Trunktrackers and the Colorado DTRS

Here are some simple directions on how to program the Pro-96/2096 on the Colorado Digital Trunking System(DTRS).

Step 1. Research. Go to RR.com, click on Data Base(DB) and find the page for the DTRS. http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=329

Step 2. Find out what you want to listen to. Figure out what Agencies you want to listen to. For instance, if you have the desire to monitor La Plata County Sheriff's Office or Durango PD. Scroll down and find it in the list. The DB is organized by County, and or Agency. Write down EVERY Decimal(DEC) TalkGroup that would like to monitor. Also write down the description of the TG because you have the ability to tag the TG's in the radio.

8418 LAPLATA SO

8400 DURANGO PD

11501 DFRA PRI

Step 3. Take a look at the very first picture we have in the Data Base. This picture shows every DTRS site around the State. Figure out what County the agency is located in, and find that area in the map. Write down the Site number's that are closest to the area that you are trying to monitor. Take special note on the COLOR of the number. Blue sites are in zone 1, red sites are in zone 2, and green sites are in zone 3. This Means, if you look at a DTRS site, and the number is a Red-23. Your DTRS site # is 223. Blue-43 is site # 143, and Green-44 is site # 344.

Step 4. After you have located all of the DTRS sites around the area you are trying to monitor, locate them further down in the DB. For reference, we will use Red-23, site # (223), Red-14, site # (214), Red-62, site # (262) for reference.

The DB shows five frequencies for site# 223. 851.23750 851.85000 852.72500 853.13750c 853.31250

All we need is the Control Channel frequency. This is the frequency in red, and also has a (c) after the freq.

So for site# 223, all we want is 853.1375, Site # 214 is 853.6375, and Site # 262 is 853.8625.

Step 5. We now have the data we need to program the scanner. With the radio on, determine what bank you want this programed in. We are going to use Bank 1 for this exercise.

Step 6. Press the Program button, then 001 and the Program button again. You should see P001 up in the top left corner. This means the scanner is ready to be programed in Bank 1, Channel 00.

Step 7. Press the TRUNK button, the display should display "Not Trunked! Press Mode" So Push the Mode Button once. The 3rd line of the display should not read "MOT:" This step tells the scanner we want to scan a Motorola Trunking radio System in Bank 1.

Step 8. Now its time to program the DTRS sites into the radio. Go back to Step 4, we are going to use the frequencies we found for the DTRS sites. Input the frequency of 853.1375 into the radio, then press ENTER. The Display should now have the freq in the 2nd line, and also you should see a "MO" in the top right hand corner.

Next press PROGRAM once, and input 853.6375, and press ENTER.

Again, press PROGRAM once, and input 853.8625, and press ENTER. That's it, we just programed the three DTRS sites we choose.

Step 9. We are going to program the TalkGroups we want to monitor off of the three DTRS sites from Step 8. Press TRUNK once, and input 8418, press ENTER.

Step 10. Next we are going to TAG the TG by labeling it. Press TEXT once. A blinking cursor should appear under the "I" in the 3rd line where "ID# 08418" is displayed. We want it to say LAPLATA SO, so here is how to label it.

Find the "L" on the keypad, its the #5 key, so Press 5. The bottom line on the display gives you 3 options. J, K, L. These are the three letters associated with the #5 key. Now the scanner wants you to pick one of them by choosing 1 for J, 2 for K, and 3 for L. Press 3. Lets keep spelling out LAPLATA.

Press 2, then 1. (A) Press 7, then 1. (P) Prsss 5, then 3. (L) Press 2, then 1. (A) Press 8, then 1. (T) Press 2, then 1. (A) Press the CLR Button, this deletes what is currently in the next space. By clearing out whats there, this creates a space for us.

Next we want to Spell (SO). So press the DOWN ARROW to skip one space to the right. Press 7, then 4. (S) Press 6, then 3. (O)

The third line of the display should now read LAPLATA SO. Press ENTER.

Step 11. We are going to program the 2nd TG into the scanner. Press the UP ARROW Once. Input 8400 and press ENTER for DURANGO PD, next label TG 8400 by following the steps in Step 10.

Step 12. We are going to program the last TG we choose. 11501 DFRA PRI This TG is Durango FD. Press the UP ARROW once after labeling the last TG, and input 11501 and press ENTER. Again, label this TG by following the steps in STEP 10.

Step. 13. Press Scan, and ensure BANK 1 is turned on, you should be able to monitor the three TG we programed into the radio, and when the scanner stops on a TG, it should display the text you programed in for each TG.

-Erik