Uniden BCD536HP is ignoring how the favorites list is set

[kepster9312]

My Uniden BCD536HP seems to be ignoring how the favorites list is set. When scanning a favorite like Peoria IL Fire it would scan and show all of the information correctly saved when showing things stored that are related to Peoria IL Fire. When scanning the same favorite it ends up picking up Police within the favorite list for Peoria IL Fire even though its not set up that way. When it picks up Police on the Fire favorites it will show everything as unknown as in the attached picture.

Here is a screenshot of an example of what it does when its not following the favorites scan list scanning Pekin IL EMS and picks up Talkgroup 13009 showing as unknown as it is not supposed to be part of the Pekin IL EMS favorite list. I have BCD4336HP set with the same favorites lists and I don't have issues like this on the BCD436HP

The BCD536HP is running on the most current firmware according to Uniden BCDx36HP_Sentinel


ISP District 14 - Macomb Talkgroups

Dispatched by ISP District 9 (Springfield).

DEC	HEX	Mode	Alpha Tag	Description	Tag
13009	32d1	D	D14 Dispatch A	Dispatch A	Law Dispatch

This is what is picking up when it is supposed to be anything that is part of Pekin IL EMS is there any way to fix this?

 

[frazpo]

Are you using ID SEARCH or ID SCAN on both scanners? If your using ID SEARCH on the 536 and the RR database is behind on being updated this could happen.

 

[jonwienke]

It's user error. Never make multiple copies of a trunked system and scan them separately like that. In addition to the problems you're complaining about, it's a very inefficient way to scan. If you have the scanner set to ignore "unknown" talkgroups, then you'll miss a lot of traffic.

Suppose you have 3 copies of the system, one with everything deleted except police talkgroups, one with everything deleted except fire talkgroups, and the third with only EMS talkgroups. They're all in separate favorite lists. You're in the mood to listen to EMS and fire, so you enable the EMS and fire favorite lists. While scanning the sites in the EMS favorite list, the scanner will hear the fire calls, but will ignore them, because it's scanning the EMS list. And the same will happen for EMS calls when scanning the fire list. Traffic you want to hear will be ignored because of incorrect programming.

The correct approach is to have the system programmed once, rather than having separate copies of it in multiple favorite lists. Use Department Quick Keys or Location Control to toggle stuff by area, and Service Types to toggle categories like police, fire, etc. You'll scan faster because you're going through the trunked system sites once, looking for all types of traffic you've enabled, rather than scanning them multiple times, and ignoring everything but one category with each pass.

Trunked systems are not the same as conventional frequencies, and you can't scan them the same way. Talkgroups are not scanned, sites are. Program the system once, scan the sites once, and use quick keys and other tools to decide what to hear when you scan the sites once. Any other approach causes problems, and will force you to miss more traffic.

 

[kepster9312]

Are you using ID SEARCH or ID SCAN on both scanners? If your using ID SEARCH on the 536 and the RR database is behind on being updated this could happen.

I have checked and the BCD536HP was set to ID Search while the BCD436HP was on ID Scan. I have set the BCD536HP to ID Scan and see if it makes any changes. Do I need to set ID scan under all of them or do I just do it once to affect everything?

 

[kepster9312]

It's user error. Never make multiple copies of a trunked system and scan them separately like that. In addition to the problems you're complaining about, it's a very inefficient way to scan. If you have the scanner set to ignore "unknown" talkgroups, then you'll miss a lot of traffic.

Suppose you have 3 copies of the system, one with everything deleted except police talkgroups, one with everything deleted except fire talkgroups, and the third with only EMS talkgroups. They're all in separate favorite lists. You're in the mood to listen to EMS and fire, so you enable the EMS and fire favorite lists. While scanning the sites in the EMS favorite list, the scanner will hear the fire calls, but will ignore them, because it's scanning the EMS list. And the same will happen for EMS calls when scanning the fire list. Traffic you want to hear will be ignored because of incorrect programming.

The correct approach is to have the system programmed once, rather than having separate copies of it in multiple favorite lists. Use Department Quick Keys or Location Control to toggle stuff by area, and Service Types to toggle categories like police, fire, etc. You'll scan faster because you're going through the trunked system sites once, looking for all types of traffic you've enabled, rather than scanning them multiple times, and ignoring everything but one category with each pass.

Trunked systems are not the same as conventional frequencies, and you can't scan them the same way. Talkgroups are not scanned, sites are. Program the system once, scan the sites once, and use quick keys and other tools to decide what to hear when you scan the sites once. Any other approach causes problems, and will force you to miss more traffic.

I have all of them set to on for categories but I have them separated between EMS Fire and Police for different locations. Would it be best to just have the fire EMS and Police sorted out by locations like Peoria IL Fire EMS and police are under Peoria Fire EMS Police instead of different favorites set up as Peoria Fire is in Peoria Fire favorite and Peoria EMS is in Peoria EMS ?

 

[jonwienke]

I have all of them set to on for categories but I have them separated between EMS Fire and Police for different locations. Would it be best to just have the fire EMS and Police sorted out by locations like Peoria IL Fire EMS and police are under Peoria Fire EMS Police instead of different favorites set up as Peoria Fire is in Peoria Fire favorite and Peoria EMS is in Peoria EMS ?

Yes. Scan one copy of the system, and reorganize Departments within the system if they are not grouped to your liking. Put Peoria police, fire, and EMS in separate Departments, just make sure you copy the Department location settings if you enable location control. Then you can toggle the Departments on and off within the system, and still be scanning efficiently.

 

[kepster9312]

Yes. Scan one copy of the system, and reorganize Departments within the system if they are not grouped to your liking. Put Peoria police, fire, and EMS in separate Departments, just make sure you copy the Department location settings if you enable location control. Then you can toggle the Departments on and off within the system, and still be scanning efficiently.

What would be the best way to do so? I can post the way I have favorite lists laid out if you would like

 

[jonwienke]

Create new Departments for Peoria Police, Peoria Fire, etc. Copy/paste the location settings from the existing Peoria Department to the new ones. Then cut and paste the channels from the original Department to the new ones.

 

[kepster9312]

Create new Departments for Peoria Police, Peoria Fire, etc. Copy/paste the location settings from the existing Peoria Department to the new ones. Then cut and paste the channels from the original Department to the new ones.

How would that work when it comes to updating the RR database wouldnt that just create more work compared to just having favorite lists set to be location name Fire Police EMS as one favorite list

 

[jonwienke]

You can't edit the database only favorite lists.

It's less work to manually update one copy of a system in one favorite list than 3 copies in 3 favorite lists.

 

[kepster9312]

You can't edit the database only favorite lists.

It's less work to manually update one copy of a system in one favorite list than 3 copies in 3 favorite lists.

What would be the best way to set it up

What about having all of EMS, Fire, and Police in one favorite list for different locations

 

[jonwienke]

Right-click on the system in the database, choose Append to Favorite List.

Then do what I said in post #8.

 

[kepster9312]

Right-click on the system in the database, choose Append to Favorite List.

Then do what I said in post #8.

would I have to do that every time I run the Database update or is there an easier way

 

[jonwienke]

Favorite lists have to be updated manually, regardless of how you set them up. Otherwise any manual changes you make (like reorganizing separate Departments for police, fire, and EMS) would get wiped out every week.

 

[kepster9312]

Favorite lists have to be updated manually, regardless of how you set them up. Otherwise any manual changes you make (like reorganizing separate Departments for police, fire, and EMS) would get wiped out every week.

What would the best easiest way to get the most efficient scanning while having complete control using the favorite lists and different locations

 

[werinshades]

I have checked and the BCD536HP was set to ID Search while the BCD436HP was on ID Scan. I have set the BCD536HP to ID Scan and see if it makes any changes. Do I need to set ID scan under all of them or do I just do it once to affect everything?

I have my Starcom set up this way:

FL-11
System-1
Department corresponds with District number:

Department 1-District 1
Department 2-District 2 etc.

11.1.1 will turn on and off District 1/11.1.2 will turn on and off District 2 etc.
Maybe add Peoria talk groups to 30-39 so all you'd have to do is follow this pattern to turn them on and off within a favorite list. Set priority talkgroup(s) on those that are most important, turn Priority ID Scan to on at the System level options tab and see how that works.

As jon said, any changes to the database, update manually to save the aggravation. I would also recommending clear all favorite lists when you send to scanner...fresh start.

 

[kepster9312]

I have my Starcom set up this way:

FL-11
System-1
Department corresponds with District number:

Department 1-District 1
Department 2-District 2 etc.

11.1.1 will turn on and off District 1/11.1.2 will turn on and off District 2 etc.
Maybe add Peoria talk groups to 30-39 so all you'd have to do is follow this pattern to turn them on and off within a favorite list. Set priority talkgroup(s) on those that are most important, turn Priority ID Scan to on at the System level options tab and see how that works.

As jon said, any changes to the database, update manually to save the aggravation. I would also recommending clear all favorite lists when you send to scanner...fresh start.

The way I like to have it is location separated Pekin is in its own, Delevan is in its own, East Peoria is in its own, Peoria is in its own, and Bloomington normal is in its own list but also want to keep fire police and EMS for those locations separate from other businesses without turning off the categories I also listen to transportation IDOT skywarn and the snowplows so controlling categories I feel would not work best for me so what do you guys recommend to keep locations separate from each other but also businesses separate from EMS police fire and still allow to listen to the others without listening to all businesses. If needed I have attached a zip file of everything from the uniden software to help figure out the best way to set it up based on how it is currently. Feel free to fix it and send it back but also name it a different file name to where I know that is has been fixed or changed and then I will review it. Also letting me know what was changed and how its setup

Here is a link to the zip file of the information from the software: BCDx36HP_Sentinel.zip

 

[jonwienke]

Move all the stuff for each of the towns you mentioned into their own Department, under the trunked system. Have a separate system and Departments for businesses and stuff that aren't trunked.

 

[kepster9312]

Move all the stuff for each of the towns you mentioned into their own Department, under the trunked system. Have a separate system and Departments for businesses and stuff that aren't trunked.

How would I be able to pick out certain things like School transport and EMS Fire Police without hearing other businesses that might be nearby

 

[jonwienke]

Only program businesses/schools you want to hear in tyour favorite list.