Decoding Motorola Trunking ID's
Moderator: Queue Moderator
Decoding Motorola Trunking ID's
Does anyone know of a setup I could build that would allow me to see what the id is of a unit who is keyed up on a trunked system that I could somehow use with my scanner? I don't have the money right now to do this with Motorola equipment as I would like to, but am looking for some kind of setup as described above. Thanks, Ryan
I would try looking into CommSpec equipment. They generally have decoders for just about anything.
Also I would recommend that at this point that if you can't find a decoder just stick to listening to the trunked systems in your area on a scanner.
Also I would recommend that at this point that if you can't find a decoder just stick to listening to the trunked systems in your area on a scanner.
JAYMZ
"Mom and dad say I should make my life an example of the principles I believe in. But every time I do, they tell me to stop it."
Calvin
"Mom and dad say I should make my life an example of the principles I believe in. But every time I do, they tell me to stop it."
Calvin
My two bits worth:
The information you seek is encoded on the control channel.
The voice channel does not encode the unit ID, talk group, or fleet .
This information is in the control channel "background data", as well as the status of everything in the system.
Motorola calls this "System Watch"
The channels are displayed checker board style, with the data for the current user, as well as all alarms.
There is a trunking group that has diagrams for interface cables, as well as the soft ware for the computer.
I have lost the address.
The information you seek is encoded on the control channel.
The voice channel does not encode the unit ID, talk group, or fleet .
This information is in the control channel "background data", as well as the status of everything in the system.
Motorola calls this "System Watch"
The channels are displayed checker board style, with the data for the current user, as well as all alarms.
There is a trunking group that has diagrams for interface cables, as well as the soft ware for the computer.
I have lost the address.
Aloha, Bernie
Sounds like a program called Trunker is what you are after. It displays the channels, talkgroups, IDs, etc on a nice screen. The original, and best in my opinion, version runs on DOS. That is, NOT in a DOS window from Windows, but on actual DOS. I have been playing with a version for windows that DOES run in a DOS window. It's not as reliable, but works most of the time. There is also a program called Unitrunker in the works which is the next generation of Trunker. It will do all sorts of systems including digital. You will also need a data slicer hooked to the discriminator in your receiver.
You can get more info at http://www.radioreference.com/modules.p ... ries&cid=2 .
Jeff
You can get more info at http://www.radioreference.com/modules.p ... ries&cid=2 .
Jeff
T4Win works great, will do what you want. All you need to do is run discriminator audio into your sound card. An audio attenuator might be needed to get the levels right if you use a laptop with only a mic jack.
It is available at the above mentioned site.
Josh
This is for windows. I have run it in XP.
It is available at the above mentioned site.
Josh
This is for windows. I have run it in XP.
Wow! This hasn't been asked in years! I've never heard of most of the programs tha t have been mentioned here. Back when I actively was mapping out active talkgroup ID's on the local trunking systems, I used trunker. The output was nice. You could program talkgroups and ID's into the software with an alias and it would display on the screen. You could assign different colors to talkgroups and ID's also, including flashing and flashing/beeping.
There was a program called Treport that came out too. Someone from the Batboard wrote it, I forget who now (the name was Robert Tricari, I don't remember his handle). But it was similar to Trunker but more like System Watch. One of the features that Treport had that Trunker did not was the ability to decode the advanced info on Astro and networked systems. If you were monitoring an Astro control channel, the system would broadcast which nodes were adjacent to it, the control channel frequencies, node numbers and node aliases. This made mapping out Astro systems very easy. It also listed diagnostic info sent as OSW's such as errors in the system and such. I remember seeing a radio affiliate to TG 'BAD' then watch the system repeatedly try to kill that ID.
All you needed for any of those programs was an unfiltered audio output from a receiver. Some people even used Maxtracs because of the quality in the reception. It would be well worth digging up old posts about this topic using the search feature. I would venture a guess that it's been close to two years since it was discussed in detail. You'll also want to look up the conversion charts to convert the TG info from the trunktracker decimal to motorola hex should you go into programming.
There was a program called Treport that came out too. Someone from the Batboard wrote it, I forget who now (the name was Robert Tricari, I don't remember his handle). But it was similar to Trunker but more like System Watch. One of the features that Treport had that Trunker did not was the ability to decode the advanced info on Astro and networked systems. If you were monitoring an Astro control channel, the system would broadcast which nodes were adjacent to it, the control channel frequencies, node numbers and node aliases. This made mapping out Astro systems very easy. It also listed diagnostic info sent as OSW's such as errors in the system and such. I remember seeing a radio affiliate to TG 'BAD' then watch the system repeatedly try to kill that ID.
All you needed for any of those programs was an unfiltered audio output from a receiver. Some people even used Maxtracs because of the quality in the reception. It would be well worth digging up old posts about this topic using the search feature. I would venture a guess that it's been close to two years since it was discussed in detail. You'll also want to look up the conversion charts to convert the TG info from the trunktracker decimal to motorola hex should you go into programming.