Pick site by signal strength

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jthorpe

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I did a search and I have found that nothing is coming up on this subject with the terms I have used. I've only recently learned of this brand of scanner and I'm curious about something...

I work in LE, and I use my scanner all the time in my patrol car. I travel all over the state and manually have to try and pick a site with a good signal so I can continue monitoring. I had read something somewhere stating that the PSR-600 can pick the best site based on signal strength. I use my scanner on VIPER here in NC (a lot of sites) and when going from county to county, it's a huge pain trying to figure out which site is best.

Can someone confirm or deny this? If it can do this, I am very interested.
 

WayneH

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Yes, it can. You set the system to ROAM. It will search through the list of control channels and pick the best one. There is also the STAT mode which will check all CC's.
 
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JT-112

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Yes. while it certainly can do this, it's a bit limited, it can only hold a relatively limited number of CCs while in "roam" mode.

So, the answer is "yes" but not a totally enthusiastic yes.

Oh, this feature holds so much promise if GRE would just go a bit further with it...
 

UPMan

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Another option (and forgive the hijack, but it does relate to the OP's situation) is to use the GPS feature of the BCD996T to set the "zones" for each site so that the scanner automatically uses the site you want it to based on where you are.
 
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RKG

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sixtytwo said:
Yes. while it certainly can do this, it's a bit limited, it can only hold a relatively limited number of CCs while in "roam" mode.

So, the answer is "yes" but not a totally enthusiastic yes.

Oh, this feature holds so much promise if GRE would just go a bit further with it...

I'm not sure this is a limitation, since Motorola equipment flashed for SmartZone is limited to either 28 or 32 control channels itself.
 

n8dhw

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Does that hold true for radio's flashed with the Omni-Link option? Which if it is a statewide system I would think the radio's would need more than 32 CC's. But I guess they can be creative in terms of reusing the same frequencies in different parts of the state.
 

jthorpe

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thanks for the info, guys. I wish I could get one to test with first, but I'll just have to do some more research. Can it also do the same thing with EDACS?
 

WayneH

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jthorpe said:
thanks for the info, guys. I wish I could get one to test with first, but I'll just have to do some more research. Can it also do the same thing with EDACS?
No. EDACS systems are still not linkable. The LCN setup makes it more difficult to implement (but can be done).

Do you have a lot of systems that simulcast the same traffic across them? You can always use the Dupe feature and reassign the new TG to the other system(s).
 

JT-112

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RKG said:
I'm not sure this is a limitation, since Motorola equipment flashed for SmartZone is limited to either 28 or 32 control channels itself.

Well, it is an issue, as the system I monitor has about 30 CCs just in the corner of the state I'm in, much less the rest of the state that I travel in. I stopped counting unique CC possibilities at around 50, there were plenty more I reckon.

Oh, sure, not all of these CCs are active, but how the heck would I know which ones are and which ones aren't before I travel there?

That is why this feature disappoints. If it held all of the possible CCs for a large statewide system, I'd be happy as a clam, but it doesn't.
 

loumaag

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sixtytwo said:
...
That is why this feature disappoints. If it held all of the possible CCs for a large statewide system, I'd be happy as a clam, but it doesn't.
Another feature that the manufacturers are missing is the ability to specify a SysID for Moto and P25 systems. This is applicable especially on those large statewide systems where a CCh in one area for the target system is a CCh for some other foreign system elsewhere in the state (or the border). Of course UPMan's comment above does address that with the GPS ability of the 996T, but still...
 

WayneH

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sixtytwo said:
That is why this feature disappoints. If it held all of the possible CCs for a large statewide system, I'd be happy as a clam, but it doesn't.
So creating multiple system objects for different areas of the State isn't helpful either?
 

DonS

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wayne_h said:
So creating multiple system objects for different areas of the State isn't helpful either?
... even if those various system objects have to be in multiple "V-Folders", due to memory size limitations on the scanner. Heck, it only takes 11 seconds to load a new, geographically-based V-Folder and return to "scanning".
 

kikito

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sixtytwo said:
These suggestions defeat the purpose of the feature, of course.

Going by how our system works, it'll defeat the purpose too if I were to put all the possible control channels statewide in one single system. Many of the same Primary/Alternate frequencies are also used as voice channels in other parts. That coupled with occasional interference in some of the frequencies and it would make the scanner take forever to go through all of the frequencies since it will momentarily pause on channels that it detects any activity to see if it's a valid control channel or not.

And then the next complain from people will be: "It's too slow!...." And that would happen with any brand of scanner since I learned of that drawback when I did that on my BCD396T when I first got it.

So once again this is one of those requests/suggestions/features that if GRE wants to implement it, they can go for it but it won't be something that will be beneficial to everybody and people need to be aware of the negative effects as I mentioned above. Like many people, I rather have GRE keep trying to improve decoding on difficult systems like Simulcast ones, which keep increasing in numbers everywhere.

That said, I do see some advantage of when you go into new/unknown/unfamiliar areas of the state or nation and load ALL the CCs before you go and be able to just let it scan when you get there. BUT, thanks to websites like this one, there's not that many "unknown" systems out there that you couldn't just download into your scanner before you go and be all set. Even if it's on two or more separate TSYS assigned to the same Scanlist (just like I have to do with the Uniden), the software will make that a breeze.
 

JT-112

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Oh I'm sorry, you're entirely right, this is a perfect scanner with absolutely no room for improvement.
 

WayneH

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sixtytwo said:
Oh I'm sorry, you're entirely right, this is a perfect scanner with absolutely no room for improvement.
Come on now, there's no need for that attitude. I think they did well. You can't plan for every foreseeable event/feature/option but at least you can make do with what you have and not be a baby about it.
 

RKG

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loumaag said:
Another feature that the manufacturers are missing is the ability to specify a SysID for Moto and P25 systems. This is applicable especially on those large statewide systems where a CCh in one area for the target system is a CCh for some other foreign system elsewhere in the state (or the border). Of course UPMan's comment above does address that with the GPS ability of the 996T, but still...

GRE has this very issue under advisement.
 

wa8pyr

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RKG said:
I'm not sure this is a limitation, since Motorola equipment flashed for SmartZone is limited to either 28 or 32 control channels itself.

Not anymore. Minimum is now 50 and newer versions coming out will do somewhere around 75 or more.
 

WayneH

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The max number of control channels for either networked 3600 or 9600 is now 64 in the CPS. Single site non-rebanding capable max at 4; if the radio supports rebanding it will handle 8.
 

fmon

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BTW folks, VIPER has 32 unique controls and 773 TG's. OP can cover the state with one TSYS if alts aren't used.
 
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