BCD436HP/BCD536HP: Tag:---.--.--- ??

[cino]

at the very bottom of my 436 display I have Tag:---.--.--- NFM p25. NFM dat , NFM Lnk ect ect The Tag:---.--.--- never has any info listed. what is the Tag and why is it always blank? The user manual i have has a lot of info for the 536 display not so much for the 436.

Thanks

 

[mitbr]

Not sure if you have this resource try this web site .....
Easier to Read BCD436/536HP Digital Scanner Manual
Tim

 

[cino]

great page thanks

someone (mark?) put a lot of time and effort into that webpage. I see answers to many of my questions

 

[Voyager]

The tag is the number tags. You've never set them so they show --.

You can set the tags for FL, System, and Channel, then you can go directly to that channel without scrolling through others.

 

[marksmith]

It's for people who have a fabulous memory.

Mark
536/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/
396XT/PSR800/PRO668/PRO652

 

[Voyager]

Or moderate organizational skills.

Remember bank/channel scanners? You had to remember channel numbers with those, too. Same difference, but not all channels will have a number tag, so there are fewer to remember.

 

[cino]

lol yea 1000 banks 100 channels per bank = lockout 999 banks cause i cant remember what bank is what unless its written down

 

[Voyager]

Again, it's about organization. My scanner has about 150 FLs, likely around 1500 Systems (average about 10 Systems per FL - maybe higher). All those have Quick Keys and I can recall them fine because with a dozen or two exceptions, they are organized in a way that I don't need to remember anything more than where they are in relation to where I am. I likely only have 1000 Number Tags, but they are mostly for the primary PD/FD channels in my local systems, and then they share the same numbers as the FL and System Quick Keys with the CNT being 1 for the primary PD channel, and 2 for the primary FD channel.

Trust me - my memory isn't that great, but I can remember my Quick Keys and Number Tags since I organize them pretty consistently. For example, all my Departments are the same for ANY System in the scanner. My Systems use a map-based grid Quick Key, as do most of my FLs. Those FLs that don't are the only unique numbers, and there are maybe a dozen or two that don't use my standard format. All my 60s are for local things. The 50s are for PA and WV. My 40s are for Ohio (40 Regional, 41 MARCS, 43 NE OH, 45 Central OH, 46 East Central OH, Etc) - See how it is map-based? A 4 means Ohio. A 6 means the east-central part. From there, the Systems are county-based grids within the East-Central section. Department 1 is the PD for each System, 2 is FD, 3 is EMS, Etc.

When you have a plan, you don't need to remember what is where.

 

[drdispatch]

Granted, I've only had my 436 for about 3 months, but here's what I did that seems to have worked so far:
I have organized my FL's & system numbers to correspond with my state's county numbering system. For example, the FL I use when I travel to Grand Rapids is FL 41; Grand Rapids is in Kent County, which is county #41. To get there, I travel through Barry (08), Kalamazoo (39), and Allegan (03) Counties. I assign their frequencies/TG's to the corresponding system numbers. (System 00 is always for the statewide P25 system, containing statewide TG's and the sites covering my route(s).

For departments, what I am trying is arranging them geographically based on their location within the county using the clock face; 12 for north, 6 for south, 3 for east, 9 for west, etc. We'll see how that goes.

 

[Voyager]

Sound numbers work great. I don't use that scheme, but it is a good one.

As for the clock, that's how mine are organized too - look at the second digit of my 40s (4 being the region to my WEST, and the second digits of "43 NE OH, 45 Central OH, 46 East Central OH" being 3=NE, 5=Central, 6=East, 9=SE, Etc.

Clock = map = compass.