Trunking Sacramento with an awful Pro-2051

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martinihenry

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Jun 20, 2008
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Sacramento, CA
Hello! About 2 years ago, I supplemented my old Pro-2006 with a scanner capable of monitoring trunked systems, for my local agencies here in Northern Sacramento. Tragically, I made a poor choice, and bought a PRO-2051. The thing has basically been useless due to my inability to program it. Compared to the 2006's user interface for programming, this thing is an utter joke. I have given up on the dweebs at my local Radio Shack...they can't program this thing either!

Another strike against me, is that I use a Macintosh. Therefore, I am stuck programming this beast manually. I have found references for the local trunked networks I wish to monitor (Sacramento County Sheriff mainly). I programmed the scanner as best I could, but my problem is that in addition to the stuff I want to hear, I'm also getting Public Works and Garbage Truck drivel. It really drives me bonkers. Is there a way to manually remove talk IDs as they come up? I've tried hitting Lockout, but that doesn't seem to work. I'm also receiving a lot of buzzsaw-sounding data gibberish. What's the deal with that?

Any help or thoughts you all could offer would be greatly appreciated.
Jason
 
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gmclam

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Sep 15, 2006
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6,335
Location
Fair Oaks, CA
Pro-2051

I am in Fair Oaks, and monitor the system you are trying to program. The Sacramento TRS is quite busy with all kinds of stuff, that's for sure. You might want to read the manual for your scanner; if you don't have one, start here: http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Pro-2051

Typically your problem is that you have the bank set to OPEN (GRE lingo) or SEARCH (Uniden lingo). When a bank is set to open/search it will stop on ALL talkgroups (TGs), not just what you've programmed. Once you close the bank (set it to SCAN mode), it will only stop on programmed TGs which are not locked out and whose list is turned on.

From page 49:
programming id scan lists manually
When you designate a bank as a trunking bank, your scanner
sets up 10 scan lists, which are simply lists used to store your
favorite talk group IDs. Each list can contain up to 10 IDs, so
you can store a total of 100 IDs for each trunking bank. If you
use all the banks for trunking, 1,000 IDs will be available.
Once IDs are stored in lists, you can scan them like you scan
conventional frequencies.

Your scanner defaults to receive the talk groups in ID search
mode. Press SRCH in the ID search mode and the scanner
will move to the ID scan mode. If you press SRCH again, it
will return to the ID search mode.

ID scan mode
When your scanner fi nds the control channel data, it begins
trunking and id SCAN scrolls on the display until the scanner
fi nds an ID. If you have not programmed any IDs, the scanner
cannot stop on an active conversation.
To remove a scan list from active scanning, press 1-9, 0 (the
number of the scan list). The scan list indicator turns off, and
the IDs in that list are not scanned.
To restore a scan list to active scanning, press its number
again.
 
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martinihenry

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Jun 20, 2008
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Location
Sacramento, CA
Some Progress!

Thanks for you post gmclam!

I'm acquainted with the manual, and have studied over it ad-nauseum. In my opinion, the manual is POORLY written for the novice, and there are HUGE gaps in between their instructions. I guess they assume a certain level of knowledge.

I reset the thing this morning, and attempted reprogramming. I used bank #10 for my trunked bank...I don't think I'll need more than one bank. So, I selected the correct Trunk type, (E2 800, as the scanner calls it) entered all of the frequencies my little sheet from the internet listed for Sacramento's Motorola Type II TRS. Now, I assume it is necessary to enter each and every frequency for the TRS?

So far so good. When they start talking about setting up the ID lists is where I get confused. If I'm understanding correctly, by default, when you enter freqs and a TRS type, you hear all of the talk IDs in that TRS. You can assign only specific IDs to scan within that TRS by setting up these ID lists, right? I believe I was able to get my desired IDs programmed in, but scanning them seemed difficult. I had to rummage a few menus down to find the "Scan ID" choice. God help me if the scanner doesn't remember that 'mode' the next time I turn it on. When the scanner scans in this mode, "Scan Id" rolls across the screen. Is this where I should be? Now, sometimes it would pick up an undesired ID that I didn't program in. The manual says to press "Hold", then enter the list address (like 1-1, 1-5...whatever) and press "0" then enter. I couldn't make this work. It seemed it just picked up this random ID out of the blue. Totally confusing. I guess I'm having a hard time differentiating between scan and search mode. I'll twiddle with it some more. I had hoped to be able to setup a bank for Fire, one for Police, and one for Sheriff, but this still looks like too difficult a task for me :(
 
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gmclam

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Sep 15, 2006
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6,335
Location
Fair Oaks, CA
Sacramento county

Thanks for you post gmclam!
You're welcome. I haven't dealt with that model scanner before, and am not hands on familiar with Unidens, but I pride myself on being able to pick up any scanner and make it do what I want (manually).

I'm acquainted with the manual, and have studied over it ad-nauseum. In my opinion, the manual is POORLY written for the novice, and there are HUGE gaps in between their instructions. I guess they assume a certain level of knowledge.
You are dead on correct on this point. Fortunately I've been scanning most of my life and graduated from one scanner to the next. When I got to the PRO-97 I found the manual USELESS. Had I not had the knowledge from the PRO-92, PRO-95 and this site, I would have been lost. The manual barely tells you how to use the scanner, let alone how things work.

I reset the thing this morning, and attempted reprogramming. I used bank #10 for my trunked bank...I don't think I'll need more than one bank. So, I selected the correct Trunk type, (E2 800, as the scanner calls it) entered all of the frequencies my little sheet from the internet listed for Sacramento's Motorola Type II TRS. Now, I assume it is necessary to enter each and every frequency for the TRS?
No. Actually you really only "need" 4 frequencies to get going. I've programmed all frequencies for both sites, but for other reasons. The scanner will just need to find the active control channel. When I travel around, sometimes I get a better signal from a city site, otherwise I get a better signal from a county site. Another issue is if you're interested in some TG which is only on a city site (which I don't think you are).

So program in the following COUNTY site frequencies:
868.537500
868.737500
868.937500
868.962500

So far so good. When they start talking about the lists is where I get confused. If I'm understanding correctly, you can assign only specific IDs to scan within that TRS.
Any ID you program into bank 10 (the bank you're using) will be associated with this TRS, because you're programming them into the same bank.

I believe I was able to get my desired IDs programmed in, but scanning them seemed difficult. I had to rummage a few menus down to find the "Scan ID" choice. When the scanner scans in this mode, "Scan Id" rolls across the screen. Is this where I should be? Now, sometimes it would pick up an undesired ID that I didn't program in. The manual says to press "Hold", then enter the list address (like 1-1, 1-5...whatever) and press "0" then enter. I couldn't make this work. It seemed it just picked up this random ID out of the blue. Totally confusing. I guess I'm having a hard time differentiating between scan and search mode. I'll twiddle with it some more. I had hoped to be able to setup a bank for Fire, one for Police, and one for Sheriff, but this still looks like too difficult a task for me :(
I think what is confusing is that they are telling people how to "troll" for TG IDs. In other words, after you program in only the frequencies, you can save TG IDs that you receive. This is NOT the mode you want. You know the IDs you want, so program them in. Then put the scanner into SCAN mode in that bank. I believe that you do that by pressing SRCH and it will say scan mode.

EDIT: from the manual:
Your scanner defaults to receive the talk groups in ID search mode.
Press SRCH in the ID search mode and the scanner will move to the ID scan mode.
 
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martinihenry

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Joined
Jun 20, 2008
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Location
Sacramento, CA
Getting it!

This is all making sense. Just needed somebody to explain it a bit better than the crummy manual.

Now, if I may...


I obtained my ID numbers here: http://www.bearcat1.com/fleetca_files/sheet017.htm#RANGE!A1

I'm not having luck with the ones designated as Sacramento County Sheriff. I hear all of the local PDs just fine, but cannot seem to hear the Sheriff. Any chance you could share your Talk IDs for Sac County Sheriff?

Thanks again for the help. I feel somewhat better about my PRO-2051 now!

Jason
 

Sac916

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Dec 19, 2002
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This is all making sense. Just needed somebody to explain it a bit better than the crummy manual.

Now, if I may...


I obtained my ID numbers here: http://www.bearcat1.com/fleetca_files/sheet017.htm#RANGE!A1

I'm not having luck with the ones designated as Sacramento County Sheriff. I hear all of the local PDs just fine, but cannot seem to hear the Sheriff. Any chance you could share your Talk IDs for Sac County Sheriff?

Thanks again for the help. I feel somewhat better about my PRO-2051 now!

Jason


A far superior and easier to read database is right here at Radio Reference.com

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=4499

Under ther SCANNER FREQUENCIES section, you'll see two sets of freqs. Site 1 and Site 2.


In the SYSTEM TALKGROUPS section you'll see these columns.


DEC = Talk Group you want to program into the scanner
HEX = ignore this
MODE = A for analog, D for digital transmission ( need digital scanner like BC-396T )
ALPHA TAG = The actual channel display on the Motorola radio
DESCRIPTION = It describes the channel's title and intended use
TAG = Gives a basic description of the intended use catagory (Law Dispatch, Public Works, Fire Dispatch)


For Sac Sheriff you definitely need the 4 primary Dispatch Talk Groups

61552 f07 A SD 1 Dispatch 1 Law Dispatch
61584 f09 A SD 2 Dispatch 2 Law Dispatch
61616 f0b A SD 3 Dispatch 3 Law Dispatch
61648 f0d A SD 4 Dispatch 4 Law Dispatch

Be sure you have Site 2 freqs programmed into the scanner to hear County services.

Basically .....

Site #1 freqs contain

West Sacramento ( all services )
Sacramento City ( all services )
Elk Grove City ( all services )
Sacramento City Fire Dept ( Fire B )


Site #2 freqs contain

Sacramento County ( all services )
Citrus Heights City ( all services )
Folsom City ( all services )
Sacramento Airports
Sacramento Regional Transit
Sacramento Metro Fire ( Fire A )
Grant PD
Los Rios PD
 

martinihenry

Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2008
Messages
4
Location
Sacramento, CA
Cha-ching!!!

Gold mine! Thank you all so much for the assistance. Over the past few days, my much-loathed PRO-2051 has gone from a black sheep to a prodigy. It is finally giving me some action!

What a crime filled area I live in!

Jason
 
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