Kansas APCO 25 problem

[tadkld]

I have moved to the FreeScan software since the basic BearCat software no longer works with the new RadioReference database. I have used the Bearcat software for a number of loads with no problems. I have a BCD396T which has a 20 group limit. I first tried a new load with a number of groups and conventional frequencies. The upload when fine till I hit the only APCO25 system in the load. When the software tried to load this system it goes into a loop. It keeps repeating this group. I left it going overnight and it finally errored out on maximum memory used.

I tried this several times with the same results. I decided to try a test load on only the APCO25 system.

I used the import function from within FreeScan after checking to see it was the most current version, selected Kansas and then Kansas Statewide Interoperable Communications System (KSICS) APCO 25 system. From the data downloaded I selected only Highway Patrol, KBI, and KDOT groups, a total of 13 groups since I have a 20 group maximum. This data I imported into FreeScan. After a scanner optimize check I tried to load this into the 396. I selected the clear memory option to make sure I had a clean load otherwise used default settings. It went into a loop repeating each group several times till I stopped the load.

Has anyone got an idea as to why this APCO25 system will not load properly. Also how do you handle the other groups that I had to remove to keep the group limit below 20.

[cpuerror]

That system is very large and has a long list of sites. However, the 396T does not support multisite operation. So for FreeSCAN to load it onto the scanner, it creates one system per site and copies the groups into each system. It looks like there are 30 odd sites in this system, plus about 6 frequencies each, 180 TGIDs total, so you would need 5580 channels out of your 6000 to cover it all (not including any other systems you might have loaded). This is probably why you got the out of memory error.

You have to limit yourself to only the number of sites as the number of systems the scanner has memory for. If it is just one system you want, you can combine the control channels into one system, but then if you can hear different control channels you won't hear all the traffic that you can. This is because the scanner will lock onto the first control channel it finds and stay there. Hope that helps.

[tadkld]

Thanks for the response. While not thinking about the multisite problem I did try loading only part of the groups as a test even though I did select all sites. The upload still goes into a endless loop even with the reduction in groups. It keeps reloading each group multiple times and never executes a normal stop (ie finish loading) even if I leave it run all night. I figured the problem was mine and not the software. I was looking to see if anyone had done the same thing.

Do you know of a scanner that will handle the multisite issue?

[cpuerror]

There are 35 odd sites in there, so it will loop 35 times creating different systems until they are all in. Short of a new bug it is not an infinite loop but you will probably run out of memory before it finishes. I would suggest reimporting the system and only selecting 1 or 2 sites. It doesn't really matter how many groups you select with this system.

The 396XT will handle the multi site system well...

[KCoax]

Unless your on the road covering some miles multi site scanning (with all those sites) you are going to miss traffic. I've found it best to program the sites as individual sytems on a quick key. Then when I am in the area of that tower I let it scan.

[DDan]

Originally Posted by KCoax

Unless your on the road covering some miles multi site scanning (with all those sites) you are going to miss traffic. I've found it best to program the sites as individual sytems on a quick key. Then when I am in the area of that tower I let it scan.

I do the same thing and it works fine for me on the 396XT. On the 396T there is quite a bit of duplication required (TGs) but you can do the same thing. I only turn on what I can hear.