Traveling with the BCD436 Question

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dragoncooler

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Texas
Greetings all,

I was wondering how I go about programming the scanner when I travel? Either if I have time to use sentinal or not. I tried simply changing locations in the scanner, but it continued to scan my hometown list aaand my new location.
I wouldnt mind dumping my hometown programming in favor of the new place im going as long as I can come back to sentinal and re-program it. What is the best way to go about this?
 

jonwienke

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You can turn favorite lists on and off in the scanner menu. Have you tried that?

I would make a second favorite list for the new location.
 

troymail

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Supply (Lockwood Inlet area), NC
Greetings all,

I was wondering how I go about programming the scanner when I travel? Either if I have time to use sentinal or not. I tried simply changing locations in the scanner, but it continued to scan my hometown list aaand my new location.
I wouldnt mind dumping my hometown programming in favor of the new place im going as long as I can come back to sentinal and re-program it. What is the best way to go about this?

As Mark said, one option is to get/use a GPS combined with either the full database or a favorites list with the things you want to monitor as/when you travel.

The other might be (as was also mentioned) to create separate favorites lists for the areas that you travel through/to - as in, a favorites list for each county, etc. You'd set (at least) a quick key for each favorites list that can be enabled/disabled as you go.

Another easy but uglier option is to try and gather a list of zip codes along the path through/to your destination and apply them as you go against the full database.

It's all up to how much (additional) money and time you want to put into preparing for the trip.
 

dragoncooler

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Awesome! Thank you for the input. That is what i was wondering indeed, if there was an easier way, but it looks like making a favorite that i just enable and disable. I already spent most of what little money I had on the scanner, so unfortunately the GPS is out.
 

troymail

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Awesome! Thank you for the input. That is what i was wondering indeed, if there was an easier way, but it looks like making a favorite that i just enable and disable. I already spent most of what little money I had on the scanner, so unfortunately the GPS is out.

If you travel alot, the GPS can potentially be worth it once you figure out what/how you want your programming to work (and in some cases - make corrections to bad location data in the library). Otherwise, you probably don't need it.
 

ofd8001

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Louisville, KY
Greetings all,

I was wondering how I go about programming the scanner when I travel? Either if I have time to use sentinal or not. I tried simply changing locations in the scanner, but it continued to scan my hometown list aaand my new location.
I wouldnt mind dumping my hometown programming in favor of the new place im going as long as I can come back to sentinal and re-program it. What is the best way to go about this?

I suspect your "Home Town" Favorites List has Location Control set to Off. That means regardless of changing locations either via zip code entry or with a GPS device, that Favorites List is always on.

A couple of solutions: Set the Home Town Favorites List to Location Control On. Or, set a Favorites List Quick Key for the Favorites List and toggle it off when you leave your home area.

That way you don't have to re-program anything. There should be more than enough space on the SD card to hold most everything you want to program for any scenario.

I too am a fan of GPS enabled scanning. I consider it almost essential equipment when traveling.

Yet another option, though a little more cumbersome since the SD card is a little difficult to swap. You could create an additional Profile. One for "Home" and another for "Travel". Then write each profile to its own separate SD card and install the applicable SD card. A side benefit is having a spare SD card just in case one decides to go bad at the worst time.
 

dragoncooler

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Apr 3, 2009
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Location
Texas
I suspect your "Home Town" Favorites List has Location Control set to Off. That means regardless of changing locations either via zip code entry or with a GPS device, that Favorites List is always on.

A couple of solutions: Set the Home Town Favorites List to Location Control On. Or, set a Favorites List Quick Key for the Favorites List and toggle it off when you leave your home area.

That way you don't have to re-program anything. There should be more than enough space on the SD card to hold most everything you want to program for any scenario.

I too am a fan of GPS enabled scanning. I consider it almost essential equipment when traveling.

Yet another option, though a little more cumbersome since the SD card is a little difficult to swap. You could create an additional Profile. One for "Home" and another for "Travel". Then write each profile to its own separate SD card and install the applicable SD card. A side benefit is having a spare SD card just in case one decides to go bad at the worst time.

Hey thats a good idea. I will check if my FL has location control on. Thats pretty slick that the scanner knows its not in range and not to scan it. This 436 has been a deff. worthwhile investment.
 

dragoncooler

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Apr 3, 2009
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Texas
I think I have it figured out. I have a Favorites list with all the counties and everything i plan on listening to to out of town.

I have a separate profile for this trip.
In the profile i have monitor and download turned to OFF for everything I dont want to listen to.
When I send to radio, i check "Delete FL from scanner" This removes all but the FL I want.

I think this was the simplest way to go about configuring only those systems I wanted to listen to.
 

ofd8001

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One thing I do is have a separate SD card for each profile. If I'm going out of town, I'll put the applicable SD card in the scanner. The other SD cards are left in my vehicle's glove box.

That way if I'm away from a computer and have an SD card crash, I've got another to get me along.

Also and this goes to the "to each his own" theory (doing what you like): Instead of not monitoring/downloading, I'll edit the Profile and go to the Quick Keys Status Tab. I'll uncheck those boxes associated with the FLs that I would not monitor. The result is those FL Quick Keys are off and the Favorites List would not be monitored. They are still in the scanner in case some wierd situation happens and I do want to turn them on (by simply toggling the FL Quick Key).

These scanners have lots of flexibility and you can go about things a lot of different ways.
 
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