InterceptRadio.com Forums

Came in the Brown Truck of Happiness (tm) this afternoon.

Updates to come.

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President-in-Exile, Seattle Area Radio Communications And Scanner Traffic Intercept Crew (SARCASTIC)
Don't feel bad if you can't use your STD100/200; there are still people using Digital Frequency Search!
Bunnery definition for the under-fives

bring it tomorrow. You better get a bigger hard drive - your scanner sloothing is about to hit high gear

Done, and done.

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President-in-Exile, Seattle Area Radio Communications And Scanner Traffic Intercept Crew (SARCASTIC)
Don't feel bad if you can't use your STD100/200; there are still people using Digital Frequency Search!
Bunnery definition for the under-fives

I'm about to order one myself - I'll be eagerly awaiting your report.. Who did you order from and how long did it take to get shipped?

From Scannermaster.com.

It took about a week, as I cheaped out (sticker shock) and had it come UPS ground.

_________________
President-in-Exile, Seattle Area Radio Communications And Scanner Traffic Intercept Crew (SARCASTIC)
Don't feel bad if you can't use your STD100/200; there are still people using Digital Frequency Search!
Bunnery definition for the under-fives

Impressions thus far:

-The audio is really nice. REALLY nice.

-I like the fact you can set a flashing/non-flashing LED in a variety of colors to alert you to a certain channel or channels. I have a (turquoise?) flashing LED set up on the SWAT channels I know, primarily to avoid reading the display every time I hear a short, crypitic transmission that could be SWAT, or some cop backchannel chatter.

-Still learning the bank/object/list structure.

-I sat next door to the FDC and tuned in their P25 trunking system today; it did not work. I think it was a lack of sleep combined with the inability to read the manual yet.

-I love the ability to change all sorts of options...Length of delay, time backlight is on, stuff like that.

-Tracking both the 700mhz Pierce Transit system and the local node of the IWIN system perfectly, sadly the IWIN seems primarily encrypted.

-I wish some of the buttons were bigger, but the radio is already kinda bulky.

- I enjoy the shortcuts to different searches, but the Spectrum Sweeper search is less of a 'Close Call' or freq counter mode, and more of a super-fast band scan, it seems. It's nice, though, to enable/disable various bands (I primarily 'sweep' 137-174, and 406-470).

-I enjoy the instant (or nearly) decoding of CTCSS/DCS and P25 NAC's.
I tested all three out this morning, and both CTCSS and DCS locked in around a second, and the NAC for P25 mode was just as fast. Oddly, it *seemed* to take longer to lock on and decode the NAC on a VHF freq (163.100) than on a UHF freq (410.300), by about a second.

- I like the option to read how low/high the battery levels are. I hate using AA batteries, but sadly, I have about a hundred of them and no rechargeable ones.

_________________
President-in-Exile, Seattle Area Radio Communications And Scanner Traffic Intercept Crew (SARCASTIC)
Don't feel bad if you can't use your STD100/200; there are still people using Digital Frequency Search!
Bunnery definition for the under-fives

Also-

-I haven't figured out the alarms yet.

-Nor the SAME or Skywarn stuff.

-I really like (geek mode) the ability to decode both the system ID, trunked site number.

Sorry for the break, Puyallup PD is in pursuit right now.

_________________
President-in-Exile, Seattle Area Radio Communications And Scanner Traffic Intercept Crew (SARCASTIC)
Don't feel bad if you can't use your STD100/200; there are still people using Digital Frequency Search!
Bunnery definition for the under-fives

Hey whats around you guys that is in clear P25 other than some mil ops stuff?
When I was down that way afew weeks ago all I heard (or at least see on the radio display) was enc P25 stuff in the 163-174mhz band.

xjf79
bc296d
bcd396t
bcd996t
ic-r2500 plus P25/dstar

Some local PD, federal, and military stuff. In my area, there's also a new transit 700mhz trs that's all digital; still figuring that one out. It's the wave of the future.

In addition, one of the places I may be working in the immediate future uses a non-encrypted VHF P25 trunked system; so it's a plus.

_________________
President-in-Exile, Seattle Area Radio Communications And Scanner Traffic Intercept Crew (SARCASTIC)
Don't feel bad if you can't use your STD100/200; there are still people using Digital Frequency Search!
Bunnery definition for the under-fives

I'm absolutely astounded at my complete inability to master this radio.

Case in point- Today I took on the McChord AFB UHF TRS and the Fort Lewis site of the regional 380mhz DOD TRS.

The 380 system tracked perfectly, yielding several talkgroups.

The McChord system would not track, no matter how I tweaked the system settings. I put it in search mode and verified the system was active, and decoding the P25 digital audio perfectly. However, when I tried to track it in trunked mode, nothing.

Then I tried to put the McChord system in a different scan list, or bank I think, and it disappeared completely. I tried to move the 380 DOD system, and the same thing happened! WTF?

Add to this confusion that went I go to name a trunked system, a system I initally loaded in (Action Communications UHF LTR) and deleted after confirming it tracked perfectly, reappears.

Maybe I really should read the manual.

_________________
President-in-Exile, Seattle Area Radio Communications And Scanner Traffic Intercept Crew (SARCASTIC)
Don't feel bad if you can't use your STD100/200; there are still people using Digital Frequency Search!
Bunnery definition for the under-fives

If you leave it with me for a couple of months, I'll figure it out for you

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I generate Board Warnings

Maybe I'll cache it...

_________________
President-in-Exile, Seattle Area Radio Communications And Scanner Traffic Intercept Crew (SARCASTIC)
Don't feel bad if you can't use your STD100/200; there are still people using Digital Frequency Search!
Bunnery definition for the under-fives

Mark, it turns out that was eerily prophetic. What else do you predict for my future?

_________________
President-in-Exile, Seattle Area Radio Communications And Scanner Traffic Intercept Crew (SARCASTIC)
Don't feel bad if you can't use your STD100/200; there are still people using Digital Frequency Search!
Bunnery definition for the under-fives

-I still can't track the McChord system; I need to build a custom trunking table for it. I tried it yesterday with the recommended base/spacing and offsets, but I neglected to enter the hi/lo numbers. I think I should be okay with 380/759; will check today. This would be easier if I were closer to it.

-I'm about to tackle another UHF P-25 TRS, the local BOP facility. Info to come.

-I need to do a site survey for the Pierce Transit system, and learn the 'roam' mode on the radio...I think I'm getting both the Pierce simo and King Co simo sites, and it's causing the radio internal conflict (or maybe it's an artist?).

-Same vis a vis the IWIN.

-The spectrum sweeper seems deaf on Mil-Air freqs, nothing at McChord yesterday, either from the ATIS broadcasts or local ops (transient Globemasters). It did pick up all the TRS voice channels as they talked though.

More to come.

_________________
President-in-Exile, Seattle Area Radio Communications And Scanner Traffic Intercept Crew (SARCASTIC)
Don't feel bad if you can't use your STD100/200; there are still people using Digital Frequency Search!
Bunnery definition for the under-fives

Keep us posted on that one. I still haven't had time to come up there and do it myself!

- Chris

BTW, it's probably not a P-25 system. Most likely a Motorola Type II using P-25 voice. You will need some base, step and offset values to track it...

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--
Chris Parris
Federal Wavelengths columnist
The Spectrum Monitor Magazine
chrisparris@thefedfiles.com