Understanding Dynamic Memory

[Kirk]

I'm trying to understand exactly how dynamic memory works on the new Uniden scanners. I've been into scanning for over a decade, am a ham, have worked as a full-time paid radio tech, and yet I'm still missing a few things here.

Systems, Groups and Channels...

I'm trying to relate this to banks and channels.

I'm programming conventional channels only at this time, no trunking.

System = area, Group = agency, Channel = freq?

I've read the BCD-396 manual, and I'm still not quite getting it. Makes it harder since I don't yet have the radio.

Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[Voyager]

I'm trying to understand exactly how dynamic memory works on the new Uniden scanners. I've been into scanning for over a decade, am a ham, have worked as a full-time paid radio tech, and yet I'm still missing a few things here.

Systems, Groups and Channels...

I'm trying to relate this to banks and channels.

I'm programming conventional channels only at this time, no trunking.

System = area, Group = agency, Channel = freq?

I've read the BCD-396 manual, and I'm still not quite getting it. Makes it harder since I don't yet have the radio.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Basically, a system is a trunked radio system or a set of conventional frequencies.

A group is like the PD/FD/EMS/EMA/911/Dogcatcher/Etc - a group of people performing like services.

A channel is a conventional frequency or a talkgroup.

Joe M.

 

[loumaag]

I'm trying to understand exactly how dynamic memory works on the new Uniden scanners. I've been into scanning for over a decade, am a ham, have worked as a full-time paid radio tech, and yet I'm still missing a few things here.

Systems, Groups and Channels...

I'm trying to relate this to banks and channels.

I'm programming conventional channels only at this time, no trunking.

System = area, Group = agency, Channel = freq?

I've read the BCD-396 manual, and I'm still not quite getting it. Makes it harder since I don't yet have the radio.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Basically, a system is a trunked radio system or a set of conventional frequencies.

A group is like the PD/FD/EMS/EMA/911/Dogcatcher/Etc - a group of people performing like services.

A channel is a conventional frequency or a talkgroup.

Joe M.

Just to extend Joe's explanation a little, like for a new guy to dynamic memory (I just got my 396T last week), when you are dealing with a TRS, the frequencies go at the System level and the TG's and thier Alpha Tags go at the Group level.

If you choose Conventional as the System type, the frequencies and thier Alpha Tags go at the Group level.

 

[UPMan]

System: Information needed to define a radio system in the scanner. This includes system settings and channel groups. The specific system settings available depend on the type of system you are defining. For example, trunked systems have system frequencies, while conventional systems do not. All systems can be assigned a Quick Key that will quickly enable/disable the system for scanning (and multiple systems can be assigned to the same quick key).

Channel Group: A group of channels on the system. Channel groups can also be assigned to a quick key. Pressing F while on that system, then pressing any number key toggles the channel group assigned to that key for that system.

Channel: Settings that define a specific user or users. For a conventional system, channels consist of the frequency and other settings (CTCSS, Alert, Alpha Tag, etc). For a trunked system, channels consist of the Talk Group ID and other settings.

 

[Kirk]

So you can assign systems, group and channels to quick keys?

Keep in mind I'm talking about conventional use only. I'm fully understanding how this would work for trunked systems, I'm just a bit unclear on conventional.

Would you designate a geographic region as a system? Or a department? Obviously some channels are shared (fireground, police tacticals, etc) between different agencies.

For example, my current handheld scanner (Pro-92) is programmed as follows (vastly oversimplified example):

Bank 0: Anytown
Ch 1 : Anytown Police
Ch 2 : Anytown Fire
Ch 3 : Fire Tac (used by all fire agencies in the area)

Bank 1: Othertown
Ch 1 : Othertown Police
Ch 2 : Othertown Fire
Ch 3 : Fire Tac (same as in bank 0)

Bank 2: EMS
Ch 1 : Medic Dispatch
Ch 2 : Medic to Hospital A
Ch 3 : Medic to Hospital B
Ch 4 : Medic Tac

Bank 3: County Fire
Ch 1 : Dispatch
Ch 2 : Command
Ch 3 : Fire Tac

Bank 4: Sheriff
Ch 1 : Dispatch
Ch 2 : Secondary
Ch 3 : Law Tactical

If I want to just listen to my local police and fire, I monitor Bank 0. If I want to hear EMS, then I turn on Bank 2. But if I want to hear all of bank 0 but just EMS dispatch and not the wordy medic/base station reports, then I've got to do two channel lockouts in Bank 2.

It sounds like I'd be best off programming each government unit as a system (eg: City), then each agency as a group (eg: Fire, Police, etc). Some groups may have only one channel, some may have several.

For the EMS situation, Medical could be a system, then with the groups "dispatch" and "hospitals."

Am I making sense?

Nothing in the world can be more complex than Motorola RSS, which I'm quite comfortable with, so I'm sure I'm overcomplicating this.

 

[UPMan]

Close. You cannot assign a quick key to an individual channel.

You can organize systems by function or by geographic area (there will be many threads discussing the pros and cons of one way versus the other), but in your example:
(Note that FQK = F+Quick Key used to access channel groups within a system)

SYSTEM: City of Springfield QK1

CHANNEL GROUP: Police FQK1
Dispatch 454.1000
Wiggums 454.2000
Donut Shop 454.3000

CHANNEL GROUP: Fire FQK2
Dispatch 456.1
Fireground 456.2
Homer Incident 456.3

CHANNEL GROUP: EMS FQK3
Dispatch 457.1
Springfield General 457.2


Now, pressing 1 while scanning will turn scanning on and off for the City of Springfield.
Holding F, then pressing 1 while scanning Springfield will turn scanning on and off for the police.

 

[Kirk]

Ok, getting clearer.

So with 100 quick keys...do I have 100 system quick keys, each with 100 group quick keys? Or is a key a key, and whether you assign it to a system or a group is up to you?

I'm guessing the former, as the latter would be wicked unruly.

Overall, sounds like an excellent radio. I shall be ordering shortly.

 

[UPMan]

100 system quick keys. You can assign any system to any quick key..even multiple systems to the same quick key.

You can also not assign a system to a quick key (in which case you will have to use the lockout function to enable/disable scanning). I use this for a system I always want scanned...it has the aircraft emergency channel and some other similar stuff.

You don't have to use all the quick keys, if that is what you are asking.

At the group level, there are only 10 quick keys.

 

[Kirk]

Clear as mud...er...no. Actually, clear as crystal now.

This gives me a much better idea as to how these things are programmed. Now time to fire up Excel and start making some lists.

Thanks a bunch for your help.

 

[dstudley]

At the group level, there are only 10 quick keys.

On p.59 of the manual, it says you can have 20 channel groups per system, but I have yet to find any other reference to this or how you would access groups beyond 10. Probably just a typo.

Cheers,
David

 

[Voyager]

At the group level, there are only 10 quick keys.

On p.59 of the manual, it says you can have 20 channel groups per system, but I have yet to find any other reference to this or how you would access groups beyond 10. Probably just a typo.

Cheers,
David

You can have 20 GROUPS.

There are 10 GROUP QUICK KEYS (GQK).

You access more than 10 groups by creating more than 10. If you have 10, create a new group. 8) Then you have 11. The scanner will tell you when you can't make any more (when you have 20).

You can either double-up on the GQKs or just don't assign a GQK to a group you want to listen to all the time. You CAN assign more than one group to the same GQK.

Joe M.

 

[Gilligan]

I had mine set up like this:

System 1 Oklahoma City
System 2 Oklahoma County
System 3 Oklahoma State

Under each system, I had groups for Police, Fire, EMS, Government...

I finally realized that there is a much more efficient way to scan.
Most of the time, I just listen to the police. Well, each system takes
a certain amount of time to scan. So instead of trying to scan 3
systems (which may take 2 seconds), I decided to go this route:

System 1 Police (groups - Oklahoma City, County, State)
System 2 Fire & EMS (groups - Oklahoma City, County, State)
System 3 Government (groups - Oklahoma City, County, State)

This way I'm only scanning 1 system. If I want to listen to fire, I'll
enable System 2. I haven't completely checked the efficiency of
this, but I'm sure it will be faster.

 

[Voyager]

I had mine set up like this:

System 1 Oklahoma City
System 2 Oklahoma County
System 3 Oklahoma State

Under each system, I had groups for Police, Fire, EMS, Government...

I finally realized that there is a much more efficient way to scan.
Most of the time, I just listen to the police. Well, each system takes
a certain amount of time to scan. So instead of trying to scan 3
systems (which may take 2 seconds), I decided to go this route:

System 1 Police (groups - Oklahoma City, County, State)
System 2 Fire & EMS (groups - Oklahoma City, County, State)
System 3 Government (groups - Oklahoma City, County, State)

This way I'm only scanning 1 system. If I want to listen to fire, I'll
enable System 2. I haven't completely checked the efficiency of
this, but I'm sure it will be faster.

Assuming all conventional, it likely won't save any scan time, but if your main interest is service-based, it will save you loads of time using SQKs rather than GQKs. SQKs are much faster to enable/disable.

I was used to the V-folders of the PRO-96. I really wondered if the 396 could match them. What I did is for the most part I grouped my SQKs in blocks of 10 that match the 10 banks of the PRO-96, so I effectively have 10 V-folders in the 10 blocks, only without the duplication of some banks (such as Federal which are common to all V-folders). So, I estimate the 396 DOES in fact match the V-folder abilities of the PRO-96. Or, at least it comes close enough.

I put my local stuff that I use all the time in the 'single key' SQKs, and the other items in the higher number SQKs. The last block (91-99) is for special services such as Itinerant, FRS, GMRS, MURS, CB, Malls, Etc.

My first three are the same system divided by my priority. On one, I just have local local TGs. On the next, adjacent area's TGs, and on the third the entire county. It's much easier to cut down on the 'yack' by enabling SQK1 and disabling SQK2. It takes no more time to scan since all my SQK1 TGs are in SQK 2 and 3, and all SQK2 is in SQK3. It's still only sampling one control channel. It required a little duplication, but it's very fast to narrow the focus, so to speak.

Joe M.