Do you hear things on Interoperabile frequencies?

Status
Not open for further replies.

bryan_herbert

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
1,134
Location
Las Vegas, NV. DM26jc
Just wondering. Adding more to the scan list slows it down.

Very much so. Here in Las Vegas, we have whats called a Radio Rodeo I believe every 3rd Wednesday. A rep from all of the first responder agencies (local, state, and federal) are supposed to participate. They utilize both VHF and 800 MHz NEViFOG and iFOG channel lineups as theyre usually crossband linked. The interop channels really come alive every New Years Eve as thousands of people pack the Las Vegas Strip.

Each bank/group in my 436HP is dedicated to something different.

Group 1: Law Enforcement
Group 2: Fire & Forestry
Group 3: Wildland Response
Group 4: Medical
Group 5: Interoperability
Group 6: Transportation
Group 7: Utilities
Group 8: Miscellaneous
Group 9: Milcom
Group 10: Fedcom
Group 11: Resorts
Group 21: Quick Save

Unfortunately Las Vegas is all trunked radio systems. Where I lived in California, it was mostly conventional so I was able to make Group 1 a Priority Dispatch group. This group contained only local dispatch channels for police, fire, EMS, Fish & Wildlife, State Parks, Forestry, etc.

The priority dispatch group sped up scanning tremendously. LA County Fire dispatches the entire county on one channel and units would talk to dispatch on their home TRO channels. So where I lived I programmed the priority group like this...

LASD DISPATCH 5
LASD L-TAC 8 (L/O)
LACFD BLUE 8 DISPATCH
LACFD BLUE 12 (L/O)
LACFD AIR TO GROUND
AMR DISPATCH
...etc

I was able to scan every agency/department and not miss much.
 

jonwienke

More Info Coming Soon!
Joined
Jul 18, 2014
Messages
13,416
Location
VA
If you're taking more than 10 seconds to scan a trunked system, you're doing it wrong. A site only takes 1-2 seconds to scan, so if you're scanning more than 5 sites, your programming needs to be fixed.

Also, talkgroups are not scanned, so having thousands of them programmed has no impact on scan speed.
 

wtp

Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2008
Messages
5,916
Location
Port Charlotte FL
to bryan herbert...
depending on what the radio calls it.
hold/ system dwell time, set it to 0 (zero).
delay, set it to 2.
there is a big difference on what they do.

hold means it stays and scans that system.
delay is for after a squelch break (talking).
 

chief21

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Mar 2, 2004
Messages
1,798
Location
Summer - Western NC; Winter - Tampa Bay FL
Trunked systems pause the scanner long enough to search through all radio sites and talkgroups. If the trunked system is huge, like the Nevada Statewide Radio System (NSRS) or Southern Nevada Area Comm Council (SNACC), each of those systems can take a full minute to scan with a BCD436HP.

It sounds like you are scanning many more than just your local sites. Why scan distant sites that you probably can't even hear? Create a custom Favorite List with local sites only, or at least Avoid all distant sites in the trunked system. I also monitor statewide radio systems, but only the few sites that I can hear and it scans through very quickly.
 

jonwienke

More Info Coming Soon!
Joined
Jul 18, 2014
Messages
13,416
Location
VA
It sounds like you are scanning many more than just your local sites. Why scan distant sites that you probably can't even hear? Create a custom Favorite List with local sites only, or at least Avoid all distant sites in the trunked system. I also monitor statewide radio systems, but only the few sites that I can hear and it scans through very quickly.
Alternatively, just turn on Location Control in the Favorite List, set your location accurately, and set Range to no more than 5 miles or so, and the distant sites will be skipped automatically.
 

motorcoachdoug

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Aug 29, 2012
Messages
755
Location
Silver Spring, MD
Here in maryland we have a huge system the MD 1st Response system where the countys are all being connected so they can talk to each other, plus all the state gov systems are now on it like state police, MD State Hwy, plus a few counties are now using it for day to day ops as well. In the Washington DC Metro their is the area wide covering nothern VA and MD as well called PMars 800 which is used quite a bit between MD State PD and VA State PD plus a lot of counties have other counties programed into their radios if they are running mutual aid or joint Ops on the Potomac River that runs between MD and VA when they are doing rescue work including Eagle One the US Park Police Helo or VA One a VA State Helo or an MSP Trooper Helo. Then Baltimore is only 44 miles away and they have their own regional frequencies that they work with when running mutual aid as well. So as you can see you need at least 3 to 5 scanners to cover the DC Metro and I have not even mentioned all the Fed police and the frequencies that they use which about 60% is encrypted as well.
 

bryan_herbert

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
1,134
Location
Las Vegas, NV. DM26jc
It sounds like you are scanning many more than just your local sites. Why scan distant sites that you probably can't even hear? Create a custom Favorite List with local sites only, or at least Avoid all distant sites in the trunked system. I also monitor statewide radio systems, but only the few sites that I can hear and it scans through very quickly.

I dont scan by zip code, only by custom favorite lists.

With both SNACC and NSRS, no less than 5 sites, including the Simulcast sites, are needed just to hear the Las Vegas Valley. Additional sites need to be programmed to hear nearby outlying and rural areas within the valley.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top