BCD996P2 scanning groups for firemen

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treydawgmt

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Hello all,

I'm programming 6 BCD996P2 scanners for the fire stations at my department. We are moving to Starcom P25 P2 by the end of the year, necessitating the change. I want to program multiple dispatch centers in, and allow the absolute easiest way (fireman proof) to be able to turn on/off different "groups" so to speak. Some will be conventional frequencies, some will be trunked systems. I'm thinking something like this -

QC FD & QC PD should always be scanned.

Then, maybe the ability to turn on or off a group that includes Kane Co Sheriff. A group that includes Huntley, SeeCom, and NWCD FD. A group that includes Elgin & South Elgin FD. A group that includes IFERN and Fireground conventional channels.

Please let me know if this is even possible, and how to think about it conceptually.

Thanks!

Matt
 
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Please let me know if this is even possible, and how to think about it conceptually.
Yes it can be done, using "Quick Keys" to toggle the various groups and systems on or off.

Conventional and trunked systems can share a quick key if necessary.

Don't assign a quick key for the systems that are always scanned. (QC FD & QC PD should always be scanned.)

Read about setting up Quick Keys here:

Easier to Read BCD996P2/XT Digital Scanner Manual

Good luck!
 

ka3aaa

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bad idea, heres why, the more people that have access to it the more its gooing to get screwed up by someone that doesnt know what their doing. i did that with the one in the fire house where everyone had access to it and everyone played with it, when i got a call about it being a screwed up, i locked in a cabinet in the watch office and ran an external speaker into the engine bay and all the problems stopped. heed the warning.
 

n1chu

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What ka3aaa said!

If there’s a button to be pushed it’s gonna get pushed. And most people these days are “sign blind”. Meaning you could post all the signage you want warning against button pushing but it’s not a question of “if”, it’s “when”!

We approached the metal shop at the local high school, had a metal perforated box with a plexiglass door fabricated and put a lock on it, assigning keys to a select few. That did the trick for us. Our only complainant was from the police dept... they asked us to turn the volume down after hours. It seems that in the dead of night you could hear the PD dispatches from outside the fire station. (We figured either we heed their request or they might encrypt. A simple timer shut the loud speaker horn down after hours. And we got push back from the membership for the use of the term “after hours”... there are no after hours in a fire station! Fire can’t tell time!) The loud speaker horn in the engine bay, although set appropriately for the day, was too loud for the night times. (All other external speakers were given volume controls accessible to all.)

As a side note; Women’s libbers have taken issue with the gender specific term “Fireman” or Firemen”. With women joining the dept in larger numbers, we thought it appropriate to use the non-gender specific term “Firefighters”. Besides, a fireman is also a term used for stoking boilers on steam driven trains and coal burning furnaces. Firefighters fight fires!
 

RoninJoliet

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If Kane County is going to be "ENC" you wont have to worry about it....My daughter lives in S Elgin, seems like T126 Aurora is not the same since the big storm we had, i used to copy it here in Joliet pretty good now its awful....She lives in District 2.....
 

wtp

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on a post similar to this i posted
"tape thumbtacks on the buttons, points out"
that should help.
my kids would understand the humor in this.
 

hiegtx

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Hello all,

I'm programming 6 BCD996P2 scanners for the fire stations at my department. We are moving to Starcom P25 P2 by the end of the year, necessitating the change. I want to program multiple dispatch centers in, and allow the absolute easiest way (fireman proof) to be able to turn on/off different "groups" so to speak. Some will be conventional frequencies, some will be trunked systems. I'm thinking something like this -

QC FD & QC PD should always be scanned.

Then, maybe the ability to turn on or off a group that includes Kane Co Sheriff. A group that includes Huntley, SeeCom, and NWCD FD. A group that includes Elgin & South Elgin FD. A group that includes IFERN and Fireground conventional channels.

Please let me know if this is even possible, and how to think about it conceptually.

Thanks!

Matt
Key Safe mode would at least prevent your programming from being modified.

But as already mentioned, no matter what you say or do (like post a note), thg minute you are out of site, somebody is gonna try to tinker with it.
 

treydawgmt

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What ka3aaa said!

If there’s a button to be pushed it’s gonna get pushed. And most people these days are “sign blind”. Meaning you could post all the signage you want warning against button pushing but it’s not a question of “if”, it’s “when”!

I understand this, but actually our guys are "mostly" good. And it's a scanner, I'm not that worried, can always flash back to original and reprogram. Since I used software, it's really quite simple. Also, the females we had were perfectly fine with the term "fireman." Yes, I understand I shouldn't use it, but I forget.

If Kane County is going to be "ENC" you wont have to worry about it....My daughter lives in S Elgin, seems like T126 Aurora is not the same since the big storm we had, i used to copy it here in Joliet pretty good now its awful....She lives in District 2.....

Kane isn't, I don't think, QuadCom will be. However, I'll have encryption keys for them all, so I'm not worried there.
bad idea, heres why, the more people that have access to it the more its gooing to get screwed up by someone that doesnt know what their doing. i did that with the one in the fire house where everyone had access to it and everyone played with it, when i got a call about it being a screwed up, i locked in a cabinet in the watch office and ran an external speaker into the engine bay and all the problems stopped. heed the warning.

Most guys just turn the scanner off. Again, I'm not that worried about this, most guys only want to listen to us. Some guys want to listen to everyone. The locking in a cabinet is not effective.

Thanks for the help all.

Overall, I have one more question. I'm figuring out, sort of, the quick keys. I haven't had a chance to read the "easier to read manual" completely, but I could setup each group in a "system" and then assign a quick key to each "system", correct?

Thanks all!
 

ofd8001

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I used to be a fire chief so I have some familiarity of life at the fire station. First the old rule: "If you give a firefighter two steel balls, he will flatten one and lose the other." I believe it.

The only way you will not have this scanner messed with is to lock it away somewhere with very limited access. Otherwise anything is subject to being tinkered with, just to see what happens.

If you have multiple things to listen to and scanning is not satisfactory, then additional receivers are suggested.

Generally irritating noises can be grown accustomed to over time.
 

treydawgmt

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Ok all, I've mostly gotten this figured out. I have individual systems set up, and am able to do most everything I'd like. I set each each system (Elgin Fire or NWCD FD1) as individual systems, and then placed a single system in a quick key. It works great except for the ones that are single conventional systems (IE Kane County Fire North). The Quick Key won't allow me to turn it on/off. Am I missing something, or is it because it is a conventional system only?

Thanks!
 

jonwienke

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on a post similar to this i posted
"tape thumbtacks on the buttons, points out"
that should help.
my kids would understand the humor in this.
Not tape, cyanoacrylate!
 
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jonwienke

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If you have keys for an encrypted system, your only option for monitoring other than a system radio is a Unication G pager.
 

Eng74

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If everyone is on the same system I would program in the system for each department so it would be like a bank for each department. The less buttons they’ve to press the better.
 

jonwienke

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That's a horrible idea, and guarantees missing more traffic. Program a trunked system only once, and use quick keys to toggle sites or departments.
 

ka3aaa

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its your scanner, program it how you want, your going to anyway. You wont listen to reason so quit whining and just do it. You have been told by people that know how this is going to end up and you just insist that you know better, so go right ahead and do it.
 
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