Best Way to Use Favorite Lists

Hello group,

I have been struggling with how to best set up my BCD536HP for scanning using Favorite Lists. I feel like I am all over the place and when I think I finally have a system (no pun intended) that works, it turns out to be not so optimal.

Currently, I have a few lists of various makeup. Let me explain... I have the following lists now:

Home
JFK Airport
P25
Military Aviation
Airshows
(and a few others that are just for messing around etc.)

Home has a lot of stuff in it. I use it as a dump for all the stuff I could possibly listen to around my home location. It has NYPD, NYC MTA, Metro North Railroad (I am near the Hudson Line), FDNY, Westchester and Northern NJ local county systems I can pick up, some Federal, NJSP, NYSP, etc.

JFK is dedicated to the airport. Everything from ATC to Ground Ops, Airline discrete, Port Authority, Parking, Security, etc.

Airshows is just TB, BA, Snowbirds and misc. stuff

Anyway, I recently realized that the x36HP scans Fav List QK 1 > System QK 1 > Fav List QK 2 > System QL 1 and so on. I thought it would do All the systems in a FL first and then the next FL etc.

Anyhow, what I would like is a good way to be able to scan a particular list and system quickly and easily.

Technically, while at home, it does not matter much but, it can be handy.

When I am out at JFK for example, I would like to be able to quickly switch between the various frequencies I am after without too much fumbling around. Say, Boston Center handoff > ROBER approach > FINAL Approach > TOWER 1 or 2 > Ground > Ramp Control > Airline Discrete by simply rotating the main knob or via quick key input.

Regardless, I would love to know how some have their Favorite Lists and Scanner set up in general to make scanning easier day to day or on special situations.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I know enough about how to program in Sentinel and SOMEWHAT how Quick Keys, Tags, Etc. work but by NO MEANS an expert. So feel free to spoon feed when possible

I have attached my current Profile and Favorite Lists.

Thank you all for your help.

gonzalu said:

............................. Regardless, I would love to know how some have their Favorite Lists .....

Click to expand...

I assign QKs to ONLY the FLs (see attached). If you want to see the details of any the FLs, pick one and I will expand it and attach a pic.

Thanks Rob

Of course I want to see Luke AFB but if you could, also Airshows and Airports FLs.

Thanks brother!
/mg

rwier said:

I assign QKs to ONLY the FLs (see attached). If you want to see the details of any the FLs, pick one and I will expand it and attach a pic.

Click to expand...

gonzalu said:

Hello group,

I have been struggling with how to best set up my BCD536HP for scanning using Favorite Lists. I feel like I am all over the place and when I think I finally have a system (no pun intended) that works, it turns out to be not so optimal.

Currently, I have a few lists of various makeup. Let me explain... I have the following lists now:

Home
JFK Airport
P25
Military Aviation
Airshows
(and a few others that are just for messing around etc.)

Home has a lot of stuff in it. I use it as a dump for all the stuff I could possibly listen to around my home location. It has NYPD, NYC MTA, Metro North Railroad (I am near the Hudson Line), FDNY, Westchester and Northern NJ local county systems I can pick up, some Federal, NJSP, NYSP, etc.

JFK is dedicated to the airport. Everything from ATC to Ground Ops, Airline discrete, Port Authority, Parking, Security, etc.

Airshows is just TB, BA, Snowbirds and misc. stuff

Anyway, I recently realized that the x36HP scans Fav List QK 1 > System QK 1 > Fav List QK 2 > System QL 1 and so on. I thought it would do All the systems in a FL first and then the next FL etc.

Anyhow, what I would like is a good way to be able to scan a particular list and system quickly and easily.

Technically, while at home, it does not matter much but, it can be handy.

When I am out at JFK for example, I would like to be able to quickly switch between the various frequencies I am after without too much fumbling around. Say, Boston Center handoff > ROBER approach > FINAL Approach > TOWER 1 or 2 > Ground > Ramp Control > Airline Discrete by simply rotating the main knob or via quick key input.

Regardless, I would love to know how some have their Favorite Lists and Scanner set up in general to make scanning easier day to day or on special situations.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I know enough about how to program in Sentinel and SOMEWHAT how Quick Keys, Tags, Etc. work but by NO MEANS an expert. So feel free to spoon feed when possible

I have attached my current Profile and Favorite Lists.

Thank you all for your help.

Click to expand...

If you'd like to be able to jump to a specific frequency, or talkgroup, with a few key presses, then you might look at using number tags. See this Wiki page: https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Uniden_BCDx36HP_Quick_Keys_and_Number_Tags

A few rambling thoughts. . .

Yeah, the scan order doesn't make much sense on the surface. I suspect it probably had to be that way for engineering purposes and Uniden ain't gonna give us trade secrets.

You might consider adding the Favorites List Quick Key number as part of the name for the FL. So Favorites List "Home" with a FLQK of 1 would be "F1 Home". The same would go for System and Department Quick Keys.

I agree that Number Tags is your best bet for rapidly accessing a given channel but it requires memorizing what channels correspond to which Number Tag.

Thanks for the tips everyone. I may just go with a separate FL for each group of freqs like say FL Approach with a single System | Dept | Channel (Set) and one for the Tower(s) and so on. Then I just turn the FLs on and off as needed. I still wish for a quick Freq Pad that can be end user programmable via Siren App or directly via the HP-1/2 touch screen.

Best way to use Favorites List

Good Afternoon.

I have the 436 and the way I have my favorites list is County Sheriff
County Police

Sheriff Departments

Police Departments

Fire Departments

Roads

Utilities

Military


This way I can turn on or off Favorites list that I do want to listen to and I don't want to listen to.

But at the end it's your scanner you can set it up how ever you want to make it easier for you.

Scanners do not scan talk groups. The fewer sites scanned as possible will increase scanning speed.

dallascowboys said:

Good Afternoon.

I have the 436 and the way I have my favorites list is County Sheriff
County Police

Sheriff Departments

Police Departments

Fire Departments

Roads

Utilities

Military


This way I can turn on or off Favorites list that I do want to listen to and I don't want to listen to.

But at the end it's your scanner you can set it up how ever you want to make it easier for you.

Click to expand...

Thanks DC. Unfortunately, that does not help me much. One of the problems is exactly that: That it is my scanner to do whatever I want with it. I do not want to do whatever with it, I want to do something that works. So I asked for how others have theirs set up. I always have trouble with things that claim to let me do whatever I want. My problem is, I am a mess and need someone to do it for me LOL.

Thanks

hiegtx said:

If you'd like to be able to jump to a specific frequency, or talkgroup, with a few key presses, then you might look at using number tags. See this Wiki page: https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Uniden_BCDx36HP_Quick_Keys_and_Number_Tags

Click to expand...

Thank you

No Configuration

I stack my favorites. I put the Favorite number in brackets before the favorite. Then, I can toggle on/off the various Favorites. I have mine set up like the old scanners with banks. This has worked well for me.

I control my download content through the Profiles. At present, I am up to Favorite 65.

Here is an example:

Ensnared said:

I stack my favorites. I put the Favorite number in brackets before the favorite. Then, I can toggle on/off the various Favorites. I have mine set up like the old scanners with banks. This has worked well for me.

I control my download content through the Profiles. At present, I am up to Favorite 65.

Here is an example:

Click to expand...

This is exactly how I do it - consecutively numbered FLs (or SLs) on all of my digital scanners, 536,1065, SDS100, TRX-1 that allow for group(s) scanning. The same QKs/Banks on all scanners. Quick, efficient, less confusing, and systematically organized for optimum monitoring of all the systems I listen to. Some will debate that it is not as fast or specific as it could be, but I would contend that I hear it all and I do not miss anything. When something big happens, all scanners (analog too) are zeroed in for maximum coverage. I am more than satisfied with this numbered set up.

JD
kf4anc

The only caution I'll add, if it's any trunked system, don't duplicate it, just use quick keys.



Every time you do duplicate you slow the scan time by 2-3 seconds.

This is an interesting twist. I will look into this for my own setup. Thank you

Ensnared said:

I stack my favorites. I put the Favorite number in brackets before the favorite. Then, I can toggle on/off the various Favorites. I have mine set up like the old scanners with banks. This has worked well for me.

I control my download content through the Profiles. At present, I am up to Favorite 65.

Here is an example:

Click to expand...

Two Years

TailGator911 said:

This is exactly how I do it - consecutively numbered FLs (or SLs) on all of my digital scanners, 536,1065, SDS100, TRX-1 that allow for group(s) scanning. The same QKs/Banks on all scanners. Quick, efficient, less confusing, and systematically organized for optimum monitoring of all the systems I listen to. Some will debate that it is not as fast or specific as it could be, but I would contend that I hear it all and I do not miss anything. When something big happens, all scanners (analog too) are zeroed in for maximum coverage. I am more than satisfied with this numbered set up.

JD
kf4anc

Click to expand...

Once I divorced the configuration keys, I was able to set thing up like a banked scanner. I just toggle on/off the Favorites. It took me two years to get this worked out to my liking. If I need to find a particular Favorite number, I go to the menu and look at systems to monitor.

Ensnared said:

Once I divorced the configuration keys, I was able to set thing up like a banked scanner. I just toggle on/off the Favorites. It took me two years to get this worked out to my liking. If I need to find a particular Favorite number, I go to the menu and look at systems to monitor.

Click to expand...

Yep - exactly. I have all of my digital scanners configured like that, in bank-like fashion, with the FL/SL number in the name of the channel, i.e., (1) Fb PD, (2) Greene Sheriff (3) EMTs etc etc so I know exactly which number/FL/bank is which. Makes moving between 'banks' so much faster and easier. A handy cheat sheet nearby helps the ol' memory chips, and I have laminated cheat sheets on a ringer in my truck for quick reference when mobile. The few folks I have showed this system to use it now and very happy with it.


JD
kf4anc

Rob, I too would be interested to see another pic of your impressive FL. As a fan of aviation, I would like to see how you have managed the structure of Airports Maricopa County. I'm assuming that the structures I have seen will apply to any Uniden scanner, I have the SDS100.
I'm hoping that same system could be used here in Australia
thx

TailGator911 said:

Yep - exactly. I have all of my digital scanners configured like that, in bank-like fashion, with the FL/SL number in the name of the channel, i.e., (1) Fb PD, (2) Greene Sheriff (3) EMTs etc etc so I know exactly which number/FL/bank is which. Makes moving between 'banks' so much faster and easier. A handy cheat sheet nearby helps the ol' memory chips, and I have laminated cheat sheets on a ringer in my truck for quick reference when mobile. The few folks I have showed this system to use it now and very happy with it.


JD
kf4anc

Click to expand...

On my 125AT, I have the banks set up as:

Bank 1 - JFK Approach Control
1 - ROBER
2 - CAMRN
3 - FINAL
Bank 2 - Tower
1 - TWR 1
2 - TWR 2
Bank 3 - Ground
1 - GRND 1
2 - GRND 2
Bank 3 - Ramp Control
1 - TERM 1
2 - TERM 2/3
3 - IAT4
4 - TERM 5
5 - TERM 7
6 - TERM 8
Bank 4 - Cargo Ops
1 - North Cargo
2 - East Cargo
3 - Lufthansa Ramp
Bank 5 - Company
1 - Delta
2 - jetBlue
3 - American
.
.
.
Bank 6 - Security
1 - 5 Star
2 - Allied
Bank 7 - ARTCC
1 - ZBW 6
2 - ZNY 1
.
.
8 - TRACON
Bank 8 - NYPD
1 - Queens
2 - Bronx
3 - Citywide / SOD

My problem with the SDS100 and 535HP is that there is no one button or two button way to turn on one bank and shut down the other so it will still take some time. But, at least I can make much better sense of it when I am spotting and tracking. I think however I could just hold on a System or Department and just wheel between them fast. I think it should work with all FLs turned on and the scanner will pull the next FL as I rotate.

Ensnared said:

I stack my favorites. I put the Favorite number in brackets before the favorite. Then, I can toggle on/off the various Favorites. I have mine set up like the old scanners with banks. This has worked well for me.

I control my download content through the Profiles. At present, I am up to Favorite 65.

Here is an example:

Click to expand...

How do you have the systems/depts setup?

Alrib123 said:

How do you have the systems/depts setup?

Click to expand...

I assumed a single system with a single department and frequencies... but definitely good to ask and not assume