Optimizing Scanning Parameters
Move your scanner/antenna to a different location. Sometimes just 12" helps. Digital is especially real fussy.
Get a better antenna. The stock rubber duck/whip antennas are just average quality.
Conventional Scanning
Setting the squelch properly is the easiest and quickest way to receive channels better.
Set the
SQ Wait 1
(in the '
Expert Settings
' menu) down to
7
or
5
.
The minimum unmute delay for analog conventional channels is when
Sq Mode
is set to
CTCSS
or
DCS
and
CTCSS Hz
or
DCS Code
is set to
Search
.
Analog/Digital Trunking
The one thing that frustrated me most with the default settings is the constant blinking of an ID in the display while the scanner was trying to lock on to it.
Here's what I did.
Move your scanner/antenna to a different location. Sometimes just 12" helps. You want that in the upper left of the display to stay there as much as
possible.
For Motorola systems/sites, only enter the
known
control channels/alternate control channels to speed up scanning. You don't need to program the voice
channels.
There also are articles on
Object Oriented Scanners Overload Issues
Turning the squelch down a little will help pull in fringe sites especially for P25 decoding. It will scan multiple sites slower but gives the scanner time to lock
onto the control channels.
Turning the squelch up a little will find the stronger sites faster and therefore move to the next site/system quicker.
If you are having trouble with garbled digital transmissions, try turning AGC on or off for the system or convention frequency.
In the '
Global Settings
' menu:
Turn the
TGRP Pri Int
setting '
Off
' so it will not interrupt trunked activity to check for conventional priority channels (set to default '
On
').
In the '
Expert Settings
' menu:
Set the
SQ Wait 1
(In-band SQ Timeout/Squelch Time Same Band in the software) down to around
5
(scan rate).
Set the
(Endtone Threshold in the software) down to around
80
for a Motorola system.
Set the
DG Int Prime
(Digital Detect Timeout/Digital Detect Time in the software) down to around
20
-
40
.
For Multi-site systems
, program each site into its own Scan List first to see how well the site receives in different locations or conditions. See also
Analyzing Trunking Systems
.
I would only use the
Multi-Site
Roam
setting if there was only one control channel available at a time to monitor. This may be the case if you are located
on the fringe of several weak sites. Set
Threshold Hi
to around
85
and
Threshold Lo
to about
55
for a wider threshold range than the default 95 Hi and 75
Lo. You don't need 95% signal quality to lock on to a site. This will monitor the strongest control channel and look for another only when the signal strength
falls below the 'Threshold Lo' setting.
I don't like the
Roam
setting because it only monitors 1 strong control channel (site) which defeats the whole 'multi-site' concept IMHO. Yes, there may be
different
traffic on any other receivable control channels you have in the system that aren't being monitored. The
Multi-Site
Stat
setting with
Check All CC
set to
On
will receive more
different
traffic whether you are roaming
or
stationary. It will monitor
all
receivable sites. My personal experience has given me
the best results by programming each site as one system and putting it in its own Scan List and setting
Multi-Site
to
Off
for each system. You are usually in
range of only 5-10 sites at any given location anyway so that's only 5-10 Scan Lists. This way you can see which sites are receivable by monitoring one
Scan List at a time and looking for that little in the upper left of the display.
If you don't want to waste that many Scan Lists on one multi-site system, put all the known good receivable sites for each location into one system
assigned to one Scan List, set the
Multi-Site
setting to
Stat
and set
Check All CC
to
On
. This will monitor all control channels and sites. Or, a combination
of both methods; put all the
strong
sites in one Scan List and the intermittent or fussy sites in their own list so you can enable those when
conditions/locations are favorable. The ultimate goal is to make your scanner monitor only strong (receivable) control channels.
These are just my suggestions. You will have to experiment with different ways to find what works best for you. Factors like how busy the multi-site system
is, how much traffic you want to listen to on
that
system, and how many other systems you want to listen to will determine the best way for you to setup
each multi-site system.
Tune Search/Analyze Mode
The scanner's TUNE mode allows you to quickly enter any frequency and monitor that frequency for transmissions, or search up or down from that
frequency for activity. TUNE mode also displays information about trunking control channels and trunked voice channels it finds while tuning and other
information for conventional frequencies depending on the
ADC Cal
setting in the '
Expert Settings
' menu.
TUNE search will always check for and display any CTCSS/DCS/NAC squelch, control channel information, and digital modulation each time it finds an
active frequency.
Tune Search:
See also
BandPlan
Expert Settings
' menu)
for step size defaults.
Using
FUNC
then
TUNE
will load the last active frequency from the last
mode.
To monitor any conventional frequency
press
TUNE
. Enter the frequency
and press
ENT
.
To monitor the currently displayed frequency
press
FUNC
then
TUNE
.
By default, TUNE search is
PAUSED
when first started.
To start searching press
PSE
to release pause mode.
To change direction
press
▼
or
▲
.