BCD325P2/BCD996P2: Systems, Sites & Groups: Organize without Duplicating?

[Disk4mat]

So Im still rather new. Been scanning with the BCD996P2 and love it. I feel like I now have all the basics down and spend more time enjoying than fiddling. But I do have a question that I cant seem to solve on my own.

I would like to achieve having a separate system for: Police, Fire and EMS. The problem is that they all use the same sites. Or mostly the same. If I proceeded to create a system for each, I would have to copy the same sites to each system? Somehow that doesnt seem like a good idea and would be inefficient. Please correct me there if need be.

In theory, could I create a system named "All My Sites" and dump all the sites into it, then create separate systems with TGID's only? Or do the sites have to be in the same system as the TGID's?

All My Sites
... Freq 1
... Freq 2
... Freq 3

Police
... TGID 1
... TGID 5

EMS
... TGID 12
... TGID 65

Fire
... TGID 9

 

[sonm10]

So Im still rather new. Been scanning with the BCD996P2 and love it. I feel like I now have all the basics down and spend more time enjoying than fiddling. But I do have a question that I cant seem to solve on my own.

I would like to achieve having a separate system for: Police, Fire and EMS. The problem is that they all use the same sites. Or mostly the same. If I proceeded to create a system for each, I would have to copy the same sites to each system? Somehow that doesnt seem like a good idea and would be inefficient. Please correct me there if need be.

In theory, could I create a system named "All My Sites" and dump all the sites into it, then create separate systems with TGID's only? Or do the sites have to be in the same system as the TGID's?

All My Sites
... Freq 1
... Freq 2
... Freq 3

Police
... TGID 1
... TGID 5

EMS
... TGID 12
... TGID 65

Fire
... TGID 9

Just curious as to why you want a separate system for each

I have one system for public safety, two sites, one each to a quick key, then different agencies I put in different groups with different names
I really need more than the allotted 20 groups per system because I have more than 20 agencies in the three countries I monitor

It has taken me three years to create my current setup and am happy with it

It takes time to create your own setup you like that is also efficient

Hope this helps

 

[tvengr]

You can use the same system for everything. Create 3 groups. You put police talkgroups in the first group, fire in the second group, and EMS in the third group. Name group 1 Police and assign quick key 1. Name group 2 Fire and assign quick key 2. Name group 3 EMS and assign quick key 3. While scanning, pressing the function knob and then 1 will toggle Police on and off. The same applies with Fire and EMS by pressing the function knob and then 2 or 3 to toggle Fire and EMS on and off. You can also assign quick keys to multiple sites in the same system to be able to select sites.

 

[hiegtx]

So Im still rather new. Been scanning with the BCD996P2 and love it. I feel like I now have all the basics down and spend more time enjoying than fiddling. But I do have a question that I cant seem to solve on my own.

I would like to achieve having a separate system for: Police, Fire and EMS. The problem is that they all use the same sites. Or mostly the same. If I proceeded to create a system for each, I would have to copy the same sites to each system? Somehow that doesnt seem like a good idea and would be inefficient. Please correct me there if need be.

In theory, could I create a system named "All My Sites" and dump all the sites into it, then create separate systems with TGID's only? Or do the sites have to be in the same system as the TGID's?

All My Sites
... Freq 1
... Freq 2
... Freq 3

Police
... TGID 1
... TGID 5

EMS
... TGID 12
... TGID 65

Fire
... TGID 9

Sites have to be included in any system in order for you to hear any of the talkgroups. If you had a system with only sites, you would not hear a thing, unless it was set to ID Search, which, while useful if you are trying to find unlisted talkgroups, will also dredge up every active TGID in use, not only police & fire, but also public works, utilities, and more.

You would be better served by creating a system with the site (or sites) in your immediate area, then creating different groups for Fire, Police, and EMS.

If you truly want separate systems for each of those services, then you'd need the sites duplicated in each of three systems, with only PD talkgroups in one system (plus, of course, the site(s)), Fire (and sites) in the second system, and then EMS, plus sites, in the third. That will scan slower than one system with the sites, and separate groups for PD, FD, & EMS. The scanner takes 1 to 1.5 seconds to check the control channel data to see if any of the programmed TGIDs are active. Using three systems, it will scan noticeably slower, checking each "system" in turn for activity. Whereas, if combined into one system for the sites, and group for the services (PD,FD, etc), it can check the control channels one time, and go to activity more quickly.

As tvengr noted, you can still turn off the groups individually, if you want to only here PD, or only fie, for, say, an ongoing incident.

 

[ofd8001]

Yeah, you really do not want to create separate systems for police, fire and EMS. This sets you up for missing a lot of transmissions. It's not as bad for conventional things, but trunking it's very inefficient.

You would be interested in using Group Quick Keys to toggle your police, fire and EMS Groups for best efficiency.

 

[Disk4mat]

Wow this community has really come through with great tips and information! My many thanks to you all!

Just curious as to why you want a separate system for each

I have one system for public safety, two sites, one each to a quick key, then different agencies I put in different groups with different names
I really need more than the allotted 20 groups per system because I have more than 20 agencies in the three countries I monitor

It has taken me three years to create my current setup and am happy with it

It takes time to create your own setup you like that is also efficient
Hope this helps

The reason is so I can easily tune out police for example if there is a major fire event taking place. Its just a means to quickly filter out and limit my scope.

Sounds like you put allot of time and love into your setup and Im sure I will get there my self. But will take some time. I get as much enjoyment from learning and doing as I do listening.

You can use the same system for everything. Create 3 groups. You put police talkgroups in the first group, fire in the second group, and EMS in the third group. Name group 1 Police and assign quick key 1. Name group 2 Fire and assign quick key 2. Name group 3 EMS and assign quick key 3. While scanning, pressing the function knob and then 1 will toggle Police on and off. The same applies with Fire and EMS by pressing the function knob and then 2 or 3 to toggle Fire and EMS on and off. You can also assign quick keys to multiple sites in the same system to be able to select sites.

Now thats a great idea that will help me filter out and refine my scope when I need to. Pretty much what I was looking to achieve. I didnt know that you could toggle groups via Funtion + Number. Excellent tip!

Sites have to be included in any system in order for you to hear any of the talkgroups. If you had a system with only sites, you would not hear a thing, unless it was set to ID Search, which, while useful if you are trying to find unlisted talkgroups, will also dredge up every active TGID in use, not only police & fire, but also public works, utilities, and more.

You would be better served by creating a system with the site (or sites) in your immediate area, then creating different groups for Fire, Police, and EMS.

If you truly want separate systems for each of those services, then you'd need the sites duplicated in each of three systems, with only PD talkgroups in one system (plus, of course, the site(s)), Fire (and sites) in the second system, and then EMS, plus sites, in the third. That will scan slower than one system with the sites, and separate groups for PD, FD, & EMS. The scanner takes 1 to 1.5 seconds to check the control channel data to see if any of the programmed TGIDs are active. Using three systems, it will scan noticeably slower, checking each "system" in turn for activity. Whereas, if combined into one system for the sites, and group for the services (PD,FD, etc), it can check the control channels one time, and go to activity more quickly.

As tvengr noted, you can still turn off the groups individually, if you want to only here PD, or only fie, for, say, an ongoing incident.

Im glad you touched on the ID Search topic because that was another question I had in mind, but I wanted to really keep my original post as simple and basic as possible. Right now I am doing ID Search but I can see for some systems I may want to change it to ID Scan for reasons you mentioned in your post. I do get allot of TGID's I avoided programming cause I didnt want them. No sense in searching them out when scanning.

Yeah, you really do not want to create separate systems for police, fire and EMS. This sets you up for missing a lot of transmissions. It's not as bad for conventional things, but trunking it's very inefficient.

You would be interested in using Group Quick Keys to toggle your police, fire and EMS Groups for best efficiency.

Im sort of suffering from that problem now with missing transmissions, but I think once I get my group keys sorted out I can scan more efficiently for what I want to listen to at the time. You are right, if everything was conventional it would be so easy.

Once again thanks to you all for the great information and advice. Im sure my post and everyones replies will help other people in the future.

 

[Erik71]

Wow this community has really come through with great tips and information! My many thanks to you all!
...
Once again thanks to you all for the great information and advice. Im sure my post and everyones replies will help other people in the future.

I'd be screwed without these guys lol

 

[Erik71]

You can use the same system for everything. Create 3 groups.

When you say "Create 3 groups", do you mean create three separate Favorite Lists?

 

[phask]

When you say "Create 3 groups", do you mean create three separate Favorite Lists?

996 does not have favorite lists.

 

[Erik71]

996 does not have favorite lists.

Oh, right. Sorry.

 

[da2ricky]

I have mine setup like this in FreeSCAN so I can quickly turn on or off a given group. The one's in red are completely locked out so there was no need to assign a quick key.

Like someone else said. Press the function knob, then the key you have assigned to the group to toggle it on/off.

Also, under the Site, you can specify which quick key's you want toggled ON when the scanner powers up.




You could take ALL LE related talkgroups and combine them into one group if you wanted to. I personally like to keep some of them separate so I have the ability to toggle them on/off independently from each other. You can assign the same quick key to multiple groups also. This is useful if you have multiple groups that you want to toggle on/off with a single quick key.

tinkering is the best part

 

[ofd8001]

Not to belabor a point, rather to help you understand. . .

When a scanner is monitoring a trunked system, it spends 1.5 - 2 seconds monitoring each site's control channel activity. If it hears activity on a talkgroup associated with that system that is not locked out, it does its thing so you can listen to the transmission. Otherwise, after expiration of the time, it moves on to the next site (for systems with multiple sites) or the next system.

So if a fire transmission happens during that 1.5-2 seconds the scanner is monitoring the "police system", you'll miss it.

Then the scanner moves to the "fire system", listening only for fire transmissions. If there is a police conversation, you miss that.

Just best to have one system with multiple groups with group quick keys. That way the scanner is listening for everything you have not locked out.