Uniden Br330t Wideband Trunktracker Scanner Owners Manual

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Understanding Scanning
units which transmit the correct tone along with their 
signal can “talk” to the repeater.
CTCSS and DCS are also used in areas that receive 
interference where there are several stations with 
output frequencies close to each other. When this 
occurs, you might hear multiple communications on 
the same frequency. The stations might even interfere 
with each other to the point where it is impossible to 
clearly receive any of the stations. A scanner 
equipped with CTCSS and DCS (like your scanner) 
can code each received frequency with a specific 
CTCSS or DCS frequency. Then, when you receive 
multiple signals, you only hear the transmission with 
the CTCSS or DCS tone you programmed. If you do 
not receive the correct tone with a signal, the 
scanner’s squelch remains closed and you hear 
nothing. 
You can search for the following CTCSS frequencies 
and DCS codes.
CTCSS Frequencies (Hz)
DCS Codes (Octal)
  67.0   69.3   71.9   74.4   77.0   79.7
  82.5   85.4   88.5   91.5   94.8   97.4
100.0 103.5 107.2 110.9 114.8 118.8
123.0 127.3 131.8 136.5 141.3 146.2
151.4 156.7 159.8 162.2 165.5 167.9
171.3 173.8 177.3 179.9 183.5 186.2
189.9 192.8 196.6 199.5 203.5 206.5
210.7 218.1 225.7 229.1 233.6 241.8
250.3 254.1
023 025 026 031 032 036 043 047
051 053 054 065 071 072 073 074
114 115 116 122 125 131 132 134
143 145 152 155 156 162 165 172 
						

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Conventional Scanning
Conventional scanning is a relatively simple concept. 
Each group of users in a conventional system is 
assigned a single frequency (for simplex systems) or 
two frequencies (for repeater systems). Any time one 
of them transmits, their transmission always goes out 
on the same frequency. Up until the late 1980s, this 
was the primary way that radio systems operated. 
Even today, there are many 2-way radio users who 
operate using a conventional system: 
•Aircraft
• Amateur radio 
• FRS/GMRS users 
• Broadcast AM/FM/TV stations 
• Many business radio users 
When you want to store a conventional system, all you 
need to know is the frequencies they operate on. 
When you are scanning a conventional system, the 
scanner stops very briefly on each channel to see if 
there is activity. If there isn’t, the scanner quickly 
moves to the next channel. If there is, then the 
scanner pauses on the transmission until it is over. 
174 205 212 223 225 226 243 244
245 246 251 252 255 261 263 265
266 271 274 306 311 315 325 331
332 343 346 351 356 364 365 371
411 412 413 423 431 432 445 446
452 454 455 462 464 465 466 503
506 516 523 526 532 546 565 606
612 624 627 631 632 654 662 664
703 712 723 731 732 734 743 754 
						

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Understanding Scanning
Simplex Operation
Simplex systems use a single frequency for both 
transmit and receive. Most radios using this type of 
operation are limited to line-of-sight operation. This 
type of radio is frequently used at construction job 
sites, and with inexpensive consumer radios such as 
GMRS/FRS radios. The range is typically 1-8 miles, 
depending upon the terrain and many other factors. 
Repeater Operation
Repeater systems use two frequencies: one transmits 
from the radio to a central repeater; the other transmits 
from the repeater to other radios in the system. With a 
repeater-based system, the repeater is located on top 
of a tall building or on a radio tower that provides great 
visibility to the area of operation. When a user 
transmits (on an input frequency), the signal is picked 
up by the repeater and retransmitted (on an output 
frequency). The user ’s radios always listen for activity 
on the output frequency and transmit on the input 
frequency. Since the repeater is located very high, 
there is a very large line of sight. 
Typical repeater systems provide coverage out to 
about a 25-mile radius from the repeater location.  
						

							24
What is Trunk Tracking?
Your BR330T is designed to track the following types 
of trunking systems.
• Motorola Type I, Type II, Type IIi hybrid, 
SMARTNET, and PRIVACYPLUS analog trunking 
systems, which are extensively used in 800 MHz 
communication systems. 
• LTR trunking systems
• EDACS SCAT trunking systems
• EDACS trunking systems
When tracking these types of systems, you might want 
to remember that your scanner can track more than 
one trunking system at a time and scan conventional 
and trunked systems at the same time. 
Conventional scanning is a simple concept. You enter 
a frequency used by someone you want to monitor into 
your scanner’s memory. For example, the police in your 
area might transmit on 460.500 MHz, the fire department 
on 154.445 MHz, the highway department on 37.900 
MHz, etc. So when your scanner stops on a frequency, 
you usually know who it is, and more importantly, you 
can stop on a channel and listen to an entire 
conversation. This type of scanning is easy and fun. 
However, as the demand for public communications 
has increased, many public radio users do not have 
enough frequencies to meet their needs, creating a 
serious problem. Trunking radio systems help solve 
this problem. 
Trunked Scanning
While conventional scanning worked great while there 
were only a few groups wanting to use the 
frequencies, with the advent of smaller, lower-cost 
radios more and more agencies and businesses 
wanted to take advantage of the utility of 2-way radio. 
As a result, the bands that were used most became  
						

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Understanding Scanning
full, so new users were not able to take advantage of 
the technology as quickly as they wanted. 
Trunking solved this frequency shortage by allowing 
multiple groups to use the same set of frequencies in a 
very efficient way. While each type of trunking system 
operates a little differently (see the next few sections), 
they all work on the same basic premise: even in a 
system with a lot of users, only a few users are ever 
transmitting at any one time. 
Instead of being assigned a frequency, as with 
conventional systems, each group is assigned a talk 
group ID. A central computer controls the frequency 
each group operates on...and this frequency selection 
is made each time a user transmits. So, while on a 
conventional system queries, replies, and follow-ups 
are all on a single frequency, they could each be on 
completely different frequencies on a trunked system. 
This semi-random frequency assignment made 
monitoring such a system impossible prior to Uniden’s 
invention of the TrunkTracker scanner. 
Not only does your BR330T scan channels like a 
conventional scanner, it actually follows the users of a 
trunked radio system. Once you know a talk group’s 
ID, you won’t miss any of the action. 
If you are a new scanner enthusiast, you might want to 
read the first part of this manual and use your scanner 
in conventional mode before you begin trunk tracking. 
Understanding scanning fundamentals and 
terminology will make trunk tracking much easier. If 
you are already an experienced scanner operator, you 
might want to go to “Programming Motorola Systems” 
on Page 69, “Programming EDACS Systems” on 
Page 73, or “Programming LTR Systems” on Page 76 
now. 
						

							26
Types of Trunking Systems
Trunking systems divide a few frequencies among 
many different users, but the way that each system 
does this is slightly different. This section describes 
some of the technical data behind Motorola, EDACS, 
and LTR trunked radio systems.
Motorola Trunking
While there are different types of Motorola trunking 
systems, they all use the same basic trunking method. 
The system consists of one control channel (or as 
many as 4 per system but only one is active at any 
one time), plus one or more voice channels (typically 
10, 20, or 28 total channels). When a user presses 
Push To Talk (PTT) to transmit, their radio first sends 
their talk group information to the control channel. 
The computer then assigns that talk group to a specific 
voice channel and transmits that data over the control 
channel. All radios in that talk group switch over to the 
assigned voice channel and the user can begin speak-
ing. This all typically takes place in about a sec-
ond...the person transmitting hears a beep from their 
radio when the channel is assigned and then it is OK 
to start talking. 
The systems in use are: 
Motorola Type I – the radios send the radio ID, the 
fleet and subfleet talk group ID to the control channel 
each time they transmit. To program a Type I system, 
you need to know the system’s fleet map. The most 
common fleet maps are included in “Preset Map 1 Pre-
set Map 2” on Page 133. You can also find fleet map 
resources on the web. 
Motorola Type II – the radios only send the radio ID 
and radio channel code to the control channel. The 
central computer keeps a database of radio ID’s and 
which talk group is assigned to which channel code for 
each radio, so with this system the user’s radio sends 
only about 
1/3 the data as a Type I system with each 
transmission. Type II systems do not use Fleet- 
						

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Understanding Scanning
subfleet talk groups; instead they use a 5-digit ID for 
each talk group. 
Type IIi Hybrid — these systems support a mix of both 
Type I and Type II users. Like Type I systems, you 
must know the system’s fleet map to ensure proper 
tracking.
EDACS Trunking
EDACS trunking works in much the same way as 
Motorola trunking with a couple of major differences.
In an EDACS system, each frequency used by the 
system is assigned a Logical Channel Number (LCN) 
so that less data needs to be transmitted by the 
control channel. Also, talk groups are assigned in an 
Agency-Fleet-Subfleet (AFS) hierarchy. Also, there is 
one variation of EDACS called SCAT that your 
BR330T can monitor. 
Logical Channel Numbers – each frequency used by 
the system is assigned an LCN. This information is 
programmed into each user radio. When a user 
presses PTT, their radio sends their AFS information 
to the control channel. The computer then assigns that 
talk group to a channel and sends the LCN so that all 
other radios in that talk group will switch to the correct 
channel. To program an EDACS system in your 
scanner, you will need to know both the frequencies 
used by the system and the LCN for each frequency. 
Agency-Fleet-Subfleet – talk group ID’s for EDACS 
systems are assigned in a way that makes it easy to 
see at a glance the affiliation of the user. Each radio is 
assigned a 2-digit agency identifier from 00 – 15. 
For example, 01 might be used by the police, 02 by 
the ambulance service, 03 by the fire department, and 
so on. Each agency is then subdivided up to 16 times 
to provide fleet identification, and then 8 more times to 
identify subfleets. 
For example, the complete AFS for the Police 
Department West District’s dispatch channel might be  
						

							2801-062. 01 identifies the agency as the police 
department, 06 identifies the fleet as the West district, 
and 2 identifies the subfleet as the dispatch channel. 
While these assignments are somewhat arbitrary and 
vary from system to system, there are many resources 
on the web for finding the assignments for most 
systems. Because of the logical hierarchy of the AFS 
system, your BR330T lets you assign wildcard ID’s 
that let you, for example, use only one ID memory to 
identify all units in either an agency or a fleet.
EDACS SCAT – EDACS SCAT (Single Channel 
Autonomous Trunking) systems operate on a single 
channel and alternate control data with analog voice 
traffic. While your BR330T cannot track ID’s in this 
system, it can eliminate the control data so that all you 
hear is the voice transmissions when you monitor this 
type of system. 
LTR Trunking
LTR (Logic Trunked Radio) systems are trunking 
systems used primarily by business or private 
communications service providers, such as taxicabs, 
delivery trucks, and repair services. These systems 
encode all control information as digital subaudible 
data that accompanies each transmission, so there is 
no separate control channel. Users on an LTR system 
are assigned to specific talk groups, which are 
identified by the radio as six digit numbers. 
These numbers are in the form AHHUUU, where: 
A = Area code (0 or 1) 
H = Home repeater (01 through 20) 
U = User ID (000 through 254) 
When the scanner receives a transmission on a 
channel set to the LTR mode, it first decodes the LTR 
data included with the transmission. In the ID search 
mode, the scanner stops on the transmission and 
displays the talk group ID on the display. In the ID scan 
mode, the scanner only stops on the transmission if  
						

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Understanding Scanning
the LTR data matches a talk group ID that you have 
stored in the talk group ID list and have not locked out. 
LTR systems are frequently programmed so that each 
radio has a unique user ID.
I-Call (Motorola/EDACS)
I-calls are direct unit-to-unit transmissions that are not 
heard by other system users. Your BR330T can 
receive I-call transmissions. See “Setting I-Call 
(Motorola and EDACS Systems Only)” on Page 85 for 
more information about monitoring I-call transmissions.
Where To Get More Information
By itself, this manual really only provides part of what 
you need to know to have fun scanning – how to 
program and use the scanner. 
Information On The Internet
The Internet is a great source for current frequencies 
and information about scanning. Many web sites have 
lists of frequencies for your area. You can use a 
search engine to find and use them. 
Make a list of the agencies you want to listen to, then 
look up the frequencies and systems used by those 
agencies. Here are a few useful sites:
•http://www.scannermaster.com * - frequency 
resources and home of Police Call.
You can also call them at 1 800 SCANNER (hours 
are from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time 
Monday through Friday).
•http://www.radioreference.com 
* - the Internets 
premier source for user-supported radio system
information.
•http://www.bearcat1.com - frequency information 
from National Communications. 
						

							30•http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/reports/index.cfm 
*
 - 
conventional frequency information on file with the 
US Government
•http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BR330T 
* - a 
group for people interested in discussing the 
BR330T.
* - These web sites are not affiliated with Uniden 
Corporation.