SOMEONE HELP! No clue where to start.

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Brandon87

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Tyler/Whitehouse, Texas
I recently inherited an OLD pro-42 scanner. Well my city is all digital now so I just bought a pro-106 today and just have no clue where to start. The 42 was easy to program but this digital trunking, talk group, signal stalking, object oriented stuff has me stumped. SOME ONE HELP PLEASE! I recently got hired onto my local fire department but won't receive a radio for 6 months and would like to tune into the FD, Police, Sheriffs, basically all public safety in my area. Would really help if there was someone who lived here and could walk/talk me thru it. If that's not possible I'd be happy to leave my number for anyone who is committed enough to guide me through this from scratch.... Please help! Very new to this but very interested.
 

hiegtx

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Dallas, TX
I recently inherited an OLD pro-42 scanner. Well my city is all digital now so I just bought a pro-106 today and just have no clue where to start. The 42 was easy to program but this digital trunking, talk group, signal stalking, object oriented stuff has me stumped. SOME ONE HELP PLEASE! I recently got hired onto my local fire department but won't receive a radio for 6 months and would like to tune into the FD, Police, Sheriffs, basically all public safety in my area. Would really help if there was someone who lived here and could walk/talk me thru it. If that's not possible I'd be happy to leave my number for anyone who is committed enough to guide me through this from scratch.... Please help! Very new to this but very interested.
Hi Brandon
Welcome to RadioReference.
(Note that anything underlined in blue is a link.)

You're in Smith County. Tyler, Smith County itself, and many of the smaller cities are either on, or have access to, this digital system, which is the one you need to program: Texas Wide Area Radio Network (TxWARN) Project 25 Trunking System, Various, Texas - Scanner Frequencies

As you have a Pro-106, that won't be a problem; that scanner can track the system, whereas the Pro-42 would not, since it isn't digital, is not a trunk-tracker, and can't receive the frequencies used by the system.

There are some members in your general East Texas area (I'm in Dallas), but if you can't make connections with one of them, the information you need is already available on this site. The Pro-106 uses what's known as Object Oriented memory. A more general discussion can be found here.

You can find an "Easier to Read" manual that covers your scanner online. While it is to your long term advantage to also be capable of programming your scanner through the keyboard, you can utilize software to help you get up and running much quicker. The use of software would also allow someone to create a file for you to load, to get the scanner working. There are three main programming packages that would work for your 106, which are discussed here. All three programs (Win500, PSREdit500, and ARC500) will program the scanner, all have a thirty day free trial period. If you have not already bought the pc interface cable, that is required to use software, but is also needed for firmware updates. You might also find this article on connecting the scanner to the pc useful.

Besides the TxWARN P25 talkgroups, and associated conventional frequencies, for the Tyler/Smith County area, you would also be able to add frequencies for the surrounding area, such as Cherokee & Rusk counties. And, while Tx DPS does have talkgroups on the trunked system, you may wish to add the DPS Vhf-high frequencies.
 

Brandon87

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Tyler/Whitehouse, Texas
Thanks Steve

I appreciate the help Steve. I guess ill HAVE to buy the software for the programmer but I guess that will end up being easier. I travel to and from the shreveport area daily and would Luke to program a few if there local agencies in too. I do greatly appreciate the help though. I'll get started with the online manual and go from there!
 

hiegtx

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I appreciate the help Steve. I guess ill HAVE to buy the software for the programmer but I guess that will end up being easier. I travel to and from the shreveport area daily and would Luke to program a few if there local agencies in too. I do greatly appreciate the help though. I'll get started with the online manual and go from there!
Brandon,

All of the software packages do offer a thirty day free-trial period, before you have to either buy the software, or quit using it. That way, you can see which you like best. My personal favorite is Win500, and I suspect that is the most widely used. (My PSR-500 uses the same software; GRE makes the 500, and produces the Pro-106, with a different front panel layout, for Radio Shack.) But remember that is only my preference.

Any of the three will do the job, and you may prefer one of the others instead, because of the way it looks onscreen, or because it resembles another program that you're familiar with. Besides using software to get 'up & running' quickly, it has the additional advantage in that you can see most, if not all, of your programming information for a specific conventional channel (such as Tx DPS, or the ETMC medevacs), or trunked system (like TxWARN) at one time, on screen, rather than a couple lines at a time, scrolling through them on the scanner's display. Makes it much easier to spot & correct simple errors or omissions in data entry. Remember that, regardless of the software you decide on, it is a one-time purchase. Lifetime updates are free for all three programs, as the authors make occasional corrections, changes, or improvements.

You mentioned trips to Shreveport. Your Pro-106 has what is called "V-folders". That's where the preloaded frequencies are stored. However, you can replace any, or all, of them with your own programming files. For your home area, once you get your programming for the Smith County area tweaked to your tastes, save that to one of the locations, under whatever you named the file in your software. That could be Smith County, Tyler Area, Home, whatever name you wanted.

You can easily create a second file (stored in a separate 'folder') for when you get ready to hit I-20 east, & head toward Shreveport. In that file, you might have Gregg County (TxWARN is also in use there, but different talkgroups), Rusk, Panola, and Harrison counties, and Caddo Parish(in LA), plus Texas DPS and LWIN. You can switch between folders loaded with only a couple of keystrokes and a minute or two for the new file to load & the scanner reboot.

For Shreveport itself, you could easily have a third file (stored separately, of course, in another folder in the scanner) for the Shreveport metro area. Caddo & Bossier parishes, LWIN, whatever you want. Again, only a couple of key presses to switch between your "trip" file to your "Shreveport" load.

In order for anyone to create a file for you, you'd need to provide some guidance on what you wanted in it:
Specific agencies
Channel types (dispatch only? or also talk/ firegrounds, etc)
Fire? PD? SO? EMS?
One county only? (Smith?) or also one or more adjacent ones (Cherokee? Rusk? Van Zandt? Upshur? Wood? Henderson? Gregg? Anderson?) Depending on your listening location (up on a hill, down in a low area, inside a house, or apartment, any number of factors), your actual receiving range will vary. Some agencies pretty much fade away once you get outside their jurisdiction, while others may be heard for a considerable distance.

If you don't connect with someone in your immediate area, I can put together a file for you, as long as I have some idea what you want. I have both Win500 & PSREdit500.
 

gr8rcall

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Brandon:

Welcome to RR!!! I can see that you've already found someone GREAT (hiegtx) to help you. We are all one big happy family here.

gr8rcall
 

Brandon87

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Aug 19, 2012
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Tyler/Whitehouse, Texas
That would be great!

That would be great Steve! How would I go about getting this list together for you? I can tell you for sure that I would like all local agencies in Smith county; PD, FD, Sheriffs dept, etc. I don't know exactly how advanced or intricate my pro-106 is but for me, it would be ideal if it could scan all the local and surrounding agencies in my area, play their traffic while displaying what agency it is. I got it going a little last night as I programmed in Tylers Simulcast tower and a few PD talkgroups... I think. All I know is that I was clearly intercepting traffic from what sounded like the Tyler PD. As far as my traveling is concerned, the only towns I ever travel through from west to east would be any that run along I20 and then from Shreveport south to Mansfield, LA. I would like to have some "file" that I could basically turn in when I got to my working area that day. You know, just scroll through the scanner until I got to, for instance a file that I named "FRIERSON AREA", select it and boom, it starts feeding me all the local agencies traffic. I know that I'm probably being a pain but man I just don't quite understand all this yet. It seems to be quite a bit more complicated than I thought it would be. Anyways, if you would be so kind as to let me know exactly what you need from me so that you can create this/these files or folders ill get right on it. Thanks again Steve.
 

hiegtx

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That would be great Steve! How would I go about getting this list together for you? I can tell you for sure that I would like all local agencies in Smith county; PD, FD, Sheriffs dept, etc. I don't know exactly how advanced or intricate my pro-106 is but for me, it would be ideal if it could scan all the local and surrounding agencies in my area, play their traffic while displaying what agency it is. I got it going a little last night as I programmed in Tylers Simulcast tower and a few PD talkgroups... I think. All I know is that I was clearly intercepting traffic from what sounded like the Tyler PD. As far as my traveling is concerned, the only towns I ever travel through from west to east would be any that run along I20 and then from Shreveport south to Mansfield, LA. I would like to have some "file" that I could basically turn in when I got to my working area that day. You know, just scroll through the scanner until I got to, for instance a file that I named "FRIERSON AREA", select it and boom, it starts feeding me all the local agencies traffic. I know that I'm probably being a pain but man I just don't quite understand all this yet. It seems to be quite a bit more complicated than I thought it would be. Anyways, if you would be so kind as to let me know exactly what you need from me so that you can create this/these files or folders ill get right on it. Thanks again Steve.
Brandon,
If you can, shoot me a pm (private message) with your email address, and I'll fill you in on some information needed. (It's never a good idea to openly post your phone # or email address on a public forum.)
You're first step, of course, is to make sure you have the pc cable, and the correct drivers for it installed on your pc. Otherwise, you won't be able to load any file, whether it's one you create yourself, or one someone sends you.

Also, go ahead and download (and install) at least one of the software packages. The links to all three can be found in the page I mentioned earlier, which was this one: Object Oriented Scanner Software - The RadioReference Wiki

BTW- Your other thread, looking for someone in the Tyler area, would stand a better chance of hitting a local Smith County area target in the Texas forum.
 
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