So I'm using Proscan to program my new BCD998P2, and I'm trying to program in
Greater Austin/Travis Regional Radio System (GATRRS) as it seems it covers a good deal of the state as i travel from Midland to Burnet a few times a year. What's the best way to break the system down to fit in the allowed space?
Your limitations on programming are that you cannot have more than 500 systems, maximum talkgroups in a system is 500.
There is a limit of 20 Groups per system, but you can only use 0 through 9 for Group quick keys. (That's not likely to be a hindrance, as you're planning to use a GPS, rather than turning systems on or off with quick keys.)
You have a limit of 25,000 'channels', but that's somewhat misleading. Setting up multiple systems, each with a number of groups & sites will take up some of that memory.
As long as you stick to primarily Sheriff's office & Fire Dispatch, plus PD & Fire dispatch for larger cities along your route, I think you can shoehorn in what you need.
Just an idea for a huge system like that maybe program each county as it’s own system? It looks like you could sort the talkgroups that way too. Just an idea?
That;s the way I'd break it up as well, each county (with it's related GATRRS sites) within it's own system. Some of the counties may primarily use conventional channels, not GATRRS, so you'd have to program those as well.
For Texas DPS, you could program the various regions along the way. Or, just cut to the chase & make a system using the statewide channel plan.. Of course, in some counties DPS may have talkgroups on one of the trunked systems.
I think you can set this up like you want, as long as you don't try to go overboard & program every last talkgroup or conventional channel along the way. Stick mostly to the dispatch TGIDs and conventional channels.
But as already suggested, one of the database scanners, such as the 536HP, or SDS200, would already have all the channels in their internal database, and work well with a GPS.
