programming statewide system in BCD325P2

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blueangel-eric

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Can someone share a file for ARC-XT software showing me how to program the scanner with systems sites and groups including the statewide system, KSICS? I'm new to these newer style Uniden scanners and I'm struggling to know how to organize my programming and assigning quick keys. I think i have it figured out for conventional but the YT videos don't show you how to do the massive statewide systems. Here in KS most police and fire are on the statewide system. So does each county need to be on it's own system and all the freqs for the statewide system be duplicated for each county/system? Or does each county go in it's own groups under the same system? thanks.
 

N9JCQ

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Ok I am not in Kansas, but I have a 325P2 and this is how I have mine set up. First, understand that you don't need the entire state wide system loaded in your 325P2 UNLESS you plan on traveling all over the state with it. I would suggest using your home county site(s) and perhaps the adjoining county sites. In your case, there are no sites listed for Lyons County. You need to look for sites in adjoining counties. This link will take you to the list of sites in Kansas Kansas Statewide Interoperable Communication System (KSICS) Trunking System, Statewide, Kansas - Scanner Frequencies. The sites are what I use ton set up an individual "system" in my 325P2. The site name is the town the tower is located in. You can see the counties listed as well.

I copy and paste the entire listing of frequencies shown here (including headers) and paste it into Excel/ I then filter on the county or counties I care about. I make each site its own system. That will get you the locations closest to you that you can likely hear with the rubber duck antenna that comes with the unit. You will need to understand how your State Patrol is broken up in to districts or similar to only select the patrol areas in your region. You can then select any county/local PD /Fire/EMS/ Hospital or Local government talk groups relevant to you. You may have to do some research first on how things are laid out. This map may help as well. KSICS - Kansas Statewide Interoperable Communication System - The RadioReference Wiki

1628512332179.png
 

tvengr

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In your case, there are no sites listed for Lyons County.
There are 5 sites in Lyon County.

2 (2)005 (5)ReadingLyon851.900852.2375c852.900a853.250853.500853.925
2 (2)048 (30)AllenLyon854.9875855.2375c855.4875a855.9625856.2375856.7625
2 (2)049 (31)EmporiaLyon855.2125855.4625c855.7375a855.9875856.2625856.9625
2 (2)050 (32)OlpeLyon854.9625856.4625c856.7125a857.2625857.9375858.2625
2 (2)051 (33)Lyon CountyLyon856.0375857.4375c857.7125a858.4375858.7125858.9625
 

N9JCQ

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There are 5 sites in Lyon County.

2 (2)005 (5)ReadingLyon851.900852.2375c852.900a853.250853.500853.925
2 (2)048 (30)AllenLyon854.9875855.2375c855.4875a855.9625856.2375856.7625
2 (2)049 (31)EmporiaLyon855.2125855.4625c855.7375a855.9875856.2625856.9625
2 (2)050 (32)OlpeLyon854.9625856.4625c856.7125a857.2625857.9375858.2625
2 (2)051 (33)Lyon CountyLyon856.0375857.4375c857.7125a858.4375858.7125858.9625
Thanks for the correction!!!
 

hiegtx

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Can someone share a file for ARC-XT software showing me how to program the scanner with systems sites and groups including the statewide system, KSICS? I'm new to these newer style Uniden scanners and I'm struggling to know how to organize my programming and assigning quick keys. I think i have it figured out for conventional but the YT videos don't show you how to do the massive statewide systems. Here in KS most police and fire are on the statewide system. So does each county need to be on it's own system and all the freqs for the statewide system be duplicated for each county/system? Or does each county go in it's own groups under the same system? thanks.
It's not necessary to put each county in it's own system, but the memory structure of the 325P2 is not really conducive to trying to load the entire statewide system. You have a limit of 20 groups per system, but only 10 group quick keys to toggle them on or off. So, you'd have to share quick keys, or forego them on a number of departments. There is also a limit, I believe, of 500 talkgroups per system, which would be exceeded if trying to put all the talkgroups into the same system.
There are 5 sites in Lyon County.

2 (2)005 (5)ReadingLyon851.900852.2375c852.900a853.250853.500853.925
2 (2)048 (30)AllenLyon854.9875855.2375c855.4875a855.9625856.2375856.7625
2 (2)049 (31)EmporiaLyon855.2125855.4625c855.7375a855.9875856.2625856.9625
2 (2)050 (32)OlpeLyon854.9625856.4625c856.7125a857.2625857.9375858.2625
2 (2)051 (33)Lyon CountyLyon856.0375857.4375c857.7125a858.4375858.7125858.9625
Jim's noted the five sites in your home county. I would program those, along with the related Lyon County talkgroups, into one system. The database has all of the talkgroups for your county (county & individual cities & towns) as one department.

1628529668764.png
You can either leave those as-is, or split them up into groups-County Law (the Sheriff's Dept). County Fire, plus individual for the various fire departments.

I would also program your immediately adjacent counties, if you can receive them, either as individual systems, or a collective system with all of their sites & departments. For the rest of the state, program a multi-county system (like 4 to 5 counties in each) for other quadrants of the state you occasionally travel to or through.

If, during programming, you make sure to include location data for the other areas, then using a GPS while driving to or through their areas would toggle systems on and off as they come into, or pass out of, range.

You don't show to be a Premium subscriber, which makes makes programming larger systems much easier & quicker by importing them into software. However, FreeSCAN does have EZ-Grab, which can be used to copy data from the database here on RadioReference into the software. FreeSCAN is free to use, and there is a user guide in the Wiki. While this does not affect your statewide system, if, at some point, you add the DMR or NXDN upgrade, FreeSCAN does not correctly handle DMR, and has zero support for NXDN. If you need to later add either of those modes, you would need either program manually through the keypad, or purchase ProScan or ARC-XT.
 

blueangel-eric

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It's not necessary to put each county in it's own system, but the memory structure of the 325P2 is not really conducive to trying to load the entire statewide system. You have a limit of 20 groups per system, but only 10 group quick keys to toggle them on or off. So, you'd have to share quick keys, or forego them on a number of departments. There is also a limit, I believe, of 500 talkgroups per system, which would be exceeded if trying to put all the talkgroups into the same system.

Jim's noted the five sites in your home county. I would program those, along with the related Lyon County talkgroups, into one system. The database has all of the talkgroups for your county (county & individual cities & towns) as one department.

View attachment 107723
You can either leave those as-is, or split them up into groups-County Law (the Sheriff's Dept). County Fire, plus individual for the various fire departments.

I would also program your immediately adjacent counties, if you can receive them, either as individual systems, or a collective system with all of their sites & departments. For the rest of the state, program a multi-county system (like 4 to 5 counties in each) for other quadrants of the state you occasionally travel to or through.

If, during programming, you make sure to include location data for the other areas, then using a GPS while driving to or through their areas would toggle systems on and off as they come into, or pass out of, range.

You don't show to be a Premium subscriber, which makes makes programming larger systems much easier & quicker by importing them into software. However, FreeSCAN does have EZ-Grab, which can be used to copy data from the database here on RadioReference into the software. FreeSCAN is free to use, and there is a user guide in the Wiki. While this does not affect your statewide system, if, at some point, you add the DMR or NXDN upgrade, FreeSCAN does not correctly handle DMR, and has zero support for NXDN. If you need to later add either of those modes, you would need either program manually through the keypad, or purchase ProScan or ARC-XT.
thanks for the info. I will be getting NXDN upgrade in the future as some railroads are using it so of course i can't use freescan. I'm on a trial for the butel software and proscan software. i find proscan confusing and couldnt' figure it out.
I have a GRE PSR-500 and it still uses regular banks. so it's a whole new ball game with this scanner. And it's confusing that there's quick keys for the System, Site, and Groups. I normally program a large area for the statewide system and use banks for more local areas. and bank 10 for all statewide stuff like KHP, KBI, etc on my PSR500. That way when i travel a few counties over I will have the programming for them available. But on the PSR now that counties like Lyon have multiple sites and freqs i run out of room for them on the PSR500. When i go storm chasing i never know how wide of an area i'll be in so it's good to have a wide area programmed in.


I don't sub to RR or Broadacastify as I subscribe to Flickr which takes a big $50 a year plus netflix, peacock, youtube premium, amazon prime, and Paramont Plus etc. I can't afford to sub to RR and Broadastify. It gets ridiculous how many websites want people to subscribe. I'm on a fixed income as it is.
 

tvengr

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Here are 2 ARC-XT files for Lyon County. One is the KSICS trunked system and the other is the conventional frequencies. Save the attached zipped file to your computer and extract. Open the extracted files with ARC-XT and Upload to Scanner. Quick keys as follows:

Lyon Co KS Trunk
SYSTEM QUICK KEYS:
1. KSICS Reading (Site)
2. KSICS Allen (Site)
3. KSICS Emporia (Site)
4. KSICS Olpe (Site)
5. KSICS Lyon Co (Site)
GROUP QUICK KEYS:
1. Lyon Co Fire
2. Lyon Co Interop
3. Lyon Co Law
4. Highway Patrol
5. State Interop
6. Incident Command
7. Major Emerg Resp
8. JntTerrorTskFrc
9. Div Emerg Mgmt
Lyon Co KS Conv
SYSTEM QUICK KEY:
6. Lyon Co KS Conv
GROUP QUICK KEYS:
1. Lyon Co Fire
2. Local Fire
3. Lyon Co Sheriff
4. Lyon Co Jail
5. Emporia Fire
6. Emporia Police
7. Emporia Univ PD
 

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  • Lyon Co KS XT.zip
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blueangel-eric

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Here are 2 ARC-XT files for Lyon County. One is the KSICS trunked system and the other is the conventional frequencies. Save the attached zipped file to your computer and extract. Open the extracted files with ARC-XT and Upload to Scanner. Quick keys as follows:

Lyon Co KS Trunk
SYSTEM QUICK KEYS:
1. KSICS Reading (Site)
2. KSICS Allen (Site)
3. KSICS Emporia (Site)
4. KSICS Olpe (Site)
5. KSICS Lyon Co (Site)
GROUP QUICK KEYS:
1. Lyon Co Fire
2. Lyon Co Interop
3. Lyon Co Law
4. Highway Patrol
5. State Interop
6. Incident Command
7. Major Emerg Resp
8. JntTerrorTskFrc
9. Div Emerg Mgmt
Lyon Co KS Conv
SYSTEM QUICK KEY:
6. Lyon Co KS Conv
GROUP QUICK KEYS:
1. Lyon Co Fire
2. Local Fire
3. Lyon Co Sheriff
4. Lyon Co Jail
5. Emporia Fire
6. Emporia Police
7. Emporia Univ PD
thanks for the files. I'm having problems with the ARC-XT not saving when i click save. l lost hours of work when windows did a reboot and this program isn't saving. i check the modified date and time and it shows the file is not saving. I made a new file at 9:15pm and saved multiple times and it's now 9:39pm and the newest save still shows 9:15pm. what is wrong with the program? I click save every 2-3 mins.
 

tvengr

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With the files, you can quick save all systems and it will save them with the system names. Otherwise, with a single file, you can do a save as and give it a name.
 
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blueangel-eric

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With the files, you can quick save all systems and it will save them with the system names.
I'm confused. I'm saving as Profile. but i see it saves Systems. what is the difference? But when I click the Save icon on the menu bar it seems to be saving the system not the profile. but when i look in the folder i don't see a matching system file.
 

blueangel-eric

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I'm confused. I'm saving as Profile. but i see it saves Systems. what is the difference? But when I click the Save icon on the menu bar it seems to be saving the system not the profile. but when i look in the folder i don't see a matching system file.
damn. I lost a bunch of stuff so i loaded the older profile is saved to match the new messed up one with missing stuff. now i have to load radio reference and copy stuff over manually all over again. unless i download my radio. How could saving a new profile cause the older one to save with the same stuff? The old one was from a few weeks ago yet it looks identical to the new messed up one.
 

tvengr

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A profile does not save systems. It is nothing more than a list of systems so that you can open multiple systems at once. The systems have to be saved first before you can open them with a profile. Once the systems are saved, open them one at a time in the order you want. When all of the systems are open, Save Profile As and give it a name. Once that is done, you can Open Profile and select the profile name you saved. All of the systems in the profile will open in ARC-XT.
 
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hiegtx

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thanks for the info. I will be getting NXDN upgrade in the future as some railroads are using it so of course i can't use freescan. I'm on a trial for the butel software and proscan software. i find proscan confusing and couldnt' figure it out.
I have a GRE PSR-500 and it still uses regular banks. so it's a whole new ball game with this scanner. And it's confusing that there's quick keys for the System, Site, and Groups. I normally program a large area for the statewide system and use banks for more local areas. and bank 10 for all statewide stuff like KHP, KBI, etc on my PSR500. That way when i travel a few counties over I will have the programming for them available. But on the PSR now that counties like Lyon have multiple sites and freqs i run out of room for them on the PSR500. When i go storm chasing i never know how wide of an area i'll be in so it's good to have a wide area programmed in.


I don't sub to RR or Broadacastify as I subscribe to Flickr which takes a big $50 a year plus netflix, peacock, youtube premium, amazon prime, and Paramont Plus etc. I can't afford to sub to RR and Broadastify. It gets ridiculous how many websites want people to subscribe. I'm on a fixed income as it is.
Your PSR500 does not use "regular banks either. It's "object oriented" memory lets you define scan lists to contain a collection of frequencies and/or trunked systems, assigning one of the 20 lists to a specific area. You can treat those, somewhat, as "banks", but you have the advantage of including data without a hard limit (other than the overall limit of the scanner's memory) on what you can put in a list. The 'bank' scanners, such as a Pro-97 or Pro-96 had multiple banks, say 100 channels each bank (I don't have the actual specs handy, so that figure is simply an example). If you filled up a bank of 100 channels, but there was more that needed to be associated with what you already programmed, you either had to try & cut it down to fit, or use part of another bank. If your theoretical bank of 100 channels only had 50 programmed, the rest was dead space, unless you used it for other purposes.

With the object oriented scanners, you have your 20 scanlists, but you can have different numbers of objects in each. One for a small city or county might only need 25 items to cover everything. A larger, urban, type county, might need something well over 100 entrees. You can vary the number of items in each list as long as your total does not exceed the scanner's capacity. You also have the V-scanners, which are additional full program files. When storm chasing, when you run out of your home area, take a minute or two to switch to the V-scanner programming file that covers the area you are entering.

For the Uniden DMA scanners, other than the database HP series (HP-1/-2, x36HP, & the SDS scanners), you have a larger available memory file than the PSR500. You can assign groups of systems to one of the available quick keys, mimicking the effect of a bank, except that you can utilize a flexible number of channels & systems assigned to a quick key, and turn that group of systems on or off, via the quick key, like toggling a bank on a much older model.
 

blueangel-eric

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A profile does not save systems. It is nothing more than a list of systems so that you can open multiple systems at once. The systems have to be saved first before you can open them with a profile. Once the systems are saved, open them one at a time in the order you want. When all of the systems are open, Save Profile As and give it a name. Once that is done, you can Open Profile and select the profile name you saved. All of the systems in the profile will open in ARC-XT.
that's weird how you can save some systems separately than the whole profile. it's confusing. This modern software is so confusing and not user friendly like the old Win95, Win97, Win500. Like when i insert an empty line it puts it in front of the last object in the list instead of the end of the list so i have to keep moving the last object back up. the mouse scroll wheel doesn't work and that's annoying. and when pasting it overwrites what's there if there isn't enough empty lines. and you can't move more then one line up or down at a time. the other thing that bothers me is, I have to hit Enter after pasting info ARC-XT otherwise the info disappears when i go to the next field to enter the next thing.
 
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blueangel-eric

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Your PSR500 does not use "regular banks either. It's "object oriented" memory lets you define scan lists to contain a collection of frequencies and/or trunked systems, assigning one of the 20 lists to a specific area. You can treat those, somewhat, as "banks", but you have the advantage of including data without a hard limit (other than the overall limit of the scanner's memory) on what you can put in a list. The 'bank' scanners, such as a Pro-97 or Pro-96 had multiple banks, say 100 channels each bank (I don't have the actual specs handy, so that figure is simply an example). If you filled up a bank of 100 channels, but there was more that needed to be associated with what you already programmed, you either had to try & cut it down to fit, or use part of another bank. If your theoretical bank of 100 channels only had 50 programmed, the rest was dead space, unless you used it for other purposes.

With the object oriented scanners, you have your 20 scanlists, but you can have different numbers of objects in each. One for a small city or county might only need 25 items to cover everything. A larger, urban, type county, might need something well over 100 entrees. You can vary the number of items in each list as long as your total does not exceed the scanner's capacity. You also have the V-scanners, which are additional full program files. When storm chasing, when you run out of your home area, take a minute or two to switch to the V-scanner programming file that covers the area you are entering.

For the Uniden DMA scanners, other than the database HP series (HP-1/-2, x36HP, & the SDS scanners), you have a larger available memory file than the PSR500. You can assign groups of systems to one of the available quick keys, mimicking the effect of a bank, except that you can utilize a flexible number of channels & systems assigned to a quick key, and turn that group of systems on or off, via the quick key, like toggling a bank on a much older model.
thanks for the info. I never use the V Scanner and always forget how to use it. and forget that it exists.
 

tvengr

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With ARC-XT, you can drag down a number of lines. Under the Options tab, if you insert empty lines, it will insert the same number of empty lines that you dragged down before the first line you highlighted. You can highlight a single line or multiple lines and use Ctrl-c to copy, Ctrl-x to cut, and Ctrl-v to paste. Just insert more lines than you need to move frequencies or talkgroups into. You can always remove empty lines to eliminate the extra space.
 

blueangel-eric

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With ARC-XT, you can drag down a number of lines. Under the Options tab, if you insert empty lines, it will insert the same number of empty lines that you dragged down before the first line you highlighted. You can highlight a single line or multiple lines and use Ctrl-c to copy, Ctrl-x to cut, and Ctrl-v to paste. Just insert more lines than you need to move frequencies or talkgroups into. You can always remove empty lines to eliminate the extra space.
is there a setting for the middle mouse scroll wheel? I hate having to waste time with the arrows on the right side of the screen. when you click the slider and drag nothing moves till you let go then it jumps too far ahead because you couldn't' see how far you was moving everything. So i have to click the arrows which is inconvenient and old fashion as well. it dates back to 1998 before I even knew what a scroll wheel was. Most computer software I've used in the last 15 years uses the middle scroll wheel.
 
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