BCD436HP/BCD536HP: Possible to monitor ALL TGs on a trunked system?

Status
Not open for further replies.

squircle

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
Messages
9
Location
Toronto, ON
I've found keeping the talkgroup lists in my 436HP very cumbersome, as every time a database update occurs, I have to destroy and manually re-create my favourites lists. Maybe I'm using Sentinel incorrectly, but that's beside the point.

I'm wondering if there's a way to monitor ALL talkgroups on a system, even ones that aren't in the RR DB. I think trunked discovery mode may be able to do that (is that even on this scanner?), but I'm wondering if there's a way to do it in the normal scanner mode.

Thanks!
 

kb8rvp

Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2003
Messages
552
Location
Michigan
BCD436HP Possible to monitor ALL TGs on a trunked system?

I've found keeping the talkgroup lists in my 436HP very cumbersome, as every time a database update occurs, I have to destroy and manually re-create my favourites lists. Maybe I'm using Sentinel incorrectly, but that's beside the point.

I'm wondering if there's a way to monitor ALL talkgroups on a system, even ones that aren't in the RR DB. I think trunked discovery mode may be able to do that (is that even on this scanner?), but I'm wondering if there's a way to do it in the normal scanner mode.

Thanks!
What I do if I find a new TG on a system is just manually adding it in Sentinel or even just inside my favorites in the scanner menu on the fly.

As for monitoring all TG's on a system you can go into Sentinel and highlight one of your favorites lists and then click Edit and Edit Favorites click OK. Once the favorite’s list editor comes up off to the right you should see an option that shows ID Search. Change it by clicking the cell and change it to on... You can also do it on the fly in the scanner menu:
Press Menu and scroll to Manage Favorites and press the volume knob and scroll to the list you want to change and press the volume knob to select. Select Review/Edit System then scroll to system and select. Then select Edit Sys Option and scroll to ID Search and change it to On and then keep pressing the menu to save and exit all the way back out until you start scanning. Now you will hear all TG's on that system

Mike
 

jackj

Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2007
Messages
1,548
Location
NW Ohio
No scanner will monitor more than one TG at a time so your scanner won't realize that another TG is active if it is already monitoring one. Some scanners won't even stop on encrypted TGs and even if it did, you wouldn't be able to monitor it. Large trunked systems, like regional or state-wide systems, will have TGs that only appear on a few towers and may not appear on your tower. Your scanner is limited on the number of TGs that can be stored, how many will depend on your scanner. Once that limit is reached, you won't be able to enter anymore.

This is not meant as nit-picking but is in answer to your question. No, it is not possible to monitor all the TGs on all systems all the time.
 

jackj

Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2007
Messages
1,548
Location
NW Ohio
Ed,
How do you monitor a TG using ID Search while the scanner is receiving another TG on a different system? Or even the same system?
 

kruser

Active Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Nov 25, 2007
Messages
4,987
Location
West St Louis County, MO
What I do is setup the entire system including all known talkgroups in a favorites list.
I then group like talkgroups into several group quick keys and then avoid or disable them from the scanners menu or from within Sentinel.

Make sure ID Search is enabled on the sites within range and the x36HP or 3/996 or HP1 will then pickup only new talkgroups as the others are avoided.

I'll usually use something like Proscan to log everything heard and make note of any talkgroups that have no text description. Those are my new ones.
I later plug these into a group quick key I call "unknown" and give them a generic name until I can figure them out. This GQK stays enabled.
Then I submit them to RR once figured out.

Of course a single scanner can only pickup one active TG at a time but I think the OP knows that and only wants to find new or unlisted talkgroups.

Having several digital scanners on a given system really helps as I can lockout several of the new ones from each scanner and then catch the comms on several different TGs if they happen to come on the air at the same time.

The other option is to run Pro96com on the control channel of a given system and make sure and import all known sites and talkgroups for the system. Then let Pro96com do its thing for a day or two. Review the logs for all TG entries with generic info and those will also be your new or unknow TGs. Those can then be added into the radios "unknown" group quick key for scanning in hopes of figuring them out for submission into the database.
The Channel Grant Trace tab will show ENC for encrypted radio IDs and one can then sort that screen by TG and determine if all radios on that talkgroup are encrypted.

A combination of Proscan and Pro96com left running on a system for a few days will pretty much reveal seldom used or new talkgroups.
 

AC2OY

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
2,392
Location
Belleville,New Jersey
I actually went into Sentinel today and did what Paul say to a few of my systems. I get more talk groups now than before! Little things that make happy!
 

natedawg1604

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
2,725
Location
Colorado
It sounds like you're really wanting to "log" affiliations and/or voice grants on a particular P-25 site. Sadly the *36HP's currently have no data output so you can't currently use them to log anything. (Pro96Com only works with scanners equipped with data outputs such as the PSR-800 or Uniden 396/996XT's).

However, you can get a $20 SDR Dongle (i.e. TV tuner chip) and log P-25 sites with Unitrunker and SDR software.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top