Uniden UBCD396XT owner manual Deciphering Trunked Systems, Before you program a trunked system

UBCD396XT

18.Deciphering Trunked Systems

Before you program a trunked system

To the average radio user, the complexity of a trunked system is invisible. Their radio is programmed up at the radio shop. They can still easily select who they need to communicate with by selecting a channel on their two-way. They can even directly call other radio users without tying up a dispatch channel — something they could never do before. As a scanner user, on the other hand, you need to know the different types of trunking systems in use, what options are available on each system, and three key pieces of information about any trunking system before you start any actual programming:

∙System Type

∙System Frequencies

∙IDs of the Talk Groups you want to hear

This information is usually available from the online database at

www.RadioReference.com.

System Type

There are five major types of scannable systems; some of these also have subtypes. (In the RadioReference database, you can generally determine the radio system type by looking at the line labeled System Type at the top of the screen.)

P25 Systems

These are identified in the RadioReference database as Project 25 Standard. If the System Type line says anything else, then it is not a P25 system (even though it might have some P25 channels).

LTR Systems

These systems are identified as LTR Standard in the system type.

Motorola Systems

There are several subcategories of Motorola systems, but they will all have some form of Motorola in the system type: Motorola Fleetnet, Motorola Smartnet, Motorola Smartzone, etc. Once you have identified that it is a Motorola system, you can check the system frequencies to confirm its subtype:

∙Motorola 800: all of the frequencies are in the 800 MHz range

∙Motorola 900: all of the frequencies are in the 900 MHz range

∙Motorola UHF: all of the frequencies are between 400 and 512 MHz

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