Creating new software for uniden scanners

[cpuerror]

Hello all. I have bought a couple of uniden scanners (246 and 996) and have been searching for a suitable program to load them. However, everything seems to cost money, and one program is only good for one radio type. I have seen some free tools, nice effort but not quite what I need.

So I have set about writing my own software for programming these scanners. Initial support will be for the 246, then a version for the 996 and possibly the 15 in the future. It will be freeware and will have full trunking support on the first release. Radio control/logging won't be included, since i think thats something that deserves its own package.

The reason i'm posting this is to find out what kinds of features people are looking for, as well as feedback on what will be the no-nonsense UI. Release of the first beta should come in a few weeks.

 

[ka3jjz]

This looks like a promising start - I think it goes without saying that RR database imports are a definite must have. You can read about the specifications - and download documents - from this article

It's an interesting idea - just a programming package, hopefully better than the crummy Scancat Lite Plus. The more competition in this field the better. Much luck with your new software - I and others will be watching closely

73s Mike

 

[cpuerror]

This looks like a promising start - I think it goes without saying that RR database imports are a definite must have. You can read about the specifications - and download documents - from this article

It's an interesting idea - just a programming package, hopefully better than the crummy Scancat Lite Plus. The more competition in this field the better. Much luck with your new software - I and others will be watching closely

73s Mike

Sounds like a useful feature. I checked out the article, it looks like some kind of webservice that i would need to?? Might be something that could be done in the future.

RR Downloads - I tried poking around for downloading and saw some CSV files containing frequencies etc, but apparently you have to be a paying member to download these. Are there other frequency files on rr that are available to everyone?

 

[ka3jjz]

You are right, both the csv file downloads and the web service are only available to paid subscribers of the site. However, the cost is quite cheap. The article for the subscription plan is here

At least providing a copy/paste utility from RR (that is to say copying rows while viewing an entry, then pasting it much like you can do from Excel) would be almost as valuable - and you don't need to be a paying member to view the db to do it.

73s Mike

 

[cpuerror]

You are right, both the csv file downloads and the web service are only available to paid subscribers of the site. However, the cost is quite cheap. The article for the subscription plan is here

At least providing a copy/paste utility from RR (that is to say copying rows while viewing an entry, then pasting it much like you can do from Excel) would be almost as valuable - and you don't need to be a paying member to view the db to do it.

73s Mike

What I might end up doing is supporting USD files, or perhaps figure out a way to make it import a saved webpage, so that way it could work on other websites. It would be nice not to have to manually enter 150 TGIDs.

 

[wjf]

If anyone can come up with something better than that God awful ARC program, I'd buy into it.

 

[frazpo]

I agree with that!!

 

[frazpo]

However I do like ARC's web catcher feature. It does come in handy.

 

[ka3jjz]

What I might end up doing is supporting USD files, or perhaps figure out a way to make it import a saved webpage, so that way it could work on other websites. It would be nice not to have to manually enter 150 TGIDs.

Yep supporting UASD files is a good idea. However, importing a saved webpage presents quite a challenge. One software provider is struggling with this very problem as we speak. The problem is that every webpage can be formatted differently, with different layouts. While it might be reasonably easy to pull frequencies, anything else might be a real pain.

I'd suggest making the imports seperate modules; that way each import can be worked on, and debugged, independently of the others. To make up an example here, there would be one module for RR, one for the FCC database, one for Airnav, ect.

73s Mike

 

[cpuerror]

If anyone can come up with something better than that God awful ARC program, I'd buy into it.

I played around with ARC, its not so bad, if it was free I would just stick with it. My main goal is to come up with an interface that is simple and intuitive, but still gives full access to scanner programmig.

I only have to complete a dialog box for custom fleet maps, then add the ability to save/load its own files which will be easy. Then I have to work on the scanner upload/download routines and I will have a fully functional beta.

 

[bonus1331]

I love the new interest in developing software for these radios.
Now we have this gentleman and BCTool being developed.

 

[cpuerror]

Hey all, thanks for the encouragement.

Well just to give everyone an update, after some amount of work the trunking part is more or less complete. I'm able to edit & upload both conventional and trunked systems to the 246. There is still loads of work to do. Even the little 246 has tons of features and i'm working on making them so they are easily accessible with point and click.

If any one is interested in a super-early alpha version let me know. Many parts are incomplete, its buggy and crashes a lot but the core functions operate.



In the meantime, here is a screenshot of a highly incomplete but function form showing communications between the PC and the scanner. (PC on left,, scanner responses are on right). Uniden's language is quite cryptic, as you can see!! And don't worry, the release beta will look a whole lot better then it does below.

 

[mike_s104]

If anyone can come up with something better than that God awful ARC program, I'd buy into it.

Damn right...

also as a "feature" that the ARC software has that I would like to see omitted is the "auto close feature" after about 15mins or whenever it feels the need.

 

[cpuerror]

A couple more screenshots

 

[hoser147]

cpuerror LOOKs Great. Off to a good start keep up the good work.................Hoser147

 

[cpuerror]

Download the beta now!!

Ok well I've put in a lot of time on this program and its relatively somewhat stable. I'm offering it for download so anyone with a 246 scanner can test it. If you find bugs, errors etc please post them here. For example, if there are problems uploading systems to the scanner then post the log here so I can see what went wrong and correct it.

As of this beta, you can create both trunked and conventional systems. You can set pretty much every option on the radio, except certain weather functions. You can save/load systems and upload everything you have to the radio.

In the near future, you will be able to download the radio configuration to the program. I will also add USD import support. Once more bugs are worked out, it will be release as a 1.0 version, Freeware ofcourse. Following that, a version for the 996 and eventually the 15 will follow.

In the mean time you can download it from http://upload2.net/page/download/nxta4d11wMo7LZG/FreeSCAN0001Alpha.zip.html .

PS Does anyone know of any good free file/web hosts??? (Bell charges me $50 a month and gives a whopping 5MB of space with 20MB monthly limit)

 

[ka3jjz]

If there's room, why not just upload it to the 246 Yahoo group? That way you get the benefit of dedicated users and you can announce it there, too. Then when you're ready, upload it to the 996 and BCT15 Yahoo groups. Our wiki articles on each scanner have the URLs

73s Mike

 

[cpuerror]

If there's room, why not just upload it to the 246 Yahoo group? That way you get the benefit of dedicated users and you can announce it there, too. Then when you're ready, upload it to the 996 and BCT15 Yahoo groups. Our wiki articles on each scanner have the URLs

73s Mike

Yes, i am a member of the 246 group, so I will make an annoucement there.

 

[cpuerror]

I started my own group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freescan/

 

[wjf]

I started my own group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freescan/

Any chance that this will work on a 396?