I hate to revive and old thread so I will reference one here before I ask my questions.
http://forums.radioreference.com/uniden-scanners/160331-396xt-996xt-multi-site-question.html
So, I just bought a 396XT and I have a question maybe others can help with. Since the Uniden doesn’t have the ROAM feature that the GRE scanners do (where it scans the sites and locks on the strongest control channel it can find until such signal goes too weak) I am just at a loss on how multi-site systems are really supposed to work on the 396XT or if the only convenience is sharing a systems talkgroups among the associated sites?
Assuming I am not using the GPS features (since this is a handheld its just not convenient), I want to know what is the best way to program a multi-site system like a statewide system into 396XT?
In my old 396T I got comfortable loading 1 site per system or more often I was manually combining channels from all sites into a single site and system.
With the new 396XT, I find that creating a System with 100+ sites and trying to scan all 100 sites, it scans each site for a moment and then goes to the next and even when it finds a strong one it starts all over sequencing again, so that in the course of scanning 100+ sites while I hit on strong site a second later it may not be hearing any site when a call comes though on a TG affiliated to the site I was just decoding loud and clear – thus I am missing many calls.
*If I assign a quick key to each site as people suggest, I will run out of quick keys for each site, but I don’t know of a better or faster way to lock and unlock individual sites on the fly. Is this the only way to toggle on/off sites fast?
Also, (besides the long press HOLD manually) there doesnt seem to be logic built in, RSSI voting, or any other way to tell the 396XT to automatically camp onto the strongest site and stay there once it finds it?
That said, even in the 396XT, if I cram all the channels from all sites into a single site and single system it does actually ‘lock’ onto the first CC it can find (sometimes it’s the strongest, sometimes its not… but it stays on there until it that signal becomes weak) and thus I tend to miss less calls if I am in range of only one site anyway. I think I like this method best for when I am not moving, but I don’t know if there is a better method or not. Realizing, that if I do this and I am in range of other towers I could be missing conversations on TG’s that are not being monitored on a radio ‘affiliated’ to the tower I am listening to so its not ideal either.
What is the best / proper way to set up these huge multi-site systems in a 396XT in order to miss the least amount of activity? I want things to be as automatic as possible so that it needs to be looking at conversations coming from different places.
Maybe it doesn't scan the systems fast enough... in the post I reference, UPMan says it looks at each site for miliseconds, but it seems like it takes about 6 seconds to scroll through 90 sites that dont have signal and then on the one site that does find a CC it hangs there for only about 1 second and then starts to scroll through them all again and by that time I could have missed many calls. Have I not programmed something right is maybe why its taking so long to scan through all the systems?
Or, it seems maybe the scanner is not designed to actually handle multi-site trunking, but just to share talkgroups.
What am I missing here?
HELP
http://forums.radioreference.com/uniden-scanners/160331-396xt-996xt-multi-site-question.html
So, I just bought a 396XT and I have a question maybe others can help with. Since the Uniden doesn’t have the ROAM feature that the GRE scanners do (where it scans the sites and locks on the strongest control channel it can find until such signal goes too weak) I am just at a loss on how multi-site systems are really supposed to work on the 396XT or if the only convenience is sharing a systems talkgroups among the associated sites?
Assuming I am not using the GPS features (since this is a handheld its just not convenient), I want to know what is the best way to program a multi-site system like a statewide system into 396XT?
In my old 396T I got comfortable loading 1 site per system or more often I was manually combining channels from all sites into a single site and system.
With the new 396XT, I find that creating a System with 100+ sites and trying to scan all 100 sites, it scans each site for a moment and then goes to the next and even when it finds a strong one it starts all over sequencing again, so that in the course of scanning 100+ sites while I hit on strong site a second later it may not be hearing any site when a call comes though on a TG affiliated to the site I was just decoding loud and clear – thus I am missing many calls.
*If I assign a quick key to each site as people suggest, I will run out of quick keys for each site, but I don’t know of a better or faster way to lock and unlock individual sites on the fly. Is this the only way to toggle on/off sites fast?
Also, (besides the long press HOLD manually) there doesnt seem to be logic built in, RSSI voting, or any other way to tell the 396XT to automatically camp onto the strongest site and stay there once it finds it?
That said, even in the 396XT, if I cram all the channels from all sites into a single site and single system it does actually ‘lock’ onto the first CC it can find (sometimes it’s the strongest, sometimes its not… but it stays on there until it that signal becomes weak) and thus I tend to miss less calls if I am in range of only one site anyway. I think I like this method best for when I am not moving, but I don’t know if there is a better method or not. Realizing, that if I do this and I am in range of other towers I could be missing conversations on TG’s that are not being monitored on a radio ‘affiliated’ to the tower I am listening to so its not ideal either.
What is the best / proper way to set up these huge multi-site systems in a 396XT in order to miss the least amount of activity? I want things to be as automatic as possible so that it needs to be looking at conversations coming from different places.
Maybe it doesn't scan the systems fast enough... in the post I reference, UPMan says it looks at each site for miliseconds, but it seems like it takes about 6 seconds to scroll through 90 sites that dont have signal and then on the one site that does find a CC it hangs there for only about 1 second and then starts to scroll through them all again and by that time I could have missed many calls. Have I not programmed something right is maybe why its taking so long to scan through all the systems?
Or, it seems maybe the scanner is not designed to actually handle multi-site trunking, but just to share talkgroups.
What am I missing here?
HELP
