UniTrunker Guide

Revision as of 15:22, 20 January 2010

A Guide to Get UniTrunker Up and Running

DISCLAIMER and NOTE:

The images on this page are from UniTrunker V1.0.0.5 and the instructions are geared to users of the GRE PSR-500, PSR-600 and Radio Shack Pro-106, Pro-197. Others can follow this guide but will have to make allowances for the type of scanner used which will provide the feed of the Control Channel Data Stream. The instructions are also geared to a Motorola Type II 800 MHz trunked system. After reading these, you should be able to adjust things to suit your particular circumstances.

These steps were actually used to get UniTrunker up and running with a PSR-600 as the data stream input device. The procedure may be different for other model scanners so users/visitors to this page are invited to make corrections or additions.

Check the Unitrunker site periodically for the latest version of the program. These instruction should give you enough info to get you started, some of the symbols on the menus are different, but, you'll be able to figure them out with no trouble.

Options

Download the UniTrunker program to your computer and make sure you have a connection to your scanner to receive the feed from it to the computer. Those using GRE-500/600s or their RS clones will use the same cable used to program the scanner. Run the software and you will find the screen below to open first. If it does not, click on the Options tab at the bottom of the page.

Go down the page to Motorola and make sure it says Decimal for Display Mode. If it does not, just click on Display Mode > click the drop-down menu and select Decimal. Click on 800 MHz > Click the drop-down menu > select Rebanded (if you are in Utah, otherwise you might want to select North America).

Go to the right scroll bar and drag it to the bottom. You will see a place to enter the UniTrunker URL (as shown) and the next line down enter the URL for Radio Reference (also as shown) and then your log-in credentials.

Receiver

Click on the Receivers tab to open this page.

Clicking on the "+" sign creates the line for you to enter the type of scanner you are using. This image was taken using a PSR-600 which is using an inline feed and although it shows "PSR500" it is perfectly acceptable because, other than the case, the PSR-500 and PSR-600 are the same scanner.

Double click on the line showing the scanner model (See line pointing to it).

If your using a scanner with a Discriminator Tap and you were using the Retro Version and want to change to the Windows version use the following directions:

From the Receivers tab, click "+". Double-click on the "Unconfigured" receiver. Set the receiver's Type to "Signal"; this will cause additional sections to appear - including Signal and Decode. For receiver model - type in something meaningful like "R8500". For receiver role - use "Signal". Leave the receiver "Run" state at "Stopped" for now. Under the Signal section, fill in the settings comparable to your Unitrunker Retro configuration. Sample Rate of 44100, 48000 or 96000. Sample Size of 16 bits is recommended. Channel of "Mono" is good - unless you were using something different in Retro. Leave the Decode and Feeds sections alone for now. Go back to the receiver "Run" state and set it to "running". Click on the "Scope" tab to see the waveform. Adjust recording level according to instructions on the Unitrunker site.

Unitrunker Link: http://www.unitrunker.com/level.html

Place scanner in proper mode

To set your scanner in the analyzer mode, press the TSYS soft key (F2) on the front of the scanner. Then press the Analyz soft key (F3) on the front of the scanner and using the 5-way key, scroll up or down to find the Control Channel you wish to watch. When you stop scrolling, that will put it in the proper mode to run the Control Channel data stream to the UniTrunker Program.

Start UniTrunker running

Once you have double clicked on the scanner model (above image) you will see a pop-up screen (shown below). Double clicking on each line will open a drop-down menu and you can make your selection. Again, PSR-500 is perfectly acceptable for PSR-600. The selections shown in the image work with the PSR-600. Be sure to enter the correct port number. It will be the same one used when you programmed the scanner using a program such as WIN500.

Once you have filled in the lines, double click on "Stopped" and select "Run." The UniTrunker program should now be receiving the data stream from the System Control Channel that you selected on your scanner.

Receiving

After about 10 to 15 seconds, you will see this screen and you should start seeing activity as TGs join and leave the program. To stop the program, click on the icon that looks like the top half of a PSR-500 and the pop-up will return so you can move from running to stopped by clicking the "running" box. The text in the Audience Column can be imported from RadioReference, this will be explained later in the Download section of the guide.

Band Plan

If the Calls screen does not start populating, click on the Band Plan tab to bring up the trunking tables. If there are no trunking tables you will have to enter them manually. To do this, you must press the F2 key on your computer keyboard to put this page in edit mode. Then using the mouse, click on the "+" sign at the top of the page. Each time you click on that plus sign, you free up a line in the table to be edited. Enter one of the trunking tables in the space provided then press the Esc key on your computer keyboard to leave edit mode.

After you fill in the band plan and hit the Esc key on your computer to exit edit mode, go back to the Channels screen and delete the frequencies by clicking on a line and using the "-" icon to delete them all. Now go to the Receiver page and run the program again. Everything should fill in now and you should see frequencies and talk group activity.

There is a possibility you will have to enter a band plan for each and every Control Channel you analyze.

Download

After the UniTrunker program has been running for maybe 10 minutes, click on the green icon by the letter "A" and this system will be downloaded from Radio Reference.

You should be running now. Click on the other tabs. You're going to mess things up, but you can always go back. Try it out like you would a new car. Run it. Have fun. This is one utility you can use very effectively once you know it.

Call Type Codes

Motorola Systems

• None - Analog
• All - All TG's
• XP - Patch
• EXP - Emergency Patch
• EMS - Emergency Multi Select
• MS - Multi Select
• DIG - Digital Voice
• DAT - Digital All TG's
• DEM - Digital Emergency
• DXP - Digital Patch
• DEX - Digital Emergency Cross Patch
• DEM - Digital Emergency Multi Select
• DMS - Digital Multi Select

EDACS Systems

• Fon - Telephone Call
• Tst - LCN Tester
• Dat - Data Call
• Ana - Analog Voice Call
• Emg - Emergency Analog Voice Call
• Dig - Digital (Provoice/Aegis) Voice Call
• EmD - Emergency Digital Voice Call

Screen Shot Up and Running

Special Note: Two Conservative Republicans (Highpockets & Qlajlu working together) without bipartisan help from the Liberal Democrats drafted this article for the users of the scanning community in all 50 States. Congress members Pelosi, Reid, Dodd and Frank had nothing to do with this endeavor.

Fair and balanced!

Highpockets & Qlajlu