Rebanding is what will do you in. It will happen before the digital switchover. So a guesstimate would be a year or so left.stanson said:
Scanner-wise, I'd wait till the very end. GRE is working on something new.
-Wayne
Sacramento Regional Radio Communications System
- Thread starter sacscan
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Scanner-wise, I'd wait till the very end. GRE is working on something new.
-Wayne
califzeph
Member
It looks like the new system is in place pretty soon, but you can get it on a 95. When re-banding happens, you'll need a new scanner. I guess in January we go digital, so you are limited I think to a RS Pro 96, and two or three models of Uniden.
I chose a Pro 96 because I LOVE the Starrsoft stuff. I was tempted by the Uniden 396, love the small size, but couldn;t justify spending $550 or so when the Pro 96 went on sale for $399.
I chose a Pro 96 because I LOVE the Starrsoft stuff. I was tempted by the Uniden 396, love the small size, but couldn;t justify spending $550 or so when the Pro 96 went on sale for $399.
Pro 95 and Sac City/County
Program your Pro 95 with ONLY the control channels for site 1 or site 2.
Alternatly method ... on older scanners you can have all 25 city or county frequencies in your scanner bank, and manually check each channel and choose to delete the old control channels so that you only have the new system control channels... at some point in time you will need to program those back in when the old system goes away totally.
Locking out the unwanted system (old) control channels will not work. you must delete them or you can change their mode.
Example from a pro 95
press MANUAL until you reach one of the control channels, (bottom line of display will say MOT: CNTRL and will alternate with talk group id's as they are assigned to channels).
With OLD and NEW systems using the 25 channels there are 2 control channels (one for the old system and one for the new system), watch the talk group id's that display if you see mutiple old talk group id's you are on the old system control channel. If you see new talk group id's your on the new system control channel. If you are on the new system control channel move to the next control channel to locate the old system CC.
To set the scanner to ignore that specific old system control channel... I press the MODE button until AM is displayed and then I press ATT button to attinuate the signal on that frequency then I press L/OUT to lock it out. You will have to do this for a few days as the Control channel's alternated daily... I show the County system old control channels as 868.9625, 868.5375 these are the ones I either delete (for my bc235xlt) or change the mode to a non trunking format ie AM (for the PRO95).
Also if your on the new system and do not have the new talk groups programmed you may not hear the conversations. Press FUNC 5 to open the trunk to all talk groups and you should hear conversations. Program in the new talk groups you want to listen to.
Those with older BC235xlt's may want to search the talk groups after deleting the old control channels as my old 235 shows A3 as 53267 not 53264 as my newer scanners indicate... if there is one odd ball there could be others with the new system and old scanners.
I hope this helps you make use of your Pro95 for a while longer. Rebanding the 866 MHZ NPSAC to 855 Mhz band may or may not be the end for the Pro95.. it will depend on if the MOTorola channel numbers are reassigned or if the radios are just told to use the lower channel numbers as oposed to the upper channel numbers currently used.
As for what would be my choice in a new digital trunking scanner would be... I would go with the BCD396T..
Because the CHP has 54million to begin its addition of the 775Mhz radios and systems starting this year... also because the BCD396 can interface with computer and let you use remote control / operation software with voice recording features.... the GRE Pro-9x do not have that feature they only let you program them over the computer, not operate them.
I hope this helps those that think their scanners are not able to trunk the new system...
Program your Pro 95 with ONLY the control channels for site 1 or site 2.
Alternatly method ... on older scanners you can have all 25 city or county frequencies in your scanner bank, and manually check each channel and choose to delete the old control channels so that you only have the new system control channels... at some point in time you will need to program those back in when the old system goes away totally.
Locking out the unwanted system (old) control channels will not work. you must delete them or you can change their mode.
Example from a pro 95
press MANUAL until you reach one of the control channels, (bottom line of display will say MOT: CNTRL and will alternate with talk group id's as they are assigned to channels).
With OLD and NEW systems using the 25 channels there are 2 control channels (one for the old system and one for the new system), watch the talk group id's that display if you see mutiple old talk group id's you are on the old system control channel. If you see new talk group id's your on the new system control channel. If you are on the new system control channel move to the next control channel to locate the old system CC.
To set the scanner to ignore that specific old system control channel... I press the MODE button until AM is displayed and then I press ATT button to attinuate the signal on that frequency then I press L/OUT to lock it out. You will have to do this for a few days as the Control channel's alternated daily... I show the County system old control channels as 868.9625, 868.5375 these are the ones I either delete (for my bc235xlt) or change the mode to a non trunking format ie AM (for the PRO95).
Also if your on the new system and do not have the new talk groups programmed you may not hear the conversations. Press FUNC 5 to open the trunk to all talk groups and you should hear conversations. Program in the new talk groups you want to listen to.
Those with older BC235xlt's may want to search the talk groups after deleting the old control channels as my old 235 shows A3 as 53267 not 53264 as my newer scanners indicate... if there is one odd ball there could be others with the new system and old scanners.
I hope this helps you make use of your Pro95 for a while longer. Rebanding the 866 MHZ NPSAC to 855 Mhz band may or may not be the end for the Pro95.. it will depend on if the MOTorola channel numbers are reassigned or if the radios are just told to use the lower channel numbers as oposed to the upper channel numbers currently used.
As for what would be my choice in a new digital trunking scanner would be... I would go with the BCD396T..
Because the CHP has 54million to begin its addition of the 775Mhz radios and systems starting this year... also because the BCD396 can interface with computer and let you use remote control / operation software with voice recording features.... the GRE Pro-9x do not have that feature they only let you program them over the computer, not operate them.
I hope this helps those that think their scanners are not able to trunk the new system...
scankid2591
Member
Anyone know when is this all gonna be completely in effect?
scankid2591
Member
The new radio system...
scankid2591
Member
Really? I was in Sacremento just a few weeks ago (Father's Day weekend) and the "old" MOT systems were still working...
scankid2591
Member
Well, all I saw was "Digital testing" on the thread title... So I thought it might've not been up fyi
CHP switchover
My understanding is the CHP isn't going to switch over as they don't have the funding yet. I hope I don't have to get another scanner as I already have Pro-92, 95,96,97. The next one will be a Uniden Bearcat but it is getting $$$ and the turnaround time on these scanners is getting less and less. Just like Radar/laser detectors.benca said:
mts200
Member
radios
dos any one know what ssd will have the xts 5000 or xts2500. i know fd has xts 5000
dos any one know what ssd will have the xts 5000 or xts2500. i know fd has xts 5000
RolnCode3
Member
I think they're the 2500s. I've seen quite a few of them in the field. RCPD is rolling around with a bunch...
Side note, we get our portable radios reprogrammed today.
Side note, we get our portable radios reprogrammed today.
mts200
Member
spd has all 2500s. at lece the ones i have seen.
servo_fan
Member
Affiliation Confusion
I think this question is appropriate to this thread, if not, feel free to move it.
I'm still confused when it comes to a site with which radios will affiliate. Right now I'm listening to an incident on Grant Line, one mile north of Calvine, pretty much about as "county" as you can get. When the incident was dispatched and units were responding and arriving, they were all coming up on site 2 channel A7. After a while it got real quiet for such a large incident, so I switched over to site 1 channel A7 and viola!, there they all were. Now, these units were all stationary on the scene, so how, or why did all their radios switch over to site 1 when they had been on site 2 previously?
Is that area really closer to a site 1 tower than a site 2 tower? (hard to believe but anything is possible). If so, why were they all on site 2 for a while and then on site 1?
This makes monitoring a little difficult as there is no easy way for me to monitor the same talk group from both sites at the same time.
And on a related note, why would a dispatcher sometimes be heard on site 2 and others on site 1? They are not mobile so wouldn't their radios always associate with the same tower(s)?
I think this question is appropriate to this thread, if not, feel free to move it.
I'm still confused when it comes to a site with which radios will affiliate. Right now I'm listening to an incident on Grant Line, one mile north of Calvine, pretty much about as "county" as you can get. When the incident was dispatched and units were responding and arriving, they were all coming up on site 2 channel A7. After a while it got real quiet for such a large incident, so I switched over to site 1 channel A7 and viola!, there they all were. Now, these units were all stationary on the scene, so how, or why did all their radios switch over to site 1 when they had been on site 2 previously?
Is that area really closer to a site 1 tower than a site 2 tower? (hard to believe but anything is possible). If so, why were they all on site 2 for a while and then on site 1?
This makes monitoring a little difficult as there is no easy way for me to monitor the same talk group from both sites at the same time.
And on a related note, why would a dispatcher sometimes be heard on site 2 and others on site 1? They are not mobile so wouldn't their radios always associate with the same tower(s)?
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Well, actually all the 996 does is link multiple systems/sites to one talkgroup list versus with the 396 you had a TG list per system/site.antfreq said:
So there's not the biggest benefit for going to the 996 just for SmartZone.
Regarding the odd site switch.. That's real peculiar. It doesn't sound normal. Maybe something happened at the other site that caused the radios to leave it.
Also, I'll change the thread topic to something more up to date.
-Wayne
RolnCode3
Member
Here's my guess. All of the units that were on the call were affiliated to site1 the entire time. There was some other units or people listening to it, that were affiliated to site2. Are you sure there wasn't traffic on both sites?
The site2 affiliates got bored, and turned off their radios, or switched to a different channel. So, site2 no longer needs to broadcast, and stops transmitting A7. I can't speak as to where the towers are located (basically which site radios would affiliate to given a particular geographic location).
Just a guess.
Just because you hear a specific unit on a specific site doesn't mean they're actually affiliated with that site. It only takes 1 radio on a talkgroup to be affiliated to a site, and you'll get ALL of the traffic from that talkgroup on the site.
The site2 affiliates got bored, and turned off their radios, or switched to a different channel. So, site2 no longer needs to broadcast, and stops transmitting A7. I can't speak as to where the towers are located (basically which site radios would affiliate to given a particular geographic location).
Just a guess.
Just because you hear a specific unit on a specific site doesn't mean they're actually affiliated with that site. It only takes 1 radio on a talkgroup to be affiliated to a site, and you'll get ALL of the traffic from that talkgroup on the site.
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