DMA Scanners and Trunking
From The RadioReference Wiki
Contents
What is Trunking?
Trunking involves the use of many agencies, sharing a specific set of frequencies. Each agency - or sometimes more than one - are allocated logical addresses referred to as a Talkgroup. If you are new to this topic, stick to the Overview section for now. Bookmark this article and come back to it later if you wish to learn more details.
How Can I Determine Whether a Model Will Trunk My System?
Each scanner's article has a section entitled RR System Compatibility. This section is designed to mimic, as closely as possible, the listings of system types and voice as found on the database. In general, if your system type or voice is not listed in this section, chances are the scanner will not be able to decode it.
The following summarizes each of the DMA scanners, and types of trunking they will handle;
- BCD396T Motorola Project 25 and analog, EDACS, LTR Standard
- BCD996T same as above
- BCT15 Motorola analog, EDACS, LTR Standard
- BR330T same as above
- BC246T same as above
What Formats Cannot be Trunked?
Some of the most common formats include:
- EDACS Provoice
- EDACS OpenSky
- LTR Passport and Multinet
- MPT-1327
- TETRA
How do I Find Out What Systems exist in my Area?
RadioReference has an extensive and searchable database for many areas of the country. All you need to know to use it is your state, county and sometimes the city of interest. Look in the upper left tab for 'Trunking'. This lists all the trunking systems in the database for your area.