Freescan - downloading system / site type

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c5corvette

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In the wiki help for FreeScan it talks about downloading from RR and specifically says...

"In particular, be sure to check - and change - the site type as it does not necessarily import correctly. Use the pulldown to change it if needed. "

... I assume this is for several reasons. First, settings for P25 exclusive systems are different for the T and XT models and have to be adjusted correctly by the user and this single software programs multiple radios.

I own multiple scanners so I like having the freescan software that does multiple radios (I have BC15X, BC996T, and BC396XT.)

Is there any other reason that this is this way and what types of systems usually get downloaded incorrectly?

Is there not any logic that could be put into FreeScan to first tell it what kind of scanner you plan to program so it can download it properly?

Or, is there any software out there that you can tell it which radio you are using and it does it correctly for you?
 

cpuerror

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That needs to be corrected - it does download the right system type. This is complicated but I will try to explain it - the XT scanners use P25 systems with P25 sites, the non XT ones use Motorola Type II systems with P25 sites. So some people assume that you need to change everything manually.

However, when you upload, FreeSCAN detects the type of scanner you are using, and changes the system to the correct type on the fly. So you don't have to correct anything.
 

c5corvette

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Awesome.

So is there anything that requires manual intervention, like site band plan or Apco band plans, etc. or is it all seemless?
 

cpuerror

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It's up to you to customize the system the way you want it, with what quick keys you want, how you want to organize groups, and so on. You also have to be careful that you don't exceed the TGID limit of the scanner by uploading a large system. Beyond customizing though, as far as details like band plans go it takes care of that for you.
 

c5corvette

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It's up to you to customize the system the way you want it, with what quick keys you want, how you want to organize groups, and so on. You also have to be careful that you don't exceed the TGID limit of the scanner by uploading a large system. Beyond customizing though, as far as details like band plans go it takes care of that for you.

cpuerror, can you tell me how it handles and where it gets the gps data when I import data into my 996 using software and RR import features.

I just noticed when I did an import this morning from RR to my 996T that one county with data imported and others with data didn't... all three times I had the "Enable GPS use by default" options check box checked:

Simulcast Site Details (Fairfax County Public Safety) < imported the exact coordinates and range shown on this screen

850 MHz Simulcast Site Details (Washington, DC) < didnt import the data to my 996T

Simulcast Site Details (Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority) < didn't import the data to my 996T


*** take a look at this response - RR says its a problem with the software vendor: http://forums.radioreference.com/da...r-database-simulcast-systems.html#post1620481
 
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tlowen

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FreeScan Software is slow

Why is my FreeScan software so slow, mouse flickers with an hour glass ll the time, screen refresh lags something fierce
 

cpuerror

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I looked at the response and he explains that neither system had geotag information at the site level . Since this is what your scanner needs, no information could be sent to it. He said he is going to work on it so I would give the admins some time to enter the tags and try again.
 
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c5corvette

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I looked at the response and he explains that neither system had geotag information at the site level . Since this is what your scanner needs, no information could be sent to it. He said he is going to work on it so I would give the admins some time to enter the tags and try again.


Re-read all my posts, I am afraid that you are under the impression that neither system I tried to download had geotag information at the site level.

You say "Since this is what the scanner needs, no information could be sent to it." I assume you mean that your software is looking for the site geo-tags and not the hidden system geo-tags?

The admin thinks, you may be confused about which data you are capturing because both sites that didn't download anything did indeed have site data - that was my point, I didnt understand why it wasnt retrieving the data.

Can you explain why it wouldnt have downloaded GPS data for sites that had GPS data?

Can you reconifm what info does your import try to capture, the system geo-tag or the site geo-tag???

Go to the Wash DC Type II system and import the 850MHz site with the GPS box checked - you get nothing even though the site info in RR has geo-tags. You can see the site geo-tag info here:
850 MHz Simulcast Site Details (Washington, DC)

I just tried this import again and still got nothing on DC even though it clearly has site data. Are you sure how this works, or am I doing something wrong?
 

tlowen

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Tlowen, it sounds like you have something running in the background that is slowing your machine.

Not likely as the other running programs running are not effected. It's only the freescan software that acts like it has a lack of resources.......just did not know if others had experienced the same thing and if there was somthing special i needed to do to settle it down and behave
 

Placid1

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Not likely as the other running programs running are not effected. It's only the freescan software that acts like it has a lack of resources.......just did not know if others had experienced the same thing and if there was somthing special i needed to do to settle it down and behave

Nothing like that happening here but I only use freescan to upload/download to my scanner (bcd-996xt).

What is freescan doing when it happens?
What scanner are you using?
What is the com port speed set to?
 

tlowen

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Nothing like that happening here but I only use freescan to upload/download to my scanner (bcd-996xt).

What is freescan doing when it happens?
What scanner are you using?
What is the com port speed set to?

What is freescan doing when it happens? The mouse flickers with an hour glass and never stops
What scanner are you using? Uniden 346XT
What is the com port speed set to? 115,000

However, the software acts the same whether its connected to the scanner or not
 

Placid1

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What operating system are you using?

Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling freescan?

Have you tried setting different preferences in freescan? Edit->preferences.
Maybe try enabling/disabling those if you havent and see if it makes any difference.
 

tlowen

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What operating system are you using?

Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling freescan?

Have you tried setting different preferences in freescan? Edit->preferences.
Maybe try enabling/disabling those if you havent and see if it makes any difference.


..........................................................
My primary purpose for posting was to see if it was a common problem before I start doing allot of troubleshooting. It does not appear to be a common problem with an easy fix so I will have to dive in.
 

cpuerror

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I did some further investigation and found that those sites do lack location information. Now I am not an expert on RR's innards, but it appears each site has different sets of coordinate information. One is used when you browse the web page, and one is used when software accesses the web service. In this case, the latter data isn't there, hence why FreeSCAN is not importing the data.

Here is the location data for the Fairfax system you had no problem with:
Fairfax County Public Safety Site Location Data Report

As you can see, the data is there. And it is there when you do an import.

Now here is the Washington site:
Washington, DC Site Location Data Report

As of this writing, it comes up with blanks where the location data is supposed to be. So the admin probably just overlooked entering the data in.




Re-read all my posts, I am afraid that you are under the impression that neither system I tried to download had geotag information at the site level.

You say "Since this is what the scanner needs, no information could be sent to it." I assume you mean that your software is looking for the site geo-tags and not the hidden system geo-tags?

The admin thinks, you may be confused about which data you are capturing because both sites that didn't download anything did indeed have site data - that was my point, I didnt understand why it wasnt retrieving the data.

Can you explain why it wouldnt have downloaded GPS data for sites that had GPS data?

Can you reconifm what info does your import try to capture, the system geo-tag or the site geo-tag???

Go to the Wash DC Type II system and import the 850MHz site with the GPS box checked - you get nothing even though the site info in RR has geo-tags. You can see the site geo-tag info here:
850 MHz Simulcast Site Details (Washington, DC)

I just tried this import again and still got nothing on DC even though it clearly has site data. Are you sure how this works, or am I doing something wrong?
 

JANFINE

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Custom Rebanding

When you put a Custom Rebanding Plan into the scanner it does not get saved for future use in the scanner.
FreeScan needs to check that when they come out with a new update.
 

ka3jjz

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You didn't mention what scanner you were using, but you will need the most current firmware for the custom bandplan to stick. Otherwise it's likely the scanner would ignore it.

best regards..Mike
 

c5corvette

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I did some further investigation and found that those sites do lack location information. Now I am not an expert on RR's innards, but it appears each site has different sets of coordinate information. One is used when you browse the web page, and one is used when software accesses the web service. In this case, the latter data isn't there, hence why FreeSCAN is not importing the data.

Here is the location data for the Fairfax system you had no problem with:
Fairfax County Public Safety Site Location Data Report

As you can see, the data is there. And it is there when you do an import.

Now here is the Washington site:
Washington, DC Site Location Data Report

As of this writing, it comes up with blanks where the location data is supposed to be. So the admin probably just overlooked entering the data in.

Hey cpuerror:

When I download the Washington DC trunk system now, I get data for the [GRP] but the software says that is used for XT Models only.

For some cities when I download conventional, I get system coordinates and for others I get group coordinates.

While I know you are 'not an expert on RR's innards' - can you tell me where you software looks in the db for the following info:

Trunking 'Site' coordinates?
Trunking 'Group' coordinate (for XT models only)?
Conventional 'System' coordinates?
Conventional 'Group' coordinate (for XT models only)?

Once I know where your program is querying, even if its in RR 'innards' terms, I can talk with the RR folks and figure out where users like me view the same data when browsing the webpage. RR had to provide you with info on where to query when they provided you with the protocol for creating your program to interact with the db.

It is imparative that we all understand where this data is stored, how we can browse it on the web, and how it is also downloaded to each scanner and programming software - or else automated location based scanning will continue to be hit or miss.

Please reply,
 

cpuerror

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The information is all stored at it's respective location. That is to say, group location data is stored in in its respective group, systems at the system level, etc. That is where FreeSCAN grabs it, and the current version does not try to extrapolate system data and stick in groups or anything, it's dependant on the DB. So basically, it is a mirror reflection of what has been inputted. If something has been inputted, it will show up. And if nothing has, than nothing will show up.

So if you are coming up with blank sites, it's because those sites don't have location data, or are inheriting their location data from the system, and the version of protocol FreeSCAN 2.08 was made with didn't support inheritence at the time.
 

c5corvette

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So if you are coming up with blank sites, it's because those sites don't have location data, or are inheriting their location data from the system, and the version of protocol FreeSCAN 2.08 was made with didn't support inheritence at the time.

DING DING DING.... bingo - that answers all the confusion. What you are saying is that the current version of FREESCAN is not capable of using the "sites inherit location from system" feature that was released in the newer version of the RR web service protocol?

The current version is 9, what version of the RR web service are you using?

If your program is not 'inheriting' data, is it safe to assume that you are only using the following fields from the web service to get GPS data?
subcat
TrsSite
TalkgroupCat

And lastly, is there a new version of your program in the works that uses the current version of the web service and the 'inherit' features of the web service?


Please reply,
 
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