? about arranging freqs and id's

[wfdbackdraft]

My question is a general one about entering frequencies and id numbers into a scanner, mainly how am I supposed to arrange them?
I bought a Uniden BCT8 trunking scanner, and I've been searching this forum for my question with no luck. We have 2 tower locations here in Wilmington, NC., and I was wondering if I should combine all the freqs. into one bank, or do they need to be separated into different banks?
Also, I understand that I have 5 "banks", with 5 "lists" inside each bank. I wanted to put all of my fire in one bank, ems in another, and police and sheriff into a few more. But when I have all of those banks selected, and go into the trunking mode, the only id's that I pick up, are the ones in the 1st bank. Does this mean that I can only enter id's into the one bank, and scan only that bank?
Basically, how do I set up a trunking scanner to get the most use out of all the banks and lists?
Thanks for any help that you can give me,
Michael

 

[mciupa]

Two towers = two banks The strongest control channel will over-rule the other one.

Each list can be a "specialty" . Put Fire in List 1 ,EMS in List 2 and so on. When an incident comes up you can de-select or inactivate the lists not required.

Sounds like a well organized approach Michael.

Welcome to RR

 

[wfdbackdraft]

Ok, so I program the towers into banks one and two. Do I keep both of them selected?
As far as the lists go, there are more than 10 id's for each department. (police, fire, ect.) So I can only scan the 50 id's in bank one? I'll keep the main ones in those lists I guess.
Right now if I want to check out the id's in the other banks, I have to de-select trunking, select the bank that the other id's are in, de-select bank one, and re-enter trunking mode. This is a PITA!! Is this as good as it gets?

 

[wfdbackdraft]

When I have both banks selected, the scanner wants to stop on bank 2's lists. They're blank!!!!! What do Ineed to do? Copy the lists from bank 1 to bank 2?

 

[mciupa]

I looked up your system : http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=295

You should be hearing most things on Primary.(Bank 1)
I would suggest putting the Seabreeze related talkgroups and Mutual Aid in those blanks in bank 2 , if that will help your space concerns.

 

[wfdbackdraft]

When using the control channel only feature, I don't need to put in all of those freq.'s right? Could I just put the control channels for both towers into the same bank?

 

[mciupa]

That is correct . However , be sure to enter primary and alternate control channels .
If the primary goes down for some reason , the alternate will be used temporarily as a control channel and you will still keep tracking the system.

Good luck.

 

[DaveH]

That ia correct . However , be sure to enter primary and alternate control channels .
If the primary goes down for some reason , the alternate will be used temporarily as a control channel and you will still keep tracking the system.

Good luck.

...not to mention, that the alternate CC(s) can be used for voice, unless they are
being used as a control channel.

Dave

 

[wfdbackdraft]

I wonder if the list on this website has all of the control channels. I remember when I had my old 800 mHz. scanner, that I had to keep locking out the control channel because it seemed to move around. Before I change it around though, I'll scan in regular mode, and write down those control channel freqs. for a few days to make sure that I have all of them.
Thanks for the help!!

Michael