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APX Motorola Zones
- Thread starter TKG
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Separating channels into zones makes it easier to manage is about as basic as you can explain. Instead of putting 100 channels into one zone, where the user has to scroll through all those channels to find a channel, you can switch to a zone where it would be easier to find.
Example
Zone 1 - My town stuff
Zone 2 - town to the east stuff
Zone 3 - Town to the west stuff
Or maybe
Zone 1 - Fire Departments
Zone 2 - Police departments
Zone 3 - Highway departments
The list can go on using Zones for counties, cities, agency types and so on. Basically it makes finding a channel you need easier.
Example
Zone 1 - My town stuff
Zone 2 - town to the east stuff
Zone 3 - Town to the west stuff
Or maybe
Zone 1 - Fire Departments
Zone 2 - Police departments
Zone 3 - Highway departments
The list can go on using Zones for counties, cities, agency types and so on. Basically it makes finding a channel you need easier.
ecps92
Member
With a license for amateur and GMRS, on my APX I broke zones down into various things. Something like:
1 VHF analog repeaters
2 UHF analog repeaters
3 P25 repeaters
4 GMRS 1
5 GMRS 2 + repeaters
6 A specific club’s repeaters
7 Call freqs (VHF/UHF both analog and P25)
1 VHF analog repeaters
2 UHF analog repeaters
3 P25 repeaters
4 GMRS 1
5 GMRS 2 + repeaters
6 A specific club’s repeaters
7 Call freqs (VHF/UHF both analog and P25)
K9RPL
Member
I love the zone system. It's a great way to organize channels.
jim202
Member
Being a ham that travels some, I have my VHF XTL2500 set up with zones for the region I am in. I use to travel from the New Orleans area all the way up to southern New Hampshire. As I traveled, I would change the zone to match the area I was in. This would allowed me to have the 2 meter repeaters for the area I was in. I would use a program I have to put the ham repeaters on the map with the output frequency and tone for each location. I marked the map with the zone numbers and could just select the zone I needed for where I was.
One point to remember that the normal scan list will only support 16 channels. So my zones were broken into only 16 channels per zone. The priority was selected by the channel I selected to talk on.
It took a while to put everything in the radio, but it worked very well. I did have a problem one year when the XYL wanted to go visit her sister in Texas. So I created a whole new code plug for going to Texas. Saved the one for the New Hampshire trip. This way I just loaded the code plug for the trip we were going on. Yes I did save the one for the Texas trip also.
One point to remember that the normal scan list will only support 16 channels. So my zones were broken into only 16 channels per zone. The priority was selected by the channel I selected to talk on.
It took a while to put everything in the radio, but it worked very well. I did have a problem one year when the XYL wanted to go visit her sister in Texas. So I created a whole new code plug for going to Texas. Saved the one for the New Hampshire trip. This way I just loaded the code plug for the trip we were going on. Yes I did save the one for the Texas trip also.
With newer Motorolas, you can put more than 16 channels into a "zone", and program soft menu keys for CHUP and CHDN, then use the up down channel buttons to scroll through a huge list of channels (until you reach the channels per zone limit) that extends past the 16 channel knob selector. This is great for dumping, say like a huge list of wildland brush fire tac channels into a large pool instead of taking up 5 zones for the same pool of seldom used channels.
For APX there is also an enhanced zone bank option, that turns the ABC switch into a quick access selector. I have only played with it on someone elses APX, but it seems like when you activate this, it uses the zone you are currently on as the master, and when you move the ABC switch it will move you up through the next three zones?
Paul
For APX there is also an enhanced zone bank option, that turns the ABC switch into a quick access selector. I have only played with it on someone elses APX, but it seems like when you activate this, it uses the zone you are currently on as the master, and when you move the ABC switch it will move you up through the next three zones?
Paul
Zones also allow you to create a 'separate identity' for the radio, in which you could create a collection of channels/entries with a different PTT ID/Identity so that when you had a person who had multiple official capacities or separate jobs - they could select the zone with the relevant system ID that corresponded to the hat they were wearing that day.
ie; EMS deputy chief who was also a line firefighter in a neighboring town - he was given an EMS zone (command channels, mutual aid tone out ability, repeater setup/knockdown tgid, sel call enabled) and a FD zone (fire dispatch, fireground channels, interop) with separate IDs / QC-IIs, etc...one radio, multiple jobs.
ie; EMS deputy chief who was also a line firefighter in a neighboring town - he was given an EMS zone (command channels, mutual aid tone out ability, repeater setup/knockdown tgid, sel call enabled) and a FD zone (fire dispatch, fireground channels, interop) with separate IDs / QC-IIs, etc...one radio, multiple jobs.
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