How to structure my Programming to use with BCT15 GPS option

[NorCalDiesel]

I have installed a GPS antenna to take advantage of my BCT15's GPS option. It is connected and the BCT15 see's it fine. My question is how to best set up my programming to now take advantage of the GPS.

I travel up and down the state of California and have used the RadioReference database to download and upload programming to the BCT15. Right now I have LA, Sacramento (Police, Sheriff, Fire/EMS) and the all of the CHP. I upload the programming straight from RadioReference w/o changing the format. Prior to installing the GPS antenna I just L/O the out of range Groups.

Now I want to structure the groups so I can easily use the GPS option to switch groups on and off. I understand how it works and can get the coordinates off Google. My question is how to structure systems/groups to easily take advantage of the GPS. For programming I have used BCTool, FreeScan, ARC15pro and ProScan. I am not partial and used FreeScan to get the GPS coordinates successfully.

Also, Do I need to have QuickKeys enabled for the GPS to work? I have read the Uniden Manual and searched in the Uniden forum for the last week and culled enough info to get this far.. Just need some opinions/options from the more informed as to how to structure the programming and make sure it is enabled correctly.

Thanks in advance for reading a rather long post.

 

[UPMan]

Answering the last first (because it is easiest), GPS will only affect systems that have enabled SQKs (or no SQK at all). GPS toggles temporary lock/unlock.

If you are driving mainly on highways, I'd draw the circle/radius so that the circle intersects the highway at points where you would want that system to turn on/off. For areas where you want "deeper" coverage (like to the patrol-district level), you'll need to create a different system for each patrol district (or other "granular" element). You can use multiple circles to "paint" more precise coverage on trunked systems by putting in multiple "sites" with different center points / radii.

It really depends on the level of precision and detail that you want / need the scanner to respond to.

 

[NorCalDiesel]

Thanks for the reply. I made the drive early this am, Sacramento to LA. I apparently have the LA area configured correctly. As I came within 35 miles of LA it unlocked my three LA systems. So now I have a few good examples of what works. I will keep setting the coordinates and SQK's as I did LA and see what I get.

I seem to have developed a different problem. I can connect fine with ProScan and BCTool. But FreeScan is giving me errors on the comm side and once connected it does not seem to find any systems on my BCT15. When in fact I can scroll through them on the unit itself. I am unable to get any programming uploaded with FreeScan either, I get a "Scanner has limited Resources" message.

Anyhow, Thanks for the help. The GPS functionality is looking good, I like it.

 

[mikeoz]

GPS Scanning

I am guessing that you changed your baud rate to match your GPS. The program and scanner need to match to communicate correctly. I use the back RS232 port for the GPS and the front for programming. You can set the baud rate for each port being different.