Pro-651: Any way to pause wildcards?

We don't get a lot of chatter here so I often leave the talkgroup set to Wildcard. It's great when I want to listen to everything going on, and most of the time the traffic is slow enough to let me follow multiple conversations. However, the other day there was a talkgroup ID that I didn't recognize and couldn't find in the NC Viper database. Unfortunately, there was a lot of other traffic that kept getting in the way of me listening to that talkgroup ID. I wanted to pause on that particular ID, but as I understand it the PSE button only lets me pause on that frequency.

1.) Where can I find information about IDs that aren't listed in the state database? In this case the decimal # is 18008.

2.) Is there a way to follow only certain talkgroups without programming them in? ie; leaving the wildcard setting?

When the Talkgroup is active, press the Man (manual) key. This will stop the scanner from scanning, and hold on this Talkgroup. When you're finished and want to go back to scanning, press the Scan key.

Hope this helps.

That does it! On my older pro-94 the MAN button is what pauses. I don't know why I didn't think of that for the Pro-651.

Thanks!

Johnson1522 said:

In this case the decimal # is 18008.

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Looks like a Frankiln County Talkgroup. Not much listed in the database so could be something like an EMS dispatch or tac channel. Listen to is, figure out what it is, then submit it to the database. Also to keep that talkgroup in your scan list, press the soft keys where it says store when the talkgroup is active

Thanks drayd48, I figured it was probably Franklin County since they've got 18007 and 18009. I may have to program a few of their frequencies in and see if I can spot 18008 a little closer to it's suspected home.

Johnson1522 said:

Thanks drayd48, I figured it was probably Franklin County since they've got 18007 and 18009. I may have to program a few of their frequencies in and see if I can spot 18008 a little closer to it's suspected home.

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Yea. If I can think right, every county must have a Fire, EMS, LEO, TAC, M/A, and EMO channel with at least 20 radios and a control station in the dispatch center on VIPER. But just search around and listen and it may come pretty easy.

Johnson1522 said:

I wanted to pause on that particular ID, but as I understand it the PSE button only lets me pause on that frequency.

...

2.) Is there a way to follow only certain talkgroups without programming them in? ie; leaving the wildcard setting?

Click to expand...

The PSE button holds both the talkgroup and the site that it heard the wildcard on. This might be why you see a frequency as it is telling you it is locked onto a specific control channel. It will continue to track that specific talkgroup on that specific site unless it loses the control channel or you go back to scanning.

RDGDigital said:

When the Talkgroup is active, press the Man (manual) key. This will stop the scanner from scanning, and hold on this Talkgroup. When you're finished and want to go back to scanning, press the Scan key.

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

I believe this only holds onto the wildcard object and not the specific talkgroup. If there happened to be other talkgroups active, the wildcard would then switch to those conversations.

The above is correct. MAN holds on the wildcard and not the talkgroup and will still receive as a wildcard. PSE will hold the talkgroup.

Thanks Spitfire and Sprite. Using PSE seems like what I'm looking for. I'm assuming the odds of the talkgroup switching control channels is fairly slim?

Johnson1522 said:

I'm assuming the odds of the talkgroup switching control channels is fairly slim?

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It is not likely, but affiliations really determine if a talkgroup will be on a specific site or not. There are cases where a talkgroup might be used on the fringes of the site you are monitoring. This may lead to it only being heard for a brief period before the radio roams to a better site.