Programming Tips/Tricks?

[webley445]

I'm loving my new PSR500!

What a step up for me, have been using a Pro95 for the last several years, practically since the 95 first came out, now ths is a huge difference.

While i was lurking this forum researching before buying it, I had read a thread where someone mentioned it would be nice if they could stop the display from flashing so much between system tag and TGRP tag.
Then when I first got the 500 and got it programmed I understood what they meant. I found it annoying, just my personal preference. Guess I am too used to the way the 95 operates after using it for so long.

So what I did was leave the TSYS tags blank, then adjusted LCD Blink settings, LCD Blink Off to max and LCD Blink ON to minimum.
Now when its scanning,
All you see is "Scanning" while the unit scans. Then when it does pick up a transmission, the TGRP ID tag dispalys solid and remains on throughout the radio transmission.

Next I got annoyed that I could not see which bank was receiving during radio traffic. i know its not a big deal to many, but I personally like to know, especially since the unit is new to me and I don't have all the info I entered memorized yet. I know that pressing "manual" during a transmission will display this info, but I wanted a way of knowing at a glance.
So I altered all the alpha tags (a breeze to accomplish thanks to Win500!).
I had to abbreviate some entries, but I added "B**" at the front of each tag to denote what bank was in use. B=bank, and then the appropriate number after it.

Finally, I wanted to be able to switch between different alert configurations quicklly and easily (at least easy for me). So I created 4 files, each set up with different alert modes like this:
1=no alerts, manual operation of lcd/keyboard lighting (for when I just let the scanner run, "set it -n- forget it")
2=alerts by lcd/keyboard lighting only (so I don't have to manually light up the display to read it, does it by itself)
3=alerts by led only (to see who is transmitting without having to be close to read the display)
4=alerts by both led and lcd/keyboard lighting (to cover all the bases and because I can)

I saved each configuration to its own V folder and named them appropriately. This way I can chose on the fly which setup i want depending on where I am and conditions i am monitoring under (i.e. daylight, night time, scanner not within reach, etc.).

Comes in real handy for me at work as I am lucky enough to have a job where I get some down time sitting in a vehicle at night and can entertain myself with the scanner to keep from going crazy with boredom.

Though it may all seem redundant, this suits my needs, at least for the time being.
Now I'm wondering if anyone else has any tips or tricks they could share?

 

[ka3jjz]

We have articles linked in our wiki for tips and shortcuts for the Object Oriented scanners here (anything in blue is a link)...

GRE/RS Object Oriented Scanners FAQ - The RadioReference Wiki

Please feel free to add to them 73 Mike

 

[grumpy_hermit]

Thanks for sharing your ideas. I think I'll be using some of them.

 

[Patch42]

Everyone is certainly entitled to come up with their own method of organizing their scanner data in a way they find comfortable, but I can't help thinking that in the long run you'd be better off if you abandoned the ways of the past and embraced the methods that are easiest with the PSR500. So far you seem to be going to a fair bit of trouble trying to make the PSR500 act like your old scanner.

Some of what you've suggested here seems almost self-contradictory. You don't like the alternating TSYS tag and TGRP tag on the display, but you want to see to which "bank" the active object belongs. I would suggest the "bank" is irrelevant if you've taken advantage of what the TSYS and TGRP tags will allow. Use the TSYS tag to name the system. This will usually be a city or county (admittedly, not always). Knowing the TSYS tag will be displayed, you don't need to repeat that information on the TGRP tag. To me, it's much more useful to see "Orange County" alternate with "Sheriff South" than to try to cram all that into the allowable number of characters. Add three characters of "bank" information and now you have even less space.

The most recent firmware update is supposed to allow the scan list tag to alternate with the object tag for CONV objects. This could be used to accomplish a similar type of thing, though with greater restrictions.

What you've suggested with the four separate v-scanner folders for various alert modes can, I believe, be accomplished with fairly quick changes to the GLOB parameters for "Alert Mode" and "Light Mode". I've recently taken to specifying each scan object so the lights come on when it's active. This allows me global control by simply changing the "Light Mode". This method is obviously an all-or-none approach that may not do what everyone would want, but it works for me.

One issue with the multiple v-scanner folder approach is that any changes must be replicated four times. This makes it very error prone.

One last point. The PSR500 has scan lists, not "banks". It may seem a simple semantic issue, but if you look deeper and come to a full understanding of the operation of the PSR500 you'll see they are rather different things.

 

[webley445]

ok...I don't like the scan lists and tsys tags alternating.
To each his own, this works for me, may not for you. YMMV.

 

[DonS]

ok...I don't like the scan lists and tsys tags alternating.

Those tags never show up on the display at the same time (i.e. alternating).

When receiving a transmission on a trunked system, the third line alternates between the TGRP tag and the TSYS tag. This gives you 16 characters for both instead of trying to cram all of into a single 16-character tag (this was a complaint about the PRO-95... you'd get the talkgroup's alpha tag but not the "bank tag", so if you had two systems with identically-named talkgroups, like "Police Dispatch" in two different cities/counties/agencies, you don't know who's talking unless you look at the first digit of the "channel" number on the first line).

When receiving a transmission on a conventional channel, the PSR-500 family initially displayed only the CONV object's tag. Based on several customer requests, GRE added the ability to show a "ScanList tag" alternating with the CONV tag. Since an object can belong to more than one scan list (a big difference between the PSR-500 and the PRO-95 you're used to), only the first enabled scan list tag is shown. That is, if the CONV object belongs to scan lists 1, 5, 6, and 17, and you currently have scan lists 5 and 17 enabled for scanning, the tag for scan list 5 will be shown.

 

[webley445]

I will add that you do have some valid points.

Alot of what I did was due to not being that familiar to the controls of the 500. The light alert mode is indeed toggled from the global settings so that issue is addressed (for me anyways).
this will allow me to cut down 1 or 2 of the V folders.
as for the leds, i still find it easier to just load a folder instead of gong into the unit manually and adjusting each id to light or flash it's led.

I don't understand about the replicating changes 4 times though. I can see 3 times, 1 when creating the template in the programming software, 2 when loading to the scanner from PC, 3 when saving into V folder.

 

[Patch42]

as for the leds, i still find it easier to just load a folder instead of gong into the unit manually and adjusting each id to light or flash it's led.

I made that suggestion on the basis of taking the manual literally. I should have tried it out first. It seems when "Alert Mode" is OFF, the LCD display doesn't light up regardless of the "Light Mode" or "Backlight" setting for the object. That's too bad.

After fiddling with the settings some more it seems there is no way to globally get LED only or backlight only. Based on what's in the manual I believe this is a bug. "Alert Mode" is documented to control only the audible alert and the alert LED. It should have no impact on whether the backlight comes on. I can see where one might argue that the "Stlth" setting for "Light Mode" should override the "Alert Mode", but I see no reason the "Alert Mode" should override the "Light Mode". I might very well not want the LED to come on, particularly if it's set to flash for some objects, but still want the backlight to come on so I can read the display in the dark. (This is nothing to do with you. I'm just whining about what I see as a bug.)

This is unfortunate. It leaves you with little choice other than maintaining multiple complete configurations such as you've described, and this approach is inherently error prone.

I don't understand about the replicating changes 4 times though. I can see 3 times, 1 when creating the template in the programming software, 2 when loading to the scanner from PC, 3 when saving into V folder.

If you have four v-scanner folders with exactly the same data, the only differences being for various "alert" configurations, then any change you make to any object must be made four times, once to each of those four folders. If you use the individual object settings to control the "alert" configurations, then you must be careful to get all of those settings correct for each update. Needing to make the same change multiple times is a situation prone to errors. (This kind of thing comes up in the world of software programming all the time. Believe me, it's a situation to be avoided if at all possible.)

 

[DonS]

I made that suggestion on the basis of taking the manual literally. I should have tried it out first. It seems when "Alert Mode" is OFF, the LCD display doesn't light up regardless of the "Light Mode" or "Backlight" setting for the object. That's too bad.

After fiddling with the settings some more it seems there is no way to globally get LED only or backlight only. Based on what's in the manual I believe this is a bug. "Alert Mode" is documented to control only the audible alert and the alert LED.

The manual is incorrect. "Alerts" sound a tone, light the LED/backlight, do both tone and lights, or neither. Whether the LED/backlight is lit for an Alert is further controlled by the "Light Mode" setting (e.g. "Stealth" means no lights). There is no (and never was any) intention that you could light the LCD/LED from an Alert when "Alert Mode" is set to OFF, or control the LED separately from the LCD backlight within the Alert settings.
1. If object Alert setting includes tone AND sound mode != stealth: sound tone
2. If object Alert setting includes LED or backlight AND light mode != stealth: set LED to programmed color / set backlight to off/on/flash state from Alert

 

[Ensnared]

I am still confused about the Scan List tag.

 

[Mike_G_D]

I am still confused about the Scan List tag.

Think of scan lists as "labeled pointers". That is, they are not like the older scanners' "banks" in that they are not actual memory locations that you fill with your frequency (conventional non-trunked) or talk group (trunked). They POINT to the actual locations, however, and can be labeled with a label of your choice. So, unlike with a bank system wherein if you wanted to have the same frequency or talk group loaded into multiple banks you actually had to put that same frequency or talk group in multiple times (in multiple banks), using the scan list system does not use up any more memory locations - it's merely multiple pointers to one location. This is a much more efficient use of available memory.

You might need this for the same reason that one needed to put the same frequency or talk group in multiple banks in the older scanners - there might be a frequency or talk group which could belong to both a "Fire" category as well as a "Forestry" category so that, in the older scanners using banks, if you had banks separated according to categories such as "Fire" and "Forestry" you would need to put that frequency or talk group into both banks thereby using up two memory locations in the process. With the PSR500 scan list system, you only put the frequency or talk group in once and then tell the scanner that that frequency or talk group belongs to the "Fire" scan list as well as the "Forestry" scan list which sets pointers to point to that frequency or talk group whenever scan list "Fire" or scan list "Forestry" is enabled.

With the scan list system, any object (an object is a frequency or a talk group) can be a member of any number of scan lists all the way up to the total number (22 total including the sky warn and favorites lists) and yet it only uses up one memory location.

-Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

We have a number of tips also documented in the wiki - if you have something, please consider adding to the list...

Object Oriented Scanning tips - The RadioReference Wiki

73 Mike