BCD436HP/BCD536HP: Avoided sites still being scanned - bug or ?

[AZScanner]

I've got a question - something odd I noticed last night while playing around with this scanner.

I have a favorites list set up for our digital trunking system out here, with all the sites programmed, but with most of them set to Permanent Avoid. When I first load this FL and start scanning, the scanner will check all the avoided sites for activity, even though I have them set to permanent avoid. When I go in to Manage Favorites and toggle (turn off, then back on) just one of the site avoids, then the scanner works as intended and only checks the sites that do not have the Avoid flag set.

Is this a bug or just operator error? Not a big deal to me, but I figured if it's a bug I should report it so that it can be addressed with a future update.

Thanks,
-AZ

 

[Ghstwolf62]

Don't know if this applies AZ but I found problems with it scanning avoided stuff when I had older firmware loaded. Like running 1.02.03 or 1.0.0 etc.

With latest I haven't noticed it doing that.

 

[Emoney250]

system avoid bug

I think the scanner has a bug. I have been "Avoiding" channels (pressing "avoid" twice quick to where the display reads "permanent avoid"). However, after powering down and then on again, these (trunk) channels are being scanned again (as the scanner stops on active conversation). Should it matter if the frequency "sites" are the same for other trunked departments? I say that because I have the "ID search" function on in my trunked departments. I was under the understanding that once a TGID is (permanent) avoided, the scanner should NOT stop on active transmissions .

 

[jonwienke]

AZScanner:
Don't avoid sites, avoid talkgroups. Any talkgroup can be broadcast on any site at the system admin's discretion. If talkgroup 123 is broadcast on sites A, B, and C, and those sites are within reception range, you will hear talkgroup 123 on sites B and C even if you avoid site A.

EMoney:
Avoiding talkgroup 123 on a trunked system does not avoid the frequency the talkgroup happened to be broadcast on. It only avoids transmissions tagged as talkgroup 123 on that system. There are several possible causes of your problem:

1. If you write to the scanner from Sentinel without having read from the scanner first, all Avoids will be overwritten to match what is in Sentinel.

2. There may be several similar talkgroups carrying the same type of traffic. For example, a fire department may have several channels used to carry traffic related to fighting a single fire. If you avoid fireground A, you may hear identical-sounding traffic on fireground B when a different fire is assigned to fireground B. Such talkgroups may be consecutively numbered.

Also if you are in ID Search mode, you will hear all traffic on talkgroups not programmed in the database or Favorite List. You can only Avoid a programmed talkgroup/frequency, with the exception of the special Avoid list used by Frequency Search and Close Call. But that list has a limit of 250 frequencies and does not apply to talkgroups in a trunked system.

 

[Voyager]

It might be a bug, but rather than use AVOIDs, I would suggest using Department/Site Quick Keys, assign each Site a Quick Key (I use 91-99 for Sites), and disable the QKs you don't want to scan. That way, you can quickly enable/disable a Site without a long process to AVOID/unAVOID the site.

 

[Emoney250]

thanks everyone!!

 

[SCPD]

Every once and awhile I see it stop on a locked out talkgroup and I have to do a double-take on my 436HP.Not often but I see it happen.

 

[AZScanner]

Hey gang, thanks for the replies. Still seems like a bug to me if I tell the scanner to avoid a site and it scans it anyway. I may or may not be doing things the "right" way as others have said but I still stand by the idea that Avoid means just that - Avoid.

The weird thing is it's not consistent. If I power down the scanner and power it back up, the avoids work. If I change favorites lists and then back again, the avoids work. If I update something in Sentinel and then start scanning, it works. But every now and then, for no apparent reason, I will fire up the scanner and it will start scanning the list in question, avoided sites and all.

Not a show stopper for me, but it does get annoying - this particular DTRS has a crapload of sites and usually the traffic I want to monitor is on only one of them. I'll keep playing with it and if I figure out what makes it happen then I can report it to Uniden I guess. Just was wondering if anyone else saw the same thing or if I'm just losing my marbles, which is also possible at my age.

-AZ

 

[jonwienke]

Location control generally works better than manually avoiding sites. If you have your location and Range set properly, you shouldn't need to avoid sites manually--they will be out of range and locked out by Location Control.

 

[AZScanner]

No guys... you're missing the point. If I avoid a site and the scanner scans it anyway that's a bug. Period. No if's and's or but's. Doesn't matter if I can avoid departments or talkgroups instead. Doesn't matter that I can use location control and let the scanner figure it out for me (I don't have the external GPS for it anyway, so that's not really an option). Doesn't matter that I can just used Func+Dept to hold on the site I want, or any one of a dozen other methods to go around the bug. It's still a bug.

However, before I officially declare that I've found the bug, I need to be able to recreate it consistently so that when Paul tries it on his 436, it happens there too. I haven't gotten it to do it again consistently (yet), but it's happened a few times - often enough to make me go "maybe something's not quite right here". So I'm going to keep digging.

-AZ

 

[jonwienke]

And you've missed my point: If you're trying to not hear a talkgroup by avoiding sites, and that talkgroup is broadcast on more than one site, you're wasting your time.

Also, you don't need the external GPS to use Location Control. You can either enter a ZIP code and get close, or you can manually enter your GPS coordinates into either the scanner or Sentinel. You can even make location presets with their own name, coodinates, and Range setting.

You can get your GPS coordinates from any GPS handheld, or from any of several free smartphone apps.

Not using Location Control really cripples the functionality of the x36 line of scanners.

 

[UPMan]

My understanding is that he does not want it to dwell on particular sites, not that he is trying to get it to not scan particular talk groups.

 

[AZScanner]

My understanding is that he does not want it to dwell on particular sites, not that he is trying to get it to not scan particular talk groups.

Correct. Our DTRS out here generally only uses certain sites for certain agencies. For example, the ONLY place to hear Tempe PD is on the Simulcast F site - none of the other sites carry their traffic. So I'm trying to skip past the sites I know I won't hear traffic of interest on.

Of course, for the life of me I can't seem to get this scanner to do it again.... figures. :roll: I'll update this thread once I figure out how I can consistently reproduce the issue. I know I wasn't imagining this....

-AZ

 

[AA6IO]

I recommend what Voyager states in post #5. Rather than use the avoids for sites, use the QKs to turn sites off and on. I also use the QKs 90-99 for this purpose. I do this for all the large trunking systems here in Los Angeles and Orange County.
I also do exactly the same for RWC in Phoenix. Wife and I go out there often to visit daughter, son-in-law and grandson. They live near 22nd East and Camelback. I have RWC Simulcast A, B, F, H, and Sky Harbor IR all set to different QKs. If I want to hear Tempe, I simply hit 8.1.93 (8 is my favorite list for Phoenix, 1 is the RWC system, 93 is Simulcast F site). I leave all the TGs for system on, and simply switch QKs for the sites I want to hear. That is one of the beauties of the x36HPs. Works well for me here in LA/Orange County as well as in Phoenix with my 536HP and 436HP.

Steve AA6IO