Will we ever see radio IDs on scanners?

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Gilligan

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Just a question for the GRE guys... Is it likely that we will ever see radio IDs as programmable objects in scanners in the future? This would be great if you wanted to ID users (like you would in software) or if you just wanted to follow one or two users' activities. Is this a possibility or out of the question?
 

DaveIN

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Gilligan said:
Just a question for the GRE guys... Is it likely that we will ever see radio IDs as programmable objects in scanners in the future? This would be great if you wanted to ID users (like you would in software) or if you just wanted to follow one or two users' activities. Is this a possibility or out of the question?

I second that! I too would like to see the active radio IDs, even if I couldn't save them in memory.
 

Gilligan

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I was just thinking that if the new GRE radios can support something like 18-20 V Banks, why not give one or two banks of that precious memory over to this kind of thing? At least have the option cause I know people would want to use it.
 

Radio_Lady

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DaveIN said:
I second that! I too would like to see the active radio IDs, even if I couldn't save them in memory.
It may be possible with some radio systems, but it's not likely with others. At LAPD for example, the unit's callsign (like "1-Adam-12") is not electronically transmitted, but rather the radio's unique identifier.

Before the officers begin each watch, the CAD system is given the call sign, vehicle "shop" number, each officer's serial number, and the 4-digit serial number (LAPD calls them ROVER numbers) of each of the two or three radios assigned to the unit. With a few exceptions, all the ROVER/radio numbers for each unit change every shift.

When a transmission is made, only the ROVER number accompanies it, and it's not until it reaches the CAD system at the comm center that the unit's ID ("1A12") is attached and displayed for the dispatcher.

Except for occasionally when they may have to log on verbally for some reason, the listener has no way of associating any specific radio's ID with its unit ID number, and that would be possible only if the scanner can decode the ROVER number. That part probably wouldn't be a big deal, though.

I don't think I'm expressing myself clearly. If I can still get in and edit this tomorrow I'll try to do it. :confused:
 
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wogggieee

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Well, it would probably have to be done like i did in pro96comm, and that's by listening and associating what i am hearing with the radio ID that shows up. Now that method is definitely a lot of work and the accuracy of the info is definitely questionable. But if you can get it right it is pretty cool to see.
 

DaveIN

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Radio_Lady said:
It may be possible with some radio systems, but it's not likely with others. At LAPD for example, the unit's callsign (like "1-Adam-12") is not electronically transmitted, but rather the radio's unique identifier.

Before the officers begin each watch, the CAD system is given the call sign, vehicle "shop" number, each officer's serial number, and the 4-digit serial number (LAPD calls them ROVER numbers) of each of the two or three radios assigned to the unit. With a few exceptions, all the ROVER/radio numbers for each unit change every shift.

When a transmission is made, only the ROVER number accompanies it, and it's not until it reaches the CAD system at the comm center that the unit's ID ("1A12") is attached and displayed for the dispatcher.

Except for occasionally when they may have to log on verbally for some reason, the listener has no way of associating any specific radio's ID with its unit ID number, and that would be possible only if the scanner can decode the ROVER number. That part probably wouldn't be a big deal, though.

I don't think I'm expressing myself clearly. If I can still get in and edit this tomorrow I'll try to do it. :confused:

Gilligan and I are actually talking about the trunked radio ID or RID as reported in the control channel data stream, not an analog conventional frequency. However I'll add that I would like to see MDC1200 decoded. This should be within the DSP capability's of the newer scanners.
 

Gilligan

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wogggieee said:
Well, it would probably have to be done like i did in pro96comm, and that's by listening and associating what i am hearing with the radio ID that shows up. Now that method is definitely a lot of work and the accuracy of the info is definitely questionable. But if you can get it right it is pretty cool to see.
Exactly, and it would not be hard to do.
 

troymail

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I'd like to see this too --- effectively, give us the option to label radioIds (RID) with alpha tags -- we're doing the same thing now with the (talk)groupIds (GID)....

However, in many systems, the RIDs don't stay the same as Radio_Lady mentioned... most of the fire units in my area are pretty static (i.e. RID 21240 is Engine 43) but the police assignments change all the time depending on who is working are what post they get assigned to for that shift...

Just like groupIds (GID) don't mean alot without the alpha tags, the RIDs mean even less because there are generally so many of them....

That's why we have Trunker and Unitrunker
 

Gilligan

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troymail said:
However, in many systems, the RIDs don't stay the same...

Just like groupIds (GID) don't mean alot without the alpha tags, the RIDs mean even less because there are generally so many of them....

That's why we have Trunker and Unitrunker
And yet even with this software, we can't streamline which radio IDs we want to hear. This is the kind of feature you'd want INSIDE the scanner, not on a computer CONNECTED to it.
 

troymail

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Gilligan said:
And yet even with this software, we can't streamline which radio IDs we want to hear. This is the kind of feature you'd want INSIDE the scanner, not on a computer CONNECTED to it.

Don't get me wrong - I agree with you... I'd like to see the radioIds via th scanner also - along with the ability to tag them...
 

PJaxx

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Gilligan said:
And yet even with this software, we can't streamline which radio IDs we want to hear. This is the kind of feature you'd want INSIDE the scanner, not on a computer CONNECTED to it.
And are we talking about only specific radio IDs (units) which we want to "hear," (as opposed to just seeing their IDs on the display) to the exclusion of other units?

If so, that would seem to imply that we don't wish to hear other units (those we're not tracking) who may be talking to them, or the dispatchers, either. We would hear Adam-12 or Engine 13 say "10-4" or whatever, but we wouldn't have heard what he's acknowledging.

Or, if I'm understanding what you're looking to do, maybe something like combining the "tracked" radio IDs with the Audio Boost feature would be an option that wouldn't deafen the radio to non-tracked IDs.
 

MtnBiker2005

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Feature Request Radio IDs on PSR500/600

Bump :cool:

Very cool feature!

I agree with the trunked radio ID showing on the PSR500/600

like set it to Alert and have it 'beep' when the 'Radio ID' comes active.
It could come in handy in many ways.

When can we have it added GRE :)
 

k4njk

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I would be willing to pay extra for a scanner that has the support for radio IDs. I would like to see the ability to display the radio ID in decimal, alpha tag the ID and set priority watch for multiple radio IDs.
 

troymail

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k4njk said:
I would be willing to pay extra for a scanner that has the support for radio IDs. I would like to see the ability to display the radio ID in decimal, alpha tag the ID and set priority watch for multiple radio IDs.

I dunno if I'd be "willing to pay for it" (see the Uniden threads if you want to figure out what that means)... but I'd love to see this feature - or any part of it. Priority on detection of a given radio? Seems extreme... but in my case, I'd need to set a group of radios on priority.
 

bneilson

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Considering that scanners are just now supporting the tone outs for fire departments but not if they are sent over a trunked system this would be a great alternative.

If you could ID the various radios at the local fire house and then setup an audible alert or LED for the various IDs.... You would know instantly when they were responding or active.

I love the idea and want it... need it... must have it...

Hopefully the GRE techs will take a look at this idea as I think it has potential. It cant be far off as there is already an ID shown during an I-CALL/Private Call.
 

DonS

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Displaying a RadioID when detected during a normal, talkgroup-based call is likely possible, but I don't think "looking for" only specific RadioIDs would work very well.

The problem is that only the initial "call grant" messages contain the RadioID. Subsequent "update" messages usually only contain talkgroup and voice frequency information. If the scanner missed the call grant (because it wasn't tuned to the CC at the time), but then saw the update, it wouldn't tune to the voice frequency because it doesn't have a "matching" RadioID.
 

WayneH

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DonS said:
Displaying a RadioID when detected during a normal, talkgroup-based call is likely possible, but I don't think "looking for" only specific RadioIDs would work very well.
I concur. Though with EDACS you would have better results with showing IDs since there is less repeater hang time due to using "transmission trunking". Motorola 3600, a majority of the time, uses "message trunking" which causes the last used voice channel to hang for a specified time while it waits for further transmissions.
 
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