ABLE and ASTREA Radio IDs ???

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GroundLoop

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Can you describe your setup a bit more? I'm not sure how voice & signal interact.
I've had Inline (data) and Signal at the same time, and they don't seem to change each other.
Is UniTrunker sending one of your PRO-106s to a talkgroup that it spots on Signal?

As far as ABLE & ASTREA, it seems the BCD396XT can't alert/alarm on a Radio ID, so I use UniTrunker to alert on the helicopter radio IDs. Better than nothing, but if there is a way to get an audio signal from either the BCD or UniTrunker on just those radio IDs, that would be great. Any tricks?

I've seen just 46707 and 46710 so far.
 

sstephenson

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Please see my post titled "How Do You Set Up Two Scanners (Voice and Data) in UniTrunker ??? " I think that it will get you up and running. Pay particular attention to setting your priorities. That's the key to hearing only what you want. Otherwise what you hear sounds like a disjointed continuous stream of voice data. After you get set up you can track the individual or multiple talkgroups or radio id's of your choice.

I'm definitely no expert here, but if you have more questions I'll attempt to answer them. It works really well once you get Unitrunker working.

Now if I could just hear an entire transmission.... In a few days you'll probably be higher up on the learning curve than I am, so you can help me :wink:
 

GroundLoop

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Just got my UniTrunker working with an old analog scanner/discriminator as Signal, controlling a BCD396XT as Voice. Works great!

Setting up priority Radio IDs is working (for Air, for example), but then you do have to have their TGID as priority as well. It would be an interesting feature for it to elevate priority for any Audience from that Source ID. For example, as Air joins different Dispatch TGs, those two would be Listened.
Is there a way to do this? (ie, hear both sides of the conversation)
 

sstephenson

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Again, I'm certainly no expert here. As I recall, when I have Radio IDs programmed in to my PRO106 (not talking about Unitrunker here), if I don't have the TGID programmed in as well, then I don't hear the beginning of a conversation unless that particular Radio ID initiates the conversation. If I have both the TGID and the Radio ID programmed in, then I hear the entire conversation. I have my radio set up so that if the TGID initiates I get one LED color code, and when the Radio ID in question jumps in I get another colored LED. I have the TGID and Radio IDs programmed in with different colors. So, I think you would need to prioritize both the TGID and the Radio ID in Unitrunker to catch the whole conversation. It makes it tough when the Radio ID is transient (like a police helicopter which can switch over to any Tac channel as needed).
 

GroundLoop

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Exactly, sstephenson. That's the idea -- an interesting RadioID that moves between TGIDs.

I'm surprised to hear that PRO-106 can search for specific Radio ID -- the Uniden BCD396XT can not, as far as I can tell. It can *display* the RadioID and report it over the data connection when displayed, but it doesn't appear to be able to flash on a specific RadioID. I could be wrong?
 

sstephenson

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Sorry if my last post was confusing. The PRO-106 will not track a Radio ID as I understand it. It just identifies the programmed Radio ID when it pops up within a talkgroup. Using Unitrunker you can double click on the Radio ID when it pops up and then get the history of all the talkgroups that your Radio ID has been active on during that session. I hope that's clearer.:)
 

GroundLoop

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Ah, I see. Sounds the same as the BCD, then. It shows the Radio ID, and sends it out the serial port, but won't search for specific RadioIDs or even alert (flash) when it's found.

Will the PRO-106 light a special color for RadioIDs? You said "programmed RadioIDs" so I'm thinking they're programmed to do something.

In any case, the dual-radio UniTrunker is very cool, and very close to what I want for ABLE & ASTREA. They tend to be on the most 'interesting' calls at any given time, so I just want to hit on those RadioIDs, AND any Talkgroup they're participating in. This last part is the tricky one.

Maybe just a "temporary Priority escalation" button in UniTrunker? Click on a particular TG and give it a bump, then reset them back down at some point.

UniTrunker (dual radio) is very cool in that it can switch to a priority TGID right in the middle of receiving audio on another TGID. I don't think the scanner can do that.
 

sstephenson

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Yep, pretty much the same I think. You can assign a Radio ID to flash a particular color or make a particular sound when it comes on. So for example, if you are listening to talkgroup WXYZ which has been assigned a blue flashing LED and suddenly Radio ID 1234 which has been assigned a green LED joins the group, the LED display will go from blue to green and 1234's Alpha Tag will be displayed.

Yes, Unitrunker allows you to do some very cool stuff. Now if I could just solve my cut-off conversation problem... Does this happen to you?
 

GroundLoop

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Yes, most calls are cut off early.

If I watch the "Listen" panel under the Receiver, it seems like the listing goes from the Frequency/Source/Target to "Parked" while the transmitter is still speaking. Shortly after it goes to "Parked", the next call that Starts will interrupt the audio and switch to that new connection. It's like UniTrunker has left the radio tuned, but thinks it's parked.

The Site display correctly shows the call as in-progress, and it does not start fading out until the correct time.

So, the Site display and Call History seems spot-on. It's just interrupting the scanner with a new station to tune while in-progress. I suspect something about this premature "Parked" state is related.
 

GroundLoop

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Just to clarify, I haven't set any priority values yet, so they are all at "50".
 

sstephenson

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Thanks, that's great info. I don't know that there's anything that we can do about it, but it does help in understanding the behavior. If you find out more, please let me know.
 
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