GPS and x36 SCANNERS

[crhodes4382]

If this has been covered I apologize if it has I use GPS with 536 and have for a while but I have issues with it trying to pick up in states that I am not close enough to want to hear.My question is when do we get NXDN??LOL just kidding seriously though would any of you guys be interested in a per state option that would ask if you want one state at a time vs. The way it does and yes I do set radius to about 15 miles just wondering if there would maybe be an option if enough people asked and yes I do know about programming but travelling like I do that would be impossible. Thx

 

[JStemann]

I’d love to be able to have a “state” option or just be able to select an entire state as a favorite list. As it is right now, I have a local favorites list and just switch to the main database when on longer trips. It is quite annoying to be traveling along a border in one state with the scanner wasting time scanning systems in the neighboring state.

Oh, another thing that might help, for location scanning, I set the range to 0 miles, you might try that & see how it does for you.

Jeff.

 

[jonwienke]

If this has been covered I apologize if it has I use GPS with 536 and have for a while but I have issues with it trying to pick up in states that I am not close enough to want to hear.

In general, if you are scanning stuff you aren't actually close enough to hear (for whatever reason), you have Range set too high. In a vehicle, you shouldn't ever set Range more than about 5 miles. For a base station, the practical max is 10-15 miles. There are exceptions, because counties and cities and states aren't perfect circles.

I use 5 miles on the road, and 10 miles at home (I have a ST-2 mounted 30 feet up and get pretty decent reception). For more info, read this:
How it Works: Location, Location, Location

If you want to make a state-specific Favorite list, it's fairly easy.

1. Create a new favorite list, and give it the name of the applicable state. MAKE SURE YOU TURN ON LOCATION CONTROL IN THE FAVORITE LIST SETTINGS.

2. Make a list of which counties in the state you have any possibility of traveling in. Adding every county may exceed the maximum size of a favorite list, and will make the next steps take longer.

3. (Do this for the first county in the list only) Navigate to the state and county in the main database, then click on Statewide. You will see a list of all the statewide systems on the right. Click on any system, then press CTRL-A to select them all. Press INS to add the systems to a favorite list, and select the appropriate list in the dialog that pops up.

4. (Do this for each county in your list) Navigate to the county in the main database, then click on County Systems. You will see a list of all the systems in the county on the right. Click on any system, then press CTRL-A to select them all. Press INS to add the systems to a favorite list, and select the appropriate list in the dialog that pops up.

 

[troymail]

The method used by Uniden to do location based scanning is far from 100% ... partly due to the implementation and partly due to the RRDB location data.

The location based scanning and the RRDB location data along with your location and range are all simple circles. Anytime these circles intersect, the scanner will try to scan those frequencies and systems.

While some of the issues are simply due to "bad location data" in the database/library, most of it is due to some extremely large circles that define the location of some frequencies and systems - particularly, but not limited to statewide frequencies. This is more noticeable/impacting if the shape of a given state is 'wide' or 'tall' (and it's location 'circle').

Using the full library, at rare times when I would try it coupled with location based programming, I have seen even West Virginia frequencies being scanned in middle and southern North Carolina due to these 'large circles'. It is for that and other reasons that I very rarely used the full database. For most trips, I will create a favorites list of what I want to monitor and use location control against those FLs. It still has issues but less of them.

FWIW - I'd like to see an option to filter out conventional frequencies (i.e. toggle, etc. to allow monitoring of only trunk systems in the underlying source - be it full library or FLs).

 

[ShyFlyer]

When I put together my FLs for GPS use, I ignored the default coordinates (except for trunked system sites) and supplied my own. I also defined rectangles (except for trunked system sites) for the stuff I was monitoring. It was a little tedious at first, but doable since I had plenty of time on my hands. Using Google Maps, I was able to see boundaries of cities & counties and therefore get the lat/long to define the required rectangles.

It was a pain in the you know what to properly define the boundaries for Denver. Off hand I think I had to create seven or eight rectangles for that area.

I kept the range at zero so that I had to actually be in the defined area to scan that area's stuff.

 

[unusedusername]

In general, if you are scanning stuff you aren't actually close enough to hear (for whatever reason), you have Range set too high. In a vehicle, you shouldn't ever set Range more than about 5 miles. For a base station, the practical max is 10-15 miles. There are exceptions, because counties and cities and states aren't perfect circles.

This drastically depends on your geography and your antenna.

I have a diamond mobile discone mounted on the front fender on my Jeep, and I can easily hear 2meter amateur radio repeaters in Auburn, California from the southern part of the central valley. That's 100+miles of distance. It works due to elevation changes.

Five miles for a small town police department in a flat state where their antenna is only up 35 feet makes sense. If they put up a 300 foot tower, then you are looking at 20 miles. If they put the the repeater on a 3000' peak, then you can hear it 100 miles away in the flats.

 

[jonwienke]

This drastically depends on your geography and your antenna.

I have a diamond mobile discone mounted on the front fender on my Jeep, and I can easily hear 2meter amateur radio repeaters in Auburn, California from the southern part of the central valley. That's 100+miles of distance. It works due to elevation changes.

Five miles for a small town police department in a flat state where their antenna is only up 35 feet makes sense. If they put up a 300 foot tower, then you are looking at 20 miles. If they put the the repeater on a 3000' peak, then you can hear it 100 miles away in the flats.

You are confusing the range setting on the scanner with total reception range.

The range setting on sites and departments is added to the range setting of the scanner.

Even if you set the scanner range to zero, you may still monitor things 30+ miles away depending on their individual range settings in the database.