On 2 Jan 2007 15:21:49 -0800, "jeff_betsy"
wrote:

Can anyone tell me the difference between trunked and conventional
set-up on a scanner. New christmas present and would like to learn
more about it. Anyone out there want to give me a hand?

Thanks in advance,
Betsy

Betsy,

Congratulations on the new radio, and here's hoping you'll get plenty
of enjoyment out of it.

There's somewhat of a learning curve when going from scanning
conventional systems to scanning trunked systems. I recommend you
Google up some info on the basics of scanning trunked systems and
acquaint yourself with that. As for help in getting started on
programming trunked systems in your area, depending on where you live,
you may (or may not) be able to find basic frequency and talk group
info at:

http://www.trunktracker.com/states/database.html

The primary difference between programming conventional and trunked
systems into a scanner is this: When you sit down to program a
conventional scanner, about the only thing you're concerned with is
programming in the right frequencies. You conjure up a list of freqs
from somewhere (from the Internet, a local radio club, the store you
bought the scanner from, or wherever), and if it's a good list, it
lists all the government freqs in town: the police, fire department,
EMS, the water department, the dog catcher - all have their frequency
or frequencies listed. With conventional systems you simply program
them in, hit SCAN, and start listening. When a police officer keys his
radio, you'll hear him on (where else?) the police frequency.

With a trunked system, though, EVERYBODY can be on the same trunked
radio system and they ALL will use ALL of the frequencies in the
system. This is because in a trunked system, when a cop keys a radio,
a computer at the control site decides which frequency to send it to,
and at the same time sends the other police radios to that frequency
to listen...and you'll hear him on that frequency. THIS time. The next
time the computer sends somebody to that frequency, it might be the
dog catcher instead, while the cop you just heard a minute ago is on
another frequency in the same system. Therefore, with a trunked radio
system, you have to learn about fleet maps and talk group IDs, which
are what allows that computer to tell the difference between the cops
and the dog catcher - and which is how you (and your scanner) tell the
difference, too.

It takes some getting used to, but keep after it and you'll get the
hang of it - and I think that once you do, you'll find that the effort
will have been worth it!

Hope this helps.

John Kasupski, KC2HMZ, Contributing Editor
Popular Communications Magazine