When it comes to scanning I am very familiar with analog scanners. But I just recently purchased the Radioshack Pro 197. So I'm still very new to digital trunking, and I expect to have quite a few questions in future post.
Anyway first things first, how do I search for Talkgroups to program in to my 197?
Analog and digital are programmed exactly the same. Digital is just another type of modulation, like AM and FM.
If your confusion is about trunking, yes it is very different than regular scanning. Here's a simple explanation of how Motorola trunking (the most common) works.
Motorola Trunking:
The object of trunking is to allow many users to share a relatively few frequencies.
A trunking system is controlled by a computer. Information (data) is exchanged between the system radios and the computer on a control channel, sometimes called a data channel. It sounds like a strong buzz.
A large system can have up to 28 freqs., 4 of which may be used as control channels. The control channel may be changed once a day or as often as the programmer decides. Some scanners need only the control channels to track an entire system. Just put in the 4 Control Channels.
Each group of users (Fire, Police, etc.) is assigned TALK GROUPS. In a Motorola Type II system, the most common type, TGs are usually in 32 number steps starting with 16 and going up to 65536; 16, 48, 80 --- 4656, 4688, 4720 --- 28944, 28976, etc. System radios can have more than 100 TGs programmed into them.
How it works
When a user pushes the talk button on his radio, data is sent to the computer. The computer chooses an unused freq. and sends that data to all the radios that are set to the TG of the originating unit. This all happens in a fraction of a second and it happens EVERY TIME a radio is used.
EXAMPLE:
Fire Dispatch calling Engine 4 (TG 4528 on 856.7125)
Engine 4 answering Dispatch (TG 4528 on 852.2625)
Respond to 73 Elm Street (TG 4528 on 855.9625)
Engine 4 responding (TG 4528 on 851.6375)
If you have entered TG 4528 into your scanner, it will read the control channel data and change your scanner freqs. to follow the conversation on TG 4528. .
