRO-97 and a PRO-2055 and I have yet to fill in all the talk groups. And I live in a metropolitan area with a number of trunked systems. I have no interest in hearing the local plumber supply house or lumber yard. In a municipal system, I still don't want to hear anything but Public Safety. That is my preference. Others may want to hear it all, but you will be spending more time hearing that someone has dumped trash in an open lot or that a trash route is completed.

Not every one of those talk groups is actually used. I can show you lists of what is being used and what isn't being used in the systems around me. The list for the unused far outnumbers the ones used on a regular basis.
 

DonS

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One possible reason for entering all of the talkgroups is so you can scan in "open" mode, looking for new talkgroups, but have the undesired ones (e.g. the dog catcher, the trash trucks, and the elderly shuttle) locked out.

If you don't have enough room to enter the undesired talkgroups, you can't lock them out. If you can't lock them out, you'll hear them while searching for new groups.
 

gmclam

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PRO-97 trunking

N1BHH said:
I still don't know why someone would want to enter every single talk group.
The first reason that comes to mind for me is to have ALPHA TAGS! Unless I've entered the TG and added text to it, I may not be sure just who it is.

I let the scanner listen for them, press the Trunk button when they talk (to enter them) and then when I get a sufficient amount of talk groups I am interested in, I close the bank.
This is not a very good approach. First of all, when do the alpha tags get entered, if at all? Second, there will be tactical/etc channels that are rarely used, and if it wasn't used during the period you had the bank open, you'd never know it. I've found UniTrunker priceless for finding what is being used and what is not.

Some systems have just too many unused and underutilized talk groups that I am just not interested in to begin with.
Very true. Sometimes it is that "underutilized" TG that has something exciting on it, when it does happen. And because of the high number of TGs on some systems, I've found it necessary to start out with a closed bank and a list of what I do want to hear.

Not every one of those talk groups is actually used. I can show you lists of what is being used and what isn't being used in the systems around me. The list for the unused far outnumbers the ones used on a regular basis.
Agreed. This is why I ran UniTrunker for weeks on end. I logged what was being used and what wasn't. Then I sorted the TGs by use and who they were. Garabage collectors were not even considered, but LE channels which had some activity, even though very low, were.
 
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