Programming MSCommNet in Sentinel

[JasonT]

Having a hard time wrapping my head around the way the SDS scanners handle MSCommNet.

I am trying to separate some of the MSCommNet departments into their own favorites list in Sentinel.
Such as "State Police", "Warden Service" "Forest service" Etc. So I can turn off the departments I do not want to hear at the moment and speed up scanning a bit.

When I move each department into its respective favorites list it automatically moves all of the towers along with it. So, I end up having all of the same towers in each favorite list. I know I can delete the towers that I do not want to scan , but each list then still has the 6 or so towers I do want to scan in them.

Is this causing the scanner to scan the 6 towers multiple times if I have all of the Favorite lists turned on at the same time?
Am I better off (scan speed wise) leaving them all (departments) under one favorite list, and just listening to some departments I do not want to hear at that time? Thereby actually saving time by having the towers listed only once?

Thanks for any clarification you can provide for me.

JT

 

[tvengr]

The number of talkgroups in a trunked system does not change the speed of scanning. You do not scan talkgroups. You scan sites. The control channel in the site outputs the frequency and talkgroup information. You only need to program the red control channel and blue alternate frequencies in each site. You are correct that scanning the same site multiple times will slow down scanning as well as missing transmissions on other sites. You want to minimize the number of sites you scan. What is your city and county and which agencies do you want to monitor? Are you using quick keys to turn departments on and off? I will help you set up a favorites list for your local area.

 

[JasonT]

Thank you tvengr,
I have not tried quick keys, but am not opposed if it will help in any way.

I am in Augusta, Kennebec county, Maine. The local departments are small and not an issue for me. (i think?)
On the MSCommNet, I was just trying to separate the wardens from the state police, forestry, and others because I only listen to some of them once in a a while. It seemed like separate favorite lists was the way to go until i realized it was re-scanning the sites multiple times.

So when I add the talkgroups that I want, it is just telling the scanner which signals to let through?
If this is true, is there a way to program my selected sites only once, and turn talk groups on and off as I wish without adding the sites multiple times? Also, Should I only program the sites closest to me (assuming they are all linked and sending the same signals)?

After reading your reply, and going back into Sentinel it looks like I can avoid talkgroups or assign quick keys to the to switch them on and off while having the sites scanned only once per pass. Is this correct?

I also notice that many of the sites on the Maine State Communications Network have two or three blue alternate control channels.

Thank you again very much.

JT

 

[tvengr]

I am working on a favorites list for MSCommNet using just the sites in Kennebec County. I will attach it when completed.

 

[JasonT]

Thank you, I am sure Your favorites list will help me see how it should be done.

 

[tvengr]

Here is the hpe favorites list file for MSCommNet. Let me know when you have it loaded and I will give you information about using quick keys. Save the attached zipped file to your computer and extract. Using Sentinel, go to the File tab and Import from hpe file (Favorites List). Click on New Favorites List and name it Kennebec Co ME Click on OK. Locate and highlight the extracted file (Kennebec Co ME.hpe) in the Downloads folder and click on Open. It will appear as a favorites list in Sentinel. Before you write the file to the scanner, do this: Go to the Tools tab in Sentinel and set the Target Model to SDS100 or SDS200 (whichever you are using). That will allow you to use the site NAC's in the 3 sites. Go to the Edit tab and Edit Favorites List, Select Kennebec Co ME and click on OK. Click on the Options tab and set FL Quick Key to 0. Click on the File tab and Save. Click on the File tab and Exit. That will add a quick key of 0 to the favorites list. Once the favorites list is written to the scanner, you will be able to toggle the favorites list on and off by pressing 0 and then E on the keypad.

 

[JasonT]

Thank you, I see now that I thought I had too many departments slowing my scanning down, but it was too many sites that was making it slow.

I did as you asked, but I could not get the quick key to work. not sure if there is another setting I need to enable or not?
The favorite list you sent scans super fast though. Very happy to make some progress, thanks again.

JT

 

[JasonT]

I figured out the quick key. I had to push function then quick key for it to work. Thanks again for fixing my brain on this.
I was overcomplicating it in my mind for some reason.

Let me know if you have any more suggestions. I appreciate it very much.


JT

 

[tvengr]

Are you scanning when you try to toggle the favorites list on and off. There is no need to press function to use quick keys. You must be scanning when toggling favorites lists, systems, departments, and sites on and off. You cannot be holding on a channel or talkgroup. If you are not scanning, the scanner will go to a Direct Entry mode for entering frequencies in a Quick Save Favorites List. If scanning when you press 0, the scanner will go to a Quick Key Navigation menu. When you press E, you will get a message telling you that quick key 0 is on or off. I did not include the game wardens in the favorites list. They are all encrypted and you will not be able to hear them anyway.

 

[JasonT]

Yes, If scanning pressing 0 and E results in a few error beeps from the SDS200. Not sure why. Maybe just a setting on my end.
it worked last night by pressing the function key first, but this is not working for me today. I will have a look around to be sure nothing looks out of place.

 

[JasonT]

My mistake, I was setting it for system quick key instead of favorites quick key. Guess I was tired last night, very sorry for the confusion.
These scanners will do so much and I am so used to the old methods I guess. Learning curve..... Again, I really appreciate the help.

 

[tvengr]

It was programmed with a system quick key of 0 also. You can add additional systems to that favorites list. Go back and program the favorites list for a FL quick key of 0 also. Even though there is only one system in that favorites list, the system is programmed with a quick key of 0 for a reason. If you should accidentally turn off all of the departments or sites, the scanner would show the dreaded Nothing to Scan. You need a system quick key to be able to re-enable the favorites list without having to go into the scanner menus to do it. If you look at the Kennebec Co ME favorites list in Sentinel, you will see that the departments in the Kennebec Co MSCommNet system are assigned department/site quick keys 0 thru 14. The 3 sites have department/site quick keys 20 thru 22. If scanning a system, you can toggle departments and sites on and off by pressing the decimal point button twice followed by the department/site quick key number followed by E. If you make a mistake or get hung up in the Quick Key Navigation menu, press AVOID to exit. Don't turn off a single system or all of the departments or sites in that system or you will end up with Nothing to Scan. I will give you instructions on how to recover if you accidentally do that.

 

[JasonT]

Alright, sorry to be a pain but just to be sure we are on the same page, I deleted the favorites list from Sentinel and started over.

I imported the hpe file and called it " Kennebec Co ME"
Then edit favorites list, went to options and made "FL Quick Key" 0
I did nothing else.
Saved, exit, programmed to scanner and I get beep errors when I push 0 then E

The scanner type is set to SDS200,
The Favorites list quick key status shows "Kennebec Co ME" is set to 0
The System quick key status shows "Kennebec Co MSCommNet" is set to 0
The Dept/Site quick key status shows "System Wide" is set to 0 , and the other Departments are 0 thru 14 with the three Sites being 20 thru 21.

Everything looks just as you described it should and I made no other changes. All other pre existing lists etc are set to "none" for quick keys since I have never attempted to use them before. I am kind of stumped

 

[JasonT]

I think I just discovered something. The list you sent has a service type of "custom 1"
If I enable your favorites list manually, I can then turn it on and off at will with the favorites quick key. ( 0 then E )
This enables the "service type" selection of "Custom 1" to be selected and unselected in the "Select Service Types" menu on the scanner.

I have all the Service types check off in my profile, so I have no Idea why it is acting this way.

 

[JasonT]

it looks like they have to be set to monitor when the scanner first starts up and then they can be switched off and back on as needed.
I initially thought the Favorites lists could be switched to on even if they were off when the scanner was turned on. Now I know differently.
I see that the point will be to turn off/on the departments within the list with the quick keys. This will be most useful. Thank you.

I am happy that the list scans super fast and that was my main objective here. Learning how these newer scanners run can be challenging for sure.

 

[tvengr]

In the profile editor, Download and Monitor must both be On for the favorites list when you Write to Scanner. Download sends the file to the scanner and Monitor enables it to scan. I did not download the system from the database. I created a custom system entering only the TGID's (Talkgroup ID's) and alpha tags. If service types are not entered, the service type defaults to Custom 1, which must be checked for the favorites list to scan. Go to the Service Types tab of the profile editor. Look to the right on the same page as where you checked the other service types. You will see the Custom service types. There is a lot to learn, but it will become much easier as you work with Sentinel and the scanner. There is another reason for setting the Target Model under the Tools tab. You will be able to edit the custom display only if the Target Model is set to SDS100 or SDS200. I limited alpha tags to 24 characters so that the same favorites list can be used on both the SDS100 and SDS200 without cutting off the end of the alpha tags. Favorites list names and site names should be limited to 16 characters. I will work up a set of instructions for using quick keys. Note: The 3 sites are quick keys 20 thru 22.

 

[JasonT]

Sounds great, thanks. I have had the scanner a while. But have only ever programmed it by the database.
It was taking so long to scan te trunking MSCommNet because of the quantity of sites.....
This is what had me looking into figuring out how to slim the system down to something useable for me.
I did not realized the individual talkgroups did not get scanned, just the sites.

I have customized the screen also. Layout and colors. Great scanner for sure.

Thanks again.

JT

 

[Paultee]

I down loaded this new favorites list to my HP2 and though I cannot use the quick keys it is scanning so much faster. Thanks Tvengr and Jason T.

 

[JasonT]

Yes, it's a good one Paul. Like me, you were bogged down with tower sites you can't even hear.

 

[Paultee]

Right, scanning so much faster now. I am scanning my whole favorites list in the time it used the spend on MSCommNet alone.