SO I am pretty savy with programming and also know some of the back end tech for communications..
But this thing is kicking my butt..
I have free scan, and have subbed to the RR database..
Can someone suggest the most efficient or effective settings or setup for groups in Louisiana..
It seems that if I try to do it by city, it picks up local traffic but under the heading of the city,
if I do it by interrest, for example.. by local police or state police it will give me local traffic alright but also under the wrong city or wrong heading..
please help..
thanks in advance..
Hi Dave
It might help if you posted your FreeScan file, so that someone could see how you have it set up. But, let me take a stab at it first, then you can look at your file, & see if my guess is anywhere close.
When you used the web import for FreeScan, by default it's going to set up the system this way, unless you force it otherwise (or edit it after import):
First, it will import the sites you've selected from those listed for the system (in this case, I'm guessing you're talking about
LWIN, right?) Those site names are based on the locations, cities, parishes, whatever (looks like a lot of them are cities). Those selected will be used as the name for each site created in the system in FreeScan.
Second, the groups are based on a parish name, usually with a specific agency. That's matched up with the various sub-headings shown on the LWIN page in the database. I see several groups related to Baton Rouge; if you selected all of those, you would have separate groups in the system in FreeScan after import.
Now, when scanning, what you see on the display is this:
On the top text line, the "site" name alternates with the group name.
On the second line, the text tag for the actual talkgroup appears.
Since a unit's radio may be be associated (or linked) with more than one tower (basically, with all the towers that provide coverage in that agencies jurisdiction, and probably slightly beyond), radio traffic will likely be carried on more than one of them, at any given time. On your 396XT, if you're listening Baton Rouge PD, and the scanner has picked up traffic from the Baton Rouge site, then your top line display is alternating as 'Baton Rouge' (the site name), and "EastBatonRouge" (or whatever you edited the group name to be, such as 'Baton Rouge PD').
The second line would be the text tag for the actual talkgroup.
However, if the radio traffic being received is not coming off the Baton Rouge tower, but instead, from a neighboring site (you can see the site #s for the neighbors, by clicking on the '
Baton Rouge" on the site listing), then you'd see that name. One example might be the neighbor site Geismar. Is that the sort of "wrong city" you are talking about? If so, that's normal. The 396XT goes through each site it can receive, then checks to see if any of the entered talkgroups are active, then it receives them before moving to the next site. Some people prefer to know which site they are receiving traffic from (to get an idea of reception range).
If this is what you are seeing, and find it a distraction, you could simply rename all of the sites as "LWIN", the system name. You'd still have the group name, to identify the actual agency (Baton Rouge PD, of FD, or the Sheriff's office). If that explanation is off target, the I'd suggest that you provide a few more details, and also post your FreeScan file. What you'll need to do, is save a copy, then either zip it, or add a txt extension to the file name, so that you can attach it to your message. (If your file was named "Dave.996", you'd have to rename it "Dave.996.txt" in order to upload. The *.996 file extension is not allowed. But *.zip & *.txt files are.)
