One last question on the PSR-800

[acyddrop]

Is there a trick to scanning multiple sites within the PSR-800 or am I doing this right?

I want to scan the 2 cities on either side (North and South) of where I am. So I have my scanner setup like this:

Scanlist 001: Delray Beach Talkgroup Site and Associated talkgroup objects (This is my city)
Scanlist 002: Boca Raton Talkgroup Site and Associated talkgroup objects
Scanlist 003: Boyton Beach Talkgroup Site and Associated talkgroup objects

By default I have my 800 setup to enable Scanlists 1-3. But when I run this way, with 3 distinct scanlists for my surrounding area I only hear the Delray Beach one and neither of the other two. But when they are all grouped into just one scan list they are all quite active (each city that is). Even if I disable Scanlist 001 and resume scanning with the other two they are dead quiet. Now I've double and triple checked to make sure the Talkgroup site is included for each Scanlist so I'm fairly confident that I've setup each scanlist properly. I'm just confused, any input is appreciated. Thanks for your time.

 

[brian]

Within a single Trunked system object, there is no way to associate one or more talkgroups with a specific site.

The only support for multi-site systems in the PSR-800 is GRE's "Roam" method, in which the scanner determines the "best" site to scan as the first site it encounters with a control channel decode rate that equals or surpasses the "Hi" threshold set for that particular site. So, if you have Delray Beach site Hi threshold set for 90, and when it first scans the system it finds the decode rate at 93, it will scan the Delray Beach site and only that site until its decode rate drops below the Low threshold value. It will ignore the other two sites.

In order to "force" the scanner to scan each site, you'll have to create separate Trunked system objects, each with one site, and program the appropriate talkgroups for each site into each system. This can be inefficient if you duplicate many talkgroups, but it will give you the control you're looking for.

 

[acyddrop]

Within a single Trunked system object, there is no way to associate one or more talkgroups with a specific site.

The only support for multi-site systems in the PSR-800 is GRE's "Roam" method, in which the scanner determines the "best" site to scan as the first site it encounters with a control channel decode rate that equals or surpasses the "Hi" threshold set for that particular site. So, if you have Delray Beach site Hi threshold set for 90, and when it first scans the system it finds the decode rate at 93, it will scan the Delray Beach site and only that site until its decode rate drops below the Low threshold value. It will ignore the other two sites.

In order to "force" the scanner to scan each site, you'll have to create separate Trunked system objects, each with one site, and program the appropriate talkgroups for each site into each system. This can be inefficient if you duplicate many talkgroups, but it will give you the control you're looking for.

Thank you for a great reply, basically then it sounds like a real pain to do (or at least quite time consuming). It might be worth it for the cities but after that it'd be either to group the rest of say the county objects in the default manner. So am I to understand then, that the trunked system objects are global and you don't need to include them specifically into your scanlists once they exist within the scanners frame work? In other words, once I have a talkgroup object created (say "Palm Beach County") and that has sites under it (Delray, Boyton, ... etc) it exists within the scanner memory and then I can just place the talkgroups into scanlists and I don't need to place the Talkgroup objects in as well?

 

[W6KRU]

You guys might have better luck discussing things if you used the correct terminology. A TSYS contains the site frequencies and can't be put in scanlists. Talkgroups are the scannable objects that go in scanlists. Talkgroups are assigned to one TSYS only.

 

[brownlab]

It almost sounds like all of your sites are sharing the same control channel even though your sites 2 and 3 are supposed to have their own distinct control channels. So a work around solution would be use the same program setup you have on site 1 for site 2 and 3. Then just lock out the TGs not wanted on sites 2 and 3 by using the "Skip" function (I am assuming you hear everything on your site one)

 

[brian]

As Dan said, trunked system objects contain sites (and their associated frequencies) and talkgroups. You don't put a trunked system object into a scan list, nor can you put a site into a scan list. You can only put talkgroup objects (and conventional objects) into scan lists.

The PSR-800 offers no control of the trunked system object or the sites from the scanner itself. The only thing you can do is move talkgroups to different scanlists using the scanner itself. It's crazy that you can "Lock Out" a site in a trunked system from the software, but then there's no way to "unlock" a site from the scanner. Why program the site at all, then?

The other limitation I have found is using the import function. It doesn't allow a user to create redundant trunked system objects for the same system.

So, to accomplish what acyddrop wants to do, my recommedation is to create a single trunked system object using the import function that includes all the sites and all the talkgroups that he wants to monitor. Then, using the EZ Scan Digital software, he can easily duplicate that trunked system object as many times as he needs. Then, he can delete different sites and groups of talkgroups from each trunked system object.

So he's left with, for example, 3 trunked system objects, each with a single site (a different site in each object) and the talkgroups he wants associated with that site in the appropriate object. He can then separate those talkgroups into appropriate scan lists, and employing the scan set feature, in one "step" he can enable or disable groups of talkgroups (multiple scan lists) associated with each individual site. It allows him to control which site or sites he monitors at any given time.

Good luck.

 

[acyddrop]

As Dan said, trunked system objects contain sites (and their associated frequencies) and talkgroups. You don't put a trunked system object into a scan list, nor can you put a site into a scan list. You can only put talkgroup objects (and conventional objects) into scan lists.

The PSR-800 offers no control of the trunked system object or the sites from the scanner itself. The only thing you can do is move talkgroups to different scanlists using the scanner itself. It's crazy that you can "Lock Out" a site in a trunked system from the software, but then there's no way to "unlock" a site from the scanner. Why program the site at all, then?

The other limitation I have found is using the import function. It doesn't allow a user to create redundant trunked system objects for the same system.

So, to accomplish what acyddrop wants to do, my recommedation is to create a single trunked system object using the import function that includes all the sites and all the talkgroups that he wants to monitor. Then, using the EZ Scan Digital software, he can easily duplicate that trunked system object as many times as he needs. Then, he can delete different sites and groups of talkgroups from each trunked system object.

So he's left with, for example, 3 trunked system objects, each with a single site (a different site in each object) and the talkgroups he wants associated with that site in the appropriate object. He can then separate those talkgroups into appropriate scan lists, and employing the scan set feature, in one "step" he can enable or disable groups of talkgroups (multiple scan lists) associated with each individual site. It allows him to control which site or sites he monitors at any given time.

Good luck.

As you said it was a bit unwieldy but it worked an absolute treat! Got the 800 working exactly how I wanted it to. Thanks for all your help Brian.

 

[1969Roadrunner]

As Dan said, trunked system objects contain sites (and their associated frequencies) and talkgroups. You don't put a trunked system object into a scan list, nor can you put a site into a scan list. You can only put talkgroup objects (and conventional objects) into scan lists.

The PSR-800 offers no control of the trunked system object or the sites from the scanner itself. The only thing you can do is move talkgroups to different scanlists using the scanner itself. It's crazy that you can "Lock Out" a site in a trunked system from the software, but then there's no way to "unlock" a site from the scanner. Why program the site at all, then?

The other limitation I have found is using the import function. It doesn't allow a user to create redundant trunked system objects for the same system.

So, to accomplish what acyddrop wants to do, my recommedation is to create a single trunked system object using the import function that includes all the sites and all the talkgroups that he wants to monitor. Then, using the EZ Scan Digital software, he can easily duplicate that trunked system object as many times as he needs. Then, he can delete different sites and groups of talkgroups from each trunked system object.

So he's left with, for example, 3 trunked system objects, each with a single site (a different site in each object) and the talkgroups he wants associated with that site in the appropriate object. He can then separate those talkgroups into appropriate scan lists, and employing the scan set feature, in one "step" he can enable or disable groups of talkgroups (multiple scan lists) associated with each individual site. It allows him to control which site or sites he monitors at any given time.

Good luck.

This is exactly what I have done with my 800. I duplicated the P25 simulcast system 8 times and named each one according to what area they cover by enabling and disabling the sites, then separated the talkgroups according to location into a scanlist associated with one of the new renamed systems. I put all this into a v-scanner folder named "isolated sites" so I could switch back and forth and see the difference. It makes the 800 much more efficient. Granted things like TAC channels or Highway Patrol, etc. have to be allowed full access to all the sites I could possibly hear at the house. The one piece of information I am missing are, the sites each talkgroup is simulcast on. I have figured out most of them but, if I knew for sure I could do even better according to my geographical location. Before I did this, at times the scanner would lock onto a marginal site when I know I could be hearing the talkgroup better from a stronger one. I know I could tighten up the data decode threshold but, I would have to reduce it for the marginal sites so the problem would still exist. Separating them was the answer. O.K. enough rambling, just thought I would share my experience...........Jim

 

[acyddrop]

It's amazing what a difference it makes by splitting up the sites with their associated talkgroups! The scanner went from fairly quiet (disappointingly so) to a fun and vibrant scanning experience here in South Florida. It's actually exciting and interesting, much like I remembered it being.

I tested out the setup in a v-scanner folder first then just moved everything over to the default setup. I haven't yet found a reason to use the v-scanner folders for general use. I can see them being useful for testing purposes and when traveling to different areas though.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

 

[1969Roadrunner]

It's amazing what a difference it makes by splitting up the sites with their associated talkgroups! The scanner went from fairly quiet (disappointingly so) to a fun and vibrant scanning experience here in South Florida. It's actually exciting and interesting, much like I remembered it being.

I tested out the setup in a v-scanner folder first then just moved everything over to the default setup. I haven't yet found a reason to use the v-scanner folders for general use. I can see them being useful for testing purposes and when traveling to different areas though.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

Oh yeah I can see the v-scanner folders great for traveling or maybe just going over to the other side of town.
Tomorrow I'm doing the ham radio field day thing, which is about 30 miles away. I already made another v-scanner folder for that "with the strong sites enabled" because I'll be spending the night. Speaking of that, I better get the he$$ to bed. Have fun with the scanner...........Jim

 

[brian]

As far determining which talkgroups are active on which sites, I use the motorola trunked control channel decoding software Trunk88. I let it analyze each control channel within range for several days, and that shows me a pretty good list of the active talkgroups on that site. Using trunk88, I rename the sysid.ctl file so that I have one file for each site. This keeps the datat separate.

Of course I have groups of talkgroups that are "statewide" or common among several or all sites, and those talkgroups are duplicated among each trunked system object. It's inefficient but works.

 

[1969Roadrunner]

As far determining which talkgroups are active on which sites, I use the motorola trunked control channel decoding software Trunk88. I let it analyze each control channel within range for several days, and that shows me a pretty good list of the active talkgroups on that site. Using trunk88, I rename the sysid.ctl file so that I have one file for each site. This keeps the datat separate.

Of course I have groups of talkgroups that are "statewide" or common among several or all sites, and those talkgroups are duplicated among each trunked system object. It's inefficient but works.

That is great advice. I will give that a try, Thanks.....Jim