So I regularly use FreeSCAN with a 396XT. Now, I've got numerous conventional systems with 20 groups/per system, so of course I have to use multiple groups on 1 Quick Key. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to control which group appears first, second and third in order, when (for example) 3 groups are assigned to the same Quick Key?
FreeSCAN & multiple groups within 1 Quick Key
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marksmith
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Are you talking about the scan order of several groups within one key?
Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652
Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652
Yes.
marksmith
Member
Not sure. Never looked at it in this fine of a sense. If you sort them within Freescan within the quick key assignments, do they scan in that order?
Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652
Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652
You can't, AFAIK FreeSCAN doesn't provide a mechanism to explicitly sort or move groups within the same Quick Key. You basically have to copy and paste groups into another dummy system, re-name group names and then copy/paste talkgroups from one system to another. Even then, it appears the 396XT doesn't always recognize the sort order displayed in FreeSCAN (i.e. for multiple groups within the same Quick Key).
marksmith
Member
What I would have guessed. When scanning a trunked sustem, though, I don't think the order makes a lot of difference unless the scanner gets a hit. It takes very little time to look at the control channel, determine nothing is active in your talkgroup list and go to the next one. I would think if you are within the same system, and the control channel is already acquired, we're talking nano seconds to check 3 groups for an active talkgroup. It's not reading the talkgroups and then seeing if they are active. It's reading the control channel, and then checking your list.
Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652
Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652
Well, my question pertains solely to Conventional Systems.
marksmith
Member
I did not notice that you had indicated conventional groups. That is different because of how they scan.
If conventional, and you run out of quick keys for groups, why not just add an additional system so that you can control the groups one for one with quick keys.
In trunked systems all your groups need to be under the shared frequency site info. Not so for conventional. You can set up systems and groups however you want, and eliminate multiple groups under one key.
Sent from my LG-V410 using Tapatalk
If conventional, and you run out of quick keys for groups, why not just add an additional system so that you can control the groups one for one with quick keys.
In trunked systems all your groups need to be under the shared frequency site info. Not so for conventional. You can set up systems and groups however you want, and eliminate multiple groups under one key.
Sent from my LG-V410 using Tapatalk
What I'm seeing in FreeScan is that in the left pane, the groups are sorted alphabetically by Group Name in the System. I couldn't figure out how to change that.
With respect to the scan order once the data is sent to the scanner, the following comes from the BCD396XT Complete Reference:
The scanning order of the systems / sites belonging to the same Quick Key is the order registered to that Quick Key. The scanning order of the systems / sites belonging to no Quick Key is the order set to none.
When a system / site is created, the scanner automatically sets the Quick Key to none. So, if you do not change the Quick Key setting, the scanning order will be the order of system / site creation.
The scanning order of groups in a conventional system also depends in the order set to any Group Quick Key or none. Groups with no Group Quick Key set are scanned in the order of group creation.
The scanning order of Channels in a conventional system’s channel group depends in the order of Channel creation.
With respect to the scan order once the data is sent to the scanner, the following comes from the BCD396XT Complete Reference:
The scanning order of the systems / sites belonging to the same Quick Key is the order registered to that Quick Key. The scanning order of the systems / sites belonging to no Quick Key is the order set to none.
When a system / site is created, the scanner automatically sets the Quick Key to none. So, if you do not change the Quick Key setting, the scanning order will be the order of system / site creation.
The scanning order of groups in a conventional system also depends in the order set to any Group Quick Key or none. Groups with no Group Quick Key set are scanned in the order of group creation.
The scanning order of Channels in a conventional system’s channel group depends in the order of Channel creation.
You can assign group quick keys (only 0-9 though) to the groups in each system, then it should scan in order of 1) first the system quick keys, then 2) the group quick keys within that system.
I know you said you have 20 groups, so you may have do double up on some of the group quick keys or see if you can somehow split your system into two.
Greg
I know you said you have 20 groups, so you may have do double up on some of the group quick keys or see if you can somehow split your system into two.
Greg
You can visually change the sort order under the "View" menu, but this won't change anything in how the systems are uploaded to the scanner.
Greg
That is exactly what my original post indicated I was already doing. In several instances I'm using all 20 groups within a conventional system, so I have to assign 2-3 to groups to a single Quick Key a few times over, I don't want to scan 2 systems at once unless it's really necessary. (I actually have about 4 or 5 separate conventional systems programmed for different purposes, but I strongly prefer only using one at a time. Also every conventional system is at or near 20 groups, that's what happens when you become a damn scanner addict!).
I was just hoping someone had some undocumented (I'm quite familiar with the documentation, and AFAIK it doesn't answer my question!) tips about how to sort/index/order multiple groups assigned to a single quick key in FreeSCAN (in a single conventional system) and have that ordering recognized by the scanner.
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Update: I believe I figured out how to change the ordering in the scanner itself. So, once you upload everything into the 396XT from FreeSCAN, you manually re-arrange the ordering as follows:
I was hoping somebody knew of a way to do this in FreeSCAN that would be recognized by the scanner.
On a Conventional System, let's say you have three groups (A,B,C) assigned to Quick Key 1. If you temporarily re-assign Group A to Quick Key 0, and then re-assign it back to Quick Key 1, it will appear last in the sequence among Groups A,B & C. If you keep repeating the process, you can sort them in any order you want.
I was hoping somebody knew of a way to do this in FreeSCAN that would be recognized by the scanner.
Sounds like the answer in #9. You might not "see" the results in FreeSCAN, but you could confirm it in the radio?
The info. in #9 had nothing whatsoever to do with the sorting of multiple groups within a single quick key. Moreover FreeSCAN doesn't officially provide a way to "sub-sort" multiple groups within a quick key, I was hoping someone might know of an un-documented method/command to accomplish this, but I"m pretty sure it doesn't exist.
marksmith
Member
I am pretty sure it doesn't also.
Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652
Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652
I remember reading..
I remember reading somewhere that the group order is determined by the order in which was saved. I think I read it either in the Freescan Wiki, Mark's Easier to Read manual, or the Uniden complete reference document, and it tracks with what you have observed.
It really is a pain for me when I manually scroll through the groups on a quick key and the order is broken up so that 2 different things assigned to 4 come before and after the one assigned to to 7 (1 before & 1 after) etc.
I've been trying to go back and change the saved order by using the method mentioned but it doesn't seem to be 100% successful for me.
I remember reading somewhere that the group order is determined by the order in which was saved. I think I read it either in the Freescan Wiki, Mark's Easier to Read manual, or the Uniden complete reference document, and it tracks with what you have observed.
It really is a pain for me when I manually scroll through the groups on a quick key and the order is broken up so that 2 different things assigned to 4 come before and after the one assigned to to 7 (1 before & 1 after) etc.
I've been trying to go back and change the saved order by using the method mentioned but it doesn't seem to be 100% successful for me.
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