TRX-2: Recording

[greggk]

Page 48 of the manual attempts to explain recording. The manual says that if you want to record all transmissions, go to the Global menu and select record. The global menu has options for Enable Record and search record. I have them set to on. I am getting no little "dot" on the screen during transmissions. So then I thought perhaps I must go back, select everything manually, then set it to record. I cannot find a way to do that.

I know its a minor software issue but I have spent two days trying to figure it out. Any help please? Thanks. Greg

 

[troymail]

Page 48 of the manual attempts to explain recording. The manual says that if you want to record all transmissions, go to the Global menu and select record. The global menu has options for Enable Record and search record. I have them set to on. I am getting no little "dot" on the screen during transmissions. So then I thought perhaps I must go back, select everything manually, then set it to record. I cannot find a way to do that.

I know its a minor software issue but I have spent two days trying to figure it out. Any help please? Thanks. Greg

You've enable the "global" settings to allow recording. If you go into the search menu and search for activity, that will now record.

However, for conventional and trunked system channels/talkgroups/objects, you must enable each object that you want to record. This gives you the ability to record as far as one channel/talkgroup or all of them.

 

[greggk]

I looked under search mode, but no options there to record. Under menu options there is a play back option. I checked there but it had only 2 short recordings on it. I have tried going into each system and enabling record, but there is no option to do so??

 

[troymail]

I looked under search mode, but no options there to record. Under menu options there is a play back option. I checked there but it had only 2 short recordings on it. I have tried going into each system and enabling record, but there is no option to do so??

Search (limit search, sweeper, etc.) just records all search hits once the global option for Search Recording is enabled.

Hoever, you don't enable systems to record - you enable channels and talkgroup objects to record.

This is best seen in EZ Scan.

First, make sure you have the Show Conventional and Show Trunked Systems tabs enabled (via the Advanced menu option at the top).

Then, click on the Conventional Frequencies tab. You'll see there is a column labeled "REC". Items you want to record must have this box checked/selected.

For talkgroups on trunked systems, go to the Trunked Radio Systems tab, select a system and in the bottom section, click on the Talkgroup Details tab. The same REC selection applies here.

You can enable this on objects via the radio's menu also but it's a bit tedious.

 

[greggk]

Thank you. My issue is that I do not have EZ Scan on my computer yet. Quite frankly I fear if I attempt to actually program something that I will have driver issues. So right now its sitting on top of my 996T set to "zip code" scan.

I have had this $600.00 radio for over a week now and thats as far as I got. My first TRX-2 went back due to driver issues, plus I think it was a return.

I am dying to get going with it. I use software for all my Uniden scanners and my Pro 106. I'm sure I can learn EZ Scan as well. My idea was to remove the SD card, program it all in my computer, then put the SD card back. But sooner or later I must plug in that USB cable. For now I sit in Limbo; I have a friend here who is going thru his new TRX-1 now, and we will connect and walk me thru it all.

Thanks for your help. Greg

 

[troymail]

Thank you. My issue is that I do not have EZ Scan on my computer yet. Quite frankly I fear if I attempt to actually program something that I will have driver issues. So right now its sitting on top of my 996T set to "zip code" scan.

I have had this $600.00 radio for over a week now and thats as far as I got. My first TRX-2 went back due to driver issues, plus I think it was a return.

I am dying to get going with it. I use software for all my Uniden scanners and my Pro 106. I'm sure I can learn EZ Scan as well. My idea was to remove the SD card, program it all in my computer, then put the SD card back. But sooner or later I must plug in that USB cable. For now I sit in Limbo; I have a friend here who is going thru his new TRX-1 now, and we will connect and walk me thru it all.

Thanks for your help. Greg

I somewhat understand. However, the worst that can really happen is corruption of the SD card. I (and many others) always recommend having at least 1 additional SD card on hand and ready to go. SD cards do fail and under certain conditions, if you're not careful (and even sometimes when you are), SD cards get corrupted (usually when they aren't "released" carefully from the PC and/or abrupt power down of the radio itself).

Either way - you can install the EZ Scan software and play with it without plugging in the USB or radio. In fact, I highly recommend that.

As far as installing and using the driver(s) - I followed someone's instructions posted here on the forums to install on Windows 10 (after running into problems). However, I never had any problems on Win7 or XP (it's been a while but I'm pretty sure I installed on an XP machine in the past).

Once you get the hang of things, you'll be much happier with your new radio once you get it programmed the way you really want it. It just some patience. I've lived with that through all of the different types of scanners going back to my first trunking scanner...

 

[greggk]

I bought a 8GB card a few days ago for backup. One last thing if you please. Before any of the TRX-2, I planned on buying the TRX-1. So I had EZ Scan for both scanners on my computer. Recently I went to device manager and removed both. Yet I found that remnants of both programs are roaming around my computer, seemingly entwined with all other stuff. Is that a problem? I am using Windows 7 64 bit.

If thats okay, then my first free day I will remove the SD card, put it into my computer SD slot, install, then update, then play with it. Hopefully that will work as far as the scanner goes. You are right; you cannot really screw up anything except the SD card. And it will be much easier to work with; trying to program using just the screen is pretty bad.

Thanks so much. Great point about not screwing up anything except the card. I never thought of that; Appreciate it more than you know!

 

[troymail]

I bought a 8GB card a few days ago for backup. One last thing if you please. Before any of the TRX-2, I planned on buying the TRX-1. So I had EZ Scan for both scanners on my computer. Recently I went to device manager and removed both. Yet I found that remnants of both programs are roaming around my computer, seemingly entwined with all other stuff. Is that a problem? I am using Windows 7 64 bit.

If thats okay, then my first free day I will remove the SD card, put it into my computer SD slot, install, then update, then play with it. Hopefully that will work as far as the scanner goes. You are right; you cannot really screw up anything except the SD card. And it will be much easier to work with; trying to program using just the screen is pretty bad.

Thanks so much. Great point about not screwing up anything except the card. I never thought of that; Appreciate it more than you know!

I wouldn't be too concerned with remnants... most all software is like that and leaves things behind.

And using Win7 you shouldn't really have all that many problems. I never saw issues until I got to Win 10 and there are extra steps necessary (there always have been extra steps but I think Microsoft is making it more painful for users to install software they didn't approve).

You can get the files from the SD card but I'd recommend going to the Whistler site and downloading the software and driver... install it (maybe best to install it using an Admin account/access) and only just play with the software. Then later, when you are ready, jump into inserting the SD card - but to start experimenting with programming (copying what you created in EZ Scan to the SD card). Be willing to lose stuff and go back to square one .. that way, it won't hurt if it does. With the libraries and imports into your programming using EZ Scan, nothing is really lost - at least not until you get into "custom programming" - should you choose to do it.

Remember - the biggest issue with the SD card is when you release it. Always power the radio down properly and always carefully release the SD card from the PC before removing it. It something doesn't release properly, I usually do a shutdown of the PC before removing the card - just to be safe.

 

[greggk]

I will do that! So I do not need to even remove the card. I'll put the card in after I am happy with the software. If I save my new programming to the SD card, I assume that will erase old stuff off the card and install my new programming. Is there anything else I should do, such as preparing the card for use? Thank you.

 

[troymail]

I will do that! So I do not need to even remove the card. I'll put the card in after I am happy with the software. If I save my new programming to the SD card, I assume that will erase old stuff off the card and install my new programming. Is there anything else I should do, such as preparing the card for use? Thank you.

EZ Scan has options to prepare a new card, copy library data and programmed "scanner folders" to the card, etc.

Do all of that with your new card and build up that confidence.... Soon, you'll have that confidence and be less concerned about doing any harm.

But initially, just leave the SD card out of the picture.

 

[greggk]

Thanks. 20 years ago I would be on top of this. I've owned scanners since 1972 and did all my work myself. I can handle my 436 for the most part. Somehow this Whistler has me all out of shape.

I do appreciate all this. If the worst I can do is screw up a SD card..who cares.

Thanks and have a great day ! I will personally let you know how it works out.

 

[troymail]

Happy to help... I work my way through both EZ Scan and Sentinel. There are good and not so good things about both and it's sometimes difficult to switch between them but patience is the key....

 

[Ed6698]

I have had this $600.00 radio for over a week now and thats as far as I got. My first TRX-2 went back due to driver issues, plus I think it was a return.

Out of curiosity why did you think the other radio was a return? Did the LCD screen look scratched?

 

[greggk]

Out of curiosity why did you think the other radio was a return? Did the LCD screen look scratched?

I am aware of the protective plastic over the screen. That plastic had been removed and replaced at one time. It had wrinkles in it and was off center. The tab that should have been on it was hanging off sideways.

The SD card was suspicious. It had an off white/dirty looking label on it, with only the words San Disk and 4GB on it. It was applied off center. Before I had any chance to corrupt it, it said the CDAT files were missing.

We had it up and running twice. The whole system broke down many times and we just gave up after hours of fighting with it.

The front panel was loose. At one point the lights and screen were flickering. Turned out that the face was not on properly, certainly nothing I had caused.

Unpacking this one I have now compared to the last one was different. Packing just wasn't the same.

 

[Ed6698]

I am aware of the protective plastic over the screen. That plastic had been removed and replaced at one time. It had wrinkles in it and was off center. The tab that should have been on it was hanging off sideways.

The SD card was suspicious. It had an off white/dirty looking label on it, with only the words San Disk and 4GB on it. It was applied off center. Before I had any chance to corrupt it, it said the CDAT files were missing.

We had it up and running twice. The whole system broke down many times and we just gave up after hours of fighting with it.

The front panel was loose. At one point the lights and screen were flickering. Turned out that the face was not on properly, certainly nothing I had caused.

Unpacking this one I have now compared to the last one was different. Packing just wasn't the same.

Just wondering, as I have heard it quite a few times people saying the scanner looked used, and they did not remove all the plastic protector. The label on the SD card being crooked must be the supplier of the SD cards, the original SD card in my 1095 has a crooked looking label.

 

[troymail]

Just wondering, as I have heard it quite a few times people saying the scanner looked used, and they did not remove all the plastic protector.

I almost hate to admit it but this even caught me of guard one time....

 

[Ed6698]

I almost hate to admit it but this even caught me of guard one time....

It got me with my 1080. The protector was on the screen so perfect, could not tell it was even on there as there is no pull tab on the handheld to remove it.

Did not mean to hijack the thread, I was just wondering why he though it looked used.

 

[AggieCon]

Haha. I too left mine on my 1080 for some time. It finally got too many bubbles so I had to put a real screen protector on it.

Greg, just to clarify, you can't do the CPU or DSP updates via the SD Card. The scanner has to be connected.

However, I'm not sure how it will work if you have the new EZ Scan version with old firmware. I'd load the EZ Scan that came with the SD Card and do not update it until you are ready to update your CPU and DSP. I recommend you bite the bullet sooner rather than later in case this scanner gives you fits too.

When I first got my scanner, I had problems with Windows 8 but it installed and connected on Windows 7 with NO problems at all. Now, I can't get the scanner to work on Windows 7 to save my life. I think one of the changes made in the past few months messed up how it connects on certain systems.

To answer your initial question, you will have to go to EACH object (talk group or frequency) in Browse Objects mode. Once on the object, press the menu button. Scroll down until you find record, select that, and enable recording for that object. Press menu and save your changes on the way out. This works fine for a few objects, but you aren't going to want to update hundreds of objects this way.

I really wish there was a global setting to automatically enable recording on everything, -- or at least to be able to import a column for recording settings. A global setting for having the backlight on during calls would also be nice.

Once in EZ Scan, the quickest way to enable recording is to go to the conventional objects tab and shift select all of the objects. Then click the record box and it should turn on recording for all of the objects. Then go to the Trunked Systems tab and for each system, go to the talk group details tab and shift select all talk groups and then click the record box. If you have a lot of trunked systems, it can be quite a pain. Read post #4 for this described a different way.

But, really, plug that thing in. Get it over with. No reason to remain anxious about it.

 

[greggk]

Aggiecon...you're back! I have very little time today but you to make a good point about "just do it." Trying to program manually by just using the scanner is near impossible; For example, there may be only 1 or 2 objects I want to scan out of a particular system, yet if the system is large I have to scroll thru hundreds of objects just to select the ones I want.

I hope EZ Scan works well. I understand every other software I use, now I must learn a new one. I should of just stuck with Uniden, but I had to try something new. Have a great day everyone. I must run. Greg

 

[AggieCon]

We can get you up to speed on EZ Scan fairly quickly. Doing basic importing and adding some custom stuff is alright to do. It transitions from being "EZ" once you want to start exporting or manipulating your data (say, send something over to your Uniden). It is no longer easy, because it cannot be accomplished at all.

My main concern is whether it's going to connect okay.

I don't know if someone already updated the firmware on your scanner, but, if not, I doubt your scanner will successfully import DMR from the RR database. If your computer is incompatible with the scanner, it's best to know while you can return it to the dealer. Otherwise, you will have to find a friend nearby who will help you with every firmware update. I'm not trying to get you worried about it; I just would tackle it this weekend if at all possible so you can see where you stand.