RadioShack PRO-96 Preloaded Data Addendum

PRO-96 Digital Trunking
Handheld Scanner
Catalog # 20-526

PRO-96 Preloaded Data Addendum

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THE PRELOADED DATA ...................................... 2

USING THE PRELOADED DATA ....................................... 3

Preloaded Data Basics ...................................................... 3

Monitoring Wide Area Multi-Site Motorola Systems .......... 6

Monitoring Wide Area Multi-Site EDACS Systems ............ 7

Using the Preloaded Conventional Data ........................... 8

Using Open and Closed Modes ........................................ 9

Encrypted Communications ............................................ 10

Recommended Reading ................................................. 10

PRELOADED DATA DIRECTORY .................................... 11

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ABOUT THE PRELOADED DATA

Your RadioShack PRO-96 Digital Trunking Handheld
Scanner features Radio Shack’s innovative V-Scanner
feature, which makes it possible for you to store up to
eleven complete scanner configuration data sets in V­Scanner “folders”, in the scanner’s internal memory. Ten of
these folders (0-9) are intended for use as folder storage
locations. The eleventh location (“.”) is intended for use as
a temporary storage location, or scratchpad, so you can
easily move V-Scanner data around in the scanner. The
scratchpad folder is represented with a pound sign (#) in
the PRO-96 display. For more information on V-Scanner
operations, please refer to the “Working with V-Scanners”
section of your PRO-96 Owner’s Manual.

For your convenience, the ten folder storage locations (0-9)
are preloaded with the frequencies, talkgroups and
configuration data for the top 100 trunked radio systems in
the United States. Radio Shack gratefully acknowledges
the staff at The Trunked Radio Information Homepage for
providing this trunked radio system configuration data. For
more information on trunked radio systems worldwide,
please visit http://www.trunkedradio.net. Additionally,
conventional radio system information is included for
certain major metropolitan areas that may not be using
trunked radio systems yet. The scanner’s working memory
and the scratchpad folder (“.”) are not preloaded with any
data. If you are just getting started in the exciting hobby of
monitoring trunked public safety communications, this
preloaded data will help you get up and running faster. If
you are a seasoned expert, the preloaded data can save
you time and effort. In either case, we hope you find the
preloaded data to be useful and enjoyable.

There are literally thousands of trunked radio systems in
use throughout the United States. Your PRO-96’s V­Scanner storage system is capable of holding ten sets of
scanner configuration data, with a maximum of ten trunked
radio systems per set, for a total of 100 trunked radio
systems. The preloaded top 100 systems were selected by
analyzing the system page hit counters at The Trunked
Radio System Information Homepage. Non-public safety
systems, airport systems, transit systems, federal systems
and military systems were not included in the selected
data. By selecting the top 100 systems, it is our hope that
systems in your area are loaded and ready for you to use.

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However, it is not possible to include every system in the
United States. If the systems in your area are not
preloaded, you may find it useful to review the preloaded
data to see how trunked radio systems are set up in the
PRO-96. You may also wish to save selected preloaded
data for those occasions when you travel.

It is also important to note that the accuracy of the
preloaded talkgroup and system configuration data is
subject to errors in the data reported to The Trunked Radio
System Information Homepage, and system configuration
changes that a system operator may make from time to
time. Field-testing the preloaded data at every trunked
radio system was not feasible. For corrected or updated
data, be sure to visit The Trunked Radio System Informa­tion Homepage frequently. Neither RadioShack nor The
Trunked Radio System Information Homepage can be held
responsible for errors, omissions or outdated data.

USING THE PRELOADED DATA

Preloaded Data Basics

There are three basic steps that are required in order for
you to use the preloaded data in your PRO-96 Digital
Scanner.

* Examine the list of preloaded systems to see if your

system is included.

* Identify the V-Scanner folder that contains the desired

system.

* Load the appropriate V-Scanner folder into your

scanner’s working memory.

* Enable or disable scan banks as needed to select the

systems you wish to monitor.

This section will take you through this process step by
step. For the purpose of discussion, let’s assume that you
live in the Broward County, Florida area, and wish to
monitor the trunked radio system used by Broward County.

First, review the directory of preloaded data. You will find
that Broward County, Florida is included, and can be found
in V-Scanner Folder #4, in Bank 0.

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1. Press PGM, then press FUNC PGM. The scanner will

display the V-Scanner menu:

Before proceeding, you may wish to save any work that
you have already done in the scanner’s working
memory. You can save the contents of working memory
to the scratchpad folder location (“.”), or you can
overwrite the preloaded data in any V-Scanner folder if
you decide that you will not need it in the future. If you
do not need to save your scanner’s current working
memory configuration, proceed to Step 2. To save the
contents of working memory, press 1. The scanner will
display:

Press the key that corresponds with the V-Scanner folder
you wish to save the working memory configuration to. Use
the “.” key to save to the scratchpad, or 0-9 to save to a
storage folder. Your selected folder location and the name
of any previously stored V-Scanner will appear in the
display. The scanner will display ** BLANK ** if the folder
location is empty. For example, assume you are saving to
the scratchpad folder and have previously stored a V­Scanner configuration with the name “My V-Scanner” in
that location. If you choose the V-Scanner Scratchpad
folder (“.”), the scanner will display:

Press ENTER to accept the choice, another number key
to change your selection, or CLR to abort and return to
the V-Scanner menu. The scanner gives you one final
opportunity to abort before proceeding:

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Press ENTER to confirm your choice and proceed with
the V-Scanner save operation.

While saving, the scanner will display:

When the save operation is complete, press ENTER to
return to the V-Scanner main menu.

2. To load your selection (V-Scanner #4, with Broward
County in Bank 0) into working memory, press 2. The
scanner will display:

Press the number 4 to select V-Scanner #4. The
scanner will prompt you to verify your choice. The V­Scanner number is shown in the second line, and the
name assigned to that V-Scanner is shown in the fourth
line. In this example:

Press ENTER to accept the choice. The scanner gives
you one final opportunity to abort before proceeding ­press ENTER again to continue, or CLR to abort:

While loading, the scanner will display:

When the scanner has completed the V-Scanner load
operation, press ENTER, then CLR to exit the V­Scanner menu. The scanner will reboot to get a clean
start with the newly loaded data.

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3. Congratulations! You have successfully loaded the
contents of V-Scanner #4 into the working memory of
your PRO-96 scanner. Now you are ready to begin
monitoring the preloaded systems. In our example, we
are interested in Broward County, which is stored in
Bank 0. When you first press SCAN to start scan
operation, all ten banks (0-9) are enabled by default. To
isolate and scan Bank 0, press the number keys that
correspond with the banks you wish to disable while the
PRO-96 is scanning. In this example, you can press 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, then 9 to disable all banks except for
Bank 0. To enable banks, simply press the number
key(s) again. Pressing a number key while scanning
toggles enabled/disabled status for the corresponding
bank. Of course, you don’t have to scan just Broward
County. You may wish to enable the bank for the Miami­Dade system to the south. This system is a part of V­Scanner #4, which you have already loaded - simply
press the 5 key to toggle this bank on or off.

Monitoring Wide Area Multi-Site Motorola
Systems

Some of the systems that are preloaded in your scanner
are wide area, multi-site Motorola systems, such as
Smartzone and OmniLink systems. These systems are
designed to cover very large areas by using multiple
networked transmitter sites, each with its own set of
frequencies. An example of this type of system is the State
of Louisiana system stored in Bank 1 of V-Scanner #1.

In order to save space in the scanner, we have pro­grammed the frequencies that carry the system control
channel data for each tower site in the network into a single
bank. When monitoring these systems, your scanner will
typically lock on to a single control channel frequency and
track the system using that control channel, unless you
happen to travel beyond its coverage area. In this case, the
scanner will locate a new control channel and use it to track
the system.

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