SDS100/SDS200: Active channels: How Much Is Too Much?

[Labs4me]

I’m a rookie and just curious as to how many active channels you should limit your scanning to at one time? I don’t scan many while at home…maybe 100 or so, but I’m going to be in a major metro area for a few weeks soon and there are a lot of channels/sites just for law/fire/ems. I do plan on creating separate FL’s. Any help appreciated.

 

[GTR8000]

If you feel like you're missing too many conversations, then you're probably scanning too much.

 

[buddrousa]

I use 23 scanners scanning a whole lot less than that.
Using 1 scanner in a large area is like trying to light a football field with 1 home light bulb.

 

[a417]

How many do you want? More channels (more time cycling between frequencies) and more TGIDs (potentially parts of more separate and possibly unrelated conversations) means more actual parsing of the audio is required. If nothing is going on, listen to eeeeeverything if you want to... but you will most likely be missing more than you're hearing.

Try scanning everything, and see how fast you learn how to lock onto a talkgroup/channel and stay there.

 

[hiegtx]

I’m a rookie and just curious as to how many active channels you should limit your scanning to at one time? I don’t scan many while at home…maybe 100 or so, but I’m going to be in a major metro area for a few weeks soon and there are a lot of channels/sites just for law/fire/ems. I do plan on creating separate FL’s. Any help appreciated.

A lot is going to depend on what metro area you'll be in. Here in DFW, there's dozens of systems, and hundreds of channels & talkgroups. What you listen to will depend on what you're interested in, as well as where you are in the area. As has been said before, the more (channels) you listen to, the more you might miss.

 

[wtp]

when new i tell folks to only listen to their town and county, then later branch out.
i too have many scanners for the other stuff to free up the local county sheriff and they cover my town.

 

[ofd8001]

It depends on whether you are talking about conventional or trunked channels.

With conventional, the scanner "listens" for activity on each channel. Scan speed is about 80-85 channels per second. With conversations often lasting less than 1 second, you could miss shorter conversations as your scanner takes about 1.25 seconds to "go around".

Trunked systems scan differently - I won't go into a long explanation to avoid confusing a new listener. Suffice it say the number of channels in a scan list do not impact the speed, so the more the merrier as long as they are of interest to you.

 

[n1chu]

Bottom line, if you aren’t using DND Priority or Priority, every time the scanner stops to listen, it’s not scanning. This increases the amount of traffic you may be missing. A good way to check how much traffic you may be missing is to lock the scanner down on a particular TG or channel and listen for a while. Then let the scanner resume scanning. If the amount of traffic is now less than when you listened exclusively to that one TG or channel, you are missing some of those transmissions. It’s up to each individual as to how much they allow this to occur. Or, run a second “like” scanner, with both scanners programmed the same… see how much you may miss in this fashion. As mentioned in other replies, the issue becomes more evident when scanning trunked systems, large or small, as the scanner takes longer to peruse these systems before moving on to the next agency. Running many scanners locked down on different systems guaranties you won’t miss anything but it also defeats the intent of a scanning radio. So, it’s a trade-off.
I think a practical way of monitoring ideally, is to run two or three scanners, space and pocketbook permitting, using one to monitor only conventional systems, another to monitor trunking and another to act as a simple single channel receiver, maybe using one of the priority functions like DND (Do Not Disturb).

 

[nessnet]

Or.....
Get a couple of RTL-SDRs and DSD+ FastLane (if you need P25II decoding).
Then, you see ALL trunking activity on a particular site on your screen.
A really good way to see everything...
Then, by prioritizing the TGs, you rank the 'importance' of them.

 

[Labs4me]

Thanks guys for the great information. I’m going through my favorites lists and reorganizing them to make them smaller. I’ll end up with many more lists but I can easily turn on and off using the FLQK’s depending on what I’m interested in hearing. I think I’m also going to use the logging functionality on ProScan just to see what kind of hits I’m getting on channels on various FL’s.

 

[ofd8001]

One thing to be mindful of with trunking: If you have FL 1 with XYZ site listening for police and then FL 2 with XYZ site (as in the same site in FL1) listening for fire, you may be working against yourself.

The scanner is on the site listening for police that might be inactive and ignores fire that is active. Then jumps to the next FL listening for fire, but the conversation has concluded.

 

[pinballwiz86]

Basically scan until you find something interesting, then HOLD on the activity. Activity is complete, hit scan until you land on something else. It's as simple as that. Hence why they are called scanners.

 

[gmcrash1]

Where are you in east texas and what are you listening to.

 

[buddrousa]

I live in range of 4 state run systems 8 to 10 counties fire ems law.

 

[R8000]

There is no correct answer to your question. You scan however many channels you want to. If you want more, then add to the list. Or, take some away. It's like the argument about which is better.... rock or country music ? It's all up to you.
Scan however many channels you want to and enjoy the hobby

 

[JoeBearcat]

The definitive answer is 73. (pop culture reference)

The real answer depends on how active the channels you scan are. The less active they are the more you can scan without missing too much. The more active they are, the fewer you can scan without missing things.

 

[Labs4me]

Where are you in east texas and what are you listening to.

Just south of Tyler in Smith County. I have separate FL’s for Law, Fire, EMS and Misc (where I keep stuff like SkyWarn, etc). I do this for a couple of other counties as I’m kinda in a ”4 corners” location. I’m hearing a lot of Smith Co SO, Tyler PD & FD and several of the VFD’s in the area. Most of the traffic is heard on the TxWARN P25 system and the majority is Tyler Simulcast, although I do get hits on the regular P25 frequencies and TG’s. I typically keep the FL for EMS off because those transmissions dominate the airwaves. I’m still learning the SDS100 and I’ve been out of scanning for 15 years, but I think I have where I need it right now. I don’t know what I don’t know, but still tinkering.

 

[hiegtx]

Just south of Tyler in Smith County. I have separate FL’s for Law, Fire, EMS and Misc (where I keep stuff like SkyWarn, etc). I do this for a couple of other counties as I’m kinda in a ”4 corners” location. I’m hearing a lot of Smith Co SO, Tyler PD & FD and several of the VFD’s in the area. Most of the traffic is heard on the TxWARN P25 system and the majority is Tyler Simulcast, although I do get hits on the regular P25 frequencies and TG’s. I typically keep the FL for EMS off because those transmissions dominate the airwaves. I’m still learning the SDS100 and I’ve been out of scanning for 15 years, but I think I have where I need it right now. I don’t know what I don’t know, but still tinkering.

The SDS100 should work well for you, especially for the trunked systems such as TxWARN. You did not say which "major metro area" you would be visiting. If it's the DFW area, send me a message if you want suggestions. (Click on the small envelope in the upper right corner to access messaging (it's called Conversations in the forum).)