The reviews of the RX7 are covered elsewhere, so I thought I'd concentrate this thread on memory channel programming.
The RX7 has a three-tiered layout of Categories, Groups, and Channels, along with Direct-Key toggling of these. However it is up to you to organize all this. There are many ways to accomplish it, so here are just two of my own examples. It looks harder than it really is.
*** SIMPLIFIED BANK / CHANNEL EMULATION ***
The goal here is to just be able to toggle a "bank" on and off with direct-keys, much like conventional scanners. In this case, the easiest thing to do is to just program the CATEGORY as the "bank", use the GROUP for a visual display of the numerical Direct-Key, and then program the Channel as normal. Each of these "banks" of Categories can have up to 100 channels in them. (actually in a group but we'll get to that.
Let's say we want to make our first bank with a Category / Bank titled "AMATEUR". From the VFO mode, enter your first desired frequency and follow the normal programming procedures for naming a category of AMATEUR which you are wanting to put it into. Program this AMATEUR category to have a direct-key of 1.
This way, when you do a link-scan, you'll be able to toggle the entire amateur bank/category on or off. You only have to make this direct-key assignment once.
Since you are forced to make a GROUP, and we want to keep it simple and don't really need any sub-group organization, just the old-school banks / categories, let's put it to use since we have to.
For the name of the GROUP, use the alpha character of just "1". (no quotes) There is no need to program a direct-key for this group, since we don't need that much complexity.
Continue to program all your additional amateur radio channels into group 1 !
What will happen is that when you do a link-scan, you will have a convenient reminder of what the direct-key is for toggling when you are scanning multiple categories or "banks".
So your display would look something like this if you were monitoring 146.520 simplex:
AMATEUR
1
146.520
Because of the tags, of course you could change the actual channel name to any combo:
AMATEUR
1
SIMPLEX (or 52 SIMPLEX, whatever your desires)
Ok, you've added a repeater output:
AMATEUR
1
146.820
So the group doesn't change, it is just a visual reminder of the direct-key for the category.
Let's put another "bank" or Category in there, but this time we'll change the direct-keys.
Do the same as above, but this time change it to AIRCRAFT, program AIRCRAFT category to have a direct-key of "2". When it comes time for the GROUP tag, just use "2". Place all your aircraft freqs under group 2. Since you don't care about groups, you don't need to program a direct-key for the group, that is already faked by the Category direct-key.
AIRCRAFT
2
TOWER
Ok, so you added the ground freq as well:
AIRCRAFT
2
127.100
Again, you can get creative with the channel names.
RESULT:
Now when you do a link-scan, you can toggle either "bank" or Category of AMATEUR or AIRCRAFT on or off easily. AMATEUR with the "1" direct-key and AIRCRAFT with the "2" key. The group is not really a major concern, we are just forced to use it, so it serves as a nice reminder on the display what direct-key will toggle it on or off.
Simple now, but when you get 26 banks/categories going, you'll be glad you have it. Better yet, you can easily reprogram your direct-keys to your liking if you want a different numbering setup without a lot of hassle.
So what makes this different than going into the menu and doing a Category scan and picking one? That's just it - with direct-keys, you can toggle multiple categories on and off much like a conventional scanner.
Yes, you COULD just put the direct-key number into the Category tag itself - but this way, since you are forced to use a GROUP even if it really isn't needed, you'll save at least two alpha character spaces in the Category tag, and don't have to go through a lot of alpha editing if you want to change direct-key assignments around to different categories. What you do is change both the real direct-key assignment for the Category AND don't forget to change the GROUP numerical alpha tag.
Remember if you go beyond 0-9 for direct-keys, just use a period from the keyboard to toggle, ie for your 15th "bank" or category, use .15
Of course each channel can be assigned it's own direct-key too. If you do this, try not to make them conflict with the category direct-key assignments.
Well, hope this helps - I've got a more complicated setup later that involves the use of groups and again relies on the display to help manage it...
The RX7 has a three-tiered layout of Categories, Groups, and Channels, along with Direct-Key toggling of these. However it is up to you to organize all this. There are many ways to accomplish it, so here are just two of my own examples. It looks harder than it really is.
*** SIMPLIFIED BANK / CHANNEL EMULATION ***
The goal here is to just be able to toggle a "bank" on and off with direct-keys, much like conventional scanners. In this case, the easiest thing to do is to just program the CATEGORY as the "bank", use the GROUP for a visual display of the numerical Direct-Key, and then program the Channel as normal. Each of these "banks" of Categories can have up to 100 channels in them. (actually in a group but we'll get to that.
Let's say we want to make our first bank with a Category / Bank titled "AMATEUR". From the VFO mode, enter your first desired frequency and follow the normal programming procedures for naming a category of AMATEUR which you are wanting to put it into. Program this AMATEUR category to have a direct-key of 1.
This way, when you do a link-scan, you'll be able to toggle the entire amateur bank/category on or off. You only have to make this direct-key assignment once.
Since you are forced to make a GROUP, and we want to keep it simple and don't really need any sub-group organization, just the old-school banks / categories, let's put it to use since we have to.
For the name of the GROUP, use the alpha character of just "1". (no quotes) There is no need to program a direct-key for this group, since we don't need that much complexity.
Continue to program all your additional amateur radio channels into group 1 !
What will happen is that when you do a link-scan, you will have a convenient reminder of what the direct-key is for toggling when you are scanning multiple categories or "banks".
So your display would look something like this if you were monitoring 146.520 simplex:
AMATEUR
1
146.520
Because of the tags, of course you could change the actual channel name to any combo:
AMATEUR
1
SIMPLEX (or 52 SIMPLEX, whatever your desires)
Ok, you've added a repeater output:
AMATEUR
1
146.820
So the group doesn't change, it is just a visual reminder of the direct-key for the category.
Let's put another "bank" or Category in there, but this time we'll change the direct-keys.
Do the same as above, but this time change it to AIRCRAFT, program AIRCRAFT category to have a direct-key of "2". When it comes time for the GROUP tag, just use "2". Place all your aircraft freqs under group 2. Since you don't care about groups, you don't need to program a direct-key for the group, that is already faked by the Category direct-key.
AIRCRAFT
2
TOWER
Ok, so you added the ground freq as well:
AIRCRAFT
2
127.100
Again, you can get creative with the channel names.
RESULT:
Now when you do a link-scan, you can toggle either "bank" or Category of AMATEUR or AIRCRAFT on or off easily. AMATEUR with the "1" direct-key and AIRCRAFT with the "2" key. The group is not really a major concern, we are just forced to use it, so it serves as a nice reminder on the display what direct-key will toggle it on or off.
Simple now, but when you get 26 banks/categories going, you'll be glad you have it. Better yet, you can easily reprogram your direct-keys to your liking if you want a different numbering setup without a lot of hassle.
So what makes this different than going into the menu and doing a Category scan and picking one? That's just it - with direct-keys, you can toggle multiple categories on and off much like a conventional scanner.
Yes, you COULD just put the direct-key number into the Category tag itself - but this way, since you are forced to use a GROUP even if it really isn't needed, you'll save at least two alpha character spaces in the Category tag, and don't have to go through a lot of alpha editing if you want to change direct-key assignments around to different categories. What you do is change both the real direct-key assignment for the Category AND don't forget to change the GROUP numerical alpha tag.
Remember if you go beyond 0-9 for direct-keys, just use a period from the keyboard to toggle, ie for your 15th "bank" or category, use .15
Of course each channel can be assigned it's own direct-key too. If you do this, try not to make them conflict with the category direct-key assignments.
Well, hope this helps - I've got a more complicated setup later that involves the use of groups and again relies on the display to help manage it...
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