A friendly reminder regarding database submissions

[GTR8000]

Folks,

To those who participate by submitting info to the database, thank you, your contributions are always appreciated!


We do need to go over a few ground rules, however, as numerous submissions over the past few months have been somewhat lacking in detail and quality.

Please read and become familiar with the Database Submission Guidelines found in the following wiki article, which is a good place to start.

https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/RR_Database_Submission_Guidelines

I want to highlight this important bit from that article:

Do not submit unidentified information. The RadioReference.com administration team prides itself on the accuracy of the database. Submissions with unidentified information will be rejected and not posted.

I cannot stress enough that if your submissions contains data which is inaccurate, unidentified, unconfirmed, low quality, or vague, one of two things is going to occur:

1. You will be asked to provide further clarification or details to ensure the veracity of the data being submitted
2. Your submissions may be rejected in part or in whole

It is crucial that you respond in a timely manner to any notes added to a submission you've made!

I cannot stress this enough, as many times I've requested further info, only to receive no response.

If you make a submission and do not receive an email notice within a week or so that it has been completed, please check your spam folder to make sure there are no notifications from the notify@radioreference.com email address. It's also important that your email address is up to date in your account.

You can verify and change your email on your main RR account page:
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/account/

To view your submissions, log into RR and go to the following page:
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/account/?tab=subs

There you can click on each submission to check for notes, if you haven't received an email notification after a week or so. To reply to or add a note on a submission, click on the + button highlighted in yellow in the following screenshot.



Thanks!

 

[GTR8000]

In addition to the above post stressing the importance of replying in a timely manner to requests for additional info or clarification, I'm also going to point out that I'm seeing a lot of submissions that lack key information, causing me to have to reach out to submitters when I really shouldn't have to.

A few things to keep in mind when submitting data:

• If you are submitting talkgroups to trunked systems that cover multiple counties/agencies, be specific as to what county the talkgroups should be categorized under. Don't assume that the admins are familiar with the local area, and don't rely on us making assumptions or following what appear to be existing patterns on the system. Submissions should be well formed and detailed, not vague and expecting the database admin to do the additional research.
  
  
• If you are submitting conventional analog frequencies, provide the PL or DPL tone that is in use. Nearly every modern scanner out there can decode those tones within seconds. If you are monitoring with some sort of SDR setup that doesn't readily decode PL/DPL, and you have no other way of determining the tone, then please make sure to specify that in the submission.
  
  
• Same goes for conventional digital frequencies like P25, DMR (MOTOTRBO), and NXDN. Please make every effort to determine and submit the NAC, Color Code, or RAN.
  
  
• Including Talkgroup and Slot for conventional DMR are also key parts of a good submission.
  
  
• Trunked systems often have a number of variables that make up a good submission, such as Site NAC for P25 systems, LCN and Color Codes for DMR systems, LCN and RAN for NXDN (NEXEDGE) systems, etc. When in doubt, provide as much information as possible from whatever hardware and/or software you're decoding a system/site with, and be prepared to reply to a request for additional info.

The better the quality of the submission, the faster the info will make it into the database!

 

[GTR8000]

Wow, nearly six years gone by since I posted this thread. Time flies.

Everything above still applies in 2025. Unfortunately, we still receive submissions that are lacking in quality or information, so I'm hoping this thread refresh will also refresh some memories and newer members will see it.

For those not aware, the Database Administrator Handbook is part of the wiki and is available for any member to access:

Database Administrator Handbook Live Version - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

One additional thing I'd like to add is to please remember to make a proper submission if you want something added/changed/updated/removed from the database. Over the years I've noticed a tendency to post info in the forums without a submission being made. It's not fair to expect database admins to read through every thread and post looking for database updates, so please be courteous and submit that info if you expect any changes to be made. Submission tickets also allow us to keep track of changes.

Thanks!