Viper system in favorites Sentinel software

[Cepheid]

I am very new to this and just bought a used Home Patrol1. Love it and thought I knew sort of what I was doing... The Viper channels here in NC scan fine BUT...

Went to Sentinel and set up a favorites list.
I have Viper channels P25 standard? (I think)and my regular channels. (Hickory NC police dept) My regular channels in fav list scan fine but my Viper channels don't scan. If I watch the scanner scan it doesn't show my Viper (in my case North Carolina Viper) but all the other channels on the favorites list are fine.

Maybe I am on the wrong track but there is a setting in Sentinel under edit profile-misc setting settings. It is called Motorola/P25 TGID Format it is set to decimal.Should it be set to hexidecimal?

I am probably on the very wrong track here. Any suggestions?

thank you so much

 

[ofd8001]

It'll be something small. If you receive Viper on the full database, but don't with Favorites Lists, most likely something was not imported correctly, or was deleted (site or department).

Try re-importing again and do not delete anything from what is imported.

 

[JamesO]

Last time I was through the area, my HP1 worked fine on the VIPER system.

Chances are it is a programming issue as mentioned. Check the Service Types and Distance first.

Then maybe the problem was with the wrong sites being pulled into the Favorites or maybe even the wrong TGID or no TGID. You might try and see if you can set the Favitore List to ID Search for a test to see what happens.

Good luck.

 

[phask]

One of the easiest mistakes to make is to create it and delete either all the sites or the sites(s) you need.

 

[Cepheid]

Thank you for all the suggestions.
I just made a second favorites list and I will try to download it to HP again.
This is goona sound like a dumb question but the Viper system has so many steps to go from NC Viper (like NC VIPER, Countywide, then Emergency, then city, then police or fire then dispatch etc) to the bottom of the tree. The link I "append to favorites" is the very last link that is availiable correct?
Just want to make sure I am doing this fav list correctly.

thanks

 

[jonwienke]

No. right-click on the top of the tree--the item labeled VIPER. Otherwise you are only importing part of the system and it won't work.

 

[UPMan]

He's just wanting a few channels on the system, not the entire system.

The most common errors are:
1) Deleting all sites (you can delete some sites, but you need to make sure to leave the sites in your area).
2) Having Location Control off, so that all sites are being scanned, even though only a few are in range (causes scan cycle time to be very long, missing many comms).
3) Having service types disabled for channels you want to hear.

I recommend, after importing your channels, go ahead and leave all sites in. Set the FL to use location control. Enter your location (this will limit scanning to just those sites in your general area).

 

[Cepheid]

Yes NC Viper is a huge system. I just want a few channels. UPMan brilliant! Using location controls to limit scanning instead of hand picking through all the county systems in NC. I'll try it!

thank you

 

[ofd8001]

The VIPER system is similar to many other statewide systems - lots of Sites to get full coverage and lots of Departments to accommodate the many users. So its not too bad for the scanner - they were built with the big statewide systems in mind.

You'll probably also want to experiment with your Range values and come up with something that "pulls in" what you want, but not so much its trying to catch a too far away site.

 

[Cepheid]

I'm still working on this

 

[ofd8001]

The VIPER system should be 269 KB or thereabouts.
1. start sentinel
2. Go to USA database, drill down to North Carolina, (any county will work for this)
3. Click plus sign beside statewide
4. Highlight North Carolina VIPER
5. Right mouse click and then in the box that opens, choose Append Favorites List
6. In the popup that opens, choose New Favorites List and click OK
7. Edit the profile and be sure Monitor is On and and Download is On.

Once you get this in your scanner and confirm it is working, you can do things like set Location On, ID search On, etc.

Start off with the basic download just to be sure you don't mess something up in editing.

 

[Cepheid]

I got this far. I downloaded a file in favorites that is NC Viper only. The file shows it has data in it. Uploaded it successfully to HP1. When I try to get HP1 to use this fav data base it says there is nothing in range or all are avoided, THERE IS NOTHING AVOIDED, I set range to 20 miles or so. However the ID search says "off" how do I turn it on? OR does it need to be on? Oh and I enabled all the service types. Any idea what service type Viper is??

I'll figure it out yet.

Thanks

 

[ofd8001]

Confirm zip code is correct

Confirm (for now) you have all service types enabled

Set range to largest value (for now)

If that doesn't work export file to hpe then zip and attach to reply.

 

[Cepheid]

I tried all this again and had no luck. I zipped the fav file (it is called Viper only) it is attached.

 

[hiegtx]

I tried all this again and had no luck. I zipped the fav file (it is called Viper only) it is attached.

That file only has 'Departments' with talkgroup ID's. There are no sites, so it cannot scan the system.

Did you append from the database, but then delete the sites, leaving only the groups (departments) of interest to you?
------------------------------------------

The VIPER system should be 269 KB or thereabouts.
1. start sentinel
2. Go to USA database, drill down to North Carolina, (any county will work for this)
3. Click plus sign beside statewide
4. Highlight North Carolina VIPER
5. Right mouse click and then in the box that opens, choose Append Favorites List
6. In the popup that opens, choose New Favorites List and click OK
7. Edit the profile and be sure Monitor is On and and Download is On.

Once you get this in your scanner and confirm it is working, you can do things like set Location On, ID search On, etc.

Start off with the basic download just to be sure you don't mess something up in editing.

Edit to add:
It appears that instead of appending the entire Viper system as noted above, you only selected the Groups of interest (treated as Departments in Sentinel), and appended those only, no sites included. Without a site, the talkgroups cannotbe scanned.

 

[hiegtx]

Attached is a revised file.

I retained your Departments (groups), and then added the sites listed for the counties you selected, plus the additional sites for the counties covered by NCSP Troop F.

If you correctly set location control, then the sites outside your range will not be enabled, only those in your range. For more about Location control works, see How it Works: Location, Location, Location

 

[ofd8001]

Hiegtx is correct - there were no sites, a necessary component for trunked systems. You can listen to trunked systems without have Departments (or talkgroup IDs) by being in ID Search, but you can't listen to a trunked system without sites.

That's why it's best to not delete downloaded "stuff" in the beginning. Confirm it all works first, then you can start removing things bit by bit. That way if it quits working, you know what you did to create the issue.

 

[jonwienke]

Copy the entire system, and use location control (entering a ZIP code or connecting a GPS) to tell the scanner what portion of the system is near you and scannable. Keep in mind that talkgroups are not scanned, sites are. Having "extra" talkgroups programmed will not slow down scanning. So there's no good reason to delete talkgroups or departments.

 

[phask]

As I suggested way back in post #4.

That file only has 'Departments' with talkgroup ID's. There are no sites, so it cannot scan the system.

Did you append from the database, but then delete the sites, leaving only the groups (departments) of interest to you?
------------------------------------------

Edit to add:
It appears that instead of appending the entire Viper system as noted above, you only selected the Groups of interest (treated as Departments in Sentinel), and appended those only, no sites included. Without a site, the talkgroups cannotbe scanned.

 

[ofd8001]

A lot of people new to scanning trunked systems, and the OP may or may not be one, don't understand that scanning a trunked system is different than scanning a conventional system. So for the benefit of those new to trunked systems:

With conventional, the scanner "listens" to each frequency that is programmed and not locked-out/avoided. When an active transmission is detected, the scanner remains on the frequency.

With trunked systems, the scanner listens to the control channel for each site programmed and not avoided (either manually avoided or due to location control action). The scanner "analyzes" the data in the control channel, which would include channel grants for talkgroups. It notes each talkgroup's number and which voice channel is assigned. The scanner then looks at the list of talkgroups that have been programmed and are not avoided. If it finds a match, the scanner tunes to that voice channel and the transmission is heard.

The scanner listens to one site for a second or two, and if not applicable channel grants are present, it moves on to the next site. The process repeats itself over and over again.

It's better to leave all sites that are "in range" active, because not all transmissions are carried on all sites.

So, as noted above, this is different in that each talkgroup isn't checked for activity during the process. Thus having numerous talkgroups programmed has no impact on scan speed, beside the number of transmissions received.