Wildcard and open mode

[de784]

I have owned the 500 for a while now and there are two things that I still do not understand that is the wild card and open mode I have read up on it but still really don't understand it can someone please explain Thanks

 

[mtindor]

I have owned the 500 for a while now and there are two things that I still do not understand that is the wild card and open mode I have read up on it but still really don't understand it can someone please explain Thanks

Wildcard (group and private)

A group wildcard is a single talkgroup that you can add that will allow you to hear _all_ traffic over _all_ talkgroups as long as that traffic is being transmitted over the tower site(s) you are monitoring.

A private wildcard is a talkgroup that you can add which will allow you to hear all radio-to-radio [non-talkgroup specific] traffic that is being transmitted over the tower site(s) you are monitoring.

Not all systems support private wildcards, in which case if you have one programmed you'll just never hear anything via the private wildcard. And even on systems that support it, radio-to-radio communication may not be allowed by the system administrator of the system.

An example of when I would use a group wildcard:

If a new trunked system had just come online in my area, no talkgroup information would be known for it yet. So, you would have no specific talkgroups to program in (such as sheriff 1, Fire Dispatch, etc). If you program in a Group Wildcard, then anytime a specific talkgroup, known or unknown, is in use on the tower site(s) you are monitoring, you will hear the traffic and the # of the talkgroup will be displayed.

so if I was monitoring a new system for which the talkgroup information was not known, I'd program in a Group Wildcard. Then, when I hear traffic on a numeric talkgroup that sounds as though it might be the main Fire Dispatch talkgroup for my county, I'll label it as such and will submit it to the RRDb.

Another example of when I would use a group wildcard:

I monitor a small county system. There are 60+ talkgrousp for the whole county. The system is not very active and I like to listen to everything going on in the county. I don't want to miss _anything_. I program all the known talkgroups in, but then I program a Group Wildcard in. That way, if a new [yet to be divulged] talkgroup is in use, I will hear the traffic and I'll be able to note the numeric talkgroup. Then, once i identify what that talkgroup is being used for I can alpha tag that specific talkgroup and can submit the information to the RR DB. I'll hear all comms on the trunked system - Comms on known talkgroups will have the alpha tag for the talkgroup displayed. Comms on a new unknown talkgroup will have the numeric ID displayed.

So if you are monitoring a new system with a lot of talkgroups whose use has not been determined yet, you'd want to add a Group Wildcard so that you can hear them all and attempt to identify them.

Private Calls (I-CALL as they are often referred to) dont' happen often on most systems, but when they are heard they can sometimes be very interesting.

Mike

 

[mtindor]

And "Open Mode" is just another name for using a Group Wildcard. "Open Mode" is what it is called by Radio Shack in their older scanner.

On Unidens, you'll have ID Search / ID Scan. ID Search on Uniden is the equivalent of Group Wildcard on GRE and Open Mode on most Radio Shack models (except PRO-197/106, which use the GRE nomenclature).

ICALL on a Uniden is the equivalent of Private Wildcard on the digital GREs and RS PRO-197/106.

ICALL / Private Wildcard are radio-to-radio comms, not over a talkgroup. They are specific from a single radio to a single radio.

Mike