Motorola GP328 Programming Software.

Works a treat, I’ve only tested it on the GP328. Let me know if you get it working with any other radios.

I did the modification because I wanted to use PDW. Unfortunately I wasn’t having much more success at the end of the modification than I was before it… might have another play tonight.
The other important thing is that you DO use a 10k resistor. For giggles I took it out after a bit of a play with PDW, and the scanner turned off.
It didn’t break it, but I wouldn’t do it again.

This is what you ought to see when Trunkview is all working.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to trunk track the SMR network for a while.
Plenty of forum posts asking, but there seems to be a wide spread resistance on the forums to sharing information.
Its one of the few internet based cultures where exclusiveness seems to reign supreme. I could go on, but I’ll restrain myself.

Trunkview obviously follows the MPT1327 protocol, which is what is used by the Victorian SMR network.
Unfortunately (as in my previous post about Programming SMR Trunk Tracking Frequencies), you cannot program most scanners to follow this protocol. If you really want to follow conversations, you are better off just programming in the voice frequencies into a scan list.
These lists are published all over the web, readily accessible.

The really important thing about the SMR network and Trunkview is knowing:
Base frequency is 162.0500 MHz
The channels are [1 - 251],[301 - 364].
That last bit is really important. Trunkview generally wants to know a control channel, base freq and freq step. The SMR network doesn’t have channels [252 - 300].

********** TEXT FILE HERE ***********
In this file, SMR, is the channel list that Trunkview needs. But first I need to describe how to set Trunkview up to use it.

1. You need to scan for a strong Control Channel. A control channel sounds like this. (In case that doesn’t work, I’ve uploaded here for long jeopordy ). The site the file is from is http://www.kb9ukd.com/. I they don’t mind me linking them. No doubt they’ll let me know if it is.
In my experience Trunkview is fairly forgiving of noise on the control channel, but ultimately you would as clear as possible. In my examples, I’ll be using control channel 164.7375 MHz. This channel is very clear for me, but you may not even be able to receive it. For giggles, find your own.

2. You need to calculate the base frequency. I know I said it was 162.0500, but I could be wrong. Also the base channel would be different if your scanning higher frequency MPT networks. I can listen to a number of networks in the 400-500 MHz range.
The formula is

CCh – (Ch# * Step) = Base

CCh = Control Channel
Ch# = Channel Number
Step = Frequency Step

So for my situation, the working would be 164.7375 – (215*0.0125) = 162.0500
Notice the step frequency is 0.0125? Thats because you need to use the formula in the same units. We are using MHz frequencies, therefore we should show our step frequency in MHz.

3. Normally we would have enough information to just make Trunkview work, BUT because the SMR network is “missing” a number of channels, we need to use our custom channel list.
Hook your scanner up to your computer, preferably with a COM cable so it can control it. (I might make another post about troubleshooting that)
Turn the scanner onto the control channel, and admire the flashing output of “AHOY, ALOHA and BRDCST” in the bottom left. If your not getting this, check your volume is up, and that your mic/line in is working properly. Create a new site with this information. In the case of the Vic SMR network, I recommend naming it the same as its ID.

4. The finishing parts of fairly intuitive, albeit you might have to search around a bit. I’m going to breeze over, and just give an overview.
5. Create a new profile, it needs to be the same as your site name (for vic smr), because otherwise trunkview will make channel decisions which do not follow your custom channel list.
6. Find the profile file in the \Trunkview\Profile\ folder
7. Open in wordpad, and dump in the channel list provided earlier. Save it.
8. Go back into Trunkview. When you get it all up and running, the profile and site information should automatically fill out correctly

That should be enough starter information… I think I’ll update the post when I’m feeling more focussed on describing the detail. Maybe some screen shots.
Have fun, and pop me an email if you have any trouble or success!