Specifications

Some wide area statewide and regional systems are coming online that use variants of the analog Motorola trunking format.
Called SmartZone or OmniLink, these systems have several to dozens of cells (called “Sites”) that are all interconnected and
share the same Talkgroup and user lists. While on Uniden radios you would program each Site separately as part of a larger
System, the GRE takes a different tack. You program in the known Control Channels in “MultiSite Roam” mode and the
radio will lock onto strong signals. When the decode quality is reduced to a certain level the radio will automatically rescan
to look for stronger signals. In contrast the Uniden method has users program individual sites and allows one to turn on and
off each Site, either manually, by Quick Keys or GPS.
The GRE method of MultiSite Trunking requires no user intervention, just the active control channels need to be
programmed into the radio. If you want to you can still program different sites into separate trunked systems. You are
however limited to a maximum of 32 channels for the system, if there are more than that you need to decide what channels to
use or duplicate the system with the additional channels. The Uniden method requires extra programming steps but allows
you to program Site names so you can tell what site is active.
The GRE also supports several flavors of standard Motorola and EDACS analog trunking as well as LTR. Motorola modes
(in addition to multi-site SmartZone and OmniLink described above) include older Type I, Type II and Type IIi modes (with
analog modulation). Both the Wide and Narrow modes of EDACS systems are supported. No scanner can decode OpenSky,
EDACS Provoice or Aegis used in selected areas such as San Antonio, Milwaukee and some others.
LTR, very popular on UHF and 800 business systems, is supported along with a neat feature called LTR Home Repeater
AutoMove. While the name is clunky, the feature is not. LTR systems are difficult to program since they rely on knowing the
channel order or position within the system. LTR Home Repeater AutoMove, when enabled, allows you to program in the
system’s frequencies without regard as to the order and the radio automatically determines the proper positioning.
The basic method of programming a trunked radio system in the GRE radio is pretty simple. Following the instructions in the
manual, enter the frequencies and other parameters as a TSYS (Trunked System). Then program in Talkgroups pointing to
the TSYS as part of Scan Lists. You can also program in a search of a TSYS by use of the “Wild Card” option. This works in
a similar fashion to Uniden’s Trunked Search feature in that it allows one to listen to all active Talkgroups instead of just the
ones in a Scan List. You can lockout talkgroups as they become active and you no longer wish to monitor them. When using
the Wildcard option it is still a good idea to label any known talkgroups, these will show up with the proper labels when
active, this is a good way of knowing that the talkgroup is already known.
When programming various types of trunked systems you need to know some of the basic information about these systems.
This information varies somewhat depending on the type of system. For many Motorola systems all you really need are the
Control Channels and system type. For rebanded 800, most UHF and VHF systems as well as some odd 800 and 900
Motorola systems you may also need further parameters, such as base channels, offsets or other technical details. For EDACS
and LTR systems each of the frequencies used as well as the order or Logical Channel Number (LCN) setup in which they
are programmed are needed.
The PSR310 can also display the radio ID number when listening to some trunked radio systems. This is enabled in the
Advanced Global Settings. You can then track individual radios and figure out specific users by monitoring over time. Often
dispatcher consoles have distinctive numbers like 101 and 102 while other users may have radio ID’s that match or are
similar to the car number.
Most of the information needed for individual trunked systems is freely available on the RadioReference.com website, paid
members can even program the systems directly into their radios using software such as ARC310. Thus, if you are not a
scanner expert capable of figuring out technical details of complex trunked radio systems you can share in the work of the
rest of the scanner community to program your radio.
Conventional Scanning
Remember the old days when you could enter in the local police and fire channels into your scanner, hit the scan button and
enjoy listening? While those days still exist in some areas, the new generation of scanners are more complicated to program,
even for the Plain-Jane conventional channels still used by many agencies.
“Conventional Channels” mean voice channels that do not use some sort of trunking. Mostly you just need to know the
frequency in use and you can monitor the action. These days however even these need a bit more knowledge or at least trial