Trying to get trunking working on my pro-164

[oneeyebear]

This is a question I have seen a lot of on these forums, and after hours of reading through posts and guides I have decided to make my own question.

I seem to be unable to figure out how to get trunking working on my Radioshack pro-164 scanner. Conventional channels are fine and work great. I am programming by hand because I do not have software or a usb cable either.

I am trying to program Thunder Valley Casino in Placer County, CA:
Thunder Valley Casino Trunking System, Lincoln, California - Scanner Frequencies

What I have done is set the band to motorola trunking, and put in the frequencies, set the channel to MO
No trunking is happening its acting like a conventional channel, but on the control channel for the motorola system. ...is there no way to do this by hand if it is a re-banded system? if not then what is the best software to use that is compatible with this scanner?

 

[Spadinator]

There are several software options out there. I use psr300 edit and it works fine. I have never tried to program mine by hand I have only used the software. The software put in the rebanded plans for me. Many others use other software and it also works fine.

 

[N8IAA]

This is a question I have seen a lot of on these forums, and after hours of reading through posts and guides I have decided to make my own question.

I seem to be unable to figure out how to get trunking working on my Radioshack pro-164 scanner. Conventional channels are fine and work great. I am programming by hand because I do not have software or a usb cable either.

I am trying to program Thunder Valley Casino in Placer County, CA:
Thunder Valley Casino Trunking System, Lincoln, California - Scanner Frequencies

What I have done is set the band to motorola trunking, and put in the frequencies, set the channel to MO
No trunking is happening its acting like a conventional channel, but on the control channel for the motorola system. ...is there no way to do this by hand if it is a re-banded system? if not then what is the best software to use that is compatible with this scanner?

Are you following the manual and pressing PROG, then TRUNK, then FUNC, choose the bank that the system is to be programmed into by pressing the UP, DOWN keys. Since no Control Channels appear in the RR database, you'll have to program all into the bank. You may want to leave the bank in OPEN mode to hear any new TGID's that they may have.
HTH,
Larry

 

[ka3jjz]

In addition, rebanding has nothing to do with 900 mhz systems...Mike

[edit] Here is the Easier to Read manual for the 164...

Easier to Read PRO-164 (and others) manual

 

[oneeyebear]

Honestly I have no idea what I just did, but it is now trunking. Really I was doing the exact same thing that I was doing last night but for some reason it's working now.

Thank you all for the input, and advice. I wish that I say what the difference is in today compared to yesterday but I don't know
... I did notice that today their control channels are on different frequencies than they were on yesterday, but I don't think that that would have anything to do with it.

 

[DickH]

After entering all the freqs., press SCAN.

 

[oneeyebear]

This is strange, today the control channel is on a different frequency and there is only 1 of the control channels (yesterday there were two). So anyway once again trunking is not working on this system... the % doesn't even show up... its like I'm missing a channel or something? but I searched fcc and didn't see any different channels listed. I would post this in the Sacramento area forum but I didn't want to make a new post for the same topic, could I get this moved possibly?

 

[canav844]

What memory channels are your trunked frequencies in, what memory channels are your conventional frequencies in? Did you store TGIDs? When scanning do you see a + or a - associated with that bank number?

Software will make life easier, but I've certainly done it by hand with the 164 several times. I've learned to keep trunked systems out of bank 0, and when possible separate trunked frequencies from conventional frequencies (put them in separate banks if you can) and do not mix multiple trunked systems on the same bank.

 

[oneeyebear]

What memory channels are your trunked frequencies in, what memory channels are your conventional frequencies in? Did you store TGIDs? When scanning do you see a + or a - associated with that bank number?

Software will make life easier, but I've certainly done it by hand with the 164 several times. I've learned to keep trunked systems out of bank 0, and when possible separate trunked frequencies from conventional frequencies (put them in separate banks if you can) and do not mix multiple trunked systems on the same bank.

So Banks 0-2, and 5 are for conventional frequencies
With 3,4,6, and 7 for Trunked frequencies
Yes I did store TGIDs on bank 3 (thunder valley casino) and I have the bank set to + (open) ..switching to closed doesn't make it work.
I do currently have everything separated, nothing is mixed. And I have been using Software as of yesterday.. it definitely does make things easier, but still I am having problems... yesterday this trunking system was fine and the only one that was actually working and today it's back to not working.

thanks for the reply

 

[oneeyebear]

Found out there was a control channel missing on the RR database, scanned for it and plugged it into my system... trunking is now working again for thunder valley.

 

[ka3jjz]

Be sure to submit your find to the db team so others don't make the same mistake. This is the only way such things are fixed...best regards..Mike

 

[N8IAA]

Found out there was a control channel missing on the RR database, scanned for it and plugged it into my system... trunking is now working again for thunder valley.

Since the database doesn't show any CC's for the system, why not put all frequencies from the system in and you won't have to keep changing them. As Mike asked, keep notes on the different CC's and submit the frequencies. It helps those who want to monitor also.
Larry

 

[oneeyebear]

Alright, will do =)

 

[LtHandy]

PRO-164 Still won't trunk

I've gone through all sorts of things to try to get my PRO=164 to trunk and I've programmed it using PSR300 ... I had to have the scanner worked on by the Radio Shack Repair Depot ... who originally told me that they didn't fix this kind of problem ... but when it came back to me (about seven months ago) it was fixed so that I could upload and download from the port on the scanner ... which is why I sent it to them in the first place. They uploaded all of the 'fixes' that were applicable at that time and, according to the scanner information when I booted it up it's current in firmware/software ... I've uploaded the correct frequencies and talk groups for Sacramento County/City Trunking ... I've checked all the 'right boxes' on PSR-300 (to the best of my ability) ... but I can't get the scanner to trunk! Anyone with any suggestions??? HELP!

 

[N8IAA]

And hijacking threads won't get you an answer either.
Larry

 

[shiLark]

After i upload the control frequencies there are 4 of them and on the arc300 it shows like 10 talk groups do those upload at the same time that the control chanels do ? Or does it need to be done seperate or?