BCD436HP Issue With Favorites List

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NJParamedic

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Hey guys, I've searched around for this, but cannot seem to find an answer and it is a little perplexing. I am setting up my favorites list and breaking it down into counties. For the most part everything I add gets written to the scanner, but some things I have added don't. I have Hudson, Essex, and Hunterdon all added and within each is different municipalities. However, I added another list named "Newark Airport" and I see it getting written to scanner, yet it's not there? Also I added a NJICS channel for Newark Fire in Essex County and I don't see that either?

Granted, I am new at this, but it seems pretty straight forward. I don't get why I can add some things, but others I can't. Sorry if this isn't much information. If I can add anything to help please let me know.
 
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gonzalu

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Have you checked that the service types are checked on? If they are not, the scanner will not download them (I believe this was discussed on the post release thread)

So, do it again, and make sure you check off all the service types...
 

NJParamedic

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Have you checked that the service types are checked on? If they are not, the scanner will not download them (I believe this was discussed on the post release thread)

So, do it again, and make sure you check off all the service types...

Hey thanks for the reply. So, I checked off all the service types and now I can get 1 more thing that I wasn't getting before, but anything on a P25 Phase II doesn't work. It gets added because you see the scanner loading it, but it does not show up on my favorites.

Maybe I'm not understanding something. Conventional frequencies are getting added just fine, but trunked systems aren't.
 

gonzalu

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Ok let's try this.

Create a brand new favorites list
Go to the main USA DB and pick any system from anywhere in the US [other than] the ones you're having issues with.
Add to the new FL
Send to radio.
Select ONLY this new list


Try that first

Does it show up/work if you just use the main DB instead of a FL?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Jay911

Silent Key (April 15th, 2023)
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If you created this new favorites list from scratch, did you set location control on or off? Did you create location information in both the P25 system's sites and in the departments entries?

If you have "location control" on but no location information entered, the scanner thinks the sites are near lat 0, long 0, which is off the coast of Africa.
 

Maddogz4

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I am also having problems getting my trunked systems to scan. I am trying to get P25 Phase 1 to scan. They are loading to favorites in the scanner but then I get "nothing to scan". I have all my service types on (to rule out that issue), download and monitor are "ON" in the favorites. I can only get conventional frequencies to scan using favorites. I created my favorites from the main database by right clicking and appending to favorites. I have alot to learn with my new BCD436HP, its quite different from the old days of just entering in a frequency. Any help is appreciated pointing me in the right direction.
 

Jay911

Silent Key (April 15th, 2023)
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I am also having problems getting my trunked systems to scan. I am trying to get P25 Phase 1 to scan. They are loading to favorites in the scanner but then I get "nothing to scan". I have all my service types on (to rule out that issue), download and monitor are "ON" in the favorites. I can only get conventional frequencies to scan using favorites. I created my favorites from the main database by right clicking and appending to favorites. I have alot to learn with my new BCD436HP, its quite different from the old days of just entering in a frequency. Any help is appreciated pointing me in the right direction.

The one thing you haven't mentioned is location information for both sites and groups in your trunked system. Each one has to be set in order to make the system (in the case of sites) and its talkgroups (in the case of groups) "in range" for you.

In the Favorites List editor, click on a site (or group) in the left tree view, then in the right side view, move to the "Location" tab and make sure it's filled in.
 

Maddogz4

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Thank you Jay, I am very green at this but learning. FYI....This is what I am trying to scan as my favorite: From main database: Michigan/Macomb/statewide/MPSCS/Macomb County (50) Sterling Heights

Could you please explain for the above to make sure I understand correctly, which are the sites and which are the groups? I think the group is Macomb County (50) Sterling Heights, site is MPSCS?

Ok I went into the fav editor and clicked on Macomb County (50) Sterling Heights, I see all the channels. The info in the location tab does have coordinates in the Lat/Long and the range is 235. When I click on the MPSCS I see Macomb County (50) Sterling Heights under channels but under both the sites and unit ID's tabs there is nothing, is that correct?
 

Jay911

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When I click on the MPSCS I see Macomb County (50) Sterling Heights under channels but under both the sites and unit ID's tabs there is nothing, is that correct?

There's your problem (bolded by me). You need at least one site so the radio knows how to access those channels. The "MPSCS" entry is the system, but you have to have sites in the system in order to make use of it.

If you built this system in the favorites list by doing "Append" from within the full DB in Sentinel, you most likely deleted all the Sites after doing the append. When I do it right now, all the sites show up.

If you really want to get rid of sites from your favorites list, you can, but you need to keep at least one site (and probably it's better to keep a few). I would keep the following sites if I were you: Lapeer County Simulcast, Mt Clemens, Macomb County Simulcast, Holly, Lakeville (Romeo), Beech Daily (Southfield), Burtchville (Lakeport), St Clair County Simulcast, Leonidas, Wayne County Simulcast, Consortium of Eastern Wayne, Penobscot Bldg, and Detroit City Simulcast.

You know better than me if you can receive all those sites, or if Sterling Heights radios are ever heard on some of those sites. You could trim that list down even further based on your own experiences.. but at the absolute minimum I'd keep Macomb County Simulcast.
 

Maddogz4

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Ok great now I am getting somewhere, yes I did delete all the sites wondering to myself, why is it the database is adding all these county or city names in there when I only chose Sterling Heights figuring they are not needed because I did not have a clue to what I was doing lol. So what are all these sights? Are these the towers that the MPSCS system uses? I see you were suggesting to keep sites that are close to me. My scanner is now scanning Sterling Heights as my fav but its scanning through all those sites so I can see why some should be eliminated cause I could be missing transmissions if SH is not using these extra sites. Thank you!
 

Maddogz4

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Ok I have done alot of reading in Wiki and also in the forums and I am learning quite a bit and starting to understand things. I now have (4) fav lists set up and they are working well. Fuzy I am still learning about location control so not sure how to answer your question. I have the MPSCS (Proj 25 Phase 1) system set up in my favorites and have deleted many sites because they all come in when I first add a city to favorites. I just wish I could hit the ctrl key so I can delete them all together instead of one at a time. My question is do I only need to keep the sites that the coverage radius overlaps into my city that is my favorite? Or should I have sites that are close by on too? I am strictly a home listener and do not travel with the scanner at this time. I guess if say my local Fire is helping out another city then maybe a out lying site would need to be turned on to listen to them talk out of the local area?
 

UPMan

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Fuzy: For each FL, there is a setting for whether it should be location controlled or not.

Maddogz: If you are strictly a home user, you can typically bet by by only including the site you receive best from your location. The caveat to that is that on some systems certain channels are restricted so that they only appear on certain sites (or are restricted from using certain sites). If you are on a tower antenna, though, you would also have a much better receive capability, and including more distant sites that you can still receive could increase interesting listening. You might want to look at assigning each site a DQK (quick key) so you can easily change the sites to be scanned.
 

Maddogz4

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Thank you UPMan, I see what you are saying about the sites and I will also assign each site a DQK. I am going to look into a outdoor antenna for my home so I can reach out further. I have not set up my quick keys yet but thats next on my list to do!
 

SCPD

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Say what???????!!!!

Have you checked that the service types are checked on? If they are not, the scanner will not download them (I believe this was discussed on the post release thread)

So, do it again, and make sure you check off all the service types...


Now lemme get this straight.....if you dont have FIRE DISPATCH ON at the time when you are downloading and you pick a FIRE DISPATCH channel ,yer saying it wont download on these new HP scanners????
That would mean everytime I wanna download I have to turn on every System type first.
 

mule1075

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It will download them but if you don't have that service type selected you will not receive it.Really not a hard concept to follow.


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mule1075

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Let me clarify my previous statement.If you are downloading from the RR database it should all be their to my knowledge. I could very well be wrong only got to play with one for 20 minutes or so.

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phask

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Now lemme get this straight.....if you dont have FIRE DISPATCH ON at the time when you are downloading and you pick a FIRE DISPATCH channel ,yer saying it wont download on these new HP scanners????
That would mean everytime I wanna download I have to turn on every System type first.


If you have fire dispatch in your FL it will download. If you do not have that fire dispatch service type ON, it will not load it to scan.

If you are using the entire DB - same.

You are not clear on how/what you mean by downloading. It could mean loading a FL to the HP or downloading to a FL.

- similar issue CAN come into play creating a FL from the DB, but that is another issue -
 

mrkelso

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If you have fire dispatch in your FL it will download. If you do not have that fire dispatch service type ON, it will not load it to scan.

If you are using the entire DB - same.

You are not clear on how/what you mean by downloading. It could mean loading a FL to the HP or downloading to a FL.

- similar issue CAN come into play creating a FL from the DB, but that is another issue -

The key words here are " service turned on"
 
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