trx1 i need help

Status
Not open for further replies.

hiegtx

Mentor
Premium Subscriber
Joined
May 8, 2004
Messages
11,874
Reaction score
4,277
Location
Dallas, TX
i live in page county va they recentley changed to a p25 system 2 i have had no luck getting the scanner to pick it up there are 2 other counties around me using the same sytem i cant get those to work.my dad has the uniden and his picks it up what am i doing wrong help
tvengr's comment, to post your programming file, would allow determination of whether there is something wrong with the way it is set up.

However, as others have suggested, probably your biggest problem is simulcast. Whiskey3's comments in post 12 has the link to the Wiki page that includes details on what makes a site simulcast, as well as a few things you can try to see if you can negate the issue.

Your county, Page, as well as Rockingham, are on this system:

Page's site appears to be simulcast, multiple transmit towers for the site, all using the same set of frequencies.
1689188386605.png

The TRX-1 does not do well on simulcast. That causes issues ranging from no reception at all, or only getting garbled audio. If simulcast is the problem, as it appears to be, there is very little you can do in regards to programming to make it work. Most commonly, changes to your antenna setup, whether a directional antenna, or "less antenna", even to the point of using a paper clip, occasionally work. The downside of a directional antenna is that by focusing on an individual sub-site (transmit tower), you may lose, or impede, reception from other systems in a different direction. Simulcast is so location driven that, at times, if you move the scanner around in your home, you may find one spot where you may be able to coax it to work. Of course, none of these possibilities (antenna choices or physical location) would be workable when you are out driving around in your vehicle.

The Valley site in Rockingham county is also simulcast, with a larger number of sub-sites:

1689189359369.png

You may well be able to get Rockingham because you are far enough away that you're on;y getting one location, and it may be a strong enough signal to override the other, out of sync, signals. There are two additional sites in Rockingham County, but since each have a limited number of frequencies (compared to the Valley site), they likely are mostly for fill-in of areas where the simulcast signal is weak. If they are fill-ins, then neither would carry all of the radio traffic for the county.

Shenandoah County uses this system, using two sites, both of which are simulcast. But here again, your distance from the system may mean that simulcast does not impact your ability to receive the system.
 

TAbirdman

Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2014
Messages
774
Reaction score
80
Location
MO
Where is the OP in relation to the tower locations? if they are on an edge of one, using attenuation, laying the radio flat, not using an external antenna can help. If they are dead center of them, welll......
 

Ubbe

Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2006
Messages
10,635
Reaction score
4,402
Location
Stockholm, Sweden
While a good radio, it is an old design. If you mean Phase 2 when you wrote system 2, you are more than pushing the ability of the radio. The Uniden is a newer type of circuit and handles P25 with an entirely different design. The trx 1 has problems handling phase 1 simulcast in many situations and phase 2 is not likely to work.
TRX-1 are a "new" design. I don't know if Whistler did it themselves or if it was a scanner that never had time to be released by GRE before Whistler bought them. It has a much improved hardware over Whistlers other scanners, but still seems to handle simulcast worse than Unidens scanners.

/Ubbe
 

hiegtx

Mentor
Premium Subscriber
Joined
May 8, 2004
Messages
11,874
Reaction score
4,277
Location
Dallas, TX
Where is the OP in relation to the tower locations? if they are on an edge of one, using attenuation, laying the radio flat, not using an external antenna can help. If they are dead center of them, welll......
Looks like his location (Stanley) is a little south of Luray, which appears to be near the geographical center of the site's coverage map.
1689197019147.png
 

jaspence

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 21, 2008
Messages
3,041
Reaction score
859
Location
Michigan
GRE radios were built in China until the government closed and tore down the factory for another building project. The Pro 18 and similar (Radio Shack) versions were introduced in 2013. The electronics are not based on a SDR like the Uniden SDS series, and the only updates have been through firmware, which did improve P25 coverage and add DMR to the factory upgrade and DMR and NXDN to the Whistler version of the original radio. The DMR is not true trunking but works well for most listening of DMR 1 or 2. There are many post on RR concerning the ability to handle the latest P25 changes. Whistler did improve the radio within the capabilities for the age of the design and also made some welcome improvements to the programming software.
 

CycleSycho

Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
Messages
700
Reaction score
178
Location
Central South Carolina
GRE radios were built in China until the government closed and tore down the factory for another building project. The Pro 18 and similar (Radio Shack) versions were introduced in 2013. The electronics are not based on a SDR like the Uniden SDS series, and the only updates have been through firmware, which did improve P25 coverage and add DMR to the factory upgrade and DMR and NXDN to the Whistler version of the original radio. The DMR is not true trunking but works well for most listening of DMR 1 or 2. There are many post on RR concerning the ability to handle the latest P25 changes. Whistler did improve the radio within the capabilities for the age of the design and also made some welcome improvements to the programming software.



:( And, Whistler quite probably will not release any new scanners since they cancelled the last 2 a number of years back (and I really do not blame them). sort of like the A/C refrigerants mandates, encryption and the onslaught of newer types of systems coming out, it is becoming increasingly hard for Whistler to dump all that $ into new scanner radios designs (in only my own opinion). :(


.
 

jaspence

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 21, 2008
Messages
3,041
Reaction score
859
Location
Michigan
Unless encryption goes away and someone creates a simple cheaper system, we have the best the general public will ever get. I doubt if even Uniden is willing to risk the cost at this time. With the current price of a SDS100, the selling price of a new design would stop many potential buyers. My first programmable scanner was a Regency HX 1000 that cost $200. It could receive any public service available at the time but almost useless today.
 

moparth

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jul 15, 2006
Messages
6
Reaction score
3
Location
Elkton, VA
I monitor the Page / Rockingham system and your best bet would be the Unication G4, it outperformed my SDS100 so much that I sold it. I still have a SDS200 for overall scanning, but if you just want to listen to that system the G4 is the way to go and pretty much everything around here is on that system aside from State Police and Shenandoah National Park which are VHF P25.
 

TheBoz

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2015
Messages
64
Reaction score
12
Location
Vernon Co, Missouri
I use three Whistler TRX scanners, I listen to several different systems, and spend a lot of time in the Kansas City area, I have the KC MARRS trunking system in all of them, and I found that instead of programming all sites in the same system I make each site it’s own system, and also put each one in its own scan list, this works very well for me, it does use multiple scan lists, but it also lets you listen to specific areas, there are other locations that I’ve done this with that also perform very good, as well as my Uniden scanner.
 

tvengr

Well Known Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2019
Messages
11,585
Reaction score
4,956
Location
Baltimore County, MD
i live in page county va they recentley changed to a p25 system 2 i have had no luck getting the scanner to pick it up there are 2 other counties around me using the same sytem i cant get those to work.my dad has the uniden and his picks it up what am i doing wrong help
Give this file a try. You will be able to select the 3 sites in Rockingham County, the site in Page County, and the 2 sites in Shenandoah County by scan list. When you first load the file, it will be scanning only the Page County site and VA State Police. (Scan Lists 4 & 7). You will be able to determine the sites that work best from your location. Scan lists as follows:

SCAN LISTS:
1. RockCo Feedstone
2. RockCo Valley
3. RockCo Mountain
4. PageCo
5. ShenCo North
6. ShenCo South
7. VA State Police
 

Attachments

  • Rock_Page_Shen.zip
    426.1 KB · Views: 1

tvengr

Well Known Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2019
Messages
11,585
Reaction score
4,956
Location
Baltimore County, MD
Please use this file instead! I had to make a Scan Set correction.
 

Attachments

  • Rock_Page_Shen.zip
    400.2 KB · Views: 1
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top