BCD536HP Strange Scan Order

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wise871

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A friend pointed this out and I thought it was strange so I checked it out myself. If I didn't look carefully I won't have noticed this. I'll make it simple and you only notice it if you have more than one Favorite ON and you have several Systems under each.

Example: I will use 4 Favorites and each Favorites will contain 4 Systems.
Favorites FQK 0, 1, 2, 3
Systems SQK 0, 1, 2, 3

You would think the scanner would scan as followed:
(F0-S0-S1-S2-S3)(F1-S0-S1-S2-S3)(F2-S0-S1-S2-S3)(F3-S0-S1-S2-S3)

In other words the scanner would complete Favorite 0 and all the sub-systems before moving on to Favorites 1 and it's sub-Systems. But in all actuality the scanner is scanning in the following order.
(F0-S0, F1-S0, F2-S0, F3-S0)(F0-S1, F1-S1, F2-S1, F3-S1)(F0-S2, F1-S2, F2-S2, F3-S2)(F0-S3, F1-S3, F2-S3, F3-S3)

It's scanning the matched System under each Favorite before moving on. So if you wonder why your scan order is out of whack and you might be missing something, this may be whats causing it. Again this is only if you have more than one favorites enable.

Thanks to my friend Doug for point that out. He's running a bunch of Favorites so he was able to pick up on that right away.
 
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nategb

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This is also discussed in detail on page 51 in the manual. I decided to start reading the manual tonight while I wait for my 436 but it is not easy to understand without having the scanner to practice with.
 

wise871

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Nate, you were dead on. Thanks a million. I read the manual twice but didn't put it together until you pointed it out. I'll just remember not to turn on more than one favorites. :)
 

Jay911

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Another option would be to not repeat the SQK numbers between favorites lists. I know that kind of defeats part of the purpose of having SQKs, but that's another alternative.
 

troymail

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Nate, you were dead on. Thanks a million. I read the manual twice but didn't put it together until you pointed it out. I'll just remember not to turn on more than one favorites. :)

I now think this (having more than one favorites list active at the same time) is a cause for slow scanning. After "walking away" for the night and thinking about it while wide awake at 3am, I'm going to try a different approach today.
 

brennank

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Looks like I have a lot of reordering to do then. I had organized my favorites with the intention of having 4 FL actively scanning at once. That is a bummer.
I wonder what the rational was for setting it up that way. I don't have a manual in front of me, so please excuse my ignorance if it is all in the manual.
 

scanchs

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From what I see it just an odd order.

It's not really as odd as you might think. It just boils down to how the Uniden programmer chose to sort the keys for scanning. You expected the FQK (favorites) to be the primary sort criteria and the SQK (systems) to be the secondary sort criteria. The Uniden programmer saw it the other way around, making the SQK's the primary sort keys and the FQK's the secondary sort keys. To fix this situation, you simply need to number your systems keys sequentially higher as you go through your favorites. For example,

(F0-S0-S1-S2-S3)(F1-S4-S5-S6-S7)(F2-S8-S9-S10-S11)(F3-S12-S13-S14-S15)

Then, the algorithm will sort by the systems first and the resulting scan will be in the order you expected it to be in. Hope this helps... :)

ScanCHS
 

wise871

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It's not really as odd as you might think. It just boils down to how the Uniden programmer chose to sort the keys for scanning. You expected the FQK (favorites) to be the primary sort criteria and the SQK (systems) to be the secondary sort criteria. The Uniden programmer saw it the other way around, making the SQK's the primary sort keys and the FQK's the secondary sort keys. To fix this situation, you simply need to number your systems keys sequentially higher as you go through your favorites. For example,

(F0-S0-S1-S2-S3)(F1-S4-S5-S6-S7)(F2-S8-S9-S10-S11)(F3-S12-S13-S14-S15)

Then, the algorithm will sort by the systems first and the resulting scan will be in the order you expected it to be in. Hope this helps... :)

ScanCHS

It does, thanks.
 

ofd8001

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I was kind of racking my brain on this for a while on whether I should revise my Favorites Lists and SQKs. Here's what I'm thinking:

With the scanning being "circular", as in it starts one place then cycles through all the "stuff" then goes back to the starting point, does it really make a huge difference? This is probably a lousy example, but 24 hours is 24 hours whether you go from 10 AM to 10 AM or 2 PM to 2 PM.

Unless bouncing from one Favorites List to another Favorites List versus staying within a Favorites List, causes a degradation in scan speed/efficiency, it may not matter. But for someone pointing this out to Dan, he would not have noticed it.

I guess a question at this point is to Dan: Are you making any changes or are you staying with what you got?

Then the next question for those with Home Patrol knowledge, does the Home Patrol use this same scan order? (I looked at the Home Patrol manual and couldn't find any discussion on this).
 

blackhawk

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I racked my brain on this too a while back in the "BCDx36HP Sentinel Software & Siren App Discussion" thread. It seems like the Favorites Lists are a group of similar Systems and should all be scanned together at the same time. Rather than jumping from one group of systems to another and then back to the first.
One thing I thought of was to set the systems up with the tens digit being the favorites list quick key number (meaning the FLQK can only be 0-9). I haven't yet sold myself on that idea yet but now I'm going to think harder about it.
 

brucewarming

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FLQK, SQK, 4 Favorites, 4 systems is a lot of scanning for the scanner to do. You get a transmission on one of your local police, then the scanners off and goes before you get a reply to that message. Solution which I learned with Pro-96 was to space within in your major favorites and in each system of your favorites the major priority channels you don't want to miss.
 

brucewarming

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Like this FLQK -1- One of the systems in this FL will be your "Priority" system, Then the next Favorite List -2- list also has your "Priority" system, then Favorite list -3- again has your "Priority" system. One more time in your 4th FL.
 

blackhawk

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Also, that is exactly how the 396xt works too. If you manually turn a system on from a different start up group, it will scan that system in line with the rest of the systems in the bank in the original start up group. Hopefully that makes sense. Anyway it doesn't bother me too much with the 396xt so I'm hoping it doesn't with the 436hp.
 
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