GRE PSR 600 Question

[billy245]

I live in South Dakota and our State System is a Motorola Type 2 vhf.
Is there a way where I can take, say, for instance to have just police calls for our town turn on and off if I just push the number 1 button and have it come back on if I push number 1? Then, if I want to do the same thing with fire talkgroups under number 2 and EMS talkgroups under number 3?
Kind of like making a custom banking. Is this possible?
I have tried it using 1, 2 and 3 scanning lists for each but it seems that all traffic seems to come over and none get eliminated.
Is it possible to make a custom bank and if so, what am I doing wrong? Thanks....

 

[Patch42]

First, I'd suggest reading the fine manual that on the CD that came with the radio. Some hard working people at GRE spent a lot of time trying to explain exactly the kind of thing you're asking.

Second, there are no "banks" in the PSR-600. There's a database that holds scannable objects, and there are scan lists. (There are also the v-scanner folders, but that's a different conversation.) The scan lists are fundamentally different than "banks", so it's not just a terminology thing. One of the big differences is that scannable objects can be on one, two, five, twenty, or none (or any number in between) of the scan lists. Scan list membership consumes no additional space in the radio's memory.

I think the problem you're having is that by default all new scannable objects will become members of scan list #1. You need to go through all the objects you've defined and check the scan list membership. Unfortunately, it's awkward doing this on the radio. You need to edit the object, scroll down to the scan lists item, then use the left/right arrow keys to scroll through the scan lists. If there's an asterisk by the scan list number, then the object is a member of that scan list. Pressing the Sel button will toggle the setting.

This is a lot easier with the third party software that's available. I use PSREdit (www.psredit.com). There are a couple others that are also well spoken of. All of them will handle scan list assignment with ease. In PSREdit you can select large blocks of TGRPs and assign them all to scan lists in one shot. I'm sure the others offer the same feature.

 

[billy245]

OK, it's not a terminology thing. That helps somewhat. I do have the arc500 software. This is just totally different for me. I will try playing with it some more and see what happens. Thanks...

 

[PHOENIX_SCANNER]

My thoughts:

Turn the scanner off (or put in on something you like) and pick up that manual, then read it about five times, till things sink in. ESPECIALLY the section on the Object Oriented Inteface.

If you DO NOT understand what this is, you will be very frustrated and get nowhere.

If you are thinking of this like your old scanner with banks (and it sounds like you are), you are going to be banging your head against the wall.

Remember, an "object" can be a frequency, a talkgroup, a system, or a search; and a scan list (what you turn on and off by hitting the numbers), is just a list of objects you assigned to that list.

I have scanlists that contain many of the same objects as other scanlists, for various reasons I won't get in to. You could have the same objects assigned to every scan list in theory, meaning no matter what you press you hear the same thing.

Start SMALL. Put in a few conventional frequencies and maybe one trunked system, and play with different scanlist assignments until you understand what you are doing.

Then, create your first (of many - you will constantly refine them for months), PLAN.

Your PLAN is something you should scratch down on paper. You will make changes as you think it out. Don't make a plan until you understand the scanner. Your PLAN will be a list of what is on each scanlist.

Post your plan where it is easy to see and reference, so you can see what scanlist 12 or 17 is, at a glance.

 

[fmon]

OK, it's not a terminology thing. That helps somewhat. I do have the arc500 software. This is just totally different for me. I will try playing with it some more and see what happens. Thanks...

In ARC Talkgroups browser, assign all Law talkgroups to Scan List 1, all Fire talkgroups to list 2 and all EMS to list 3. Do not have any wildcard in any of the 3 list. Then toggle on/off with number keys. Bottom display line will indicate the list action for split second and line above will indicate list # on or off.