G5 Priority Talk Group Questio

[wa2chj]

I have one Zone/Switch position programmed for a Trunking Talk Group/Normal Scan with our Dispatch TG and several Operations TGs being scanned. I have Priority Talk Group enabled, and our Dispatch TG as the first TG in the list.
Many times, however, when an Operations TG is active and the Dispatch TG comes on the air, the pager fails to switch to the higher priority TG, and I miss half a dispatch message. It will wait until the message on the Ops channel is finished and then switch to the Dispatch TG.
According to the PPS Description:

When enabled, the ordering of TGIDs decides the priority order of TGIDs. The head TGID in the list has the highest priority. During receiving the voice call, if any voice call with higher priority TGID simultaneously, the on-going call will be terminated and voice pager automatically switch to listen the higher-priority call.

Doesn't that mean, when Priority Talk Group is enabled, it should immediately switch to the highest TG that is active...in my case Dispatch?

Anyone else seeing this issue. Any ideas why?

Thanks,

Scott
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WA2CHJ

 

[IAmSixNine]

In theory thats how its supposed to work.
I have a few knob positions set up like that and it does work for me.

The only thing i might see hindering this is if a patch is in place and the device doesnt see the exact TG that is listed for your dispatch channel.
There is a Harris system i monitor like this. SO channel will often patch with a smaller dept when they are on the same call and it assigns a new TG. Audio from the SO TG will pass but will not record (but when its not patched and the TG matches it does record audio) I have not tested the priority on that so cant comment if its having the same issue.

 

[wa2chj]

In theory thats how its supposed to work.
I have a few knob positions set up like that and it does work for me.

The only thing i might see hindering this is if a patch is in place and the device doesnt see the exact TG that is listed for your dispatch channel.
There is a Harris system i monitor like this. SO channel will often patch with a smaller dept when they are on the same call and it assigns a new TG. Audio from the SO TG will pass but will not record (but when its not patched and the TG matches it does record audio) I have not tested the priority on that so cant comment if its having the same issue.

I suppose it's possible that there is a patch, but I doubt there would be a reason for the patch at the times I've seen it happen, although your theory certainly makes sense.
It happens very infrequently that there is traffic on an ops TG at the same time as a the Dispatch TG goes active, so it's very hard to tell what might be affecting how it switches to a higher priority TG.
Thanks for letting me know that Priority Talk Group works for you, that way I know it's not a bug, and I should keep looking at my programming for an answer.

Scott
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WA2CHJ

 

[Uni1]

Does the system you're monitoring support priority talkgroups?

 

[wa2chj]

Does the system you're monitoring support priority talkgroups?

It is the Charlotte, NC UASI System. How can I tell if the system supports priority talkgroups? It appears to as my department issued Motorola XTS2500, when it's in scan mode, never seems to miss a dispatch when monitoring an Ops talkgroup.
Besides, I though this was a function of the G5 where it looks at the order of the talkgroups in the list and prioritizes them according to their position, changing to the highest position that is active...or is that not how it works?

Scott
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WA2CHJ

 

[Ncfirewire]

I turned on the priority on my digital P25 trunking system. I have 20 talkgroups and it works perfectly. In the list if talkgroup number 18 is talking and 15 starts talking it will instantly flip to 15 if number 15 is talking and number 1 starts it will flip to them etc.

However if you have a lot of talk groups in your list you will end up missing a lot if it gets busy as you will end up having 19 priority channels if you have 20 talkgroups

 

[wa2chj]

I turned on the priority on my digital P25 trunking system. I have 20 talkgroups and it works perfectly. In the list if talkgroup number 18 is talking and 15 starts talking it will instantly flip to 15 if number 15 is talking and number 1 starts it will flip to them etc.

However if you have a lot of talk groups in your list you will end up missing a lot if it gets busy as you will end up having 19 priority channels if you have 20 talkgroups

I only have 8 talkgroups enabled, and usually only one Ops TG is active at a time, so it should only have to flip back and forth between it and the highest priority Dispatch TG.

Scott
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WA2CHJ

 

[N6ML]

However if you have a lot of talk groups in your list you will end up missing a lot if it gets busy as you will end up having 19 priority channels if you have 20 talkgroups

It's worse than that ... in my case, I have the dispatch channel as the top priority, and a bunch of tac channels below that. If multiple tac channels are in use at the same time, it'll erratically jump around, as it'll always immediately jump to the highest priority one that's active. It's very difficult to follow any conversation that way. It'd be be better if some TGs could be designated as priority and others non-priority, so, say, you'd stay on a given tac channel even if another tac channel becomes active, but could always jump to dispatch if that became active.

 

[wa2chj]

It's worse than that ... in my case, I have the dispatch channel as the top priority, and a bunch of tac channels below that. If multiple tac channels are in use at the same time, it'll erratically jump around, as it'll always immediately jump to the highest priority one that's active. It's very difficult to follow any conversation that way. It'd be be better if some TGs could be designated as priority and others non-priority, so, say, you'd stay on a given tac channel even if another tac channel becomes active, but could always jump to dispatch if that became active.

I feel your pain! I don't know which is worse, though, my pain of NOT jumping around enough and missing dispatches, or your pain of jumping TOO MUCH and missing dispatches! I'd say it's a toss up.

Scott
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WA2chj