Service types settings question

[crippledchicken]

Is it a good idea to enable all service types in Sentinel for the SDS200, or is there a downside to doing that? Thanks!

 

[fxdscon]

Is it a good idea to enable all service types in Sentinel for the SDS200, or is there a downside to doing that? Thanks!

It all depends on what service types you care to listen to.... personal preference.

 

[crippledchicken]

I was just wondering because I keep all enabled in Sentinel.

 

[KK4JUG]

It all depends on what service types you care to listen to.... personal preference.

For instance, I don't normally monitor aircraft so I punch that one out. Ft. Benning is encrypted so I turn that one off so it doesn't take the time to scan things that I'm not going to hear anyway. I don't care to listen to the local water works, the dog catchers, garbage trucks, hams, etc.

 

[tvengr]

If you are interested in public safety, you will need Emergency Ops, EMS Dispatch, EMS Tac, EMS Talk, Fire Dispatch, Fire Tac, Fire Talk, Interop, Law Dispatch, Law Tac, Law Talk, Multi-Dispatch, Multi-Tac, and Multi-Talk. You may want to add Corrections for prisons or Hospital for medic units consulting with hospital ER's. You may also want Federal or Military for government agencies. Security will give you the guards at shopping malls, hospitals, hotels, and other institutions and attractions. It all depends on want you want to monitor. If you create your own favorites lists from scratch, you need to have Custom 1 enabled. If you enter a frequency or talkgroup without specifying a service type, the tag defaults to Custom 1.

 

[n1chu]

I create my own FL’s. (For that matter, everyone does.) And I don’t need any of the “Custom’s” turned on. Of course, when I do create a new FL, I make sure I assign it one of Service typeS available. (I could use a custom service type if I wanted to create a group of services, bunching them all in one FL and assign a service type name Uniden didn’t list.) But I fail to see why I’d care to do that when I can call my new FL anything I like.) I’m at a loss to understand the reason for the extra Custom listings.

 

[tvengr]

Of course, when I do create a new FL, I make sure I assign it one of Service typeS available.

You don't need to take the time to assign a service type when entering frequencies or talkgroups. If left blank, the service type defaults to Custom 1 when you save the file. Custom 1 is already enabled when you create a new profile.

 

[n1chu]

Understood. But I turn off all custom service types. (I expect if I didn’t assign one of the “canned” service types my entry would be assigned custom service type 1 by default?) I have no need for them-that’s not saying others dont need to or want use them. It’s just me.

 

[drdispatch]

If you create Favorites Lists and assign everything Quick Keys, you can leave all the Service Types on, and turn on/off what you want/don't want to listen to using the quick keys. If you're monitoring the database, then you would need to use the Service Type on/off feature.
If you want to get fancy, you can use both Quick Keys and Service Types to enable/disable things in your Favorites Lists. I just stick with the Quick Keys and leave the Service Types on unless I'm monitoring the DB. I only monitor the DB when I'm traveling.

 

[bob550]

I would, and do, opt for enabling all service types. I've found that there may be some talkgroups that I'm interested in monitoring that are assigned to an otherwise uninteresting service type. I strictly make use of Favorite Lists and rarely, if ever, scan the entire database anyway. So I'll either delete talkgroups or frequencies from Sentinel I'm not interested in, or permanently lock them out.

 

[baker50021]

Depends how you use the scanner, if you are scanning the master database using a ZIP code location or using a GPS then you would definitely use the Service Types to control what to receive.
If however, you use Favorite Lists to control the listening then Service Types becomes a moot point other than they need to be enabled.