ICOM F1000S Programming Issues

[austinm_05]

I'm new, forgive me if I am not following all of the guidelines properly.

I recently bought an ICOM F1000S for duties as a police officer for 3 different municipalities. I cannot seem to get some of the programming done right. I am only somewhat familiar with Kenwood's KPG-82 and that is the extent of my programming knowledge. I have all of the correct freq's, tones, etc. Here is what I'm trying to do...

Option A)

Have three different settings (I don't know if this should be zones or what) where each municipality has their own list of frequencies (most of which will overlap with each other, with a few exceptions, as all of the cities are in the same county.) I would set the priority channel as the selected channel (as it doesn't appear that for each set of channels I can have a different priority channel.)

Option B)

Have one channel list for all three cities.

Also, another question. The radio's channel rotary knob only goes from channels 1-16. I wish I'd have known this before purchasing the radio, I might have changed my mind. I program the side keys to change the channel up and down, but the only time they seem to do anything is when I am selecting a zone. (Note - I don't even know exactly what they mean by zone, after extensive research, I'm still confused by the concept of zones and scan lists.) I feel like what I'm trying to accomplish is not overly complex.

 

[cabletech]

The F1000 is a single bank /zone 16 channel ONLY radio. If you need more then 16 channels, then you need to go to the F2000/3000 series radio.

A zone is the same as saying bank. In the F1000 this is not an option.

If you have more then one bank, you set a scan list for each bank. In a muliti bank/zone radio you can not scan channels that are in a different bank/zone.

 

[jeatock]

The F1000S (display with four function buttons) is a 8 zone (aka bank) 128-channel VHF radio. The F2000S is UHF.

A F?000 is a simple 16 channel, a F?000S is the display model (yours and most common) and the F?000T adds a 12-key numeric pad for DTMF signalling (not useful for you).


Go with option A.

I would set up a 16-channel bank for each jurisdiction. Program a "P" button for "Zone"; use that plus the UP/DN side buttons to set the radio for the agency of the day. You might also consider setting a 4th zone for off-duty with a combination of the first three. You can duplicate channels in multiple zones.

You can put receive only channels (ex: fire page tone-out) in channels 17 and up- you can program them to be in a scan list, but cannot access them directly. Use this if you need more than 16 channels in a bank, but don't need to access some of them out of scan.

Typically I put the same common channels in the same knob positions in all zones at one end of the channel selection knob (County or regional common channels, for instance - statewide mutual aid would always be channel 3 no matter what zone you are in and easier to remember). I only change the channels in the middle and on the other end of the knob from zone to zone. Tip: Channels 1 & 16 are the easiest to find running down an alley in the dark - turn the knob all the way until it stops, an advantage of a hard-stop channel with no 'rollover'. Middle channels are hard to find in the heat of a 'moment'.

In Scan, set up a different scan list to use in each zone. That way you can tailor the scan behavior to match the agency of the day. Press and hold the "Scan Start/Stop" button, then UP/DN. You will have to select both the Zone and Scan list manually. Changes to one scan list do not carry over to the others - each scan list is unique. The current selected channel is always in the scan list and priority no matter what. My preference in SCAN | Scan List:

List 1 | "Zone 1 Name" | Priority | R.Sel | (blank) | R.Sel | OFF | Pause | R.Sel | TX CH | ON
List 2 | "Zone 2 Name" | Priority | R.Sel | (blank) | R.Sel | OFF | Pause | R.Sel | TX CH | ON
etc...
Set un-used lists to Scan OFF.

Setting Text to "TX CH" causes the display to show the channel you are talking on (unless the radio is stopped receiving another channel).

"Talk Back" is useful if you are careful, but will cause you to talk on the wrong channel, or butt-dial at inconvenient or embarrassing times

If you assign a channel to the group [Z (Zone)], it will be scanned when the scan start channel is in the same Zone. That can be handy but tricky to set up. Trial and error is required to make sure the behavior is what you want.

Scan Lists can cross multiple zones! "Memory Channel | Scan List | Scan List" determines which scan list a channel will be scanned in. If you have eight banks (don't!) and have the same channel enabled in the same scan list in all banks (don't!) you will scan it eight times per round. Be careful making a channel scan-enabled in more than one zone. You only need it in the list once, and if the same channel ends up enabled in more than one zone finding and correcting it can be troublesome. The "Inc" column keeps this from happening. Typically I only 'Include' scan Add/Del is the lowest zone, and inhibit it in others.

PM me with your icf file if you are having problems. I've carried one with a very similar setup since I got one of the first demo radios. Like it better than the F50V is replaced.

 

[austinm_05]

I will look into it further when I get a day off. I thank you both in advance!