ABC Selector

[bwhite]

Noticed an ABC selector on some of the older portables in use by Carroll FD, thus far no one seems to know what the switch does. From some research, I believe that it controls what the radio is scanning if it happens to be in that mode. Does anyone have additional info regarding this function. Sorry, I know they're Motorola but wasn't able to check the model.

 

[W0JJK]

The ABC switch can be many different things. It is user programmable by the radio programmer.

For example, It can be scan on for A, scan off for B and scan program for C. That may be what they have but only the programmer can be for sure what is in the radio.

W0JJK

 

[bwhite]

Is there a way to manually boink thru something on the keypad/display to tell what's programmed in? If in doubt, do you leave it in "A" or does it not matter if nothing is programmed in?

 

[Llwellyn]

Some programmers set up the ABC switch to have the same channels in non-scan mode on all 3 positions if they know they don't need the extra channels or multiple modes.

Some of our county users use the ABC switch to go to talkaround mode... their main channel is 1A on their radio, and 1B is their simplex frequency.

 

[maus92]

In the Baltimore Police Dept, the A position is for the district's main operating channel, the C position is for the district's tac channel. Sometime you'll hear them refer to the "C" channel...

CA
Annapolis

 

[bwhite]

Wow, who woulda guessed that the uses for this switch would/could be so open ended.
I guess it isn't safe to assume that say....all FD radios for a particular county would pretty much have the same user-defined selections under A, B, & C ......standardization, nah.

 

[dpm797]

In anne arundel the police use the B position to go to thier aux channel for that district. Hnece Eastern officer on 11B Eastern district Dispatch toggles to the "B" position he is on 12B Eastern Aux. (car-to-car) TG for that district. Neat huh?

 

[Dewey]

Just to add, the Motorolas are very flexible when it comes to radio shop programming. In DC, the open/encrypted mode selector (the ring at the bottom of the rotary channel selector) is reprogrammed to lock/unlock the keypad on the front of the radio. This is to keep the radio "simple", and avoid accidental channel changes through the keypad.

Also, when we first went trunked several years back, the Emergency button on our mobiles was the first button is the top row. Since we were getting a lot of accidental Emergency hits, the shop recalled all mobiles, and 5 seconds after plugging in, the mode up/down were the first two buttons in the top row, and the Emergency was third.

Dewey

 

[ResQguy]

It would have been easier for them to have just installed the red protected emergency button on the spectras in the first place, instead of the white exposed one. Thats why you'll never hear unintened EAs from my wagon...