PSR-500/600 Motorola Smartzone CC selection

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krokus

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Does anyone know the selection process for control channels? I have programmed a friend's PRO-197, and he is not getting the traffic he is looking for. I think the radio is locking onto the closest tower's control channel, and that tower has no affiliated TG users.

Is the CC list scanned until a valid signal is found, or does it scan the whole list and tune to the strongest?

I am trying to sort out if I need to re-order the CC list, so that it will lock onto a tower that will have the TG traffic, or break up the scan lists to have separate CC lists, and associate them with different towers.
 

mikey60

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Does anyone know the selection process for control channels? I have programmed a friend's PRO-197, and he is not getting the traffic he is looking for. I think the radio is locking onto the closest tower's control channel, and that tower has no affiliated TG users.

Is the CC list scanned until a valid signal is found, or does it scan the whole list and tune to the strongest?

I am trying to sort out if I need to re-order the CC list, so that it will lock onto a tower that will have the TG traffic, or break up the scan lists to have separate CC lists, and associate them with different towers.

It really depends on the multi-site mode that was selected when the TSYS object was created. There are three multi-site mode options:

Off:

The scanner will find the first usable control channel and stay there until it can no longer be heard. At that point the scanner will start searching for another control channel.

ROAM:

In this mode, the scanner will search through the CC list looking for a control channel with a Decode rate of at least the Threshhold High value (Percentage). When one is found, it will remain on that control channel until the decode rate drops below the Threshhold Low setting, at which point it will start searching for another control channel using the same method.

STAT:

In this mode, all usable control channels will be scanned. Exactly how they are scanned depends on what the check all control channels option is set in the scanner.

If the Check all control channels option is turned on, the scanner will start at the top of the CC list and look for usable control channels. When one is found, the scanner will monitor that control channel for a period of time looking for channel grant messages for programmed talkgroups. It will then move on to the next control channel and do the same until all frequencies in the CC list have been checked. This happens on every pass through the TSYS object when scanning.

If the Check all control channels option is turned off, the first pass through the TSYS object, the scanner will start at the first frequency in the CC list looking for the first CC it can find. It will monitor that control channel for a period of time looking for programmed talkgroups. When it times out, the scanner will continue scanning other objects. The next time the TSYS becomes active, the scanner will start at the next frequency in the TSYS CC list looking for the next control channel it can hear. A new CC (depending on how many the scanner can hear) is used on each pass through the TSYS object.

Mike
 

krokus

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The situation I'm tying to get working is dealing with MPSCS, with the scanner located in one county, yet close enough to the neighboring county to pick up a tower there. (All the surrounding area towers are programmed in, as fallback capability, since this scanner is being used as a base unit.)

The scanner user wants to be able to monitor traffic in both counties, which might not all be carried on both towers, due to a possible lack of affiliated TG users. It sounds like my best bet is to create separate system entries, per county, and affiliate the respective county TG scanlists with system entries.

Has someone else run into something similar, and handled it a different way?
 

mikey60

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The situation I'm tying to get working is dealing with MPSCS, with the scanner located in one county, yet close enough to the neighboring county to pick up a tower there. (All the surrounding area towers are programmed in, as fallback capability, since this scanner is being used as a base unit.)

The scanner user wants to be able to monitor traffic in both counties, which might not all be carried on both towers, due to a possible lack of affiliated TG users. It sounds like my best bet is to create separate system entries, per county, and affiliate the respective county TG scanlists with system entries.

Has someone else run into something similar, and handled it a different way?

I just use the STAT mode with the option to check all towers turned on. That will check all control channels the scanner can hear in each pass for any programmed and enabled talkgroups... Where I'm located I can hear Detroit, Macomb, Northville, Romeo, Southfield, and occasionally Flat Rock.

Mike
 

DonS

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If the desire is to monitor traffic from both towers, where not all TGs are actually affiliated with both towers, then the user should set the TSYS's "Multi-Site" item to "Stat", programming both towers' frequencies and talkgroups into a single TSYS. Depending on how much other information (other systems, conventional channels) is programmed into the scanner, selecting the "Check All CC" option in the TSYS might be beneficial.
 

krokus

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Thanks, I'll check that out. There are only a few conventional objects in the scanner, and only TGs from the two counties.

The user is is primarily interested in listening to the neighboring county, while at home. (He works for an agency in the neighboring county.)

I did suggest that he could leave a handheld on, with the prime interest TG selected, as that would guarantee the TG would be carried on the local tower. He didn't like that idea. :)
 
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