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Questions About Programing a Trunking System...

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_DeS_

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Hey Guys, Hope I posted this in the proper area. If not my deepest apologies. My local System is a Motorola Type II system. I'm jsut getting into scanning and had a few questions. I'm looking on some sites for freq and TGID info and am somewhat Confused... Here goes with the questions...

1. The local police dept info im seeing is TGIDs, along with a frequency and a input frequency along with tone information. I know what a TGID is but im not sure if im better off to use the talkgroup or the frequencey and why is an input freq provide and what about the tone ?

Hopefully someone can clairfy that for me...

2. My local fire depts dont utilize the method of TGID, instead I see a frequency, a input frequency ( somtimes listed as simplex) aswell as tones. I was wondering the same as above... for programing purposes do I jsut use the freq ? and whats the signifigance of tones...

3. Also just as a side question...I know there are alot of contributing factors to how far away I will hear something on my scanner, but can anyone give me a round about idea how far I might hear...


Thanks alot guys for any help...
 

Colin9690

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1. Well in a trunking system you program the system frequencies, and then input the talkgroups. Talkgroups don't have tones, those are only for conventional systems (not trunked).

2. Don't use the input frequency, always use the output. If they are simplex, there is no input/output (2 frequencies), just one because there is no repeater. CTCSS/DCS tones are used by different agencies, who share a channel, and don't want to hear each other. One agency will have a tone, and the other will have a different tone. It's sort of like having a "sub-frequency". So in your scanner, if you program a fire frequency AND the tone, you will only hear THAT fire department, even if other departments are on the same frequency.

3. If you just have a rubber duck antenna, listening to simplex, don't expect to hear far. But with repeaters (most PD and FDs use them), you can hear MUCH farther, depending on the wattage of the repeater.

Hope this helps, :)
 

_DeS_

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KCChiefs9690 said:
1. Well in a trunking system you program the system frequencies, and then input the talkgroups. Talkgroups don't have tones, those are only for conventional systems (not trunked).

2. Don't use the input frequency, always use the output. If they are simplex, there is no input/output (2 frequencies), just one because there is no repeater. CTCSS/DCS tones are used by different agencies, who share a channel, and don't want to hear each other. One agency will have a tone, and the other will have a different tone. It's sort of like having a "sub-frequency". So in your scanner, if you program a fire frequency AND the tone, you will only hear THAT fire department, even if other departments are on the same frequency.

3. If you just have a rubber duck antenna, listening to simplex, don't expect to hear far. But with repeaters (most PD and FDs use them), you can hear MUCH farther, depending on the wattage of the repeater.

Hope this helps, :)


Awsome I'm crystal clear and alot better off on parts 2 and 3. Could you elborate on part 1. I was under the assumption I just needed to program talk IDs ?
 

Colin9690

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_DeS_ said:
Awsome I'm crystal clear and alot better off on parts 2 and 3. Could you elborate on part 1. I was under the assumption I just needed to program talk IDs ?
Well to listen to a trunked system you need 2 things, the freqs and the TGIDs. If you just program talkgroup IDs and not the freqs, nothing will happen, because the voice is broadcast on the frequencies, not the talkgroups. The talkgroups simply identify a group of users.

So to listen to a trunked system, According to your manual, program the frequencies. Then, referring to the manual, program the talkgroup IDs that you want to listen to. You don't have to program all of them, just the ones you want to listen to.

I hope this makes things a little more clear! :)
 

_DeS_

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KCChiefs9690 said:
Well to listen to a trunked system you need 2 things, the freqs and the TGIDs. If you just program talkgroup IDs and not the freqs, nothing will happen, because the voice is broadcast on the frequencies, not the talkgroups. The talkgroups simply identify a group of users.

So to listen to a trunked system, According to your manual, program the frequencies. Then, referring to the manual, program the talkgroup IDs that you want to listen to. You don't have to program all of them, just the ones you want to listen to.

I hope this makes things a little more clear! :)

Perfect...ALOT clearer...Thank you for all your help....One thing though..when programming...

say the first slot in the first bank...would i program the freq and the TGID there...or ?

Thanks agian..
 

dangitdoug

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Two completely diffrent animals. You will need to program freqs first, then TGID's. Depending on scanner model, you may only need to program the control channel freqs. Check your manual to be sure you are in trunking mode when programming the freqs. If not and you program them in conventional mode, the scanner will not trunktrack.

Take your time programming. You may also, depending on scanner model, be able to program the scanner from a computer. There are several programming softwares available to do this. It is much easier and faster to program this way.

good luck

Doug K
 

DJ88

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Just to add, you program the frequencies into the channels in your scanner. The Talk Groups are programmed differently. I don't know what kind of scanner you're using, but in Uniden scanners they are programmed into ID Lists. Radio Shack scanners may use a different term or method. Also, if you see two sets of Talk Group IDs listed for an agency (DEC & HEX), you program the DEC TGs into your scanner. The HEX TGs are for Motorola radios (not scanners) only.
 

_DeS_

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Great...really apprecaite all the help. I will be using a Radioshack Pro 97. I was looking at win97 as a means of programming, as someone mentioned before and I must say it looks somewhat daunting...
 

mdulrich

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_DeS_ said:
Hey Guys, Hope I posted this in the proper area. If not my deepest apologies. My local System is a Motorola Type II system.

What system are you trying to program? With your talk of tones and input frequencies being listed it doesn't sound like you are looking at a trunked system.

Mike
 

rpowley

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_DeS_ said:
Great...really apprecaite all the help. I will be using a Radioshack Pro 97. I was looking at win97 as a means of programming, as someone mentioned before and I must say it looks somewhat daunting...
Win97 really is user friendly. Using the web import function with the RadioReference database takes away a lot of the tedious stuff - You may still want to tweak the data once it is in WIN97 before loading to your scanner. You can also create & save as many WIN97 files as you need for different areas, traveling, etc.
 

scanfan03

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There is a connect tone on MOT Type II systems, but you don't need to worry about it with your scanner, it is only for real radios that need to transmit on the system.
 
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