G5...What am I doing wrong?

[rja1]

Hi All,
I'll be the first to admit that I suck at programming trunked systems. I've kludged my way through programming P25 trunked systems on some Uniden scanners. Got my G5 a while back & programmed the only trunked system in my area, New York State Electric & Gas. They cover about 35 counties and have about the same number of sites. I only programmed in the local sites & those along a corridor that I travel once a week.
Here's the problem: I can receive 2 sites from my home, but as soon as the G5 locks onto the first CC, it stays there, it won't scan the other site unless the first sites signal drops out. Same situation when I'm up north. Up there, I can receive 3 sites, but it locks onto the first site it hears & stays there.
At first, I thought that it just worked like that, as it's really not designed as a scanner. Fast forward to yesterday, I'm at a Ham Radio flea market in Saratoga county.....an there, sitting on a vendors table is what looks like a brand new G5, in the box. Vendor said it was three months old & it still had the screen protector. I asked him what he was asking for it & he said his bottom line was $250. Now I have two G5's! He has several P25 trunked systems programmed and they were scanning sites just like my Unidens. Can somebody help me get this thing working the way it should?

Thanks & 73,
Bob
N2OAM

 

[Steve2003]

The trick is to program in multiple trunked systems with the same SystemID & WACN but different sites/frequencies.

When you setup your knob positions all you need to do is change to the system (i.e. site) you want to monitor. (you can copy/paste between knob positions).

 

[Jimco]

When you setup your knob positions all you need to do is change to the system (i.e. site) you want to monitor. (you can copy/paste between knob positions).

Exactly! This screwed me up at first with the G5 as well. You need to program each zone with only one site. All of the knob locations for that zone should contain ONLY TGIDs that are in that site. If you need to monitor two sites, you need two zones.

This is one of the differences between the G5 and a typical scanner setup. Once you figure it out, you can creatively configure your zones and knob positions to work well with it.

 

[troymail]

Here's the problem: I can receive 2 sites from my home, but as soon as the G5 locks onto the first CC, it stays there, it won't scan the other site unless the first sites signal drops out. Same situation when I'm up north. Up there, I can receive 3 sites, but it locks onto the first site it hears & stays there.
At first, I thought that it just worked like that, as it's really not designed as a scanner.

Actually, that is how it works. It's both good and bad at the same time.

Yesterday, I drove right past a site and then many miles past it but my G4 held the (much more) distant site since the quality had not significantly dropped such that the radio felt it needed to find a better site/signal.

As others have indicated - and just like with scanners - to have more positive control, you have to create multiple copies of the system - like one site per copy - and put each in different zone/knob positions.

For the NC VIPER system in my county, I have a zone (and knobs) set up that allow the radio to pick the site (any of 4 sites in my area).

I then create 4 additional "systems" (zones 2, 3, 4, and 5) and replicate the knob positions exactly the same. This way, if I want (and as I did yesterday), I simply switch zones to the "local" site (vs. allowing the radio to decide for me).

This is really the only way to do it... and I've always done similar things for scanner programming.

Fast forward to yesterday, I'm at a Ham Radio flea market in Saratoga county.....an there, sitting on a vendors table is what looks like a brand new G5, in the box. Vendor said it was three months old & it still had the screen protector. I asked him what he was asking for it & he said his bottom line was $250. Now I have two G5's! He has several P25 trunked systems programmed and they were scanning sites just like my Unidens. Can somebody help me get this thing working the way it should?

Thanks & 73,
Bob
N2OAM

Whoa! I would have jumped on that also (assuming it wasn't damaged in some way). Great find!

 

[rja1]

Whoa! I would have jumped on that also (assuming it wasn't damaged in some way). Great find![/QUOTE]

It was in the box, in "As New" condition, but without the charger. Also found an AOR LA-350 Loop Antenna. Covers 3-30 Mhz with the 2 included plug in loop antennas. Traded an old Motorola speaker (late 40's, early 50's vintage) for it. Total outlay for speaker...$10.................Now, back to the original subject......

As stated previously, I only have a rudimentary understanding of P25 trunking. Here's the system I'm trying to load https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=6033#tgs
Since I can only receive a few CC's at just about any location in their coverage area, maybe it makes sense to load the entire system, as it shouldn't (?) take long to scan through 38 sites, most of which are out of range. That way, no matter where I was in their coverage area, I'd be able to hear comms. I would like to be able to do all that in ONE knob position, if possible.

Bob
N2OAM

 

[troymail]

Whoa! I would have jumped on that also (assuming it wasn't damaged in some way). Great find!

It was in the box, in "As New" condition, but without the charger. Also found an AOR LA-350 Loop Antenna. Covers 3-30 Mhz with the 2 included plug in loop antennas. Traded an old Motorola speaker (late 40's, early 50's vintage) for it. Total outlay for speaker...$10.................Now, back to the original subject......

As stated previously, I only have a rudimentary understanding of P25 trunking. Here's the system I'm trying to load https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=6033#tgs
Since I can only receive a few CC's at just about any location in their coverage area, maybe it makes sense to load the entire system, as it shouldn't (?) take long to scan through 38 sites, most of which are out of range. That way, no matter where I was in their coverage area, I'd be able to hear comms. I would like to be able to do all that in ONE knob position, if possible.

Bob
N2OAM[/QUOTE]

You can add as many sites as you want -- just alot of typing.

Just keep in mind that the Unication pagers will find and hold on a single site that meets and maintains the signal quality required... After that, it won't "scan" the other sites unless it loses that original signal/control channel.

After that, knob position is limited only to 64 talkgroups... only then you need to create another knob...

... unless, as we've discussed, you create a different knob for spearate sites...

Lots of options -- just remember - it's not a "scanner". It will do some limited scanning....

 

[rja1]

Just keep in mind that the Unication pagers will find and hold on a single site that meets and maintains the signal quality required... After that, it won't "scan" the other sites unless it loses that original signal/control channel.

There's no way around this?? That means I'm missing al least 50% of comms, more if I'm in an area with 3 CC's that I can receive.

Bob
N2OAM

 

[troymail]

Just keep in mind that the Unication pagers will find and hold on a single site that meets and maintains the signal quality required... After that, it won't "scan" the other sites unless it loses that original signal/control channel.

There's no way around this?? That means I'm missing al least 50% of comms, more if I'm in an area with 3 CC's that I can receive.

Bob
N2OAM

They only process one control channel. There is no way to force them the "scan" (process) multiple sites at the same time.