Tacoma Trunk

[Ishyid]

Well, I am about the happiest person alive right now. After spending over a month and a half, i have now succesfully programmed Tacoma's trunked system. it was only a few fire talkgroups, but I left it open, and now I am hearing tons of chat. I am so glad I finally figured it out. Just thought I would let you all know.

 

[lowboy654]

In the open mode you hear everything police fire or any agency that uses the control channel that you have in the open mode. you will get everything and depending on the system it will be very hard to follow what is going on with just fire or just police it would be like putting 800 songs in your IPOD in the shuffle mode you get what you get.

 

[Ishyid]

Ya, I found that out the hard way, so I went back and closed it and am only scanning the talkgroups I programmed.

 

[AlmostHandy]

When I got my pro97 a few months ago, it was very confusing.

I decided that I needed a plan, so I dumped everything I could find into Excel and sorted it all out that way.

Once I figure out the best configuration for me, I had entered them all by hand. Yeah, yeah, "get a cable and buy some software!". Well, I would have loved to do it that way, but I didn't have the cash, and really wanted to listen, now, so I just had to tun on my inner robot.

I really love the text tags, but programming them is a real PITA.

 

[lowboy654]

it is but you know how to program it by hand, a good thing.

 

[gmclam]

PRO-97 programming by hand

I decided that I needed a plan, so I dumped everything I could find into Excel and sorted it all out that way.

Once I figure out the best configuration for me, I had entered them all by hand. Yeah, yeah, "get a cable and buy some software!". Well, I would have loved to do it that way, but I didn't have the cash, and really wanted to listen, now, so I just had to tun on my inner robot.

I really love the text tags, but programming them is a real PITA.

I did exactly the same thing, but not because of $$. I feel that you need to learn to drive on a stick shift before actually using an automatic. Even with software, it is a very good idea to figure things out "on paper" first. It took me a full week pounding on keys at least 8 hours per day to program 1000 frequencies and about 500 talkgroups all with alpha tags.

The problem for me wasn't so much the initial programming, it was when I wanted to make significant changes.

 

[Stavro35]

I'd like to piggy back on this thread if I may? I am located in Bainbridge island. I am able to hear the Snohmosh county TRS on my radios, no problem. The Tacoma/Pierce TRS doesn't really come in that well for me. In fact I have to walk around on our sundeck to get any signal at all.

An outdoor antenna isn't an option for me as I live in a condo. Would a simple mag mount antenna improve my monitoring experience in this case?

For those of you familiar with Bainbridge island. I am located in the heart of Winslow

 

[icom1020]

Is there any way for you to point a yagi from the inside towards the best signal? I used an old RS cell phone external antenna which looks like plastic pedestal and works great but they are no longer avaliable.