Whistler digital trunking

[Benlee47]

Help! I just got a Whistler Digital Trunking scanner and I don't know how to get it to pick up local police dispatch. I entered in the frequencies under conventional and it is just a lot of static. I have no idea what the sq mode is or what it should be, along with the codes.I tried google searching codes and cant find anything! So frustrating!
Please help me, thanks!
BTW i'm in the Madison, WI area.

 

[k9mwd]

Madison Wisconsin is on a Motorola Type II trunked system for city and a P25 system for county. Did you set the scanner up for trunking? I can help you out with getting your scanner programmed if you would like. Send me a private message.

 

[Benlee47]

Okay! Say I want to tune in the Dane county sheriffs dispatch. Do I make it a talk group or conventional?

 

[Spitfire8520]

Okay! Say I want to tune in the Dane county sheriffs dispatch. Do I make it a talk group or conventional?

You need to program the talkgroup under the DaneCom trunked system that you also have to program.

Trunking means that there are a pool of frequencies shared by all the users of the system. If you program the frequencies as conventional, then you will hear random conversations from everyone such as public works, schools, road crews, and places you might not care about.

 

[Benlee47]

When I press PROG then NEW, it gives me three options... Talkgroup, conventional and search. I choose talkgroup, right? How do I program a Trunked system?

 

[Ensnared]

Which One?

Whistler makes several different models of scanners. Which one did you purchase?

I am guessing that it might have been this model. If not, I suggest watching some You Tube videos. Here is one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4DQVHyWrus

 

[buddrousa]

My bet is it is a WS1040 in which it would be alot less headache if 3 things happen. 1 Premium Subscriber 2 Win500 software and 3 a program cable from Whistler. That way you can import all you want and not guess knowing anything about radio systems.

 

[TrackChatter]

I too am a new WS1040 user.
1. A subscriber here
2. Bought Win500
3. Have the program cable from Whistler

And it still is a pain to operate. Why? Several reasons. Win500 isn't very user friendly (yet) for me. I'm still getting familiar with how they all function together - so I hope the new user uses as much patience as I have, even though it's running thin one month later.

What I found most helpful was using the Web Import feature (under the File menu) on Win500 to import talk groups and frequencies. Why no one else here has mentioned that feature up-front here is beyond me but it's certainly gotten me one more step in the right direction. While 'it is that easy' to utilize there's no instructions indicating how to input on the menus that follow once you're prompted for more specific details pertaining to exactly what you're looking for.

IE: Trunked systems or Conventional frequencies
Once that menu pops up you need to indicate what exactly you want relative to your region and location.
First: fill in your radio reference user id, your password, click remember me - then click START
And everything you select thereafter click START
Choose your country - click START
Choose your State / Providence - click START
Choose your County - click START

... so it cycles through onto the next input you need to select.
Then you select Agencies (mine are in Minnesota)

New users need this type of information. Please share it.
There's more input required after that too but it can get you going. Currently I've not explored the software much further than that - which is odd nobody else here who've been users for however many years has stepped newbies through this delightful mess.

This doesn't need to be rocket science folks.

Upon making all your selections there are other features to use to pin-point how you want the data installed to your Win500 program to install on your scanner and to date I'v not ventured out further to make more precise selections to make everything even that much more efficient, but I plan to sooner or later since Win500 is miserable for moving items from one scan list to another (no directions I guess) but I'm open for input.

/sarcasm

 

[hiegtx]

I too am a new WS1040 user.
1. A subscriber here
2. Bought Win500
3. Have the program cable from Whistler

And it still is a pain to operate. Why? Several reasons. Win500 isn't very user friendly (yet) for me. I'm still getting familiar with how they all function together - so I hope the new user uses as much patience as I have, even though it's running thin one month later.

What I found most helpful was using the Web Import feature (under the File menu) on Win500 to import talk groups and frequencies. Why no one else here has mentioned that feature up-front here is beyond me but it's certainly gotten me one more step in the right direction. While 'it is that easy' to utilize there's no instructions indicating how to input on the menus that follow once you're prompted for more specific details pertaining to exactly what you're looking for.

IE: Trunked systems or Conventional frequencies
Once that menu pops up you need to indicate what exactly you want relative to your region and location.
First: fill in your radio reference user id, your password, click remember me - then click START
And everything you select thereafter click START
Choose your country - click START
Choose your State / Providence - click START
Choose your County - click START

... so it cycles through onto the next input you need to select.
Then you select Agencies (mine are in Minnesota)

New users need this type of information. Please share it.
There's more input required after that too but it can get you going. Currently I've not explored the software much further than that - which is odd nobody else here who've been users for however many years has stepped newbies through this delightful mess.

This doesn't need to be rocket science folks.

Upon making all your selections there are other features to use to pin-point how you want the data installed to your Win500 program to install on your scanner and to date I'v not ventured out further to make more precise selections to make everything even that much more efficient, but I plan to sooner or later since Win500 is miserable for moving items from one scan list to another (no directions I guess) but I'm open for input.

/sarcasm

There is a ;earning curve for just about all the current digital scanners. The curve is steeper for some models.

For Win500, see if this guide helps you:
WIN500 - UtahRadio

 

[hiegtx]

When I press PROG then NEW, it gives me three options... Talkgroup, conventional and search. I choose talkgroup, right? How do I program a Trunked system?

IF the scanner you have is the WS1040, then see these Wiki pages:

Getting Started with your GRE/RS Object Oriented Scanner - The RadioReference Wiki

Getting Started with your GRE/RS Object Oriented Scanner - The RadioReference Wiki

Programming Shortcut PSR-500/600 RS Pro-106/197 - The RadioReference Wiki
Note that the Whistler scanners use the same programming system as the original GRE scanners, including the ones that were made for RadioShack by either GRE or Whistler. Any programming reference for one of these models also applies to the others in the same family.

If you do not have either the WS1040, or the desktop sibling WS1065, please indicate which model.

 

[TrackChatter]

There is a ;earning curve for just about all the current digital scanners. The curve is steeper for some models.

For Win500, see if this guide helps you:
WIN500 - UtahRadio

My point exactly. Prior to my post no one here has indicated where or how to find the File, Web Import feature. They share the url but by itself new users are helpless, and endless with questions aimed in most often times the wrong direction.

Case in point: The countless pages on how to program a WS1040 manually. All erroneously in the wrong topic or thread (mindfully pointed out to many) with little to no indication to follow giving them much needed advice on how to be more resourceful.

Not picking on anyone in particular but as little help as possible often merits few to fewer solutions.

More advice: Get help here as opposed to techs from the Whistler website. Five emails and a week later, whew that was rough. lol

-
edit: Going the route I identified it hardly matters what region they're in, state or county. Right?

 

[buddrousa]

Did you ask for help here?
1 click on file
2 click on web import
3 enter user name and password for radioreference
4 click on conventional or trunking
5 click on country
6 click on county
7 click on the system you want and where you want to put it.

 

[mikey60]

PSREdit500 and ARC500 also have the import functionality. It's implemented a little differently, but does the same functions.

On PSREdit500, the option is under the Import menu. I'm not familiar enough with ARC500 to tell you exactly where to find it there.

Mike

 

[ve1sef]

Good day. Welcome to the hobby. Check on youtube there are some really helpful videos by K4DPS and others on programming Whistler scanners.

 

[greggk]

My bet is it is a WS1040 in which it would be alot less headache if 3 things happen. 1 Premium Subscriber 2 Win500 software and 3 a program cable from Whistler. That way you can import all you want and not guess knowing anything about radio systems.

You really want to follow Buddrousa's advice above. You should at least consider the RR Subscription, a Cable, and good software. Even with all that it will still be a pretty steep learning curve, especially if you are new to this hobby. I found out the hard way that there are no magical answers that substitute for some study and practice. One advantage of good software is that if you trash your SD card somehow, you can put a new card in and download again. It also saves a great deal of time.

IMHO for FWIW. Greg

 

[Spitfire8520]

When I press PROG then NEW, it gives me three options... Talkgroup, conventional and search. I choose talkgroup, right? How do I program a Trunked system?

When you program a new TGRP, the 2nd field should be the TSYS (trunked system) option. You can use the left and right arrows to select an existing TSYS or make a NEW one. If you are making a new TSYS, you then hit SEL/ENT to program the TSYS. Once you finish and save the new TSYS, it should return to the TGRP menu so that you can finish programming it. Any additional talkgroup you program afterwards can then select the already existing trunked system using the left and right arrows.

I defer to the very useful Easier to Read Pro-651/652/106/197 - WS1040/1065 - PSR 500/600 Digital Scanner Manual and its section on Creating (Programming) Objects for the gory details of what everything does.