I have a bcd396xt handheld that I use mobile and a bcd996xt that is a base. I got both about a year ago when my county switched to a digital trunked radio system. I use freescan to program my scanners. I use the copy and paste method from RR database. I have been working on the way that I have my scanner programmed constantly. I have tried things then made changes to make it easier. I finally have it almost complete. But I think I will always be changing how data is in my scanner.
The SQK and the GQK got me confused at first. to turn on and off GQK's you have to hit the function key first. You can have 99 SQK's and each of those 99 systems can have 10 GQK's This is how I explain quick keys and lock outs to people. My example is the electrical system in your house.
Your circuit breaker box = The scanner
Each breaker = Radio systems / sites (SQK)
Switched outlet = Groups (GQK)
Lamp = Radio channel, frequency or talk group.
Turning lamp on or off on the lamp = locking out a Radio channel, frequency or talk group
Lets take the living room circuit for example. You can quickly turn off all lamps in your living room by turning on or off at the breaker. The SQK (system quick key) is like the circuit breaker. Then in your living room you have a switch that controls an outlet. This is like a Group (GQK). Then the lamp you plug into the outlet is the Radio channel, frequency or talk group. The switch can turn any number of lamps on or off at one time. Then you can also turn the lamp off or on using the lamps own switch. This is like using the lock out feature. The problem with lock outs is it is not easy to unlock them. I usually leave most frequencies unlocked and then temporarily lock them out when they get annoying. Then if you power off the scanner those temporary locked out will be unlocked
You also have other outlets that are not switched. This would be like having a group in a system with out a GQK assigned to it. You can plug a lamp into this outlet but the only way to turn it on or off is using the switch on the lamp. Not as easy using a wall switch. This is hard to do in the scanner without a quick key.
The way I have my system set up are the 0-9 SQK’s are for local systems where I live and travel most often. 11-99 are for other areas that i don't travel as often. I only give one SQK to one system. I might assign a GQK to more then one group, but this is rare. You could also duplicate systems and have different GQK’s turn different things on and off. I also do this. Here in Wisconsin in my area most of the counties have a county dispatch center. So everything is done by county for me. I do have some exceptions. I do set a few systems that I call “Travel”. These systems are conventional frequencies so this makes life easier. I just make groups in this “Travel” system that follow the highways that I travel. I can turn GQK’s on and off as I travel.
My county has a new digital TRS system. Most public safety is on the new TRS. SQK 1 is for the TRS. SQK 2 is my county for the conventional stuff. Each system can have 20 groups, but only 10 GQK’s per system. So I never use more than 10 groups per system. The other thing that helps is to put the SQK’s and GQK numbers in the system or group test ID’s. Example: System display = (My County System 1) and Group displays would be (1 County Sheriff), (2 Police Department), (3 County Fire Departments), (4 City Fire Departments). It helps you remember by seeing them. I put system numbers at the end and group numbers at the beginning. I try to keep a pattern for every system and county. GQK is always County Sheriff.
Here is an example of how my scanner is set up. I have a list made in Microsoft Word that lists the systems and groups and their corresponding quick keys. I also try to use the same pattern for every system or county that I set up. That way I always know that the Sheriff is in Group 1.
County A TRS 1 (SQK1)
1 Sheriff (GQK 1)
2 County Rural Fire (GQK 2)
3 City A Police (GQK 3)
4 City A Fire / EMS (GQK 4)
5 City B Police (GQK 5)
6 City B Fire / EMS (GQK 6)
7 University Police
8 Jail
9 Hwy Depts, City Dpw’s (GQK 9) (Stuff I usually never listen too)
0 Mutual Aid, Special Events, Etc. (GQK 0)
County A Conventional (SQK2)
1 Law (GQK 1)
2 Fire (GQK 2)
3 State Police (GQK 3)
4 Mutual Aid, Interoperability (GQK 4)
5 Local Business (GQK 5)
6
7
8
9 Hwy Depts, City Dpw’s (GQK 9) (Stuff I usually never listen too)
0 Mutual Aid, Special Events, Etc. (GQK 0)
and so on.....