P25 and DTS96 ... problematic?

[lui_gough]

Just a quick one:
I followed Mike Alpha's instructions here to try and get my DTS96 following the new P25 CC's but I seem to have no luck.

What I did was I used ARC96 and programmed in the multi-table as seen here for each bank. Each bank had only one CC in it, set to Moto Mode in Open Mode (so as to pick up everything possible). Scanning 7 separate bases (on 7 separate banks), the DTS96 never seems to stop on anything. I decided to add in some stuff into the Talkgroup list so there were some, still no help.

What's strange is that if I use Pro96Com, I can see occasional activity ... and if I make a bank with just the P25 Voice Channels from all 7 bases, and scan them along with the banks with the bases, it will always stop on the voice channel bank on a Digital transmission, and won't find it with the help of the control channel. As soon as I disable the voice channel bank, the scanner seems to be awful silent.

I also tried to put several bases into one bank and let it go that way - but it always decides to lock onto the first base it hears, and stays there. Which ... is not very helpful if you get "locked" onto a very inactive base.

Has anyone got the DTS96 (or Pro96) working properly on the new GRN? Any tips?

[centralcoastscanman]

well i'd say forget the voice channels for starters, as p25 systems are control channel only

come to think of it tracking the current grn on my pro96 i don't have any of the voice channels programmed in yet it still works perfectly OK

[lui_gough]

Yes, that's what I did initially - just have all the control channels, each with their own bank, scanning in open mode. The scanner never seems to stop on any of them, even left for an hour or two - decode rates on all control channels are >94% according to the scanner and Pro96Com does show activity when I put it into remote access. When I got sick of that, I put in a bank with observed voice channels only - and sure enough, I can pick up those voice channels - it's just that the scanner somehow seems to be not-using the control channel properly. In open mode it should stop on any transmission. That's what's puzzling me at the moment.

[soupbones]

This is strange indeed. If you are not seeing activity in Pro96Com then it sounds like to me you have an issue with the scanner. But saying this, it may be an issue too with your serial input.
What I am thinking is maybe u have some issue with your serial cable from your PC to your scanner and reverse. I am thinking this because I have had a similar issue with a cable that was supposedly ok to work with the pro96 but i found when programming it up that some of the data must have been getting corrupted. I had a nightmare getting the pro96 to work correctly at first. Specially because I also had to use an adaptor where it plugged into the scanner as the cable had a slightly different plug.

So have you tried a different cable maybe? If you are getting problems programming it up, as well as outputting data from the scanner to Pro96COM then maybe this is possible an issue.

Just a thought I had, and something to maybe consider. Maybe some info on the cable you have may shed some light.

[lui_gough]

Hmm, well, I have no problems seeing activity on the bases with Pro96Com - I just can't get the scanner to trunk-track properly. I will see activity on Pro96Com - but even though I have the CC's programmed in, the thing set to open moto mode, the scanner keeps "scanning" away .... and never stops to tune to a voice channel. I'm really puzzled by it. It even programs up and reads and writes via the cable just fine according to ARC96 and Pro96Com ...

[centralcoastscanman]

have you setup the bank into trunk mode or whatever its called in pro96 as to me it sounds like you have all the control channels programed in there but its not set to trunk or the settings are not correct.

[lui_gough]

I did enable the bank as Trunked Motorola mode and each channel is set to MO recieve mode - so that the channel, when manually navigated to, tells me the receive stats and the ID ... thanks for the suggestion. I've tried to reset the scanner and download a blank scanner, modify it, and upload it back ... still no cigar at the moment. Maybe someone here can help me by offering a file I can load onto my DTS-96 to see?

Wonder if it's because my DTS-96 is a bit old and buggy - CPU is 1.1, DSP is 1.2, Voc is 1.0

[soupbones]

I wish I could elaborate more, but I only have a Pro96. Unless your model has some fault when it comes to P25 systems. I cannot say that this may be the case but.
I would suggest swapping and changing the positions that you have the entries for the base and offsets, if you have them for these systems. You don't need them for the Uniden scanners, but I am not sure with the GRE/Radio Shack models. So far mine has only been hooked into a position of full time monitoring with Pro96Com, which works great.

[Longreach]

Hi all, i'd forget the multi plan table and just go back to single table. with the new P25 GRN you only need bandplan 4.
on your single table put your frequency of 412.475mhz step 6.25khz and offset of 16384.
ive got my own 2 pro 96's and another persons DTS96 running on it this way.
cheers
Matt

[lui_gough]

Thanks for the tip. I've reverted to single table - but Butel's ARC96 is being annoying. It won't take 16384 as the offset - it just decides to go and change it to 756 once I change banks. Hmm. Well, time to keypad the data in by hand instead I guess and see what happens.

So at the moment - I've got all my banks in MO mode, with each frequency in MO mode, 9600 set to Single-Table, and table set to Base 412.475Mhz, Offset as 16384, and Step as 6.25khz.

And I think it works. Just don't let BuTEL ARC96 near it ... it silently changes all your offsets to 756!

EDIT: Actually, I KNOW it works now Just heard TG10055 fire up just a sec ago. Genius! Thanks so much! It's been playing around with me for the past couple of days trying to get it to work!