Motorola Type II refers to the second generation Motorola trunked radio systems that replaced fleets and subfleets with the concept of talkgroups and individual radio IDs. There are no dependencies on fleetmaps, therefore there are no limitations on how many radio IDs can participate on a talkgroup. This allows for greater flexibility for the agency. When scanning Motorola IDs, each Type II user ID appears as an even 4- or 5-digit number without a dash (example 2160).
With the introduction of Type II, the "System ID" was also introduced. This is a four digit identifier unique to each trunking system. The purpose of the System ID is to allow radios to operate only on that specific system, and to identify each system. The System ID also allows for enhanced security because a radio now requires a System Key, unique to the System ID in order to be programmed onto any given system. Type I systems do not use unique System IDs, thus the possibility exists for overlapping coverage in busy areas.
The term SmartNet refers to a set of features that make Motorola Type I and II trunked systems APCO-16 compliant. These include better security, emergency signaling, dynamic regrouping, remote radio monitoring, and other features.
The following is true of a Type II SmartNet system:
Type II SmartNet systems uses status bits for special transmissions such as Emergency, Patches, DES/DVP encrypted transmissions, and Multiselects on Motorola Trunking systems. Motorola Trunking radios directly interpret these status bits for their special functions, therefore no difference is noticed by the user. Some Scanners may interpret these special talkgroup status bits as different talkgroups entirely. Below is the conversion chart for these special status bits:
Therefore, if a user was transmitting a multi-select call on talkgroup 1808, the trunktracker would actually receive those transmissions on 1815. Some common uses of these status bits are as follows:
SmartNet systems also added a scanning feature, called "Priority Monitor," which permitted priority scanning of talkgroups. The subscriber radio has the choice of selecting two priority talkgroups (one high and one low priority in addition to eight non-priority talkgroups). When the radio is in the middle of a voice call it is continually receiving sub-audible data on the voice channel indicating the talkgroup activity on the other channels of the system. If a talkgroup ID appears which is seen as a higher priority than the active call, the radio will switch back to the control channel to look for the late entry data word indicating which channel to tune to.