SDS100/SDS200: Location control

[Kazzaw]

Hi,

I've just managed to get all my sites programmed in with location information and started using location control on my USDS100.

Unfortunately I wasn't getting any transmissions from the new list I had programmed, however my old one was working fine. I've narrowed it down to Departments needing location control as well as Sites.

I have all my sites and location control programmed well, is there an option to exclude departments? I can 'bypass' the department location control by placing a blanket circle over section of the state this system is in, is that the only way to do this?

Everything else is working perfectly.

Thanks for your time

 

[n1chu]

I did a google search for “Location Control Uniden Scanners” and got Utube URL’s along with RadioReference Wiki and Forum hits. Everything from how it works (or is supposed to work), how to set it up and how to modify or customize it for yourself.

At one point I had to do the same thing you are doing. I had to ask. I vaguely remember someone explaining how the scanner uses known transmitters within the limits of the location you ask for (when using Location Control instead of GPS) in order to know which systems you will hear. But since I was more interested in the scanner using GPS to know where it was while traveling down I-95 from Ct. to Fl., I didn’t pay much attention to Location Control. And since I no longer take those long trips I don’t remember much about how either works, if GPS works together with Location Control, if both are one in the same, or separate. But your answer is in that google search I’m sure.

What I do remember was my GPS tracking worked great traveling down the interstate, reloading the scanner with new agencies and dropping the old agencies as I moved thru each county/state with only law enforcement and fire agencies being monitored.

 

[Kazzaw]

Thanks for the response. My sites on my favourites list works perfectly, I locked my favourite list on and watched it flick from site to site as I travelled, however the radio was dead.

I've put a blanket gps range of 250 miles for all departments and now its working as intended

 

[dave3825]

If everything is set up correctly, it will work as intended, as long as all of the gps info you entered is correct. You should not have to set a 250 mile blanket to achieve location control. That's a band aid. I did not see any mention of a gps being attached but you said you do see the sites changing.

Sites and departments need the correct Lat & Long as well as their intended ranges set. And the favorites list's location control needs to be set to on. You also have to set a desired scan range.

Maybe post your programming file?

You can even set location control to work with individual talk groups with a little work.

 

[nessnet]

Note: If you program your radio with Sentinel, all of that info is already in there.....

Yes, site and dept GPS info is necessary. If blank, and location control is on, it is telling the radio the location is somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic (prime meridian and equator lat 0.00 / long 0.00).

Note2: If you program location/range into your favorite lists also, then the radio will switch on/off your favorites according to location.

 

[dave3825]

Note: If you program your radio with Sentinel, all of that info is already in there.....

He is located in Australia gps info in the database is spotty. This system for example,

South Australian Government Radio Network (SA-GRN) Project 25 Trunking System, Various, Multi-State

South Australian Government Radio Network (SA-GRN) Project 25 Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

There like 80 sites and only 3 have gps info South Australian Government Radio Network (SA-GRN) Project 25 Site Location Data Report

And nothing on the groups at all South Australian Government Radio Network (SA-GRN) Project 25 Talkgroup Category Location Data Report

But this system has a bunch of sites with gps info and nothing for departments. NSW Government Radio Network Trunking System, NSW Statewide and ACT, Multi-State - Scanner Frequencies

If the OP could either post the system or upload the Sentinel file I am sure that could help

 

[ofd8001]

Beginning with the "zip code" model scanners (x36 and newer), Uniden "enforced" a location control requirement for departments/groups. The old way, you could get away with a 0/0 location in a department/group. Unfortunately not with the latest ones.

I usually import my data from the full database which brings in all the needed location information: sites and departments. I can then fine tune things are needed. However if I add a new department, then I have to add location info. Sometimes you can copy and paste if you have a department that is nearby, or a site covers the same area as the new department.

 

[Kazzaw]

He is located in Australia gps info in the database is spotty. This system for example,

Spotty is an understatement. Those systems that do contain information which is rare, are usually incorrect

Uniden "enforced" a location control requirement for departments/groups. The old way, you could get away with a 0/0 location in a department/group. Unfortunately not with the latest ones.

I figured this may be the case

I have attached the HPE of the system I am talking about. (Had to put it in a .zip for forum to accept it)

It will work fine doing it for this system, but I have others I need to program that have quite a few separate departments (T3 system which is shared among many users, each user I program in as a dept) which could take a while to program

 

[ofd8001]

Yeah I see where a ton of work is needed by the first person to "create" a system with all the correct "stuff".

It looks like you only have a small number of departments to add Location Information to, compared to the number of sites.

One thing to bear in mind that trunked system scanning is different from conventional scanning. With conventional, the scanner "listens" to all the channels in the "scan list", stopping on an active channel. On trunked systems, the scanner "listens" to the control channel and notes talkgroups that have a conversation in progress and notes which voice frequency is used for the conversation. (That is called a "channel grant".) Then the scanner looks to see if the talkgroup is in the scan list and if so, does its thing so you can hear the conversation. In other words, with a trunked system, the scanner is NOT listening to each talkgroup for activity.

So with that in mind, you can program all of the talkgroups without any cost to scanning times, delays, inefficiencies, etc. Talkgroups far away from your location are not likely to be carried on the sites within your reception range. As such, there won't be any of those "channel grants" to get in your way.

 

[nessnet]

Then the scanner looks to see if the talkgroup is in the scan list and if so, does its thing so you can hear the conversation.

I just want to add that since you have a 100, you can also set the radio to ID searching, then, the radio will give you any channel grant on that control channel.