BCD325P2 Quick Key Hierarchy

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Apologies if this has been answered, but I cannot find it anywhere.
It involves the site/group hierarchy for quick keys.

If a group quick key is enabled but the site that that group is tied to is not enabled, will the site still scan? In other words, does the enabled group override the disabled site?

For context, I'd like to use group quick keys as consistent categories across different systems. Each system would correspond to a different geographic area, but the group quick keys in each system would correspond to a category that is consistent across all systems. For example, Group 1 is Fire/EMS, Group 2 is Police, Group 3 is Government. Then each Site in System 1 would be assigned Quick Key 1, each Site in System 2 would be assigned Quick Key 2, each Site in System 3 would be assigned Quick Key 3, etc. That way when I'm scanning I can enable Group 2 for Police, but change which geographical area I'm scanning for police by choosing which Site Quick Key is enabled.

Would this work? If not, any recommendations for achieving a similar organizational structure for scanning quick keys?
 
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tvengr

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Each trunked system must have at least one site. When you set up a system with a site or multiple sites, each site in that system is given a quick key. The site quick keys are system quick keys. You must have at least one site turned on in a system for that system to scan. Similar talkgroups are placed in groups, such as Fire, EMS, Police, and Public Works. Each group is given a group quick key. By enabling and disabling group quick keys, you are able to control which talkgroups you want to scan (Fire, EMS, Police, Public Works, Etc). If a site is not given a quick key (None), that site and its system will be active all of the time. Any group without a quick key will be active all of the time if its system is on. While scanning, you turn sites and systems on and off by pressing the corresponding quick key numbers on the keypad. While scanning a single system, you turn groups on and off in that system by rapidly pressing the FUNC button and then the group quick key number on the keypad. You can toggle multiple group quick keys on and off by rapidly pressing the FUNC button once followed by each of the group quick key numbers on the keypad.
 
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So if in "System A" "Group AA" is assigned to Group Quick Key 1 and "Site AA" is assigned to Site/System Quick Key 1, while in "System B" "Group BB" is assigned to Group Quick Key 1 and "Site BB" is assigned to Site/System Quick Key 2, then in normal scanning mode, if I have only Site/System Quick Key 2 enabled and only Group Quick Key 1 enabled, the scanner will scan through only Group BB via Site BB, correct?
 

tvengr

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Now, I'm confused! I don't understand what you are asking. System quick keys and group quick keys are separate items. Each system has its own set of 10 group quick keys. Let's say that you have 2 systems set up. County A has 3 sites and 4 groups. County B has 2 sites and 6 groups. Quick keys as follows:

County A
System Quick Keys
1. South site
2. Central site
3. North Site
Group Quick Keys
1. Fire
2. EMS
3. Police
4. Public Works

County B
System Quick Keys
4. East site
5, West site
Group Quick Keys
1. Rescue
2. Hospitals
3. State Police
4. Fire
5. EMS
6. Police

For County A, you can turn the sites and system on and off by pressing 1, 2, or 3 on the keypad. At least 1 site must be on for the County A system to scan. For County B, you can turn the sites and system on and off by pressing 4 or 5 on the keypad. At least 1 site must be on for the County B system to scan. You will notice that each system has its own set of 10 group quick keys available (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0).

What is your location (city, county, state) and which agencies do you want to monitor? What programming software are you using? Which systems do you want to monitor?
 
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Each system has its own set of 10 group quick keys.
That's part of the answer I was looking for! I didn't find that spelled out in either the official manual or the "easier to read" manual.

So now that that's cleared up, another question is, can I scan multiple systems while activating different groups within those systems? For example, can I scan group quick keys 3 and 4 in system 1 while I scan group quick keys 1 and 5 in system 2?
 

ofd8001

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So if in "System A" "Group AA" is assigned to Group Quick Key 1 and "Site AA" is assigned to Site/System Quick Key 1, while in "System B" "Group BB" is assigned to Group Quick Key 1 and "Site BB" is assigned to Site/System Quick Key 2, then in normal scanning mode, if I have only Site/System Quick Key 2 enabled and only Group Quick Key 1 enabled, the scanner will scan through only Group BB via Site BB, correct?

If you mean:
System A
Site AA Site/System Quick Key 1
Group AA with Group Quick Key 1

System B
Site BB Site/System Quick Key 2
Group BB with Group Quick Key 1

Turning Off Site/System Quick Key 1 and leaving On Site/System Quick Key 2, will result in only System B being scanned. System A will not be scanned.

Think of Site/System Quick Keys as circuit breakers and Group Quick Keys as table lamps. If the circuit breaker is off, it doesn't matter whether the lamp switch is on or off - it will not light up. If the circuit breaker is on, so must the lamp switch, or there will not be light. If the living room circuit breaker is off and the bedroom circuit breaker is on, no lights in living room but there will be lights in the bedroom.

Hopefully the circuit breaker explanation will be illuminating. :)
 

tvengr

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can I scan multiple systems while activating different groups within those systems? For example, can I scan group quick keys 3 and 4 in system 1 while I scan group quick keys 1 and 5 in system 2?
Yes! You can monitor Police and Public Works in system 1 (County A) while you monitor Rescue and EMS in system 2 (County B).
 
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I appreciate the help! Learning that each Site has its own set of Group Quick Keys was the big one that I needed to hear. But to continue with several more minutiae...

The circuit breaker analogy is a good one, but the analogy doesn't work when you can have a single lamp (group) connected to multiple breakers (sites). I guess you could amend the analogy by saying you can move the lamp to a different room and different breaker, but this wouldn't take into account the fact that you can scan a single group across multiple sites (a single lamp connected to multiple breakers).

Anyway, one more thing...
If I'm doing an ID SEARCH across a site that has a group quick key disabled, will the ID SEARCH not return any IDs contained in the disabled quick key group?
 

ofd8001

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Well, you are changing he rules in the middle of the ball game. Nothing was mentioned about multiple sites in the system. That's a little different set of conditions, but I think you are grasping the concept.

On the second question, you are correct - if a talkgroup is programmed in a system, but is somehow locked out/avoided, it is ignored during an ID Search. The scanner is thinking you know that group exists, but you have taken a step to not monitor it, so the scanner won't outguess you.
 
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Thanks for all the help! I have another somewhat related question that I figure I'll ask in this thread. It involves P25 trunked frequencies.

I'm programming a P25 trunked system for Hamilton County in Ohio (MARCS system). There are two groups of frequencies for Hamilton County, one of them is "Hamilton County," the other is "Cincinnati City." I have both sites programmed in the system I'm using and it's working well. But I've noticed that explicitly city services, such as Cincinnati PD, uses both County and City sites, as does explicitly county services, such as sheriff dispatch. So this brings me to my question, which is, can I program both sets of frequencies into one site?
 
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