“There is a lot of stuff I don't scan because I don't want it keeping me from missing actual radio traffic I need to hear.”
Missing traffic has been the trade-off scanners have had to contend with ever since (in my case) Regency started mesmerizing people with rolling flashing little red lights. I’ve never liked assigning priority channels because they caused that intermittent drop in signal while the scanner checked if the priority channel had become active. And DND, although it looses the aggravating intermittent drop in signal, is only slightly better… at least I am not bothered by that drop-out while the scanner is checking. But there is still the chance a few misses will be realized. And now, since the SDS’s handle the priority features differently for conventional and trunked, it’s even more probable even conventional priority channels will be missed when the scanner is in trunking mode or vice versa.
The solution to not missing “a lot of stuff” is to dedicate a receiver to each particular channel/agency/TG you consider you “need to hear”, period. (Sorry if you don’t have enough receivers hanging around to dedicate. In that case there is no solution to not missing, at least to the best of my knowledge. This solution hasn’t changed since the scanner was first introduced. I know, its a direct contradiction to what a scanner’s intended purpose is supposed to be, but until they can get a scanner to record/playback what it’s missing when it’s listening to other stuff, it is what it is.
Over the years I have accumulated enough scanners to dedicate to those channels/agencies/TG’s that I would like to prioritize. And without realizing it my shack now has the ability to monitor 4 or 5 different entities in real time. But I never seem to use it. I believe that’s because my intent was to listen to mutual aid calls involving numerous FD’s, the medical helos and the PD, for example, a working fire, which was great when I first set up the extra radios. But now there are interoperability, mutual aid, and regional frequencies that most all agencies possess and are using to a greater degree. So maybe priority settings will no longer be needed and become a thing of the past… not anytime soon but who knows?
