TGRP Not Working In New Pro-106

[infohou]

Hello Folks,

First of all let me say that I would like to understand how to do this without software. I am a Mac and Linux guy and not particularly interested in Windows software in order to program the scanner. Also, even the Easy manual could use examples.

So, I have attempted to program in the Harris County Regional Radio System with the talkgroup for Houston Police. When scanning the TGRP the radio does not stop on anything. If I manually enter the 860.23750 control channel I cannot hear anything. Tried at least one other with not success. I tried FM, au, etc. Type II SmartZone should be 800/900?

Anybody in Harris County/Houston TX that wants to help?

Thanks,
Robert A. Ober
PS: I am an IT consultant and considered to have above average intelligence.

 

[sjlamb]

Helpful responses are going to require much more information. For starters:

(1) The Harris County Regional Radio System covers a (9) County area and has (25) Tower Sites. What County do you live in and which Sites have you programmed into your scanner?

Harris County Regional Radio System (Motorola) Trunking System, Metro Houston area, Texas - Scanner Frequencies

(2) How far are you from the closest tower site to your location? Are you using an outdoor antenna? Are you listening at ground level? If, after programming all Control and Alternate Controls channels for a particular tower site, you cannot hear control channel data bursts on any of those channels; you are probably too far away from that tower to receive. Typical range on an 800 mHz. trunked system is 15-25 miles from the tower. The "All Purpose-All Band" antenna that came with your radio will not receive an 800 mHz system nearly as well as an antenna tuned specifically for 800 systems or, even better, an external antenna mounted as high as possible.

(3) For whatever Site(s) you have programmed; have you entered in all of the "control" and "alternate control channels" (those highlighted in blue and red in the RR Database)?

(4) The system is an 800 mHz Motorola Type II Smartzone trunked system and needs to be designated as such in your Pro-106

(5) While the Harris County Regional Radio System is a HUGE system; the RR Database indicates that Houston PD only has (3) Talkgroup IDs assigned to this system:

Houston - Police Department Talkgroups

DEC Mode Alpha Tag Description Tag

6544 Analog HPD Citywide Patch to HPD Citywide (Ch. A5/B5 on 460.425 MHz) Law Tac

18864 Analog HPD Fox "Fox" Helicopters

20272 Analog Internal Affairs

All indications from the RR Database are that the vast majority of Houston PD comms (and othe Houston agencies) take place on Conventional UHF frequencies as seen on this page of the database: Harris County, Texas (TX) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

PS... Manual programming of trunked radio systems in today's modern scanners is a lesson in masochism for anyone at any level. If you plan to manually program any sizeable portion of the Harris County Regional Radio System into your Pro-106, better plan on being a bleary-eyed, button punching loon for the forseeable future.

 

[infohou]

Hello,

Thanks much for your reply.

"(1) The Harris County Regional Radio System covers a (9) County area and has (25) Tower Sites. What County do you live in and which Sites have you programmed into your scanner?"

Site 001 with the main control channel 860.23750 .

"(2) How far are you from the closest tower site to your location?"

Unknown. Assuming the Central tower is downtown, I am not more than about seven miles.

" Are you using an outdoor antenna? Are you listening at ground level? If, after programming all Control and Alternate Controls channels for a particular tower site, you cannot hear control channel data bursts on any of those channels; you are probably too far away from that tower to receive. Typical range on an 800 mHz. trunked system is 15-25 miles from the tower. The "All Purpose-All Band" antenna that came with your radio will not receive an 800 mHz system nearly as well as an antenna tuned specifically for 800 systems or, even better, an external antenna mounted as high as possible."

Indoors with the stock antenna. I am a no-code Tech (KC4ZTK) so I did consider the antenna but it is mostly clear today so it seems I should hear something. I may drive closer to see if that helps. Want the portability of an on radio antenna so I may look into alternatives of that vein.

"(3) For whatever Site(s) you have programmed; have you entered in all of the "control" and "alternate control channels" (those highlighted in blue and red in the RR Database)?"

I have not but will do that. I only want HPD and fire.

"(4) The system is an 800 mHz Motorola Type II Smartzone trunked system and needs to be designated as such in your Pro-106"

106 gives 800/900 or vhf/uhf, or P25. I have tried them all.

"(5) While the Harris County Regional Radio System is a HUGE system; the RR Database indicates that Houston PD only has (3) Talkgroup IDs assigned to this system:"

6544 is the one I am interested in primarily and that is what I programmed.

"All indications from the RR Database are that the vast majority of Houston PD comms (and other Houston agencies) take place on Conventional UHF frequencies as seen on this page of the database: Harris County, Texas (TX) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference"

Yes, I was coming to that conclusion although I have seen nothing that explicitly says that. I am about 2 miles from the Beechnut substation so if anybody knows what freq. they are one that would be helpfull.

Thanks again for all the good questions,
Robert

 

[infohou]

I added the additional control channels for site 001 and still hear nothing on the TGRP.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[sjlamb]

Before you drive yourself bonkers on this; I would ask in the Texas forum if anyone can confirm that HPD is actually transmitting on that TG #: Texas Radio Discussion Forum - The RadioReference.com Forums

I'm suspicious because that TGID # is a patch from the HPD Primary UHF Conventional system. It is not a simulcast and thus, may only be in use on certain occasions.

I don't own a Pro-106 but believe that the system should be set as "800/900".... and then specified to be a Motorola System. There must be some means of telling the scanner whether it is Moto, Edacs, LTR, etc.

 

[chrizby]

Welcome to the club.
Going at it manually is a pain, but I had to do that too initially ( in Kentucky).

Try this
Press TUNE button
enter 860.23750
wait for the motorboat sound. If you can hear it, Press F3
The scanner will set up a wildcard talkgroup and TSYS. Dupe that talkgroup
and then change from wildcard to 6544.
Should be MOT 800/900.

You can enter the alternate control freqs later.
**If you can't hear the motorboat sound there are problems with reception
and this method will not work.** As close as you are you should get something
on one of the control frequencies.
Try entering other control frequencies until you get a live frequency.

The wildcard talkgroup will pick up every talkgroup your scanner can hear. If you like a
a particular talkgroup, once again press F3, and that talkgroup will be added.

Looks like 6544 is a patch to this, which would be a CONV entry in the scanner.
460.42500 KDC956 RM 123.0 PL HPD 5 Citywd

Motorola Type II SmartZone - The RadioReference Wiki
Houston Police Department

You might also try WINE on Linux so that you can use some software.
I haven't done it but supposedly Win500 will run on it.

Mabye try these talkgroups too.

8976 HCSO D3 Disp Dispatch 3 - District 3 (South) Law Dispatch
9008 HCSO D4 Disp Dispatch 4 - District 4 (West) Law Dispatch

Try the Texas forum if all else fails and see if someone can help.
Is there a Houston entry in the V-scanner folders? Be careful though if you use the v-scanner folder
it will waste all of your entries in your working memory. Try backing up what you have already entered
into your working memory into a v-scanner folder entry that you would probably never use.

Enjoy the scanner !!!!

 

[infohou]

Thanks Men,

I tried the tune then F3 method and have it scanning but it has not stopped on anything yet. Bought the RShack 800mhz antenna. I do get noise when I manually tune the control channel. With the wildcard I should hear something I suspect.

Found someone that says he will send the psredit file and I dl'ed the psredit demo and it runs with the RShack cable in XP inside VMware Fusion on my MacBook Pro. Basically HPD does not use the trunking system so I have programmed the main dispatch FM freqs into scanlist 3. Depending on what the psredit file looks like, I may add the Fire/EMS stuff to scanlist 3.

Y'all be cool,
Robert
PS: It is showing strong signal during scanning so I guess the control channel is strong?

 

[infohou]

Ok, I was not scanning the wildcard one. I get lots of traffic on the wildcard one.

Of course, I don't really want to listen to the Metro transit folks. Sounds like I may be hearing Sheriff's or Constables so that's OK.

Thanks,
Robert
PS: Hearing Brazoria County Sheriffs. Not sure why they are on the Harris County system. Whatever tower I am hearing is LOUD even with the A .

 

[sjlamb]

PS: Hearing Brazoria County Sheriffs. Not sure why they are on the Harris County system.

If you mean on the trunked system; it is because, as mentioned earlier, it is a HUGE system and literally has tentacles that reach into (9) surrounding Counties.

 

[infohou]

Indeed.

I am confused about the control channel monitoring. If I enter a control channel in Tune, should I hear the TGRPS on that channel or not?

Thanks,
Robert

 

[infohou]

Indeed.

I am confused about the control channel monitoring. If I enter a control channel in Tune, should I hear the TGRPS on that channel or not?

Thanks,
Robert

 

[chrizby]

After entering the control channel in TUNE mode, all you are going to hear
is a machine sound referred commonly as 'motorboat' 'motorboating'.
Thats it. No conversations ever.
If you can't hear anything, either that frequency is not the active control
channel at that time, you are too far away, or you are in a faraday cage
of a building.

The only reason I suggested entering the control frequency during TUNE mode
is so that you could do test reception problems and then set up a TSYS and talkgroup
on the fly.