Freescan and Quick Keys for Multi-Site

[WuLabsWuTecH]

So I am setting up my first multi-site system, and I am a bit confused on how to use quick-keys with a multi-site system. I want to just have a system quick key (6) to get to the new system. But if there are 5 sites on the system, it looks like I have to choose a site by assigning each one a quick key? So site 1 would be QK6, site 2 would be QK7 etc. There's got to be a better way to do this right? Because there are systems out there with nearly 100 sites! If that's the case, does that mean I can only scan site I have quick keys for?

There's got to be a way for the scanner (Uniden BCD396XT) to be able to deal with system that have a lot of sites without me having to assign a quick key to each one right? Right now, the quick key is set to [by site] and no matter what I change it to, it defaults back to [by site].

Thanks for any help guys!

 

[frazpo]

So I am setting up my first multi-site system, and I am a bit confused on how to use quick-keys with a multi-site system. I want to just have a system quick key (6) to get to the new system. But if there are 5 sites on the system, it looks like I have to choose a site by assigning each one a quick key? So site 1 would be QK6, site 2 would be QK7 etc. There's got to be a better way to do this right? Because there are systems out there with nearly 100 sites! If that's the case, does that mean I can only scan site I have quick keys for?

There's got to be a way for the scanner (Uniden BCD396XT) to be able to deal with system that have a lot of sites without me having to assign a quick key to each one right? Right now, the quick key is set to [by site] and no matter what I change it to, it defaults back to [by site].
Thanks for any help guys!

You need to set the site quick key. It is saying (by site) because that is what you need to assign.
Then you can assign QK's to the groups (second line of your 396xt display with the asterisks)
This example shows joplin site is QK #2.

 

[JoeyC]

You cannot assign QK to a system, only the sites within it, but you do not need to assign a QK to anything. Anything without a QK is always scanned but you have no control over it though. It is unlikely that you are within range of all 100 sites, so that shouldn't be a problem - just don't program those you can't hear. It all really depends on what you want to listen to, how the units affiliate to the sites and what sites carry what traffic in the ways you organize and program the scanner. You are also not limited to one site per QK either, so if you choose, you could put several sites on the same QK.

 

[WuLabsWuTecH]

You cannot assign QK to a system, only the sites within it, but you do not need to assign a QK to anything. Anything without a QK is always scanned but you have no control over it though. It is unlikely that you are within range of all 100 sites, so that shouldn't be a problem - just don't program those you can't hear. It all really depends on what you want to listen to, how the units affiliate to the sites and what sites carry what traffic in the ways you organize and program the scanner. You are also not limited to one site per QK either, so if you choose, you could put several sites on the same QK.

Joey, thank you, that makes a lot of sense!

If I'm only in range of 2 towers, will it still try to scan the other 98 therefore causing my radio to miss more traffic? (Since the more sites it's scanning, the more time it's spending off of the 2 sites I can listen to.)

Or should I just program in the 5 or 6 towers I am in range of between here and the firehouse as separate QKs and then use a 7th QK for all other sites in the state?

 

[JoeyC]

I would delete out the other 98 PERIOD! Or if you must keep some (all) of them in there, give those a different quick key(s) than the primary interests.

 

[MFD4305]

Two Suggestions

1. Follow the good advice given above: there's no point [as you recognized] scanning sites you'll never receive. You just increase the probability of missing transmissions while the scanner checks frequencies it cannot receive.
2. If you weren't aware, you can assign the same trunking site quick key to more than one site. If you want to scan the same two sites in the system under discussion, assign them both the same quick key.

 

[UPMan]

If you are going to roam the entire system at some point (thus needing all 98 sites available) another option is to be sure all the sites include their location data (lat/lon/range). This will happen automatically if you import directly from RRDB. Then, set your location. First time will be tedious...you'll need to look up your physical lat/lon and input it into the scanner. But, then you can save that location for instant recall. When you apply the location, it will automatically do a temporary lockout for all sites (and all channel groups) that are "out of range" of your current location.

For traversing the site, connecting a GPS accessory will do this all automatically w/o you needing to actually know your latitude and longitude.

 

[WuLabsWuTecH]

If you are going to roam the entire system at some point (thus needing all 98 sites available) another option is to be sure all the sites include their location data (lat/lon/range). This will happen automatically if you import directly from RRDB. Then, set your location. First time will be tedious...you'll need to look up your physical lat/lon and input it into the scanner. But, then you can save that location for instant recall. When you apply the location, it will automatically do a temporary lockout for all sites (and all channel groups) that are "out of range" of your current location.

For traversing the site, connecting a GPS accessory will do this all automatically w/o you needing to actually know your latitude and longitude.

A few questions:

1) How accurate does each location need to be? For example, my run district is about 200 square miles big. So can I just choose 3 or 4 of the small towns that we cover and input those location data in since those areas are the ones I'll frequent the most often?

2) How does it know which channel groups are "out of range"? My understanding was that I could force any particular TG to become "in range" by flipping my radio onto the TG I want to hear. So for example, if I'm wanting to hear a hospital TG that is a few counties over, I flip my radio over to that TG, and the site that my radio is sitting on will automatically bring that TG over to the site I am affiliated with so I can hear that TG. Obviously if I wanted to listen to a specific TG I'd just use my radio and not change the TG on my radio and then listen to it with my scanner! But let's say my partner was out to lunch and wanted to listen to something in his hometown that's going down on the PD Tac Channel. Wouldn't that mean that for all intents and purposes that the channel group that has "Partner Hometown PD Tac1" is now in range since my partner is sitting a quarter mile from me and affiliated with the same tower that my scanner is scanning?