bcd436hp trunking Priority scan

Has anyone gotten the priority scan to work? I have been over and over in the manual and online and did everything they say and still don't have it working. It always says Priority Scan, No Channels. What is the secret to this? I'm about to pull my hair out!

The PRI button only controls CONVENTIONAL Priority Channels, and it would appear you have none assigned as priority channels. Trunked priority is set in the system options for the trunked systems. I suspect you are using the PRI button to toggle trunked priority which won't work. (and no, I don't know why Uniden did that)

Even if i set the priority channel in the trunking system, it doesn't seem to do anything. I get a inversed P next to TGID, but it will not interupt a transmission and check the priority channel even though i have it set to. Am i missing some setting to turn it on?

Check the system settings to enable priority.
After you drill down to the system...
EDIT SYS OPTION
PRIORITY ID SCAN
(set to ON)

On trunked systems, the scanner won't interrupt existing traffic to check for traffic on a priority channel. Instead, it watches the low-speed data that is sent along with voice traffic. That data includes all active priority channels (as defined by the radio system's manager). If your idea of priority agrees with their idea, then when the channel becomes active the scanner will immediately jump to it. There is no way to implement priority for channels that are not considered priority by the radio system's manager (and no easy way for you to know what those system priority channels are).

bcd436hp trunking Priority scan

I know it is possible to get an 800MHz Digital P25 Motorola system to scan and have priority work because my GRE PSR-800 works perfect and it the number one reason I use this scanner. I have three talk groups set to priority and the PSR-800 switches every time right in the middle of an active transmission as long as the active transmission is on digital. The only time it doesn't work is if the active transmission is on analog it's not going to be able to get the digital data to know my priority channel went active. The PSR-800 will also not switch to a priority TG if I am holding on a non-priority TG.

Now on the flip side on my BCD396XT, 436HP, 536HP if I am holding on a non-Priority talk group and one of the TG's I have set to priority they will switch to the priority talk group and it will interrupt the transmission and switch but you have to be using hold... So if you want to be scanning and have an active non-priority transmission get interrupted and have the scanner switch you need a PSR-800. if you want to be able to hold on a non-priority TG and have it interrupted and have the scanner switch to a priority TG you need one of the mentioned Uniden scanners. I have all of the above scanners and I like them all for different reasons.

Mike

I was encountering the same exact problem in conventional mode. At the time I had only tagged one channel as a priority. I decided to add more priorities and this seemed to fix the issue. Not sure how you would scan only 1 priority. Could not find any info in either the easy to read, or manual that comes with the scanner.
Hope this helps.

Having 1 conventional priority channel or 100 shouldn't matter except that 100 will take more time to evaluate. (about 100 times as long)

Note that the posts prior to yours (#3-#6) were talking about trunked priority which works differently.

What other info were you looking for?

kb8rvp said:

I know it is possible to get an 800MHz Digital P25 Motorola system to scan and have priority work because my GRE PSR-800 works perfect and it the number one reason I use this scanner. I have three talk groups set to priority and the PSR-800 switches every time right in the middle of an active transmission as long as the active transmission is on digital. The only time it doesn't work is if the active transmission is on analog it's not going to be able to get the digital data to know my priority channel went active. The PSR-800 will also not switch to a priority TG if I am holding on a non-priority TG.

Now on the flip side on my BCD396XT, 436HP, 536HP if I am holding on a non-Priority talk group and one of the TG's I have set to priority they will switch to the priority talk group and it will interrupt the transmission and switch but you have to be using hold... So if you want to be scanning and have an active non-priority transmission get interrupted and have the scanner switch you need a PSR-800. if you want to be able to hold on a non-priority TG and have it interrupted and have the scanner switch to a priority TG you need one of the mentioned Uniden scanners. I have all of the above scanners and I like them all for different reasons.

Mike

Click to expand...

I have 2 BCD436HPs now. One stays on my desk at home to stream and record with ProScan. The other I bought for a pretty long road trip next month axnd liked the idea of using the GPS. The priority has always seemed a little odd to me and just read this. Not sure why Upman said its not possible becasue as pointed out above, it is very possible. Maybe he means its not on the 436HP. I have2 PSR-800s and the priority on them is great. This seems to be one of the oinly things on the 436 I don't like.

Maybe in a future firmware update they can change this.

Trunking Priority Channels (Talkgroups?)

So, I just got a 536 and set our Fire & EMS trunked talkgroups to Priority and even though the Sentinel software allowed me to do this, sure enough, when I turn on Priority Scan, it says, "Priority Scan. No Channel" if I don't also have non-trunked frequencies set to Priority. Is there any workaround for this? Admittedly the dispatch channels I want to have be Priority scanned are also simulcast on frequencies that do allow me to set to Priority, but the audio quality pales in comparison. Would love to be able to set trunked talkgroups to Priority. Uniden phone support claims this is possible, but following their instructions, I still get the same negative results. If this is indeed a shortcoming of the scanner or the result of just how trunking systems work, do any of you have any advice or better yet, a workaround?

As you state, you are turning on conventional priority.

Trunked priority is enabled in the trunk system menu.

You should note that there are limitations on trunked priority depending on system type.

Voyager, so you're saying that trunked channels can be set to Priority? Can you please tell me (and I imagine a lot of other forum members) how to do this or at least instruct me on how to get into the Trunk System menu?

1) Set the channel to Priority.
2) In the system options, set Priority ID Scan to ON.

Note the following caveats:
a) The priority will only be applied while scanning that system (i.e. it will not check for priority traffic on that channel while it is scanning any other trunked or conventional system).

b) Pre-emptive priority (i.e. moving off a comm in progress when the channel becomes active) will only work if the system administrator has also set that channel as a priority channel on the system.

c) Otherwise (non-preemptive) the scanner will prioritize moving to that channel if multiple channels are active during a control channel check (between comms on that system).

Is there a way to quickly turn off the priority (trunked) when holding on a channel/talkgroup and only wanting to listen to that specific channel/talkgroup. I have toggled the FUNC+PRI and seen DND on and DND off etc.. but none of them seem to turn OFF the trunked priority and the channel I am trying to monitor continues to get interrupted.

Just trying to understand and question why the Priority is implemented the way it is. Seems that there could be some creative Priority enabled regardless on how the system administrator has configured the trunking system. But maybe this is because I do not have complete understanding on how trunking system scanning works.

In response to UPMan's response and thinking about the world differently (and maybe I am missing something and/or do not understand the down side).

1. Why can't the scanner check for a Priority channel on a different trunking system? Is this a timing issue, meaning it would take too long to check for a TGID on a different trunk system? The Priority function could change to the control channel of a different trunked system and look for the TGID that is Prioritized. Again, this may involve more time than say switching to a non Trunked, single frequency to monitor for a "Priority" comms. It may be 2-4 seconds vs 1 second?

2. Why does Pre-emptive Priority follow the system administrators rules? Why can't the scanner ignore the system administrators rules or "think" that all TGID have some priority? Is this just an issue about not thinking outside of the box?

3. I assume the Priority function or control has been carried over from the non trunking days? Would be nice if there could be an easy keypad Trunking Priority toggle rather than a Menu Trunking toggle. As I recall the Trunking toggle may be different on the 996XT? But it has been a while since I have really dove into the 996XT programming and set up.

Just thinking outside the box on this issue. Be curious what the limitations are.

smokkeyy said:

Is there a way to quickly turn off the priority (trunked) when holding on a channel/talkgroup and only wanting to listen to that specific channel/talkgroup. I have toggled the FUNC+PRI and seen DND on and DND off etc.. but none of them seem to turn OFF the trunked priority and the channel I am trying to monitor continues to get interrupted.

Click to expand...

I do a temporary lockout on the unwanted channel when it comes up. After the programmed delay expires, the radio will leave the unwanted channel and return to the channel you have stopped on.

When you want the locked out channel back in the scan, cycle the power, and it will come back. Crude, but it works. I'd be glad to know of any better method.

I did this video this evening. I hope this helps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkDv_eULBDY

UPMan said:

On trunked systems, the scanner won't interrupt existing traffic to check for traffic on a priority channel. Instead, it watches the low-speed data that is sent along with voice traffic. That data includes all active priority channels (as defined by the radio system's manager). If your idea of priority agrees with their idea, then when the channel becomes active the scanner will immediately jump to it. There is no way to implement priority for channels that are not considered priority by the radio system's manager (and no easy way for you to know what those system priority channels are).

Click to expand...

In Motorola P25 systems, a talkgroup becomes a priority within the system only if a user on that talkgroup activates their emergency alert AND subsequently keys their mic.