PRO-97 Trunking (IL, Lk Cnty EDACS)

[DSmith3]

I cannot pick up this system at all. I had it programmed in an older Radio Shack PRO radio and it it worked superbly. I've spoken to others about this short coming in the PRO-97, and I've found that I'm not alone in my frustration with this radio.

Do any of you have helpful suggestions on how to make this work? Short of selling the radio of course. LOL

I have also considered buying a PRO-96 but if this is any example of what to expect... why waste the hard earned coin?

Thanks in advance!
DSmith3
Lake County, Illinois

 

[N9JIG]

I have used my PRO96 on the Lake County EDACS system and a friends Pro97 and they both worked just fine.

Make sure that you start with Channel 1 and not 0 when entering the freqs. This makes a huge difference. Also be sure the freqs are in the correct order.

The CARMA Profile at http://www.carmachicago.com/profiles/pdf/LakeCounty.pdf has the complete breakdown on the system as well as the LCN order.

 

[chgomonitor]

Lake Co EDACS

Suggest you try a gain 800 Mhz duck, Radio Shack's isn't too bad. My experience is the Lake County EDACS system itself isn't the strongest trunked system around. Probably not so much a fault of the radio as it is the system. I'm just south of the Lake County line and reception is sketchy on my Pro-97. Quite often, I can't trunk track it at all with the 780xlt at work in Winnetka, even using an outside, roof mounted antenna.

 

[DSmith3]

Thanks N9JIG, and Chgomonitor.
I will try both of your suggestions. I do have one question to N9JIG concerning the channel of 1 and not zero. Could you please clarify this for me? I'm not sure I understand.

Thanks

 

[DSmith3]

I reprogrammed the radio starting on #01 vs. #00. I followed their instructions closely, and noticed that when I was finished each channel was listed under FM vs. the correct ED. I was picking up some radio traffic while it was set at FM, but when I changed it to ED the traffic stopped.

 

[N9JIG]

Make sure all the channels are set to ED as well as the bank. This is in the manual, but I think you go PGM/Func then the bank number, and press the Mode button to set the Bank for EDACS, then go to the individual channels.

The reason you need to start at 1 instead of 0 is that EDACS systems control data sends radios to Logical Channel Numbers (LCN's). The system sends the radio to Channel 1 or 2, and the channel is defined in the radio. Therefore all radios must be set with the correct frequency in these channels.

Motorola systems use channels as well, but the channels are defined as frequencies within the radios firmware, so for our purposes the system sends the radio to a Frequency. This is why a Motorola system can be tracked in "Control Channel Only" mode and an EDACS system can not with scanners.

 

[DSmith3]

Rich,
I played with it a little more last night, and after deleting all of the Stored ID's it appears to be working correctly now. I checked various times for locked out ID's before doing this too. I think that your instructions on not starting with the #00 channel was the major contributor to this working though. You have an incredible amount of knowledge when it comes to this hobby.