BCD436HP/BCD536HP: Can you Prioritize Priotrity channels?

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elisherer

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OK, so my history of scanning goes way back (8 channel crystal days), and the newer tech is a bit baffling to someone who just moved up.

I *think* I understand that Priority DND in the 436 means that the scanner will NOT check for Priority channels if ANY other channel is being received (i.e. I'm listening to conventional or trunked, doesn't matter, Priority checking is disabled).

But is there any way to "order" the Priority of Priority channels in NORMAL Priority scanning, either conventional, trunked, etc.?

Scenario: I live in a small town, with 3 other towns surrounding. (So small that we share the low-band fire dispatch frequency between two of the towns). I want to have my own town PD as #1 Priority, so that transmission will be grabbed no matter who else is transmitting. But it seems to me that even if I am receiving my own town (a Priority channel), the scanner will check for OTHER Priority channels and if it finds a transmission, it will jump away to play that one, then the next, etc. With 4 Police channels set for Priority scanning, this means I can have four incomplete conversations because each time someone transmits, the scanner jumps to the "most recent" transmission.

I hope my explanation makes sense enough that someone can tell me if this can be done on the 436, or if I'm just going to have to drop one or two of the Priority channels.
 

Ubbe

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Set a long delay time for the channel or TG so it will stay on to that conversation.
I use 10-15sec and don't understand people who use 2sec or no delay as there will be no consistancy to any conversation when it jumps to the next conversation as soon as someone lets go of the PTT. It's ok if you only want to have some chatter in the background but to follow a conversation the delay time have to be set to at least 7-10 seconds.

Logical thinking it would not do DND priority scan during a priority channel/TG delay. If it doesn't work I would suggest a change in behaviour to Uniden, do not engage DND priority while in priority monitoring/delay (no priority on priority).

/Ubbe
 
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ofd8001

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Priority Scanning depends on whether its a conventional or trunked system and in some cases, the type of trunked system.

With Conventional, in-progress transmissions are interupted to check priority frequencies for activity.

From the manual:

Priority Scan – When the scanner is scanning a Conventional System, it interrupts scanning, based on the Priority Interval and Max Channels settings, to check priority channels for activity. The more channels you have set to priority, the longer the interruption will be. The Favorites List(s) and System(s) containing the priority channel(s) have to be enabled (and not Avoided) or the scanner will display Priority Scan No Channel.

Priority DND – The scanner checks priority channels, based on the Priority Interval and Max Channels settings, only when not receiving other conventional channels so there is no interruption in scanning with conventional systems.


I believe if multiple frequencies are marked as Priority, their order of preference are those first loaded to the scanner memory. Thus is Police 4 is "loaded" before Police 1, then Police 4 has the highest priority.

With Trunked, "usually" there isn't that pre-emption of an on-going transmission to check for activity on a priority talkgroup. (Only with some types of systems will that pre-emption occur IF some other conditions are present).

From the manual:

Priority ID Scan – This function is similar to conventional priority although there is no interruption during the transmission. Priority is checked in between transmissions, when the scanner is receiving the control channel, and during the channel delay period. The scanner can only look for priority IDs in the trunked system it is currently scanning.
 

elisherer

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Set a long delay time for the channel or TG so it will stay on to that conversation.
I use 10-15sec and don't understand people who use 2sec or no delay as there will be no consistancy to any conversation when it jumps to the next conversation as soon as someone lets go of the PTT. It's ok if you only want to have some chatter in the background but to follow a conversation the delay time have to be set to at least 7-10 seconds.

Logical thinking it would not do DND priority scan during a priority channel/TG delay. If it doesn't work I would suggest a change in behaviour to Uniden, do not engage DND priority while in priority monitoring/delay (no priority on priority).

/Ubbe

OK, but if I go for longer delay between Priority channels, then I might actually miss something on my main police monitoring channel (like listening to state PD far away, but locals are dispatching locally and I miss it).

Second, these are all conventional channels. No money for the trunk systems here... so does that make any difference?
 

elisherer

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I believe if multiple frequencies are marked as Priority, their order of preference are those first loaded to the scanner memory. Thus is Police 4 is "loaded" before Police 1, then Police 4 has the highest priority.

Everything I have as Priority is conventional... that's all the locals use. So you're saying if I wipe out all my Priority channels and then load them in the Scanner by preference that might help? I had done this at first, but then re-loaded everything using software (Sentinel and then ARC). So I'm not sure if that would mess things up.
 

ofd8001

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Everything I have as Priority is conventional... that's all the locals use. So you're saying if I wipe out all my Priority channels and then load them in the Scanner by preference that might help? I had done this at first, but then re-loaded everything using software (Sentinel and then ARC). So I'm not sure if that would mess things up.

You should be good. You can always tell which gets loaded first by opening up the actual HPD file using a text editor. Usually its System 0, Department 0, etc.

Channel delay times are strictly user preference on how short or long, just like picking which color to paint the living room. Lots of choices. Personally I'd think the delay time only needs to be long enough to reach the hold button.
 

Ubbe

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I want to have my own town PD as #1 Priority, so that transmission will be grabbed no matter who else is transmitting. But it seems to me that even if I am receiving my own town (a Priority channel), the scanner will check for OTHER Priority channels and if it finds a transmission, it will jump away to play that one, then the next, etc.

If you want other transmissions to be interupted to be able to catch all traffic from your own PD, then you must use Priority without DND.

It is the first prio channel in the scanlist that have top priority and will not priority check other channels for activity while it is active. Priority check are done from first top frequency in Sentinel and then down the three. So you have to program your local PD in a new system, maybe named "Priority" and move that to the top in the favorite list.

/Ubbe
 

N0GTG

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To quote Easier to Read BCD436/536HP Digital Scanner Manual (marksscanners.com)

"The highest priority is for channels in System QK 0. The lowest priority is for channels in System QK 99. Priority for channels in the same Department follows the order in which they were created."

So, if they are in separate systems, it should help if you load your high priority channels in low-numbered systems, and your lower priority channels in higher-numbered systems. If they are all in the same system (same Quick Key), then enter them in the order of their priority.

Hope this helps.
 

elisherer

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OK thanks for the info,... going to give this a try. I've reordered my Priority Systems and Channels in a couple of duplicate Favorites Lists... now I'll see which responds better.
 

elisherer

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To quote Easier to Read BCD436/536HP Digital Scanner Manual (marksscanners.com)

"The highest priority is for channels in System QK 0. The lowest priority is for channels in System QK 99. Priority for channels in the same Department follows the order in which they were created."

So, if they are in separate systems, it should help if you load your high priority channels in low-numbered systems, and your lower priority channels in higher-numbered systems. If they are all in the same system (same Quick Key), then enter them in the order of their priority.

Hope this helps.

I think I'm getting the idea... but please help confirm:
1) I have a number of Favorites Lists, but only two of them have Priority Channels (2-3 systems, each with 1-2 Priority channels).

2) I added System Quick Keys and Department Quick Keys in order to "order" the Priority searches... and while I am figuring out if that actually worked, I find that I need to have BOTH Favorites Lists that contain Priority Channels turned on, otherwise I get the message "Priority Scan No Channel". Meaning I have to leave BOTH Favorites Lists active in order to not have that message?

3) So... am I correct that someone else said... that I should probably create a whole "Favorites List" with all of my Priority Channels and leave that on when I want to use them... ??
 

rwier

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............................................... 3) So... am I correct that someone else said... that I should probably create a whole "Favorites List" with all of my Priority Channels and leave that on when I want to use them... ??

That should work.

With the 436 I like the Quick Key System for the FLs. However, I don't believe I have enough time "left" to develop a complete understanding of the Quick Key System for Systems, Departments, and TGs/Channels. My solution is to create additional FLs, each with it's separate Quick Key. I have no problem with putting 20 TGs from a single Department from a single TRS into 4 or 5 separate FLs. Number+e or NumberNumber+e turns FLs on/off relatively quickly.

I view a fairly large number of TGs/Channels as ones that I do not want to miss transmissions. I agree with marksmith. If you have a single channel that CANNOT be missed, assign two scanners to it. Keep one near each ear.

Just to add to the thread mix, I never assign priorities and I set all delays to zero or less (if allowed). I have found out (personal opinion, not widely known or accepted) that with a signal strength in excess of 9 (HP-1E Analysis Feature as measured where the antenna meets the scanner) results in most (not all) TRS transmissions HOLDING AND WAITING for a response for as long as 5 to 7 seconds without returning to scanning. It is as if the TRS itself broadcasts a faint "hold" that keeps the "conversation" intact, even though NO mic is being keyed. Never happens if signal strength is less than 9. Also, ALL of my scanners exhibit this new found behavior. Feed them "strength 9+" and they ALL magically HOLD between transmissions with all delays set to zero or less.
 

ofd8001

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If the scanner has Priority Scan turned on. it expects at least one channel it scans to be marked as a priority channel. If Favorites Lists with priority channels are off for any reason (turned off, out of range or otherwise avoided), you'll get the error.

Basically "Priority Scan No Channel" is the scanner's way of saying "You want me to do priority scanning, but I can't find any priority channels".
 

elisherer

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OK gang... now I'm all messed up! Is there any way to "review Priority channels"?

I created a new Favorites List (FL0) that contains my Priority Channels.
I removed (I THINK) all the Priority Channel selections from my Local Favorites List (FL1).
I have other Favorites Lists (FL2, FL3, FL4, FL8, FL9) but none of those have any Priority Channels selected.

The problem: When I turn on FL0 and FL1 only, I get the message "Priority Scan. No Channel." This happened before when I had a Priority Channel in a non-monitored list, but now I don't think that's possible. So before I go wiping out the whole scanner to start again, I wanted to ask if there's any way to Review the Priority Channels for each FL?
 

Ubbe

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I wanted to ask if there's any way to Review the Priority Channels for each FL?

It can be done if you only have conventional analog channels without subtones as priority.

Open squelch and it will stay on the channel with highest priority. Start avoiding prio channels to check the rest. But it will not work if you have any kind of tone squelch on the prio channels.

Priority only works within the same FL. That's why I suggested to add a SYSTEM as the first system in the FL and make that an exclusive prio system.

/Ubbe
 

elisherer

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It can be done if you only have conventional analog channels without subtones as priority.

Open squelch and it will stay on the channel with highest priority. Start avoiding prio channels to check the rest. But it will not work if you have any kind of tone squelch on the prio channels.

Priority only works within the same FL. That's why I suggested to add a SYSTEM as the first system in the FL and make that an exclusive prio system.

/Ubbe

Got it... thanks. Unfortunately, I'll be wiping out the scanner and starting again. Good news, it should be fairly easy to do this, now that I have all the education :)
 
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