Proramming XTS5000R for a Receive Only Channel?

[Wadsworth]

I want to put a channel all by itself off in zone 3 at the end of the possible selectable channels to help reduce the chance of someone transmitting on it. This channel will be scanned so that if there is a general announcement all users will hear it. Because of wanting to move that channel out to the end of the possible channels, i.e. channel 16 on a portable radio in zone 3, I need to fill the channels between the last real talk group channel and that channel with something, but I don't want people to be able to transmit on those dummy channels either. Is there a way to inhibit transmit on extra channels inserted between the last valid one and the one I want to put as the last channel on the selector? I can make those channels conventional on some other frequency than the bare bones P25 system we have, but it does not appear I can leave the transmit frequency block in the programming blank so the radio cannot transmit.

Any suggestions? We don't want to use ATG for this that causes other problems due to all talk groups being tied together and we have over 70!

[speedbird727]

Is your "general announcement" channel conventional or trunked ?

[wavetar]

If you're using the A-B-C switch for zones, you could create a 4th zone & put the talkgroup in there...that way the users couldn't access it at all (assuming you don't have 'zone' as a menu or softkey), but it could still be scanned & even talked back on if the scan options are set up to allow it.

As far as setting the conventional channels to not TX, in the conventional personalities, you simply need to create a personality & check off the 'RX only' box and point the conventional entry(s) in the zone/channel assignment to that personality. All the TX fields will then be greyed out & the radio will not TX on that channel(s).

Todd

[Wadsworth]

Hello, thanks much. The ATG or All Talk Group channel is trunked, we would like to use it as an announcement channel for all users on the trunk system consisting of near 70 talk groups, but the way our bare bones system works is all talk groups are then tied together for 3 to 5 seconds and if any user transmits after the announcement, and before that 5 second timer expires, then everything stays tied together and other users jump in making chaos until everyone stops talking long enough for the talk groups to go back to normal. We've tried to find a way around this problem but so far it appears we have to abandon the ATG option and create a talk group in every radio (over 1400 of them) which is permanently scanned and hide that channel in a zone users can't get to when using portable radios, as per the suggestion by wavetar. This looks like our best way to go, but from what I see, as you create additional zones at least one channel, the first channel in that zone must have something in it which we can deal with by making that channel a receive only channel on a frequency no one uses.

So, looks like your help will get is moving forward to create that "All Call" channel in the trunked system by hiding it in a zone you cannot select with switches on the portable radios etc., but if someone had a solution of how to stop the ATG or All Talk Groups from being tied together for 3 to 5 seconds, just to release as soon as the announcement on that group is done, this would be far better, is this possible with a bare bones trunk system? We will have a master controller in the future some time away, but need a solution for this now as it may be some time until that happens.

Your suggestions greatly appreciated!

Thanks! Chris KL7FB

[Wadsworth]

Is your "general announcement" channel conventional or trunked ?

Our system is mostly trunked, we have some conventional channels that go through repeaters for some users, but 99% of the programming is P25 trunking but with a bare bones trunk system.

[speedbird727]

Hi - I don't know that much about trunking. So this may be a stupid comment...

On our LTR system, in which we use HT1250LS radios, we had a similar situation with our Police Explorers. We needed to equip them with radios that received our police dispatch but could not transmit. We just changed the both TX High and TX Low talkgroup IDs to something other than our actual dispatch talkgroup ID. That did the trick just fine for us. I have no idea if you can do that on a P25 system.

[wavetar]

Hi - I don't know that much about trunking. So this may be a stupid comment...

On our LTR system, in which we use HT1250LS radios, we had a similar situation with our Police Explorers. We needed to equip them with radios that received our police dispatch but could not transmit. We just changed the both TX High and TX Low talkgroup IDs to something other than our actual dispatch talkgroup ID. That did the trick just fine for us. I have no idea if you can do that on a P25 system.

Unfortunately, no. Motorola trunked systems don't use the High/Low talkgroup layout like LTR does...one talkgroup for TX & RX per channel is all you get. Most newer LTR radios I've seen also allow for up to 4 'universal' talkgroups which the radio can listen for while sitting on a 'regular' talkgroup, which makes for flexible announcement group setups...you can even make it so the radios cannot TX back after an announcement for a specified length of time. Funny the low tier stuff seems so much more flexible in some regards.

[Wadsworth]

OK thanks all, we are just going to put the "all call" talk group in a zone higher than you can select with the three possible zones available through the toggle switch selection on the portable/hand-held radio and then scan that channel. That way they can receive it, but cannot get to the zone to transmit on it.

Chris KL7FB