SPECTRA SCANNING QUESTION

[N4KVE]

Hello. Got a quesion for you Spectra gurus.I'm driving to work & my Spectra is set to ch 2, however it's scanning & listening to a conversation on ch 7. I want to get into the conversation, & key up, but no one hears me. It transmits on ch 2, not ch 7 where the action is. On any ham radio that is scanning, it keys up where the action is, not where it's set to. Is this a programming issue with the Spectra? Thanks GARY N4KVE

[txshooter]

Hello. Got a quesion for you Spectra gurus.I'm driving to work & my Spectra is set to ch 2, however it's scanning & listening to a conversation on ch 7. I want to get into the conversation, & key up, but no one hears me. It transmits on ch 2, not ch 7 where the action is. On any ham radio that is scanning, it keys up where the action is, not where it's set to. Is this a programming issue with the Spectra? Thanks GARY N4KVE

You have it programmed for talkback scan. Pretty easy fix. I always have mine setup to transmit on the channel I have it set on. I can always change channels to get on another channel when I need to but I want to be the one to make the choice.

I just never could get used to talkback scan.

[tvsjr]

Actually, Scott has it backwards... you *don't* have it programmed for talkback scan.

Talkback Scan enabled = radio transmits on the selected channel if no activity... on the active channel if activity.
Talkback Scan disabled = radio transmits on the selected channel if no activity... on the selected channel if activity.

However, I agree - I can't get use to Talkback scan. I want to know exactly where the radio is going to transmit when I key the mic. An example would be if you wait a split-second too long to key up, and you happen to be selected up on fire primary with a hamsexual repeater in scan. Bingo, you toss your call out over the primary fire channel.

Personally, I'm glad I've never done that... today

[txshooter]

Thanks Terry, you are correct. I read his post wrong. That's what I get for not rereading the post before I answered.

Great explanation of why not to have talkback scan enabled!!!!

[N4KVE]

Thanks for the quick replys. My radio is only used for ham freq's so no problem with FD dispatch. If I enable talkback scan will the radio stay on ch 7 after a conversation, or go back to ch 2? Thanks again. By the way txshooter the saber 3 still works great. GARY N4KVE

[PhillyPhoto]

If you use talkback, once you're done talking it will go back to whatever channel you selected. So in you're case you would talk on channel 7 and then go back to channel 2.

[tvsjr]

Great explanation of why not to have talkback scan enabled!!!!

Yup... I've been harassed via phone more than once after using my ham call (usually during a RACES net, when I'm running net control and trying to talk on four radios at once) on a fire, police, or SO repeater. D'oh!

KVE - The radio will always remain on the selected channel. The only time you'll be allowed to "talk back" is during the scan hang time. Once the hang time expires, you're back to channel 2.

[Mike B]

If your Spectra has the Scan Off HUB feature, program it to stop the scan on the active channel when you lift the microphone off the Hang Up Box (HUB). The microphone will have to be on the HUB in order to scan. The HUB microphone clip must be grounded or you need a microphone with the HUB button in the back.

It is simple, if you hear someone on scan you want to talk with, lift the microphone off the HUB and you are ready to go.

It is much better than talkback scan. You also should not use talkback scan on a non-priority scan mode with active priority scan modes. There you are talking on a non-priority mode or secondary priority mode when the higher primary priority mode scan hits, unless you catch this priority mode change you are suddenly doing talkback on the wrong frequency the next time you press the PTT.

You can use dynamic priority with talkback and not use the primary priority scan. Setting the non-priority scan mode you want to talk on to be the dynamic priority mode first, makes it easy to recapture the talkback mode if the scan times out and it will not surprise you with an unexpected priority mode change.