Batboard

I'm sure this has been brought up before but im interested if anyones figured it out yet.

and what all do i need to get at least eh correct trunk freq's programmed?

I can always disable the ptt button if i cant get it to recieve only

A.S.,
There is a little more to it than that. Do youi have experience programming regular trunked radios? FatBoy.

i dont program, i have the M shop do it. but since i was looking to set up a trunked unit to scann other agencies i dont have jurisdiction to brodcast so wanted to monitor them that way.

regular scanners are cheaply made and am looking for something durable

Well,
From what I know you will need a compatible radio that is digital capable. You will need the software and cables and RIB. Next you will need a SYSTEM KEY, which is hard to get if your are not the system administrator. If the system is Smartzone, you will have to program it smartnet so they dont SEE your radio affiliate. You could disable the pa (method i would prefer) to keep your radio from transmitting. Furthermore, you would need control channels, talkgroups in hex, and you will be limited to scanning only 8 talkgroups at a time (it may be 16 on some radios). If you are used to a regular scanner, most people I show mine to are discouraged at the cost and/or lack of "features." Until digital scanners come out, this will be the only way some of us will be able to listen. FatBoy.

Setting up your radio to monitor other agencies on your system is an easy thing to do, if you know how. Since you don't do your own programming, I won't go into details. However, it is highly doubtful your MSS will program it with any existing talkgroups other than your own. That would have legal repercussions for them. You're left with either finding somebody who's willing to do it for you, or obtaining the proper progamming hardware, RSS, system key, etc, and doing it yourself.

Todd

On 2001-12-26 03:39, Astro_Saber wrote:
I'm sure this has been brought up before but im interested if anyones figured it out yet.

and what all do i need to get at least eh correct trunk freq's programmed?

I can always disable the ptt button if i cant get it to recieve only

I have a friend who wanted to listen to his local police that went to 800 mhz smartzone. I dont KNOW why people think just because so-so went to smartzone that the system is "UNMONITORABLE" that is if it is encrypted then your out of luck.

If airwaves are used then it can be picked up regardless what type of system they are using. The radio does NOT have to be programmed just like the system u want to monitor. My friend set his up for conventional and he can listen just fine!

However... buying a 800 mhz digital astro is expensive and you might want to wait if Uniden is going to produce a digital scanner due out some time next year according to what they say of course....

[/quote]

I have a friend who wanted to listen to his local police that went to 800 mhz smartzone. I dont KNOW why people think just because so-so went to smartzone that the system is "UNMONITORABLE" that is if it is encrypted then your out of luck.

If airwaves are used then it can be picked up regardless what type of system they are using. The radio does NOT have to be programmed just like the system u want to monitor. My friend set his up for conventional and he can listen just fine!

However... buying a 800 mhz digital astro is expensive and you might want to wait if Uniden is going to produce a digital scanner due out some time next year according to what they say of course....
[/quote]

Umm, a couple of things. First, unless you WANT to listen to partial conversations by simply programming in the voice repeater frequencies & monitoring them conventionally, you DO need to program the radio with the proper system info. The radio cannot act like a trunk tracker & follow the conversation over several repeaters in conventional mode. You HAVE to monitor the talkgroups in trunking mode to do that with his radio.
Second, SmartZone systems CAN be difficult to monitor, even with the proper system info in the radio. This is due to the fact that if there are no valid users affiliated to the site, on the talkgroup you wish to monitor, no audio goes to the site. Not a big problem if you're monitoring a city police department on a site within their jursdiction, there will be a radio affiliated to the site 99% of the time.
Third, if you want to monitor Astro, even unencrypted, a scanner currently won't do it, as you mentioned. An Astro radio must still be setup with the proper info as per my first point, to properly follow the conversations.

Todd

well i can use a BC780XLT nd track everyone i guess thats what ill have to get

Is the system U want to listen to Digital? (Why are you using an ASTRO Saber if it's analog...seems like a STX, MTS2000, Modified MTX9000 would be a better solution) If if is Digital trunked, you've got me how to program it. If it is a regular SMARTZONE system, you need RSS with the FTP Hardware Key (only avaliable from the system admin), the control channels, the system I.D. #, and your talkgroups in hex. (U can convert Uniden T/T id's using Windows Calculator) If the radio is to transmit (properly) the correct connect tones are also needed. I have an STX that has a Type II board in it that I programmed up to a Smartzone system that works well in receive only, with the TX portion locked out.As far as the info aboutlistening to a trunked system on a "conventional channel"..there is an obvious paradox there....

On 2001-12-27 01:40, KD6MHO wrote:
Is the system U want to listen to Digital? (Why are you using an ASTRO Saber if it's analog...seems like a STX, MTS2000, Modified MTX9000 would be a better solution) If if is Digital trunked, you've got me how to program it. If it is a regular SMARTZONE system, you need RSS with the FTP Hardware Key (only avaliable from the system admin), the control channels, the system I.D. #, and your talkgroups in hex. (U can convert Uniden T/T id's using Windows Calculator) If the radio is to transmit (properly) the correct connect tones are also needed. I have an STX that has a Type II board in it that I programmed up to a Smartzone system that works well in receive only, with the TX portion locked out.As far as the info aboutlistening to a trunked system on a "conventional channel"..there is an obvious paradox there....

No paradox at all, you can program in all the voice channel repeaters as conventional channels & listen that way, the problem is you only get bits & pieces of the conversation as the radio cannot follow the conversation across multiple repeaters.
I believe he wants to use an Astro Saber because that's the radio he owns.

Well sure, you're going to hear conversation if you are listening to the voice channels, but you are obviously not monitoring in trunking mode...you will hear anything and everything that comes down the pipe on the pair. That's just it, you are not trunking so to speak without any way of differentiating talkgroups that's kinda what I mean by a paradox of listening to trunking; conventional. The ASTRO 800 radio should work just fine...he needs to edit the trunking personalities and enter system ID#, control channels, and talkgroup I.D.'s in hex.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: KD6MHO on 2001-12-27 13:05 ]</font>

can the bc780xlt pull up system keys?

im sure it can be done if someone spends the time on it. just liek using a regualr saber as a scanner and radio

Pull up system keys? Well, in a sense, yes. most systems are set to transmit their system ID via Morse Code every 30 minutes. It's supposed to go out over the lowest licensed frequency, but if busy, the system will send it out over the lowest available frequency. This will only give you the actual system ID, not the "system key". This information is usually available through public archives anyway.

Todd

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: wavetar on 2001-12-30 02:18 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: wavetar on 2001-12-30 02:47 ]</font>