ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I have been interested in monitoring various radio services ever since I was a young boy. This evolved into my Amateur Radio hobby in 1974 (WB6ICB) and has also been expressed in various forms of emergency communications activities.

Although I have used many scanning radios, and know a lot about how trunking systems work, I've only recently purchased my PRO-92 in order to begin listening to some of my local system. And, like many of you, found that learning to program it was NOT easy. So, in order to help others avoid this time-consuming, and frustrating process I decided to create this "Getting Started" guide.

ABOUT PROGRAMMING THE PRO-92
Programming a scanning radio to receive trunked radio services is NOT much more difficult than for standard, non-trunking, services IF you know how it works (isn't that true for everything?). The trouble is that there is lots of information about trunking TECHNOLOGY, but virtually nothing about how a scanner owner should go about programming his/her radio. This makes things very difficult for beginners.

This discussion will use the RadioShack PRO-92 handheld radio as the radio of choice. The reason for this is that, because of the large number of RS stores, this will probably be the most common radio in use. It's documentation is also the worst, so it needs the most help.

PRO-92 BUGS
You should also know that there are several, well documented, firmware bugs in the PRO-92 radio. You may see some of these while working with your radio. I've tried to take these into consideration while writing this document. Hopefully, the document will help you get started in spite of these problems.

[Ed. note: The 'bugs' mentioned by the author relate to the original PRO-92 model and not the later 'A' and 'B' versions]

ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT
For most things in life there are at least two different ways of doing things. I do not pretend that this document spells out the "best" or "fastest" way to get started programming your PRO-92. It is only intended to try and spell out one "simple" process to help get a beginner started. It will not discuss many of the more advanced features that are possible with the PRO-92 radio. Incidentally, I have read the User's Guide to Uniden's BC245XLT and even though the "button pushes" may be different from the PRO-92, most of these steps also seem to apply to that radio as well. This makes sense since the function of this radio is the same as the PRO-92, i.e. to decode trunked radio systems.

GETTING READY
I will assume that you have found a source of information that gives you the RF frequencies and the TYPE of system your target is. It is possible to obtain this information off the air, but this takes more knowledge than is usually present in a beginner. We'll leave the details of that process for another day.

IMPORTANT NOTE
It is NOT necessary to identify Talk Group or Subgroup information about your system in order to get started. If you know it, fine. If not, just continue with the steps below anyway.

So, pick up your PRO-92 and let's get started...

THE PROCESS
Step 1: Find the RF frequencies for your target system.

Obtain all of the RF frequencies used by the system you intend to monitor. We'll call this system, your "target" system. If your list is incomplete, you will miss some communications. This information is commonly available on the Internet and in books titled "Police Call" from RadioShack stores.

Step 2: Find the TYPE of system for your target.

There are 5 types:

1. 1. LTR (E.F. Johnson) - shown as "LT" on the PRO-92.
2. 2. Motorola Type I - shown as "MO" on the PRO-92.
3. 3. Motorola Type II - same as Type I, shown as "MO" on the PRO-92.
4. 4. Motorola Type I and II Hybrid - a special case, not covered here.
5. 5. EDACS (G.E. Ericsson) - shown as "ED" on the PRO-92.

Usually, the same source that provided you with the frequency information will also tell you what type of system it is. Local RadioShack stores and/or scanning clubs in your area may also be able to help.

Step 3: Enter frequencies AND system type into your radio.

This process is exactly the same as programming your PRO-92 for a non-trunked channel except that you MUST enter a frequency AND a system type into EACH channel. Be sure to put all of the RF frequencies for a particular target system into THE SAME bank on your radio. Start with channel 01, NOT channel 00.

For example, if you have five frequencies to be entered, and you decided to enter them into bank 2, they would end up in channels 201, 202, 203, 204 and 205.
Leave Channel 200 blank.

Channels 206 through 249 may be left blank, or you can assign them to other, non-trunking, frequencies. It also helps speed up scanning speed to lock out channel 200, but this is not required. Likewise for any unused channels greater than 205 in this bank.

For the FIRST frequency (channel 01), you must enter the FREQUENCY AND SYSTEM TYPE (see a list of the 5 types above). To do so, press the MODE button until the mode matches that of the target system.

You will NOT need to do this for channels 02 through 05 because the mode information will automatically appear for each subsequent channel once channel 01 has been entered.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION - ONLY FOR EDACS SYSTEMS
If the target system is an EDACS system, then you MUST enter the frequencies in a particular order. This order is usually listed in the book, or online source, where you obtained the frequency information. If not an EDACS system, then the order is not important. You MUST also not mix EDACS frequencies with other trunking systems in the SAME BANK. It's ok to add non-trunking frequencies to an EDACS bank, but remember not to disturb the sequence or position of the EDACS frequencies within the bank. Also, DO NOT LOCK OUT THE CONTROL CHANNEL, as it says to do in the Owner's Manual.

Step 4: Set the system TYPE in the BANK you are using (bank 2 in my example).

1. Press PGM.
   
2. Press FUNC UP-ARROW -OR- FUNC DOWN-ARROW as many times as necessary to select the BANK where frequencies have been entered. In my example it will say "Bank 2 Ch 00" on the 3rd line of the display. It will also say "M200" in the Upper Left Hand Corner of the display.

   NOTE: You MUST press the FUNC key EACH TIME before pressing an arrow key.

3. Press TRUNK.
4. Press MODE as many times as necessary to select the desired system TYPE.

Step 5: Using Fleet Maps

The fist thing you need to know about Fleet Maps is that they are ONLY requird for MOTOROLA Type I or Type I/II hybrid systems, plus a very few "oddball" systems. There is no need to enter a Fleet Map for any other system type (see Step 2 above for a list of system types).

If you are trying to monitor a MOTOROLA Type 1 system, you will need to obtain the Fleet Map for your target system. See Steps 1 and 2 above - these sources may also be able to provide Fleet Map info on your target system.

If you have Fleet Map information to enter, pages 58 through 60 in the Owner's Manual is a fairly clear description of how to do it.

For advanced users, it is possible to find a working Fleet Map through a process of trial and error with known Fleet Map parameters, but this is beyond the intent of this document.

Step 6: Set your radio for OPEN mode.

This is important because it allows you to see the Talk Group ID's in use on your target system without knowing what they are in advance. If your radio is in CLOSED MODE, you will be unable to hear any voice traffic until you do enter one, or more, Talk Group ID's.

1. Press MANUAL.
   
2. Press FUNC UP-ARROW -OR- FUNC DOWN-ARROW as many times as necessary to select the BANK where frequencies have been entered. In my example it will say "Bank 2 Ch 00" on the 3rd line of the display. It will also say "M200" in the Upper Left Hand Corner of the display.

   NOTE: You MUST press the FUNC key EACH TIME before pressing an arrow key.

3. Press FUNC 2. "Bank OPEN" or "Bank CLOSED" appears on the 4th line of the display. Repeat until it says "Bank OPEN".

Press the SCAN button.

Take a look at the display. You should see one, or more, number showing on the top line of the display. These are the BANK numbers that are currently enabled for scanning.

If the bank you have been working with is NOT one of these showing, press the keypad number for this bank. In my example, BANK 2 would be enabled if you pressed the "2" on the keypad.

If banks other than the one you are working with are displayed, press the keypad number for each. This will toggle them OFF (disable scanning for them).

This should leave just the one bank you're working with displayed. In my example, only the "2" bank would be shown on the screen. All other bank numbers would be replaced by a dot. A flashing cursor should be blinking on top of your bank number.

For example, if your bank is 2, and bank numbers 1, 2 and 5 are showing, press 1 then 5. This will remove banks 1 and 5 from scanning, leaving bank 2 as the only bank being scanned. If bank 2 is NOT showing, press 2. This will enable it for scanning. There MUST be at least one bank number showing. The radio will not allow you to remove them ALL.

Step 8: Identifying and Saving Talk Group information

After performing the above steps, you should be seeing, and hearing, activity on your PRO-92. When someone talks on the system, you should see the radio switch to various frequencies in the system, hear the voice transmission, and also see (on the bottom line of the display) the Talk Group ID's for the user who is currently speaking.

You can enter any/all of these Talk Group ID's very simply: just press the TRUNK button WHILE A USER IS TALKING AND THEIR ID IS BEING DISPLAYED. The radio will not enter the same Talk Group ID more than once, so just press the TRUNK button with each new transmission. After a while, you should start to see Talk Group ID's that you have seen before. After doing this for a while, you may begin to notice that a particular Talk Group ID always seems to have "police" type traffic, or "fire department" type traffic. Thus you will be able to start building a list of what type of users belong with each specific Talk Group ID number.

Once you gather all of the Talk Group ID's that you wish to listen to, you may restrict your radio to just "playing" conversations that involve stations with the Talk Group ID's you choose. To do this:

1. Edit the Talk Group ID List for the desired bank. Remove any unwanted Talk Group ID's.
2. Add TEXT labels for each ID, if you want.
3. Put your radio into CLOSED mode (see Step 6 above). Once the radio is in CLOSED mode, you will only hear voice traffic from users with Talk Group ID's that you have left in the Talk Group ID list for a particular bank.

Each "Channel Storage Bank" has a "Talk Group ID List" associated with it. You may enter up to 100 "Talk Group ID's" into each "Talk Group ID List".

You only need Fleet Maps if you want to monitor Motorola Type I systems, or the Type I portion of a Type I/II hybrid system. There are also a very few "oddball" systems that also require a Fleet Map. For beginners, start out by learning to scan a system that does not require a Fleet Map. Once you have this process down pat, you should be able to "move up" to the more difficult system type that requires a Fleet Map.

BUG NOTE
The PRO-92 has a well-known firmware bug in it that will display Talk Group ID 0016 on MOTOROLA Type II systems, even if you have it locked out, or even if it is not in your Talk Group list for the bank being used (or any bank, for that matter). If ID 0016 is not being used on your target system, this will not bother you. If it is being used, you will be forced to listen to it no matter what you do.

[Ed. note: The 'bug' mentioned by the author relates to the original PRO-92 model and not the later 'A' and 'B' versions]

SOME ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
You may find it interesting to watch the Control Channel in action. To do this:

1. Press MANUAL.
2. Press the UP-ARROW or DOWN-ARROW buttons to step through the channels of the bank.
3. In one or more of the channels you programmed, you should hear a "buzzing" or other non-voice sound. This will be the control channel.

Listen to it a while and watch the bottom line of the screen. You will see various information here. If the system is not busy, this data should remain constant, but if the system is busy handling users, you should see the data change with each new transmission of a user. You will not be able to hear the user's voice traffic unless you have a second radio also tuned on to this same system.