I encountered a strangeness regarding Site Quick Keys (and relating to Department Quick Keys) over the past couple days that I think might need addressing.
I have a trunk system that has DQKs 0, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 13 assigned to various departments/groups, and at least one group with each of those numbers was "un-avoided".
The other day I took this system and put the seven sites in SQKs 1 thru 7, corresponding to their site numbers, in an effort to be able to turn the sites on/off easily - despite the range settings, I need to be able to do this because some sites have odd coverage areas - long story). I didn't understand at the time that DQKs and SQKs share the same group of numbers, and I couldn't, for example, have SQK 1 turned off but DQK 1 left turned on.
Anyway, today I manually avoided (using the avoid key, not by turning sites off with the SQK numbers) sites 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7, due to my location, where only sites 5 and 6 offer good reception. As soon as I avoided the last of that list, no matter which order I avoided them in, the system would "disappear" and the radio would resume scanning without it. The only way to get back to it would be to use a number tag for a channel, or re-upload the configuration from Sentinel to the radio. I found that removing the SQK numbers from the sites suddenly made the system available again.
After some more investigation, I found that this all relates to which DQKs/SQKs were enabled in the system. When I initially built the system, all 100 DQKs/SQKs were enabled, in the system, in the favorites list, in Sentinel. However, in the process of sending the system to the radio and then reading back the radio into Sentinel, only DQKs/SQKs 0, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 13 are enabled! In other words, the quick keys that do not have a department assigned to them were considered "turned off" or disabled by the scanner. It did not take into consideration the sites which were assigned SQKs... so when I turned off all but sites 5 and 6, since DQKs/SQKs 5 and 6 were not showing turned on, the system was considered avoided.
Summary: Either the scanner or Sentinel (upon reading the scanner) is considering any DQKs/SQKs not assigned to a department to be turned off. It is not leaving "turned on" DQKs/SQKs which are assigned solely to sites.
Desired behavior: Leave DQKs/SQKs in whatever state they are in when the file is written to the radio. If all 100 quick keys are turned on, even if they have nothing (in the department list) assigned to them, leave them turned on. Either that or if you must turn off "unoccupied" QKs, make sure the ones with only sites assigned are not turned off.
I have a trunk system that has DQKs 0, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 13 assigned to various departments/groups, and at least one group with each of those numbers was "un-avoided".
The other day I took this system and put the seven sites in SQKs 1 thru 7, corresponding to their site numbers, in an effort to be able to turn the sites on/off easily - despite the range settings, I need to be able to do this because some sites have odd coverage areas - long story). I didn't understand at the time that DQKs and SQKs share the same group of numbers, and I couldn't, for example, have SQK 1 turned off but DQK 1 left turned on.
Anyway, today I manually avoided (using the avoid key, not by turning sites off with the SQK numbers) sites 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7, due to my location, where only sites 5 and 6 offer good reception. As soon as I avoided the last of that list, no matter which order I avoided them in, the system would "disappear" and the radio would resume scanning without it. The only way to get back to it would be to use a number tag for a channel, or re-upload the configuration from Sentinel to the radio. I found that removing the SQK numbers from the sites suddenly made the system available again.
After some more investigation, I found that this all relates to which DQKs/SQKs were enabled in the system. When I initially built the system, all 100 DQKs/SQKs were enabled, in the system, in the favorites list, in Sentinel. However, in the process of sending the system to the radio and then reading back the radio into Sentinel, only DQKs/SQKs 0, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 13 are enabled! In other words, the quick keys that do not have a department assigned to them were considered "turned off" or disabled by the scanner. It did not take into consideration the sites which were assigned SQKs... so when I turned off all but sites 5 and 6, since DQKs/SQKs 5 and 6 were not showing turned on, the system was considered avoided.
Summary: Either the scanner or Sentinel (upon reading the scanner) is considering any DQKs/SQKs not assigned to a department to be turned off. It is not leaving "turned on" DQKs/SQKs which are assigned solely to sites.
Desired behavior: Leave DQKs/SQKs in whatever state they are in when the file is written to the radio. If all 100 quick keys are turned on, even if they have nothing (in the department list) assigned to them, leave them turned on. Either that or if you must turn off "unoccupied" QKs, make sure the ones with only sites assigned are not turned off.
