I'd rather not get too specific. I can't hear anything because the main DB is disabled. I was attempting to disable the main DB and only use favorites, but apparently that doesn't work.
sds100 questions
- Thread starter tdel1
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I'd rather not get too specific. I can't hear anything because the main DB is disabled. I was attempting to disable the main DB and only use favorites, but apparently that doesn't work.
It does work, but there's a few steps to confirming you have on what is needed.
You're asking about Midway and O'Hare listening in another thread, and I can tell you with certainty, if you're not within a few miles monitoring with a handheld scanner, your efforts will be wasted, without being too specific of course.
In this scenario, it is will county and ISP. When I use my favorites I can see the correct frequencies appear, but everything is silent. When I went to make sure that Law Enforcement was on, I received the error about the main DB being off. When I disable my favorite lists (WESCOM and STARCOM21) and enable the DB, STARCOM21 and WECOM start to play audio.
Your Monitor and Download has to be ON in the profile in Sentinel, then your Monitor database has to be OFF. Quick Keys have to be assigned to Favorite Lists, Systems and turned ON. You asked about the airports, and not sure what you did after that?
I will check the settings again, tomorrow. I'm not an expert with the scanner so when I turn off the main DB and another setting is toggled on or off, I guess I need to figure out what else is happening. I don't have anything with airports saved, that was another thread and I had planned on adding airports as a respective favorite lists, but that was going to be after I figured out the issue I'm having now. I wasn't anticipating these programming issues which is why I started the two threads in parallel.
The programming seems fairly straight-forward, but what I think is tripping me up is the main DB being off. That was always on from when I initially got the scanner online a couple of days ago. There is a learning curve, hopefully I can get over this soon.
Thank you for the replies, it does help.
It's complicated until you understand it. You Tube has many videos, just type SDS100 in the search box.
I was already watching videos one month before I decided to buy one, but I need to find something that is more focused or similar to the issue I'm having. So far the videos I've seen are very basic programming, but I'll keep searching, that's how I ended up here.
Uniden Sentinel search too.
Yup, I've been doing that, as well. That's what got me looking at ProScan. Seems that Sentinel isn't great for individually picking frequencies from a trunk system.
"Your Monitor and Download has to be ON in the profile in Sentinel, then your Monitor database has to be OFF"
Ok, this is the issue. The main DB has all the entries from my zip code that I entered in. When I first got the scanner I powered it up, added my zip code and I saw everything in my area, at this point it was never connected to Sentinel.
Once I was scanning for a day, I decided to connect to Sentinel especially since all of the searching I was doing on here made me realize that the main DB was likely way too large and I was missing out on transmissions. This is when I connected to Sentinel and programmed two favorite lists. One for STARCOM21 and WESCOM and saved to the scanner. That worked fine.
I turned the scanner on, disabled the main list/DB and enabled my two favorite lists (keep in mind at this point I did not know the main DB needed to stay/be enabled. When I made those changes and went to the main screen, I did see STARCOM21 and WESCOM frequencies scan on the screen, but there was no chatter. Prior to disabling the main DB I was able to hear just fine. This is when I thought to go check the systems it is tracking (to see what is on and off) and confirm Law was on, but I then saw the message "Failure Please select Full Database in Select Lists to Monitor" of course if I do that, then I'll start scanning everything, which I don't want.
Currently my two favorite lists are 'everything' but I'm just testing at this point. I'd like to trim down the favorite lists, but I want to get it working with favorite lists before I continue programming.
I followed your suggestion above and I did confirm my settings match what you stated, but that doesn't seem to limit the scanner from scanning everything. I need to figure out how to minimize the main DB.
This is the last save from Sentinel to the scanner. (I accidentally cut off the WESCOM list, but the settings match STARCOM21).
I can't edit my last post, but here is an update (I was able to delete the picture, but couldn't perform my second edit within 30 minutes).
Edit- I believe I have figured out my mistake. I was/am confusing the Nationwide System On/Off options with the Service Types On/Off options.
When the main DB is disabled, the Nationwide System can't be edited. I was trying to view the Service Types while having the main DB disabled and was going to the Nationwide System settings (the options seemed similar to me). I was mixing that up.
I did assign quick keys to my favorites.
Once saved, I am able to hear transmissions on my two enabled favorite lists while the main DB is disabled. This does speed things up both with scanning and boot up.
Edit- I believe I have figured out my mistake. I was/am confusing the Nationwide System On/Off options with the Service Types On/Off options.
When the main DB is disabled, the Nationwide System can't be edited. I was trying to view the Service Types while having the main DB disabled and was going to the Nationwide System settings (the options seemed similar to me). I was mixing that up.
I did assign quick keys to my favorites.
Once saved, I am able to hear transmissions on my two enabled favorite lists while the main DB is disabled. This does speed things up both with scanning and boot up.
I'm not sure what you're looking at as I never "append" but instead "create" my Favorite Lists and use Radio Reference entries as my guide. By using this method, I can "isolate" my Favorite Lists to what I want to listen to. In addition, when you "append" State wide Systems (Starcom as an example), it brings over all the sites and you have to Edit your newly created Favorite List and delete sites that are not close enough for you to monitor. Based upon the clues you're putting out there, Sites 1-013 and 1-026 might be all that's needed unless you're traveling. This programming can also be accomplished by creating an additional system (s) within the Favorite List and labeled as "Boone County as an example" and only add sites within the range of where you're at or going to be. To me, deleting all the unnecessary sites is too time consuming. I can also label channels as they are seen by the user(s), as not all this information is known in the database, which a submission correction can be done.
In a nutshell, you're new at this scanner and programming structure, we were all there at one time or another. You've received a few different suggested methods and you'll have to figure out what works. The scanner operations take time to master and get comfortable with. At times, just step away and take a walk or go outside and relax. It won't be mastered all in one day or week.
VASCAR2
Member
With trunked systems the Control channel frequencies and alternate control channel frequencies are required to be programmed into the scanner with P25 systems. Some system require every frequency at the site to be programmed in your scanner. I normally manually program my scanners and program every frequency listed in the Data Base for each site.
Your main concern is getting the correct frequencies for the site(s) you want to monitor. The next thing is selecting the Talk Groups for the Agencies you want to monitor.
With trunked radio systems the sites in your geographic area will only transmit Talk Groups authorized for that site. Some Talk Groups are routinely broadcast on every site in your area even though no radio is affiliated with the site. This is usually the situation for the Illinois State Police District which covers your geographic area. Depending on what site your monitoring will determine which TG’s your likely to receive.
You usually can receive the primary dispatch TG for the ISP
District in your geographic area. If your in Romeoville your likely to hear ISP TG 5-A and ISP 2-A and possibly ISP 15-A.
Your main concern is getting the correct frequencies for the site(s) you want to monitor. The next thing is selecting the Talk Groups for the Agencies you want to monitor.
With trunked radio systems the sites in your geographic area will only transmit Talk Groups authorized for that site. Some Talk Groups are routinely broadcast on every site in your area even though no radio is affiliated with the site. This is usually the situation for the Illinois State Police District which covers your geographic area. Depending on what site your monitoring will determine which TG’s your likely to receive.
You usually can receive the primary dispatch TG for the ISP
District in your geographic area. If your in Romeoville your likely to hear ISP TG 5-A and ISP 2-A and possibly ISP 15-A.
As soon as I think I have it figured out, I read another post and go back to my confused state.
I was under the impression that I could not 'tweak' the lists using Sentinel and that it pulled all the frequencies that were part of trunked systems. Your post makes it seem as if I can make edits.
I need to figure out the best way to program then I can proceed with my lists. Also, since I'm still testing everything and making changes, nothing I have right now is set in stone, I am fully deleting and creating new until I figure out the correct process.
Say I want to start with Will County, what is the best way to program the scanner to scan these frequencies?
| Frequency | License | Type | Tone | Alpha Tag | Description | Mode | Tag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 158.85000 | WPCV634 | RM | 88.5 PL | WES Police 1 | Police: Dispatch - Channahon, Shorewood, Elwood, Wilmington [Ch 1/c2c1] | FMN | Law Dispatch |
| 155.31000 | WQPK263 | RM | 118.8 PL | WES Police 1P | Police Dispatch - Patch to 158.850 | FMN | Law Dispatch |
| 155.73000 | WQPC963 | RM | 123.0 PL | WES Police 2 | Police: Dispatch - Crest Hill/Lockport (backup to Will County Public Safety P25) | FMN | Law Dispatch |
| 154.74750 | WPWL581 | RM | 91.5 PL | WES Fire S | 911: South - Channahon, Elwood, Minooka, Troy and Wilmington FPDs | FMN | Fire Dispatch |
| 154.85250 | WPWL581 | RM | 91.5 PL | WES Fire N | 911: North - Lockport Twp, Homer Twp. NW Homer Twp. and Plainfield. | FMN | Fire Dispatch |
| 155.35500 | WPWL581 | RM | 91.5 PL | WES Fire TF | Fire: Task Force | FMN | Fire-Talk |
| 151.94000 | MURS | RM | 532 DPL | WES WESTAC1 | Training, Radio Techs, etc. | FMN | Multi-Talk |
| 854.66250 | WQQZ591 | RM | 452 NAC | WESTAC 80 | Events (Plainfield Police/EMA) | P25 | Interop |
| 854.88750 | WQZT877 | RM | 452 NAC | WES 854.8875 | (patched w/SC21 TG 33931 WM PD 5 Bolingbrook PD) | P25 | Law Dispatch |
| 855.61250 | WQZT878 | RM | 452 NAC | WES 855.6125 | Interop | P25 | Interop |
| 858.66250 | WQZT877 | RM | WES 858.6625 | Interop | P25 | Interop | |
| 858.81250 | WQZT878 | RM | 452 NAC | WES 858.8125 | Interop | P25 | Interop |
| 859.36250 | WQZT877 | RM | 452 NAC | WES 859.3625 | Interop | P25 | Interop |
I want to make a Favorite List and only have these frequencies. I tried using ProScan to bring this data into the program, but I can't find those specific frequencies. I've tried looking under Will County, WESCOM, etc.. but can't find them in ProScan when the data is pulled from RR, so I'm not sure which frequencies I'm adding.
I suppose it is possible the frequencies above are under a different list/name and that's why I'm not able to find them in ProScan.
Thanks.
Someone from Will County can respond, but all the Departments on the the Will County P25 system I believe.
I don't "tweak" the database, but call it "self-programming" utilizing the information from the database.
@ProScan what am I missing with your favorites lookup against RR? What is the best way for me to find the data from the RR site using the pull request from your software?
Thanks.
I use Sentinel exclusively and use the Database here. You're not "missing" anything, I create my own Favorite Lists with the information from here. Look under Will County Trunking Systems, you're looking in the wrong place.
VASCAR2
Member
Those frequencies listed for Will County are conventional P25 and analog. You can program these frequencies from Sentinel.
Your dealing with conventional digital P25 and analog. Remember there are numerous types of digital two way radio systems, P25, DMR, NXDN to name a few. There is also analog systems in use. If you see NAC it is likely a conventional P25. If you see DPL, PL it is analog conventional.
There are different radio frequency bands which which are used in various radio systems.
You can use the zip code for your residential area to program your SDS100. Using the Zip code method should help you start receiving local radio traffic.
As you become more familiar with radio systems and programming you can add more favorites list to fine tune your listening.
Another option might be to have a forum member send you a file to down load a favorite list to your SDS100.
Current radio hardware is complicated and inter-wined. There is a significant learning curve.
You can do a internet search for explanations of the different types of systems like DMR or NXDN to gain familiarity.
Your dealing with conventional digital P25 and analog. Remember there are numerous types of digital two way radio systems, P25, DMR, NXDN to name a few. There is also analog systems in use. If you see NAC it is likely a conventional P25. If you see DPL, PL it is analog conventional.
There are different radio frequency bands which which are used in various radio systems.
You can use the zip code for your residential area to program your SDS100. Using the Zip code method should help you start receiving local radio traffic.
As you become more familiar with radio systems and programming you can add more favorites list to fine tune your listening.
Another option might be to have a forum member send you a file to down load a favorite list to your SDS100.
Current radio hardware is complicated and inter-wined. There is a significant learning curve.
You can do a internet search for explanations of the different types of systems like DMR or NXDN to gain familiarity.
I'm referring to the menus within ProScan. I don't see what the DB shows in ProScan. I'm sure I am in the wrong place, but if I don't know where the right place is, I won't be able to find it.
The Database here...in Radio Reference. Look up...top margin...it says Database.
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