arc-xt questions

[autoelect]

I have been using arc-xt to program bcd996p2 scanners with the Radioreference North Carolina database with basic success but would like to understand some things to more effectively plan the process.
Essentially I would like to program conventional frequencies and trunked systems for several counties into the scanner and have the ability to scan all or a selected county by using playlists or quick keys. When I use Arc500 with other scanners, I can use playlists to activate or deactivate by county. Evidently not so with Arc-xt. I don't understand what a "system" or "group" is. If a system would be all the conventional frequencies for a county, or all the sites for a trunked system in that county, then maybe I should assign each of these the same system quick key. And if that works, would all the talk groups in that system quick key be activated or deactivated without using group quick keys?
Also, as I have been importing trunked system sites by county, I have been importing talk groups for that county as well as state-wide talk groups ( like highway patrol, DEA, ICE, FBI,SBI,etc). Then after importing the sites for the next county, I have been repeating the process of importing the statewide talk groups that I imported with the previous county import. My thinking is that if I activate a county that does not have all the statewide talk groups imported, these talk groups may not be scanned from a non-activated county import. Am I just adding unnecessary data to the programming ? I believe that if I were to scan all sites and conventional freqs as 1 database, then I would not need to import statewide talk groups but once.
Thanks for your advice !

 

[captclint]

A system can be either trunked, or a collection of conventional freq, which must have at least one group. For example, you could create a county system with one group, and enter ALL conventional frequencies in that county(local and county FD,PD,EMS, etc) If there are also trunked systems in the county, you assign the same quick key to every trunked sys AND the conventional system. Conventional groups are more of a convenience factor. IE, you could have a group for all PD, all FD, all EMS, They would all be activated by the system QK, but could be turned on/off individually with Group QK's.
Groups only apply to conventional systems, but trunked systems can have more than one site with separate TG's. As for the statewide, If you created state-wide systems and downloaded all the TG's or conventional freq, you should not have to repeat it.

 

[autoelect]

Thank you Clint. I appreciate your taking the time to clear this up for me. Best wishes for the holidays !