Unitrunker and ScannerCast

[galaxie67w]

Gentlemen,

I'm using a RTL+tapped scanner setup with Unitrunker and DSD+ to provide my local live audio feed.

I want to be able send alpha tag data (Talkgroup, Target, Site) to from Unitrunker to Scannercast so my feed listeners can see who's talking. Has anyone been able to achieve this?

Scannercast supports RS232 input from the BCD369/996 and the PRO-500/600. The protocol is known and available.

If it can't already be done in some way I don't know about, I'd like to request this feature for Unitrunker.

 

[SCPD]

I've never messed with streaming and I don't know how the Scannercast interface to a Uniden or GRE scanner works. I'm guessing the scanner must be pre-programmed and in scan mode. Since Unitrunker expects the connected receiver to be in CC dump mode or tied up as a voice following reciever, that won't work.

Unitrunker makes the information available through the remote API (that's how the sharptrunk DLL gets the information). You'd need something to pass that data along to Scannercast.

 

[galaxie67w]

Good idea, using the remote.dll.
I used the BCD396XT protocol since the other one wasn't plain text.
Scannercast sends a "GLG" to request the status of the radio via COM port.
My program sends back "GLG,a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j/r" with variables from sdrsharptrunking.log
I was able to get this working with the worst text parsing possible, but it works.

Once I learn how to parse text properly this will be awesome.

Thanks Unitrunker!

 

[KB8TZX]

I was just looking for exactly such a solution, and would be interested if you get a working executable going of such a program. I'm running a dual RTL setup as it gave me something to tinker with on a budget, but have entertained streaming on RR if I could manage to follow the local PD who does not yet have a feed. (So far, it's looking like it will be delayed due to the RTL having issues with simulcast/multipath from my location.) In the interim, however, if you would like someone else to try out your creation I would be glad to set it up with the "test stream" I've been ScannerCast-ing on my home network.

Great thought on creating a means of interfacing UniTrunker with ScannerCast! Keep it up!

 

[AZScanner]

I ended up using a more homebrew solution. I wrote a simple program in VB.net that reads the unitrunker sdrsharptrunking.log file and puts the content I want as my alphatag in the caption portion of the program's main window. I then configured EdCast (formerly Oddcast) to push the stream (along with metadata) to RR. It pulls the alpha tag data from the main window caption of my VB.net program. I still haven't figured out an elegant way to detect when the whole setup is scanning, but other than that it's been working pretty well. The tag sometimes lags behind the audio by a second or so, but that's not a huge deal (to me at least).

KB8TZX, which agency do you want to put a feed up for? My current feed is using a single RTL_SDR stick with Unitrunker, SDR# and DSDplus (along with my custom alpha tag program and EdCast). Other than the drift problems inherent with these little dongles (meaning I have to keep fiddling with the PPM settings) it's been working great. If you need help, let me know maybe we can meet up and I can offer some assistance in getting you up and running.

-AZ

 

[KB8TZX]

KB8TZX, which agency do you want to put a feed up for? My current feed is using a single RTL_SDR stick with Unitrunker, SDR# and DSDplus (along with my custom alpha tag program and EdCast). Other than the drift problems inherent with these little dongles (meaning I have to keep fiddling with the PPM settings) it's been working great. If you need help, let me know maybe we can meet up and I can offer some assistance in getting you up and running.

-AZ

Hi AZ,

I was trying to receive (and eventually stream) El Mirage (4330), which it appears is exclusive to the "G" simuclast (with one exception I noted the other day where the TG popped up on Thompson Peak, which I can hear without issue). I find it odd that they don't also use White Tanks like Surprise does, but it's probably not necessary when you have actual Batwing gear.

The simulcast multipath issue is hurting my ability to receive good data, but I have home-brewed a very ridiculous psuedo-Yagi and started playing with backing the gain down with the AGC off with some positive results in UniTrunker for the control audio data indicator staying green where before it would be mostly red with yellow spikes). Have not done so yet for the control channel. May attempt the same gadget for the voice receiver and if it achieves the desired outcome, build a more permanent version.

Any thoughts you can share would be great; probably best to drop me a PM on the rest as I don't want to hijack the thread!

-KB8TZX

 

[galaxie67w]

KB8TZX,

I'm actually using it on my feed right now.

Randolph County Sheriff and Fire, Montgomery County Sheriff

I ended up designing it to show left and right alpha tags separately to reflect that I'm using Unitrunker to control two VFOs in SDR-Console v2, The audio from those VFOs is piped into two instances of DSD+,, whose voice audio is streamed via Scannercast as VFO-A=left audio and VFO-B=right audio.

I will make a single VFO version once I get my program to stop crashing after ~8hrs.

 

[galaxie67w]

Visual Studio project for my Unitrunker to Scannercast program, called SerialComTag.

I'm a beginner at programming so feel free to offer any suggestions.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3225724/SerialComTag.zip

 

[AeStein]

@galaxie67w
It's been a while since I've done anything in VB but I'll have a look at what you have. I've really been wanting to do this as well for my feed and yours is the only post that I've found where somebody has a better answer than "it can't be done." I see that the last post is a couple months old now... have you made any more progress?

 

[galaxie67w]

@galaxie67w
It's been a while since I've done anything in VB but I'll have a look at what you have. I've really been wanting to do this as well for my feed and yours is the only post that I've found where somebody has a better answer than "it can't be done." I see that the last post is a couple months old now... have you made any more progress?

Haven't made much progress with SerialComTag... I assume it still crashes, but I've set it up to shutdown and restart the program every 15 minutes because it crashed at random. I suspect an object is being created repeatedly and not deleted but that's about all I know.

I would greatly welcome any help to make the program something that people can use.

That being said, it works well enough to do the job, and has been a big hit with my feed listeners.

-Kyle

 

[AeStein]

I ended up going a different route. I discovered that RadioFeed, which is one of the alternatives to ScannerCast (and a better program IMO), has the option to send metadata (alpha tags) from a text file, which it reads continuously. What I did was write a java program to continuously read the sdrsharptrunking.log file and write the appropriate information to a file that RadioFeed uses. I also included an option to set the delay time so that it can be synced with the audio at the player end. I have it running on my feed if you want to have a look at the result. I'd be happy to send you the source code too, if you like. It's actually a pretty small application (only about 250 lines). It just runs in a console window... nothing fancy. It's simple but it seems to work well

 

[galaxie67w]

I ended up going a different route. I discovered that RadioFeed, which is one of the alternatives to ScannerCast (and a better program IMO), has the option to send metadata (alpha tags) from a text file, which it reads continuously. What I did was write a java program to continuously read the sdrsharptrunking.log file and write the appropriate information to a file that RadioFeed uses. I also included an option to set the delay time so that it can be synced with the audio at the player end. I have it running on my feed if you want to have a look at the result. I'd be happy to send you the source code too, if you like. It's actually a pretty small application (only about 250 lines). It just runs in a console window... nothing fancy. It's simple but it seems to work well

Way cool. I must check out RadioFeed. I'd love to see the code... maybe modify it for 2 voice followers...

Checking out your feed now...

-Kyle

 

[AeStein]

@galaxie67w
I sent you a PM with my email. If you send me your address, I'll email you a copy of the source code.
You mentioned that you use two voice followers. How do you have it set up? Are you using the new version of UniTrunker or do you still use SDR# or some other SDR software to control the receivers? I'm asking because if you tell me how you have your system running, I can probably code my program to work for your situation. I use two voice receivers as well... I rely completely on UniTrunker for control. I have 3 2832's, one for the control channel, and the other two for voice. The reason I use two is because I monitor digital P25 and analog within the same trunking system. One receiver tracks the digital and sends the output to DSD+, while the other tracks the analog. I have another program that I wrote to mute the analog while the digital is active to prevent them from talking on top of one another. My point is that my program may be fairly close to being usable for you already.

 

[nermel]

Would you mind sending me a copy? I am using Unitrunker to stream an EDACS ProVoice system.

 

[AeStein]

Would you mind sending me a copy? I am using Unitrunker to stream an EDACS ProVoice system.

e-mail me at HuronPerthOPP@gmail.com and I'll send you a copy

 

[mattnelson26]

this is neat in the next few days i will try and start running 1 control channel and 4 voice channels i was wondering is it possible to get alpha tags on all voice channels and a pause on all others if 1 is talking?

thanks
matt

 

[lagunacomputer]

i use trunking recorder, then use edcast to 'find the window' title and pass along the metadata to the icecast server