DonS
Member
So when enabling/disabling certain sites when in "Sites" screen exactly what is being saved and what is being affected by enabling/disabling certain sites? If you can't say "only monitor Site X when Playlist A is enabled" what happens when you add a playlist from a completely different area that uses a completely different set of towers? Are both sets of towers stored?
BTW I'm not trying to be picky. I'm just trying to understand the various interactions.
When you select a Site within a trunked system, the scanner stores information about that site: frequencies, alpha tag, etc.. The Site is added to the list of possible sites to scan when monitoring any talkgroup within that system.
The scanner doesn't know anything about any "tower-specific" talkgroups. That is, the scanner presumes that any talkgroup within a system can be heard on any site.
When you hit "Play", the scanner:
1. looks through the enabled playlists, finding "objects to scan" (talkgroups and conventional channels)
2. for every talkgroup found in #1, remembers the "system" to which the talkgroup belongs
3a. cycles through every conventional channel
3b. cycles through every trunked system that had at least one talkgroup from #2
In (3b), the scanner also looks through the system's sites, looking for an active control channel.
Adding a new site to an existing system merely alters the geographic area in which you can monitor the programmed talkgroups, since "sites" are, in general, location-specific. Adding too many sites (e.g. the entire state when you're always near 4 or 5 "towers") can impact performance, since the scanner might have to search through many distant sites to find a control channel.
Adding new talkgroups to an existing system alters what you'll hear on that system. You should only add talkgroups that are actually used near your location. For example, if a statewide system had specific talkgroups for the northern part of the state, you wouldn't select them if you lived in the southern part of the state.
Changing talkgroups' playlist membership alters your ability to control what you hear at any given time. Typical membership criteria might be "system", "geographic area", "Law Enforcement vs. Fire", etc.