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My son surprised me with a nice birthday gift: a new BCD996XT

I now have both:
BCD396XT, firmware ver. 1.08.04 (scanner working properly)
BCD996XT, firmware ver. 1.04.00 (scanner working propertly)

I just read up on SNTs and CHNTs, and find them neat and useful to use.

Example of how I use the number tags:
Say, I assign SNT 1 to trunk System #1 in both scanners.

With the 996XT, I press HOLD/1/./Menu and I get System 1, on Hold. Then I press and hold the HOLD button until "System Hold On" flashes, and I am scanning only System 1, which function I do want by doing what I did.

With the 396XT, I do the first part the same as I did with the 996XT, but after "System Hold On" flashes, it shows "Nothing to Scan".

I program both using FreeSCAN.

Question: Am I missing something?

Thank you
 
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Joined
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My son surprised me with a nice birthday gift: a new BCD996XT

I now have both:
BCD396XT, firmware ver. 1.08.04 (scanner working properly)
BCD996XT, firmware ver. 1.04.00 (scanner working propertly)

I just read up on SNTs and CHNTs, and find them neat and useful to use.

Example of how I use the number tags:
Say, I assign SNT 1 to trunk System #1 in both scanners.

With the 996XT, I press HOLD/1/./Menu and I get System 1, on Hold. Then I press and hold the HOLD button until "System Hold On" flashes, and I am scanning only System 1, which function I do want by doing what I did.

With the 396XT, I do the first part the same as I did with the 996XT, but after "System Hold On" flashes, it shows "Nothing to Scan".

I program both using FreeSCAN.

Question: Am I missing something?

Thank you

I think I can now answer my own question.
After playing around some more, I find that the target system (trunk or conventional) must be turned on (I mean SQK must be selected to be on) at the time of doing the number tag function for what I want accomplished.

For instance, let's say I have all SQKs assigned (0 to 99) in my radio, and I am presently scanning SQKs all the SQKs (0 to 99, inclusively). I then decide I want to scan only SQK45. Instead of turning off the other 99 SQKs, or waiting until System SQK 45 passes by and trying to "catch" a Hold on it, I would merely press: HOLD/45/.MENU; then press and hold the Hold button until "System Hold On" flashes, and mission accomplished.

But if I were scannning, say 0 to 44 inclusively, and 46 to 99 inclusively and I do the above, I would indeed get System with SQK 45, but will not be able to scan that system only.

Sorry about the extreme verbotiousness (is that a word?), but I think and learn by doing extreme things...most of the time.

Am I still missing something, UNIDEN?
 
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I think I can now answer my own question.
After playing around some more, I find that the target system (trunk or conventional) must be turned on (I mean SQK must be selected to be on) at the time of doing the number tag function for what I want accomplished.

For instance, let's say I have all SQKs assigned (0 to 99) in my radio, and I am presently scanning SQKs all the SQKs (0 to 99, inclusively). I then decide I want to scan only SQK45. Instead of turning off the other 99 SQKs, or waiting until System SQK 45 passes by and trying to "catch" a Hold on it, I would merely press: HOLD/45/.MENU; then press and hold the Hold button until "System Hold On" flashes, and mission accomplished.

But if I were scannning, say 0 to 44 inclusively, and 46 to 99 inclusively and I do the above, I would indeed get System with SQK 45, but will not be able to scan that system only.

Sorry about the extreme verbotiousness (is that a word?), but I think and learn by doing extreme things...most of the time.

Am I still missing something, UNIDEN?

In retrospect, what I should do first is to turn SQK45 on, and then do my thing. That would work.
 

UPMan

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Sounds like you are figuring it out.

Just an FYI: Note that messages with titles like this one tend to not get much response. I am currently in Tokyo and only have occasional access (I'm just seeing this thread over 12 hours after you started it). Everyone else is inhibited from replying because you asked me specifically to answer...
 
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I should be more specific like "Using Number Tags in the XTs" or something like that. Anyhow, I hope others who read my posts can learn some of these neat functions by experimentation.

Now that I have you "on the phone", I have another question... about using the startup number function. I read the in the guide (CD that came with 996XT) that, e.g.....hypothetical scenario:

I assign Startup number "1" to Systems A, B, C, D, and E, and Startup number "2" to Systems F, G, H, I, and J.

I have the scanner running, and turn off all the SQKs so that I have "Nothing to scan", then turn off the scanner.

Then I turn on the scanner and press the "1" button, and hold it while the scanner is going through the booting-up/welcome displays until "Processing...." shows up. Systems A, B, C, D, and E will be on and are being scanned. This happens for me.

Now, if I turn the scanner off, then turn it back on but now I press the "2" button, and hold it, etc... until "Processing..." appears, the second set of Systems are on along with the first set.

I understood from the guide that the first set of Systems would be turned off and the second set will come on. This does not happen for me. I am thinking it useful for me to have it happen the way I thought it would, i.e., the Startup key 2 systems on and the others off.

I'd love to know how to use the function. Thanks for the great scanners and service for the community.
 

UPMan

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A B C D and E should have been locked out whn you held 2 while powering on. Note that the startup button affects the system/site lock/unlock status. Not the SQK status.
 
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A B C D and E should have been locked out whn you held 2 while powering on. Note that the startup button affects the system/site lock/unlock status. Not the SQK status.

I guess I need to understand what "lock/unlock" status means if it does not mean SQK status. To see if I understand how I can use this: For instance in my area a conventional discrete freq for the state police is the VRS (vehicle repeater system). Once in a while it is very disturbing to listen to because of the regular intermittent breaks in the transmission; so I press L/O, and temporarily locked said freq out. I know that next time I power up, the freq will be there; but if I double click the L/O, the freq will be permanently locked. If I ever have to use this freq again after this lockout, I need to manually go through the scanner menus and unlock it, or go to my software and do it.

I understand now. If the VRS had a startup number, all I need to do is press it while powering up next time.

I never temporarily lock up a system/site while scanning... how do you do that?

Another quick question while I got you on the phone: is there a quick way of turning off all active SQKs all at once instead of manually pressing them one at a time (e.g. like in my stupid hypothetical case of SQKs 0-99 running).

Thank you again.
 
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sjlamb

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......but if I double click the L/O, the freq will be permanently locked. If I ever have to use this freq again after this lockout, I need to manually go through the scanner menus and unlock it, or go to my software and do it .

Press and hold down the the L/O button until you hear the double beep and see the on-screen message, "All Unlocked". No need to manually track down and unlock previously locked out freqs.
 
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sjlamb

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I never temporarily lock up a system/site while scanning... how do you do that?

You assign it a Quick Key and then press that assigned number when you want to disable that site


Another quick question while I got you on the phone: is there a quick way of turning off all active SQKs all at once instead of manually pressing them one at a time (e.g. like in my stupid hypothetical case of SQKs 0-99 running). Thank you again.

If you turn off all of your active Quick Keys, then you will only be scanning anything that you HAVE NOT assigned a quick key to. Not sure why you would want to be set-up this way but, the way to do it would be to a assign the same Quick Key # to ALL of your programmed sites. Thus, a single press of that assigned number would disable them all at once.

You are aware that you can assigned the same Quick Key number to more than one site, correct?? By doing so, a single key press would disable/enable all sites that have been given that same Quick Key #.
 
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You assign it a Quick Key and then press that assigned number when you want to disable that site




If you turn off all of your active Quick Keys, then you will only be scanning anything that you HAVE NOT assigned a quick key to. Not sure why you would want to be set-up this way but, the way to do it would be to a assign the same Quick Key # to ALL of your programmed sites. Thus, a single press of that assigned number would disable them all at once.

You are aware that you can assigned the same Quick Key number to more than one site, correct?? By doing so, a single key press would disable/enable all sites that have been given that same Quick Key #.
Thank you for your input. Maybe I am not clear enough. Example of what I want to do. I am scanning systems/sites (SQKs) 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 21, 34, 69, and 85. And now, I decide to listen to only 34 which system/site is not assigned a number tag (otherwise, I would do the Hold/34/./Menu..../Hold until System-Hold-on-trick if I assigned number tag 34 to it).

I would like to turn off all the active SQKs in one fell swoop (instead of doing multiple keystrokes) and then punch in SQK 34. I choose not to wait for the SQK 34 passing by, and for me to try frantically to catch a hold of it (I miss 99% of the time if it is not active. I do have the system hold time for all my systems set to 0 sec, so that they zip through pretty quickly during scan).

BTW, all my systems/sites are assigned an SQK, and few share the same SQK.
 

sjlamb

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Thank you for your input. Maybe I am not clear enough. Example of what I want to do. I am scanning systems/sites (SQKs) 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 21, 34, 69, and 85. And now, I decide to listen to only 34 which system/site is not assigned a number tag (otherwise, I would do the Hold/34/./Menu..../Hold until System-Hold-on-trick if I assigned number tag 34 to it).

I would like to turn off all the active SQKs in one fell swoop (instead of doing multiple keystrokes) and then punch in SQK 34. I choose not to wait for the SQK 34 passing by, and for me to try frantically to catch a hold of it (I miss 99% of the time if it is not active. I do have the system hold time for all my systems set to 0 sec, so that they zip through pretty quickly during scan).

BTW, all my systems/sites are assigned an SQK, and few share the same SQK.

To answer your question in a word....... "No".
 

UPMan

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Lockout and SQK are two different things. A system or site's SQK can be enabled, but if the system/site is locked out, it will not be scanned. This way, multiple systems can share the same SQK but still be controlled independently using Startup keys.

To temporarily lockout a system/site, you press F+L/O while scanning that system/site (or F+L/O, L/O for permanent lockout).

Startup keys toggle the system/site lockout status, not the SQK status.

There is no way (other than number tagging) to jump to a specific system.
 
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