Sentinel: Help: Just two channels on a P25 Phase II System

[darknetone]

I am requesting some help with two channels on a P25 Phase II System.

I am attempting to put the two Culpepper Channels (below) into my SDS100 without dumping all of STARS into the scanner. I made a new profile to play with just this specific scenario. Anyway if I just dump The two Culpepper (below) channels into the scanner I get a "Nothing to Scan" message. If I dump the whole stars tree into the scanner things appear good, but the scanner spends a lot of time rolling through everything else in the list. If I drop avoids on everything except the two Culpepper Channels then I am back to "Nothing to Scan". Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[dave3825]

Sounds like you might be avoiding all of the sites.

Either program only what’s wanted and scan in id scan mode or download the whole system and delete or avoid anything not wanted.

 

[darknetone]

Sounds like you might be avoiding all of the sites.

Either program only what’s wanted and scan in id scan mode or download the whole system and delete or avoid anything not wanted.

I already tried adding the two I wanted to a favorites list, turned on the list etc,... no dice, I also tried adding then deleting what I didn't want and I have also tried avoiding what I didn't want.

If I just add the two Culpepper channels I suspect I have to have a control channel which I thought I had found, but no, I guess not. So I am still stumped,...

 

[darknetone]

I already tried adding the two I wanted to a favorites list, turned on the list etc,... no dice, I also tried adding then deleting what I didn't want and I have also tried avoiding what I didn't want.

If I just add the two Culpepper channels I suspect I have to have a control channel which I thought I had found, but no, I guess not. So I am still stumped,...

Hmm Ok so it looks like those "Channels" are talk groups,... so how to I deal with talk groups, I am not a Trunking/P25 guy,...

 

[doctordialtone]

those "Channels" are talk groups,..

Talk Groups are groups of radios with similar usage. Like PD, Fire, etc.

SDS Sentinel Software Manual

This explains Talk Groups.

Also make sure you turn on Service Types for what you want to monitor.

 

[darknetone]

I have the service type covered, etc, all of my other stuff works as I want it to. I just want to trim the STARS stuff down to VSP Division 2 which are the two talk groups Culpepper 1 and 2. I added two sites Arlington and Fairfax what looks like other default sites (I could be wrong). we are scanning but I an still nothing from Division 2 is coming through.

 

[dave3825]

So you either deleted all talk groups (departments) or all the sites (sets of freqs from different locations).


Culpepper 1 and 2 are in the department called Virginia State police. So you need that department (group)(of talk groups) and one site within range of you to be programmed in and not set to avoid.

 

[nessnet]

Wouldn't location control take care of this?
(Only scan the nearest sites/control channels and ignore the others....)?
If you turn location control on, manually set your lat/long, set your range to a reasonably low number, this should limit the sites you scan...

 

[dave3825]

Wouldn't location control take care of this?
(Only scan the nearest sites/control channels and ignore the others....)?

Normally, for sites, yes. Not sure how accurate any of the site data is as most of the sites all have a 30 mile range. I have not seen that before.




Interestingly, in the database, the departments all have a range of 0, and no lat / lon data.





But in Sentinel, the departments all have the statewide range of 238 and gps info.

 

[nessnet]

First - important to remember that - especially with simulcast 'sites' (actually multiple towers), the lat/long is for the geographic center. Same goes for most dept's lat/long. Then, the circle is drawn to cover the lot....

Notice that the circle box is a drop down...?

There are tools on the Internet to create "bounding boxes" - a rectangle, or multiple rectangles that can very accurately represent the actual state/county/city/rez borders. With a GPS - and enough programming work, (range=0 BTW), you can actually have the radio switch favorite(s) as you are entering a leaving one and entering a new jurisdiction.

 

[darknetone]

Wouldn't location control take care of this?
(Only scan the nearest sites/control channels and ignore the others....)?
If you turn location control on, manually set your lat/long, set your range to a reasonably low number, this should limit the sites yo

 

[wtp]

culpeper has no towers for STARS, so, do you have all of the surrounding counties in ?

Gordonsville

Orange

159.180c

159.345

161.875c

162.000

Fork Mountain	Madison	151.0475	151.2125	151.280	151.3025	151.3775	151.4075	152.0825c
				152.7125c	161.950

Hogback Mountain	Rappahannock	151.3625c	151.3925c	159.0075	159.1275	159.3825	161.850	161.8875
				161.900

Thornburg

Spotsylvania

151.1825

151.430

152.0975c

152.8025

159.2025

159.3975c

and i guess you can hear something as you waid yo locked out some.
but the two you want to hear have to be on the radio for you to hear them.

 

[darknetone]

culpeper has no towers for STARS, so, do you have all of the surrounding counties in ?

Gordonsville

Orange

159.180c

159.345

161.875c

162.000

Fork Mountain	Madison	151.0475	151.2125	151.280	151.3025	151.3775	151.4075	152.0825c
				152.7125c	161.950

Hogback Mountain	Rappahannock	151.3625c	151.3925c	159.0075	159.1275	159.3825	161.850	161.8875
				161.900

Thornburg

Spotsylvania

151.1825

151.430

152.0975c

152.8025

159.2025

159.3975c

and i guess you can hear something as you waid yo locked out some.
but the two you want to hear have to be on the radio for you to hear them.

Sorry I meant Culpepper Talk groups 17 and 19 I really am not worried about the talk groups, I think I just need to "whittle does the sites" and leave everything else along and I should be OK, my end goal was to reduce the number of "extra" sites being scanned. I probably could have just set a "range" on a STARS favorite list and been done with it.

 

[nessnet]

Sorry I meant Culpepper Talk groups 17 and 19 I really am not worried about the talk groups, I think I just need to "whittle does the sites" and leave everything else along and I should be OK, my end goal was to reduce the number of "extra" sites being scanned. I probably could have just set a "range" on a STARS favorite list and been done with it.

Location control is your friend.....

 

[tkenny53]

One thing I learned with trunking is on the Site, let the scanner scan with a full database of the dept you want. Watch the top of the screen, it will display the word DATA while is is scanning, make a note of which site shows Data, yeah it may put you to sleep, but it will allow you to see which site you can receive. then just remove the sites that dont work.

 

[dave3825]

SDs series can also do site hold allowing you to scroll through them and avoid the ones without signal.