Uniden UASD BR330T Question

[fuzzymoto]

Uniden UASD BR330T Question MORE

OK so I continue to read my way through the 155-page scanner book and software documentation. Maybe I'm missing it but I have a quick question I'm hoping someone will know. This is a conventional system.

As I program the scanner with System Names (My town name), Group Names (fire, police...), Alpha Tags (FD MyTown) and Frequencies (155.5555) I'd like the Alpha Tag to display BUT ALSO the frequency. Seems like if I put in an Alpha Tag I only see that alpha tag. How do I get it to display BOTH?

Thanks...much to learn here!

 

[h8tdigitalradio]

Hello,

You can't. You can make the frequency part of the Alpha Tag. You can always see the frequency by pressing HOLD, then FUNC+5 to toggle between Frequency or TG, and Alpha Tag.

HTH's

73

Dave AKA The Tripzter

 

[fuzzymoto]

Thanks. That helps.

 

[fuzzymoto]

But boy do the 16 positions go fast when you fill 8 of them with freq.

 

[hiegtx]

You can abbreviate somewhat. Also. don't forget your system & group text tags. They alternate when it stops on a channel. Example: If I set up a system labelled "Dallas", then a group within it for "Fire Dept"., and have a channel for the primary dispatch channel., labelling the channel "Ch 1 Pri 453.875" . That's 16 characters. I could economize further by eliminating spaces &/or the "i" in "Pri". When it stops on that channel, you'd see (alternating) "Dallas" & "Fire Dept" on the top text line. On the line below you'd see "Ch 1 Pri 453.875".
Use your own abbreviations that make sense tou you. I use Frgd for Fireground for instance.

 

[fuzzymoto]

Yes actually once I figured out that the System and Group display (and have more available characters) it was easier to abbrev. the Alpha Tag to fit in the frequency. Works OK so far.

 

[fuzzymoto]

Here's another: I have built multiple systems. Each system has multiple groups. Some of the groups within each system are noisy during the day. I assigned a Group Quick Key of 5 to each of the noisy groups. My theory was that rather than disabling whole systems I would be able to disable the Group Quick Key of 5 and it would Lockout all of fthe groups that were assigned 5 when I lock out the Group Quick Key of 5. After playing around with it I don't think it crosses systems. In other words I can assign multiple groups in multiple systems to group quick key 5 but I still have to disable them individually within each system one at a time. Does this make sense or did I miss something?

Also I have a number of systems and each has an individual quick key. Is there any way to group the quick keys and turn them all off at once without giving them the same quick key. In other words I'd like to be able to easily turn off Systems Quick Keys 5, 9, 12, 15 all at once without individually locking each out. Is there any way to accomplish this without giving them all the same system quick key? If I give thema ll the same quick key I can only lock out all or none without reassigning a new quick key on the fly. I thought perhaps there was a way to assign system quick keys 5, 9, 12 and 15 to another quick key, say 55 and then locking out 55 will lokc out all of them. Any suggestion here??

 

[fuzzymoto]

One more I'm stumbling on. If I make changes like locking out a channel on the scanner...how do I get that change back to the UASD software. I've tried SAVE in scanner view but ot seems to mess up my UASD config settings.

 

[hiegtx]

One more I'm stumbling on. If I make changes like locking out a channel on the scanner...how do I get that change back to the UASD software. I've tried SAVE in scanner view but ot seems to mess up my UASD config settings.

Are you talking about a programmed channel in the scanner? That you have decided to lock-out, but not delete from the programming, say, because it's either not active enough, or maybe too much interference?

 

[fuzzymoto]

I know how to lock out a channel on both the scanner itself or by using the UASD software. If I lock it out in the software and write to the scanner the lockout is on both. If I lock out a channel on the scanner itself how do I get that lockout to be added into the UASD software lockouts. Otherwise the next time I write to the scanner from the UASD software the lockout is lost.

 

[hiegtx]

I know how to lock out a channel on both the scanner itself or by using the UASD software. If I lock it out in the software and write to the scanner the lockout is on both. If I lock out a channel on the scanner itself how do I get that lockout to be added into the UASD software lockouts. Otherwise the next time I write to the scanner from the UASD software the lockout is lost.

There's not an 'auto-synch' mode in the software, though that would be a welcome addition.
What I generally do is try to remember to lock it out in UASD the next time I'm on that pc. Not a fool proof system, and occasionally I forget & 'unlock' a problem child when I make a revision in one of my configs or add a new system. But in the absence of a better option, you do what you can.

If it's a channel that gets too much interference around the house (and it's one of the ones that does not have a pl or DCS code I can try first to reduce the problem), first thing I usually try is the attenuator, with the last resort being a lockout. If it turns out unusable either at home or mobile, then it just gets deleted if att and other measures fail.

 

[fuzzymoto]

Thanks that's what I've been doing also. You can go to Scanner View and click on SAVE and put in the name of your configuration file in the Save Configuration As box and it does save your config from the scanner, however when you go back to Data Base and open your Scanner C0nfiguration it seemed like not only did I not get the lockec out channel from the scanner but I also lost some of the settings I know I put in previously. Having fine tuned my config I don't really want to try again.

I'm not familiar with DCS so I'd like ot hear more about how to find and add a DCS code to a freq.(I'll all conventional freqs). I'll play with tha ATT setting too and see if that helps.

Thanks

 

[hiegtx]

PL (also called CTCSS) is the tone you may see in the database, like this example:
465.63750 WPLX264 M 173.8 PL DFD F12 Simplex Fireground Operations

DCS (as its called in UASD) may be listed as DPL in the database, like this one:
453.87500 458.87500 KTQ245 R DPL 131 DFD F01 Fire Response
These are both from Dallas FD.
PL/CTCSS & DCS (or DPL if you prefer) do the same thing basically. If the frequency has one, using it will let you use a lower, or no, squelch. It can sometimes reduce, or eliminate, interference by programming in the tone or code if it is known. In practice, it's used to separate multiple users on the same frequency.
Example: Locally here, at one time, frequency 154.400 was used by 3 different fire dept's within my listening range. Without using the pl or DCS, I'd hear any transmissions of any of the three. The only way to tell which was which was either to recognize street names, unit nomenclature, or something else unique. Using the pl, I can eliminate all but one. If I want to still hear the other one (the third has moved to a trunked system), I can enter the channel a second time with their pl tone & label it accordingly. With dynamic memory in the newer scanners, channel space is no longer a big deal.

There are a couple of other frequencies that get interference, & normally I'd be forced to lock them out or use the attenuator option. But by entering the pl or DCS, the interference is nullified & I can leave the channel unlocked, without having to use the attenuator either.

 

[fuzzymoto]

I see. Very interesting. I just re-read the book and I think with your explanation I understand it better now. I'll have to try it out. I just checked the database and many of my local freqs DO have PL/DPPL codes. Would I risk NOT hearing a frequency by putting it in? WOuld I risk not hearing a frequency by lleaving it out? Is it better to have it in even if my locals do not share or I am not hearing more than one agency on one freq? I'm still new so I'm trying to hear everything.

 

[hiegtx]

I see. Very interesting. I just re-read the book and I think with your explanation I understand it better now. I'll have to try it out. I just checked the database and many of my local freqs DO have PL/DPPL codes. Would I risk NOT hearing a frequency by putting it in? WOuld I risk not hearing a frequency by lleaving it out? Is it better to have it in even if my locals do not share or I am not hearing more than one agency on one freq? I'm still new so I'm trying to hear everything.

If you left it out, you would hear them anyway. You'd also hear any other transmissions on that frequency, whether from another agency that you did not realize also used the same freq, or perhaps a more distant station. When atmospheric conditions are ripe, you can sometimes hear cities farther than usual. Before DFD moved from Vhf-high to Uhf, you could hear some fire dispatch ops from the Houston area at times. That's 250 miles south. Turns out their base output freq was the same as DFD's repeater input. It came in strong enough that DFD ended up changing their primary channel setup to try to cut down the interference.

If you put in the code or pl tone, you would 'miss' those freakish distant transmissions (you might not get many anyway, isn't your area fairly hilly?). You'd also miss the occasional unknown user of the same frequency that you did not realize was within range. The trade off is that for your 'problem' channels, you can reduce interference, letting you run a lower overall squelch and thus 'hear' more on your other frequencies.

 

[fuzzymoto]

Thanks...good advice and well explained. I'll have to play with a few.

 

[sfosgate]

every time i hook up my scanner i hit read from scanner and save.
then i make any changes i want from uasd and write to scanner.
you must read from scanner for uasd to notice you have changed something.

still love my 4 day old baby though

 

[fuzzymoto]

Mine only has Connect to Scanner not read from scanner. I'll look again when I get home but I don't recall that function and I do recall looking for it.

 

[sfosgate]

"To read the settings and systems from your scanner, connect it to your PC, then select Connect to Scanner from the main program screen.

The software reads all systems and settings from the scanner and displays them in the Scanner View window. To save these settings and systems to your PC, click Save. "

from The UASD help file..
maybe that'll help a little.

 

[fuzzymoto]

Actually I've tried that and it did not bring over the setting for me. Also it changed several other settings that I was sure were the same on the scanner AND software. Since then I've put too much work into the software settings to risk trying it again. Perhaps I did something wrong but I did try it several times unsuccessfully. Also when you click on Save you have to put in a file name. I tried giving it a different name or the same name as my current config and that didn't work either.