TRUNKING
Trunking is a method of making more efficient use of radio channels by sharing them among a large number of users on a dynamic basis.

An introduction to trunked radio that I wrote for Monitoring Times magazine can be found by clicking here. Another introductory article I wrote can be found here.

SCANNERS
The following scanners are capable of tracking at least one of the three most common trunked radio systems in use in the United States and Canada.

Yellow entries indicate scanners that are capable of tracking and demodulating APCO Project 25 transmissions. More information on P25 decoders can be found here.

The MilAir column indicates whether the scanner is capable of trunk-tracking in the Military Aeronautical Land Mobile band.

The Review column indicates the month and year that Monitoring Times magazine reviewed the radio. Many of these reviews are available on-line here. You may also order hardcopy reprints and back issues here.

The FCC ID column indicates the Federal Communications Commission Identification number. You can look up the submission information in the FCC database here.

 

Model Type APCO-25 Motorola EDACS LTR MilAir Introduced Review FCC ID
GRE
PSR-300 Mobile No YesYesNo Yes Oct 07   ADV0609 [GRE]
PSR-400 Base No YesYesNo Yes Oct 07     [GRE]
PSR-500 Mobile Yes YesYesNo Yes Oct 07   ADV0715 [GRE]
PSR-600 Base Yes YesYesNo Yes Oct 07     [GRE]
 
Optoelectronics
OptoCom Base No YesYesNo Yes Dec 98 May 99   [Optocom]
 
Radio Shack
PRO-90 Handheld No YesNoNo No 1997 Dec 97   [Uniden]
PRO-91 Handheld No YesNoNo No May 98 Dec 98   [Uniden]
PRO-92 Handheld No YesYesYes Yes Nov 99 Jan 00 AA02000522 [GRE]
PRO-93 Handheld No YesYesNo No Oct 01 Oct 01   [GRE]
PRO-94 Handheld No YesYesNo No Oct 99 May 00   [Uniden]
PRO-95 Handheld No YesYesNo No Oct 02 Jan 03 AA02000523 [GRE]
PRO-96 Handheld Yes YesYesNo No Sep 03 Dec 03 ADV2000526 [GRE]
PRO-97 Handheld No YesYesYes Yes Mar 05 Sep 05 ADV2000527 [GRE]
PRO-433 Base No YesYesYes Yes Sep 07     [Uniden]
PRO-528 Handheld No YesYesYes Yes       [Uniden]
PRO-2050 Base No YesNoNo No   May 98   [Uniden]
PRO-2051 Base No YesYesYes No Mar 05   AMWUB331 [Uniden]
PRO-2052 Base No YesYesNo Yes Dec 99 Jun 00   [Uniden]
PRO-2053 Base No YesYesNo No Oct 01 Oct 01
May 02
  [GRE]
PRO-2055 Base No YesYesYes Yes Jul 05   ADV2000428 [GRE]
PRO-2066 Mobile No YesNoNo No Nov 98 Feb 99   [Uniden]
PRO-2067 Base No YesYesYes Yes May 00 Sep 00   [GRE]
PRO-2096 Base Yes YesYesNo No Mar 05   ADV2000496 [GRE]
 
Uniden
BC235XLT Handheld No YesNoNo No Apr 97 Jul 97   [Uniden]
BC245XLT Handheld No YesYesNo No Jul 99 Sep 99   [Uniden]
BC246T Handheld No YesYesYes No Sep 04 Dec 04 AMWUB327 [Uniden]
BC250D Handheld Yes
(with BCi25 card)
YesYesYes Yes Nov 02 May 03 AMWUB315 [Uniden]
BC296D Handheld Yes
(with BCi96 card)
YesYesYes Yes Dec 03 Apr 04   [Uniden]
BC780XLT Base No YesYesYes Yes Dec 00 Mar 01 AMWUB305C [Uniden]
BC785D Base Yes
(with BCi25 card)
YesYesYes Yes Nov 02 Jun 03 AMWUB316 [Uniden]
BC796D Base Yes
(with BCi96 card)
YesYesYes Yes Dec 03 May 04   [Uniden]
BC895XLT Base No YesNoNo Yes Sep 97 Nov 97 AMWUB269 [Uniden]
BC898T Base No YesYesYes Yes Aug 04 Oct 04 AMWUB322 [Uniden]
BCD396T Handheld Yes YesYesYes Yes Jun 05 Jul 05 AMWUB328 [Uniden]
BCD996T Base/Mobile Yes YesYesYes Yes May 06 Jul 06 AMWUB335 [Uniden]
BCT8 Base/Mobile No YesYesYes No Oct 03 Feb 04 AMWUB318 [Uniden]
BCT15 Base/Mobile No YesYesYes Yes Jun 06 Sep 06   [Uniden]
BR330T Handheld No YesYesYes Yes Sep 05 Dec 05 AMWUB330 [Uniden]
 
WinRadio
1500/3000
Series
Base No YesNoNo Yes [WinRadio]

The WinRadio 1500/3000 series radios will also track MPT-1327 trunked systems.

NOTE: At the present time there are no commercially-available scanners that can trunk-track or decode transmissions from the following systems:

  • Motorola ASTRO-VSELP and iDEN;
  • M/A-COM ProVoice, OpenSky, and EDACS Aegis;
  • TETRA and Tetrapol;
  • EF Johnson's LTR Multi-Net.

MPT 1327
  • A software-based MPT1327 trunked radio decoder is available for Linux systems using a soundcard and an ICOM receiver. You used to be able to find the software at www.unixforge.org/~tronkito, however it now appears to have gone missing.

  • A Windows-based program called TrunkSniff, including source code, can be found here.

  • The following are links to two hardware decoder solutions for listening to MPT 1327 transmissions:

    FTrunk (hobby decoder)
    Ptrunk (professional)

    Neither of these items are inexpensive, but I'd love to hear from someone actually using one!


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Last revised July 1, 2008

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