Pro96Com Pro-96/APCO-P25 9600 baud Control channel monitoring utility Version 1.
Table of Contents: Introduction: ....................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgments: ............................................................................................ 1 Getting Started: .................................................................................................. 2 Screen Layouts: ................................................................................................. 3 Common Areas:..............
Table of Contents: General Configuration Tab:......................................................................... 15 Communications:..................................................................................... 15 Latency:................................................................................................... 15 Auto Save Options:.................................................................................. 15 Screen and Column Sizes: ..............................................
Introduction: Pro96Com is designed to decode the 9600 baud APCO-P25 control channel information using the Pro-96 scanner from Radio Shack and GRE. Data from the control channel is presented on various tabs on the screen. Pro96Com was made possible in part by GRE when they published the procedure for extracting this information from the Pro-96. It was also made possible with the release of the Pro96dmp program written by Rick Parrish.
Getting Started: To monitor a 9600 Baud APCO-P25 control channel with Pro96Com, you must have the following items: • • • • Pro-96 scanner Programming cable for the Pro-96 scanner Computer with at least one serial port (two serial ports if you intend to control a Uniden scanner). Computer with the Windows operating system. There are reports of the program not working properly on Windows ME systems due to differences in the serial ports.
Screen Layouts: When you start Pro96Com, you will see a screen that looks something like this: This is the main screen of the program. The following pages will go into detail about each screen that is available.
Common Areas: Screen Tabs: Information in Pro96Com is displayed on various screens in the program. These information screens are located on tabbed windows at the bottom of the screen. Available tabs are: System Activity: This tab displays the current activity on the tower being monitored. Affiliation Information: This tab displays information about radios that have affiliated with the current tower.
Tower Information Area: Once you have begun decoding a control channel, the Tower Information area will display the System ID, Tower number (both decimal and hex format as shown on the Pro-96 display), the WACN ID, and the description of the system and the tower if they are available. If they are not available, you may use the system edit screen available in the System menu to edit this information. Receive rates: While monitoring a control channel, Pro96Com is constantly querying the radio for data.
System Activity Screen: Tower Activity: In the tower activity section, you will see a listing of the channels and frequencies used on the current tower. While a channel is active, you may double click on a channel to hold that TalkGroup. You may also right click on an active channel to edit the TalkGroup or radio id currently shown.
Column Description: Ch: This is the channel number being used by the system. The channel number is broken into two parts. The first part (before the dash (-) is the table ID. APCO-P25 systems may have up to 16 tables in use on the system labeled 0 through F (hex). The second part of the channel number is the channel within the specified table. More information on channel numbers can be found in the Tower Information screen section.
Affiliation Information Screen: Before a radio may transmit on a trunked system, it must first notify the controller what tower and TalkGroup it needs. This process is known as affiliating with the tower. This screen lists all radios that have affiliated with the current tower since the program was started. The accuracy of this screen will improve as the program runs. Tower Affiliations Area: On the left side, all radios that have affiliated with the tower since the program was run are listed.
Tower Information Screen: This screen shows the information being transmitted on the control channel about adjacent towers, and frequency tables. Tower Information: In the upper left corner, information about the current tower that is being transmitted by the control channel is displayed. Adjacent Tower Information: Frequency Identifier Tables: On the lower left side of the screen, any towers that are being advertised as being close to this tower are listed.
Patches Screen: This screen will list any active patches. There is also a patch log that will show any patch activity that has occurred on this tower since the program was started. Patch List: The left side of the screen shows any active patches on the system. Patches will be shown in a format similar to that shown on the left. 2008 (D2South) Æ 2010 (D2West) This means that TalkGroup 2008 is patched to TalkGroup 2010. All transmissions on either 2008 or 2010 will appear on the system as 2010.
Other Events Screen: This optional screen shows informational messages from the control channel. Most people will probably not have a need for this information. This screen includes the raw information from the control channel (Packet Data) and a description of what that data means. Since the majority of the entries on this screen tend to be unit registrations (Radios “logging on” to the radio system but not affiliating with a TalkGroup yet), there is an option to filter these packet types from this log.
Channel Grant Trace Screen: This is an optional screen that may be enabled in the configuration screen under the Edit menu. When a user presses the push-to-talk button on the radio, a signal is sent to the system controller with a request for an available repeater on the system. If a repeater is available, the controller will assign it to this radio and send a channel grant message for all radios that are using that TalkGroup. This message is called a channel grant message.
Unknown Packets Screen: This is an optional screen that may be enabled in the configuration screen under the Edit menu. This screen is primarily intended to help learn any packet formats that Pro96Com doesn’t currently know how to handle. If you enable this option and see packets listed in this screen, please save them to a file and forward them to the software author for analysis. This screen will list all unknown types of packets that may be transmitted over the control channel.
Packet Dump Screen: This is an optional screen that may be enabled in the configuration screen under the Edit menu. This screen will show the interpretation of each packet as it is decoded by Pro96Com. The output of this screen is similar in format to the pro96dmp program written by Rick Parrish. This screen is intended primarily as a debugging tool. It is not recommended that you leave this option turned on as it will use a lot of CPU and memory.
Configuration Screen: This screen may be accessed by selecting the Configuration option in the Edit Menu. Configuration options are available on the tabs shown. General Configuration Tab: This screen has all of the general configuration options for the basic operation of Pro96Com. Communications: In the Communications area, you may select the serial port number that will be connected to your Pro-96 scanner. The other communications parameters are hard coded in the program as they do not change.
Uniden Control Tab: This tab allows you to enable control of a Uniden scanner. Since 9600 baud APCO-P25 systems are 100% digital, only the Uniden BC250D, BC296D, and the BC796D scanners with digital cards installed are supported. The program may control other Uniden scanners as well, but the value will be minimal at best. To enable control of a Uniden scanner, you will need to have a computer with at least two serial ports.
Quiet Frequency: The quiet frequency should be set to a frequency that is not used in your area. The Uniden scanner will be set to this frequency whenever there is no activity on the system being monitored, or when all active channels are set to a priority of Ignore. Private Call Priority: If you wish to monitor private calls, set the priority level you wish to use on these conversations. To disable private calls, set the priority level to Ignore.
Logging Tab: This tab contains all settings relating to logging of data, and display of the optional screens. Each logging option may be set to automatically save the log on a per screen basis. When checked, the auto save option on that screen will be automatically checked when Pro96Com starts. Affiliation Log Options: In the Affiliation Log Options, you may choose to include or exclude denied affiliation requests in the affiliation log.
System Edit Screen: This screen allows you to edit the basic information about the current system and tower being modified. This screen may be accessed from the System menu. TalkGroup Edit Screen: This screen allows you to edit the text label and priority setting for a TalkGroup. This screen may be accessed from the System menu. To edit a TalkGroup, enter the TalkGroup number in the TalkGroup field and then move to the TalkGroup Name field.
Radio ID Edit Screen: This screen is similar to the TalkGroup edit screen. This screen may be accessed using the same methods as those listed for the TalkGroup edit screen.
Saving your data: The Basics: Pro96Com can save the data that is collected from a site for future reference. All information about a particular system is stored in the radio system folder. The system folder will be located in the folder where Pro96Com is located, and will be named System### where the ### is replaced by the hexadecimal system ID. As an example, we’ll use the Michigan Public Safety Communications System (MPSCS). The system ID for this system is 796.
Files and formats: Pro96Com uses various files to store the information about the system. All files relating to a particular system will be stored in the system folder. File Name System.ini Description This file contains the basic information about the system including the system name, and the names of the individual towers that are a part of the system. Radios.txt This file contains a list of all of the radio ids that have been seen by Pro96Com. Information is stored in the file one radio per line.
GrantLog-###.csv These files will be created by pressing the save button on the Grant Trace Log screen. The ### in the file name will be replaced by the tower number in decimal format. If this file already exists when the save button is pressed, any new information will be appended to the end of the file. UnknownPackets-###.txt These files will be created by pressing the save button on the Unknown Packets screen. The ### in the file name will be replaced by the tower number in decimal format.
Configuring tables for UHF/VHF Systems in the Pro-96: If you are monitoring APCO P25 systems that use the standard 800Mhz identifiers (Base of 851.00625Mhz, Spacing 0.00625) then there is no need to program in tables into the radio. If you are monitoring a system that uses different identifiers, you will need to use the multi-table option in the radio to properly track the system. APCO P-25 systems can have up to 16 identifiers.
For each identifier in use on the tower to be monitored, you can calculate the values needed by using the following formulas: Base: CH Lo: CH Hi: Offset: Step: Use the base frequency listed in the identifier. Identifier number * 4096 CH Lo + 4095 Same as CH Lo Spacing value shown in the Identifier The table below lists all of the calculated channel numbers needed for the Pro-96 tables for each identifier.
Example 1 (UHF): ID 2 Base Spacing TX Offset BandWidth 406.00000 0.01250 10.00000 0.01250 Base: 406.00000 CH Lo: Identifier * 4096 2 * 4096 8192 CH Hi: CH Lo + 4095 8192 + 4095 12287 Offset: 8192 (Same as CH Lo) Step: 12.5Khz Example 2 (VHF): ID 3 4 Base Spacing TX Offset BandWidth 136.00000 0.01250 -5.10000 0.01250 136.00000 0.01250 -5.20000 0.01250 Base: 136.00000 CH Lo: Identifier * 4096 3 * 4096 8192 CH Hi: CH Lo + 4095 8192 + 4095 12287 Offset: 8192 (Same as CH Lo) Step: 12.
