It’s been mentioned here a few times but one semi-reasonable work around is to assign individual knobs to single talkgroups of interest. . which in effect functions as a hold . . even though it is still technically a TG-scan (but of 1 talkgroup) . . the result being a hold on 1 TG.
Yes, it eats up knob positions, and is thus not efficient, but have found it to work pretty well for me.
I even have a couple agency-specific ‘hold zones’ which are setup this way for all 8 knobs, by channel of interest.
Hope this helps.
Exactly. It's not a bad workaround at all, and I don't even have my G4 until this afternoon, but I have the programming done and have been working with a current local user on programming strategy.
An example on my main system of interest: Phoenix PD simulcast (zone 1). Knob 1 is "scan all talkgroups" (like traditional scanning). Then the rest of the knobs are the other TGs of interest to me. A call comes out on channel 6 that I want to hear, so I just turn the knob to position 6, which only contains that TG, so in effect, this is a "hold" for that TG.
Now I know this isn't a true hold, but it will work for now. There are bigger issues to me, like the lack of multi-system scanning, but as others have said, this is a pager. This is a potential purchase for those "scanner people" whose desire to clearly hear one or more simulcast systems trumps their need for other traditional scanner functions. I am one of those people, willing to accept the shortcomings to actually hear full, clear transmissions (what a concept). What good are all of those scanner functions on my BCD436HP or a Whistler when I don't get half of the transmissions and parts of the transmissions that do break squelch? To me this doesn't replace my scanners, it augments the collection. When I just want to hear Phoenix PD for example, the G4 will be my go-to device.
By the way, to be honest, it took me MONTHS to come to this realization. At first I had the same feelings some others do who are critical. But it finally dawned on me that I'm missing out on what I most want to listen to with traditional scanners.
Maybe they will update the firmware at some point, but they might not, as these are sold mostly to people who need pagers, not scanner hobbyists. Let's all hope that Uniden and / or Whistler finally feels embarrassed enough by what the G4/5 can do, to actually make a scanner that works with simulcast. I have no doubt that many, myself included, would pay a premium for that type of scanner. Until then...well...here we are...each to their own.
