WS1088: Excess sites

[va-navigator]

Sorry if this has been asked/answered, but I couldn't find it. How detrimental to scanner speed is programming a large number of sites in one scanlist, e.g, ALL sites in a statewide trunking system? My particular concerns are Virginia STARS, North Carolina VIPER, and West Virginia SIRS. It is exceedingly difficult to pick out only the sites of geographic interest, not to mention that travel may go to areas of normally unused sites.
This radio, of course, is NOT GPS capable.

 

[jonwienke]

Very much so. Scanning all sites in a large trunked system like STARS, SIRN, VIPER, etc can take a minute or more, and doing so will bog the scanner down significantly. Especially if you're scanning near the border of VA and WV, where both STARS and SIRN will have traffic of interest, and scanning both is desirable. If you plan on traveling without a carefully pre-planned advance itinerary, a GPS-capable scanner with a database (like the Uniden 436, 536, SDS100, or SDS200) is the only practical option.

 

[Wackyracer]

Only put in the min amount of sites needed to receive what you want. On top of that put in ones that you receive best at your location ( it may not be the closest sites) So you may have to do some testing.

 

[va-navigator]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Will try to sort through the extensive - and often vague - list of sites and only program those which appear pertinent.

 

[tvengr]

My particular concerns are Virginia STARS, North Carolina VIPER, and West Virginia SIRS.

Here is the link for VA STARS: Virginia Statewide Agencies Radio System (STARS) Trunking System, Statewide, Virginia - Scanner Frequencies (radioreference.com) If you click on County at the top of the site frequencies, it will alphabetize the sites by county and group all of the same county sites together.. Scroll down to Frederick County. You will see that there is one site listed for Frederick County at Pinnacle Knob. I would start with just that site and see if you get the coverage of the county you desire. Note that Winchester has its own P25 system: Winchester Trunking System, Winchester, Virginia - Scanner Frequencies (radioreference.com)