Short question:
I am trying to scan the Virginia State Police and DOT groups on the Virginia "STARS" radio system from my apartment in Fredericksburg City. I can't seem to get it to work properly and only rarely do I hear a fragment of one side of a call which usually "breaks up" and "comes in" and "breaks up" again.
Long details:
I just picked up a Pro-651 ($200 at the store-closing 50% off, figured it was worth it). I've successfully programmed everything that was in my Pro-97 including a nearby analog EDACS trunking system and it works wonderfully. I connected the scanner to a 2-meter VHF antenna (home-brew, roll-up J-Pole normally used for my HAM transceiver, 1.2:1SWR or better from 144-148) using RG-8/U coax. With this I can reliably listen to analog stations in Arlington and Fire/EMS in King George VA as well as the railroad about 5 mileposts North/South of Fredericksburg. As a result, I'm fairly convinced that I have an acceptable VHF antenna system and a moderate understanding of how to program this.
I know I live very close (maybe 0.25 mile) from Mary Washington Hospital which has a number of transmitters both local emergency service and NOAA which cause intermod on a handful of frequencies. This doesn't help my situation, nor being in an apartment unable to put up outdoor antennas.
I've attempted to troubleshoot the digital STARS system by manually tuning to what I think are the control frequencies and watch the display, it seems to "fade" in and out with signal at what seems like random times. It'll be static FM then switch to digital and the number listed will fluctuate from 50% to 90% (signal? decode percent?) and then go back to FM static for a while. Some "sites" listed on the RadioReference page are better than others with the signal bars showing when they come in but none of them lock on consistently or reliably like the analog trunking systems I'm used to. I've also read the "T" icon should be showing when it's locked on? Most of the time it isn't, it only shows briefly when I'm getting audio fragments thru.
I think I have the talk groups set up properly because for the fractional amounts of time it will lock onto anything it looks like the displayed group matches what it's playing, like seeing Fairfax police channel flash up and hearing a fragment of audio with sirens mentioning an exit number and east/west. I have programmed all the talkgroups listed on that page into scan objects and enabled those scan lists, it acts like it's trying.
This is the system I am trying to scan:
Virginia Statewide Agencies Radio System (STARS) Trunking System, Statewide, Virginia - Scanner Frequencies
I programmed the following sites into the "System Frequencies" -- I've tried putting them in one at a time and all of them at once. Currently I have the frequencies listed for all of these entered at the same time, in no particular order:
-Independent Hill
-Dumfries
-Edgehill
-Thornburg
Since it's a portable scanner, I have it set to "Multi Site: Roam" even though as of yet I haven't used it anywhere but at home.
What am I doing wrong that I can't seem to lock onto control channels and scan the Virginia STARS P25 system?
I am trying to scan the Virginia State Police and DOT groups on the Virginia "STARS" radio system from my apartment in Fredericksburg City. I can't seem to get it to work properly and only rarely do I hear a fragment of one side of a call which usually "breaks up" and "comes in" and "breaks up" again.
Long details:
I just picked up a Pro-651 ($200 at the store-closing 50% off, figured it was worth it). I've successfully programmed everything that was in my Pro-97 including a nearby analog EDACS trunking system and it works wonderfully. I connected the scanner to a 2-meter VHF antenna (home-brew, roll-up J-Pole normally used for my HAM transceiver, 1.2:1SWR or better from 144-148) using RG-8/U coax. With this I can reliably listen to analog stations in Arlington and Fire/EMS in King George VA as well as the railroad about 5 mileposts North/South of Fredericksburg. As a result, I'm fairly convinced that I have an acceptable VHF antenna system and a moderate understanding of how to program this.
I know I live very close (maybe 0.25 mile) from Mary Washington Hospital which has a number of transmitters both local emergency service and NOAA which cause intermod on a handful of frequencies. This doesn't help my situation, nor being in an apartment unable to put up outdoor antennas.
I've attempted to troubleshoot the digital STARS system by manually tuning to what I think are the control frequencies and watch the display, it seems to "fade" in and out with signal at what seems like random times. It'll be static FM then switch to digital and the number listed will fluctuate from 50% to 90% (signal? decode percent?) and then go back to FM static for a while. Some "sites" listed on the RadioReference page are better than others with the signal bars showing when they come in but none of them lock on consistently or reliably like the analog trunking systems I'm used to. I've also read the "T" icon should be showing when it's locked on? Most of the time it isn't, it only shows briefly when I'm getting audio fragments thru.
I think I have the talk groups set up properly because for the fractional amounts of time it will lock onto anything it looks like the displayed group matches what it's playing, like seeing Fairfax police channel flash up and hearing a fragment of audio with sirens mentioning an exit number and east/west. I have programmed all the talkgroups listed on that page into scan objects and enabled those scan lists, it acts like it's trying.
This is the system I am trying to scan:
Virginia Statewide Agencies Radio System (STARS) Trunking System, Statewide, Virginia - Scanner Frequencies
I programmed the following sites into the "System Frequencies" -- I've tried putting them in one at a time and all of them at once. Currently I have the frequencies listed for all of these entered at the same time, in no particular order:
-Independent Hill
-Dumfries
-Edgehill
-Thornburg
Since it's a portable scanner, I have it set to "Multi Site: Roam" even though as of yet I haven't used it anywhere but at home.
What am I doing wrong that I can't seem to lock onto control channels and scan the Virginia STARS P25 system?
Can't receive P25 trunking on Pro-651
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