XT Firmware Update

[Tryton]

I have never seen RID's, so when we get them, what is the real use for them?

[ac7xc]

Originally Posted by Tryton

I have never seen RID's, so when we get them, what is the real use for them?

Radio ID's identify the radio used during a transmission. I don't know what they plan to do with with radio ID's with Uniden scanners. But using the trunk88 trunked system decoder program you can set it to ignore or alert when a RID transmits.

[Tryton]

I guess my question is, how do you know who it transmitting with them? I understand you can alphatag them but that's about it.. Sorry for the noob questions

[greenthumb]

Each radio will transmit a unique radio ID and it's up to you to figure out who it goes to, just like trunked talk groups. Some radio IDs will be easier to keep with a particular user, such as a dispatch console radio ID. Some systems tailor the radio ID to a particular apparatus, agency, car, officer, etc. so they are easy to determine just from looking at them. Other places use sequential numbering and you'll have to figure it out for yourself. Once you have some radio IDs figured out, when these IDs appear on other talk groups, you might be able to more quickly identify who that talk group belongs to, so it has talk group research relevance as well.

Your mileage on this feature will vary and some people will find it neat and useful while others will find it useless. Personally, I think it's neat

[mrkelso]

Geeze and i am still trying to figure out what

S0:__________________________

and

GRP__________________________

on the bottom of the screen is used for...

[KE4ZNR]

ReadingTheDisplay < UnidenMan4 < TWiki
Most of the common questions that come up can be resolved by using the online guide above
Marshall KE4ZNR

Originally Posted by mrkelso

Geeze and i am still trying to figure out what

S0:__________________________

and

GRP__________________________

on the bottom of the screen is used for...

[mrkelso]

Originally Posted by KE4ZNR

ReadingTheDisplay < UnidenMan4 < TWiki
Most of the common questions that come up can be resolved by using the online guide above
Marshall KE4ZNR

Yep Been there, it was the first thing i did. Uniden does not put out enough CLEAR information for us old sickly folks that can't see with out 3 pairs of glasses and a large magnifying glass.

[RoninJoliet]

Here in my location using the GRE500 and RS197 both with RID's its really a feature that is nice to watch as the user keys up but, i have two family members that are police officers and neither RID-# they have match there badge or car numbers so this is actually the # that appears on there service radio...On the ILL Starcom State Police system i have matched car #'s to the RID-#'s but my personal opinion is this is not a spectacular feature...Im sure others here have a different opinion which i also respect....On the Starcom there are "prefix numbers to the radio numbers which designate what division the radio belongs ex: 1305606....The 130 belongs to the "TollWay Maintanance " and the 5606 is the actual RID...I guess some times its KOOOL....There are times you do not see it in scan because the scanner did not respond quick enough....

[WX4JCW]

Radio ID's are good for seeing what Apparatus is transmitting, but unless you are monitoring an agency that permanently assigns the portables to each officer it wont do much i don't think

[ofd8001]

I think I can add something, but probably not much. I don't know what Uniden means by "Radio ID" number so that is where I am lost on what this feature (which I welcome because it can eventually be figured out), will offer at this point in time.

Motorola portables have at least three numbers in their memory. One is the electronic serial number, and it is about 10 characters. Another is the six digit "Unit ID" - that is the term used in Motorola's programming software. The last is about an 11 character "Radio Alias ID".

If the Radio Alias ID is transmitted by the radio in place of the Unit ID, that would be easiest for those of us listening to scanners. However since that is a programming enabled feature in the radio, Uniden may have opted for the Unit ID, because that is always there.

Here's where things can get challenging for the folks listening to the scanner and seeing a Unit ID number. In my department vehicle I will have a mobile and a portable. Since they are two different pieces of equipment, the Unit IDs will be different, yet I will use the same call number - 8001 regardless of which radio I am using.

For our fire apparatus, they will have a mobile radio and several portables so that each person on the emergency scene will have communications capabilities. So we could have Engine 8031 being the mobile radio, 8031-W for the company officer, 8031-P2 for the driver, and the two firefighters will be 8031-P3 and 8031-P4. So the group of folks on that one engine company will have four different ID numbers that are heard by the scanner listener.

I hope the memory available for storing aliases is hefty. Here in Louisville-Jefferson County, there will be about 978 mobile and portable radios just for the suburban fire departments. That doesn't include Louisville Fire, the police or EMS. I also hope there will be a way to program aliases via computer instead of by hand.

[rdale]

Originally Posted by ofd8001

Here's where things can get challenging for the folks listening to the scanner and seeing a Unit ID number. In my department vehicle I will have a mobile and a portable. Since they are two different pieces of equipment, the Unit IDs will be different, yet I will use the same call number - 8001 regardless of which radio I am using.

Right. Fortunately many systems use one standard for mobiles and one for portables. My agency uses even numbers for the rig radio ID's and odds for the portables. So 1984 is always Medic 41, while 1985 is the portable which some days is Medic 41, some days is Engine 41, etc. I just designate it as *Station 1 so the * reminds me that it's a portable so won't be always assigned to the same user. For the most part I don't even bother programming portables.

I also hope there will be a way to program aliases via computer instead of by hand.

Of course, Freescan will work just fine. But remember that uses up a memory slot, so you might not want to go overboard on your radio ID programming.

[ofd8001]

A suggestion I offered up to our radio programming folks had a structure to the Unit ID. Two of the numbers would signify the Agency, another would be for the type of equipment (Engine, Car etc), another for that type of equipment's number, another for the type of radio (mobile or portable) and two others for the number of the portable.

So by looking at the Unit ID, you could determine that the radio talking was Okolona Fire, Engine 1, Portable Radio, number 2.

Don't know if they are going to do that, but I thought it would be helpful to those seeing just the radio number (if no alias was programmed), on the radio's screen.

[Jay911]

The radio alias ID on a Motorola radio is either 6 or 14 characters depending on the programmer's choice (and radio design - some older models support only 6 characters on the screen). This is the text alias a radio programmer will assign to an individual radio ID.

The radio ID is (supposed to be) a unique number that identifies that particular radio in the system. It is possible to screw up and assign more than one radio the same unique ID, but in most cases, you'll find that every radio has its own ID. (Having more than one radio with the same ID is a bad idea for a number of reasons, off-topic for this discussion.)

The radio ID is known to radio programmers, at least on Motorola systems which is what I have experience with, as a one- to five-digit number, from 1 to 65535. Without getting into tons of technical things, let's just say that the number 700000 is added to the radio ID, and is transmitted that way over the trunk system. (examples: radio 12345 is transmitted as 712345, and radio 101 is known as 700101.) Some of you may have noticed these as IDs provided when monitoring I-Calls.

How radio IDs are assigned within a system is entirely up to the system admin. There can be no rhyme or reason, or there can be a completely structured setup. In any case, you'll get a list of radio IDs when they transmit on the system, and you'll be able to assign alias text to them in your scanner. My best guess is that radio aliases will take up the same kind of memory as a talkgroup and its alias - just a number and some text associated to it. Each one will take up the space of one "channel" in the scanner.

[rdale]

Originally Posted by Jay911

Without getting into tons of technical things, let's just say that the number 700000 is added to the radio ID, and is transmitted that way over the trunk system. (examples: radio 12345 is transmitted as 712345, and radio 101 is known as 700101.)

That's not what happens... You'll see the true radio ID - i12345 or i00101.

[Jay911]

Originally Posted by rdale

That's not what happens... You'll see the true radio ID - i12345 or i00101.

Not on every scanner, no. The 996 includes the '7'. FYI, the 'i' is not part of "the true radio ID".

[rdale]

The Unidens display the 7 for private calls. That is not what this firmware update impacts.

What I'm saying is that after this firmware is installed, you'll get

i12345

The i lets you know that this is the Unit ID so you don't confuse it with the talkgroup.

MPSCS just popped up i1333494 which is the LifeNet helicopter #2 radio. There is some standard for MPSCS radios but I don't remember it offhand.

- Rob

[KE4ZNR]

Not exactly rdale.
The Uniden's don't "add" the 7. It IS part of the original RID programmed into the system/zone controller by the system admin(s). The "7" is part of how Mother Moto has a trunked system setup:7xxxxx for RIDs and 8xxxxx for TGIDs. In the past Uniden has decided to drop the 7 and use the "i" in place of it. So RID 703583 would show up as i03583 on Uniden Scanners. With the upcoming firmware update Uniden Radios will be able to show RIDs or what Uniden has renamed UID (Unit IDs). To make the UID easier to read the XT radios will truncate any leading zeros in a UID. So a UID of 700451 would show up as UID:i451. A UID of 710451 will show up as i10451. UIDs can be alpha tagged and they will take up memory space.
Oh and I don't know where you got i1333494 from. That is waaaay too many digits to be a Motorola RID/UID. Perhaps you meant 733494?
Marshall KE4ZNR

Originally Posted by rdale

The Unidens add the 7 for private calls. That is not what this firmware update impacts.

What I'm saying is that after this firmware is installed, you'll get

i12345

The i lets you know that this is the Unit ID so you don't confuse it with the talkgroup.

MPSCS just popped up i1333494 which is the LifeNet helicopter #2 radio. There is some standard for MPSCS radios but I don't remember it offhand.

- Rob

[werinshades]

Since you have this feature already Rob, let me ask you this..I monitor the Illinois Starcom. I have 7 different groups set up with various districts, etc. Will I be able to still have my System broken down into groups, and then Alpha-tag the radio ID?

Here's how I have it now:

IL State Police District-Chicago(flashes)
Chgo.C-Middle
9007(TG) xxxxxx

Where the x's are, will that where the radio id's will be? Or will Line 3 be only the radio ID elimating the Talkgroup number all together? Will this be under a different screen that the new firmware will give us? This will be a major undertaking with large systems, so I hope their's an ARC update soon.

[jobes]

If you do figure it out please explain it to me.

Originally Posted by mrkelso

Geeze and i am still trying to figure out what

S0:__________________________

and

GRP__________________________

on the bottom of the screen is used for...

[KE4ZNR]

I can answer your questions:
Your current setup will be fine. In your example in display mode 1 the TGID and UID will alternate on the middle line with the bottom line displaying hte frequency being used. In display mode 2 the TG 9007 will alternate with the UID with the TGID on the bottom line of the display. In display mode 3 the TGID will be displayed as normal with the UID taking up the bottom line of the display where the system activity indicator used to be.
UIDs can be added to a group and alphatagged just as any other TGID.
Marshall KE4ZNR

Originally Posted by werinshades

Since you have this feature already Rob, let me ask you this..I monitor the Illinois Starcom. I have 7 different groups set up with various districts, etc. Will I be able to still have my System broken down into groups, and then Alpha-tag the radio ID?

Here's how I have it now:

IL State Police District-Chicago(flashes)
Chgo.C-Middle
9007(TG) xxxxxx

Where the x's are, will that where the radio id's will be? Or will Line 3 be only the radio ID elimating the Talkgroup number all together? Will this be under a different screen that the new firmware will give us? This will be a major undertaking with large systems, so I hope their's an ARC update soon.