Seeking explainations, RE: Pro-97 Trunking System.

[AlmostHandy]

Hello everyone.

I had a cheap scanner when I was a kid, and it was a blast. I recently acquired a Radio Shack Pro-97, and wouldn't you know it, it's still a blast.

So, I've read through the "Easier To Read Pro-97 Manual" over at Marksscanners.com, and I've read the "Programming Cheat Sheet" for the Pro-97 from this fine site, and I'm not sure I understand the process very well. I also have some questions regarding certain functions and their pertinence.

The list of frequencies and talkgroups I'm using is from http://www.scannerstuff.com/nwfd_WA_King.htm.

The page lists 3 simulcast cells, with several dozen frequencies each. Under that is a long list consisting of talkgroup IDs, each corresponding to one of the three simulcast cells.

As I understand it, I should program the each of the three simulcast cells into it's own bank, and program the talkgroups afterwards into the appropriate corresponding bank. Is that right?

That page at scannerstuff.com says "If your scanner is capable of Control Channel Only Mode (see your manual), only control channels need to be entered for each cell. The other (voice) frequencies will be tuned automatically by your scanner using data provided on the control channel." My scanner appears to have Control Channel Only mode, but neither of the manuals I've read talk about how it works. Can I put all 7 control channels in one bank, and add all talkgroups to the same bank or do the simulcast cells need be in separate banks?

Thank you for helping a beginner. I've been reading websites for several days, and it's come to a point where everything I read confuses me a little bit more.

 

[gmclam]

PRO-97 in King County

So, I've read through the "Easier To Read Pro-97 Manual" over at Marksscanners.com, and I've read the "Programming Cheat Sheet" for the Pro-97 from this fine site, and I'm not sure I understand the process very well. I also have some questions regarding certain functions and their pertinence.

The list of frequencies and talkgroups I'm using is from http://www.scannerstuff.com/nwfd_WA_King.htm.

The page lists 3 simulcast cells, with several dozen frequencies each. Under that is a long list consisting of talkgroup IDs, each corresponding to one of the three simulcast cells.

As I understand it, I should program the each of the three simulcast cells into it's own bank, and program the talkgroups afterwards into the appropriate corresponding bank. Is that right?

You can certainly do it that way. If the sites are only for simulcasting, then if you receive one control channel from any site, you've got all there is. In other words, the typical reason for simulcast sites is to provide coverage over a huge area. Any given TG can theoretically be received from any site (it is replicated).

In my area, the situation is slightly different. Some TGs are only broadcast from some sites. If I want to listen to that specific TG, then I need to monitor that site. But I don't, so in my case I've programmed both sites into the same bank. The negative of doing this is that the PRO-97 will typically only lock onto one CC per bank.

That page at scannerstuff.com says "If your scanner is capable of Control Channel Only Mode (see your manual), only control channels need to be entered for each cell. The other (voice) frequencies will be tuned automatically by your scanner using data provided on the control channel." My scanner appears to have Control Channel Only mode, but neither of the manuals I've read talk about how it works. Can I put all 7 control channels in one bank, and add all talkgroups to the same bank or do the simulcast cells need be in separate banks?

Yes, the PRO-97 is a Control Channel only scanner. Therefore you only need to program the control channel frequencies. I programmed in all TRS frequencies for my area, but just for safe keeping. I have those which are not typically used as CCs locked out.

The conventional thinking on this issue is to program all CC frequencies for a given system into the same bank, but to put a non-locked-out conventional frequency between the groups of site frequencies (set to FM mode). Some people just use a dummy like 1200.00 MHz. So you end up with:
- Site 01 frequency 01
- Site 01 frequency 02
- Site 01 frequency 03
- 1200.00 MHz (FM mode)
- Site 02 frequency 01
- Site 02 frequency 02

Now after having said all of that. If it was me doing this, and most of the traffic I want to hear is on this TRS (in other words not many other frequencies to program); I would put each site in its own bank. Yeah you have to program the TGs into each bank, which seems like a lot of redundant work. Then I'd monitor for at least a week and see which site is most active. If you're using this at a single location, then one site will probably be all you need. If you're using this mobile you may want to leave it that way so that your scanner will find the best signal as you move around. I only had 2 sites to contend with and opted for the single bank approach.

Good luck

 

[AlmostHandy]

Right on. Thank you for your response.

I'm finding the radio quite tedious to program. Is there a way to make my own serial cable? And by that, I mean does anyone have the pinout for the PC/IF jack on the side of the radio? I found win97, and it looks like a really handy tool, but I can't afford an extra $35 for the cable for a while. Is the pinout available for that radio?

 

[AlmostHandy]

Oh so I had another question.

Do the TGs have to be saved in corresponding frequency banks? Each bank can only hold 150 TGs, so would I have to copy the frequencies to another bank to listen to more talkgroups, or would the scanner know that TGs in one bank go with freqs from a different bank?

Am I making any sense?

I kind of miss the old scanner I had when I was a kid. It used little crystal canisters, and trunks were for elephants. Ahh, the good old days.

 

[gmclam]

Pro-97

I'm finding the radio quite tedious to program. Is there a way to make my own serial cable? And by that, I mean does anyone have the pinout for the PC/IF jack on the side of the radio? I found win97, and it looks like a really handy tool, but I can't afford an extra $35 for the cable for a while. Is the pinout available for that radio?

The pinout is available. Be aware that even the serial version of the cable is not just "connections", it requires some discrete components. Go here and look down the page you'll see a section regarding cables.

Do the TGs have to be saved in corresponding frequency banks?

Yes. That's how the scanner associates TGs with control channel frequencies.

Each bank can only hold 150 TGs, so would I have to copy the frequencies to another bank to listen to more talkgroups

If you really want to hear more than 150 TGs, I might suggest just listening with the bank set to OPEN. Otherwise if you want to listen to more than 150 TGs, yes the control channel frequencies would have to be put into multiple banks. You will take a "performance hit" and probably miss lots of calls by doing this. I so dislike the way the PRO-9x scanners handle trunk tracking that I actually dedicate one scanner just to my local TRS and use a separate scanner for all non-trunked stuff.

 

[AlmostHandy]

Awesome. I think I'll just save the important ones, and listen in open mode when I want to hear more.

Also, I found the schematic for the 20-289 cable at http://www.starrsoft.com/software/Win96/Cables/GRE_cables.htm.

It looks pretty easy to do, and I probably have most of those components in various baby food jars in my "lab" (read: shoebox under the bed). I'll see what I can do.