Location Control

[ofd8001]

Need to bounce something off folks with Location Control experience on the 536 scanner to be sure my thinking is right.

I have a Favorites List which contains a trunked system with four sites. This Favorites List has Location Control set to on.

Location information and range has been set for all of the sites and the scanner seems to be turning them on and off as desired.

What I'm seeing is that a department with the location and range set to the correct value will scan. However, a department with Lat/Long/Range set to 0 appears to not scan.

Are others seeing this, or know this situation to be "as designed"?

I was thinking that older models of Unidens (as in XTs) would scan groups in systems even if the Lat/Long/Range settings were 0.

 

[UPMan]

0.00,0.00 is a valid location. It is off of the West Coast of Africa, South of Ghana and West of Gabon. If you are in that area, the department would scan.

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&...035156&sll=0,0&sspn=0.008661,0.017595&t=m&z=6

 

[ofd8001]

Another place to put on the old travel list :lol:

Is there some way of programming a system so that location control for one or more departments is off, even though location control for other parts of the system is on?

Thanks!

 

[UPMan]

No. However, if you program a very large range (with reasonably accurate lat/lon) for the department, it would not be turned off by range (unless all the sites were out of range, in which case the entire system would not be scanned).

 

[Jay911]

Consider making a ridiculously huge radius circle with known good coordinates (or approximations thereof).

My city is almost exactly centered on 51,-114. If I want to receive one department "everywhere", I use a lat/long/range of 51,-114,600.

 

[ofd8001]

Ok - thanks. Looks like I need to review/revise my programming. . .

 

[ofd8001]

Is there a way to check the scanner to determine if a department or site is avoided because it is out of range?

I'm thinking that if you went through the programming steps on the XT models and something was locked-out because of being out of range, it would show up as "Temporary L/O".

 

[Hearken]

Location and GPS

Does the Location Control work on it's own? Or do you need the Lat and Long (with a GPS plugged into the Radio) to work. I was told when I purchased this unit, from a Uniden Support Rep. that you can work this unit without the Location Control used at all, and it would perform like the 396XT did and if it is in range of a signal then it would pick it up. I have seen on youtube and these Forums about Location Control, makes me wonder if you have to use it, just to get the unit to Function right. Could someone clarify this. Thanks

 

[UPMan]

If you want to just program favorites lists and scan them by manually enabling/disabling them (and the systems/departments in them), you can do so without any use of location.

If you want to put in your zip code or use some other method of entering your scanner's location, then allow it to pick the channels for you based on your location (and some other criteria), you can do that, too.

 

[KB6KGX]

If you want to just program favorites lists and scan them by manually enabling/disabling them (and the systems/departments in them), you can do so without any use of location.

If you want to put in your zip code or use some other method of entering your scanner's location, then allow it to pick the channels for you based on your location (and some other criteria), you can do that, too.

Can I have Favorites Lists but have the GPS choose which frequencies from THOSE to turn on and off as I move around?

Can you provide a step-by-step process for setting up Location Control correctly? What should the settings be?

 

[darunimal]

Location is used for systems and departments not frequencies or channels but the scanner and gps will scan your favorite lists that have location control set to on in the settings menu (you must have Lat & Long programmed for the work as you want them to and you change their range as well as the scanner/gps range each is user preferences)

for further info
Easier to Read BCD436/536HP Digital Scanner Manual location

 

[Jay911]

Can you provide a step-by-step process for setting up Location Control correctly? What should the settings be?

1. Ensure you have some kind of value in the "Location" tab's fields in each site (for trunk systems) and department (for trunk systems and conventional systems) in your favorites lists. The settings here depend on where you want the sites/departments to be heard. See the aforementioned manual to get more information on this.

2. In the Favorites List Editor, in the Options tab, make sure "Location Control" is set to "Yes" for each favorites list you want to use location control.

3. Either plug in a GPS, use a zipcode, use a city name, or specify a lat/long position directly in the "Set Location" menu in the scanner.