BC 796 w/software control

[jhodal]

Just got my BC796 and am "demo'ing" different software programs (namely Scancat Gold and Butel Arc250). One question I have is: How do I get more talk groups into a set of frequencies? For example, in my town we have over 100 talk groups assigned a set of 23 frequencies. I'd like to have all the talk groups scanned. I have the frequencies in Bank 1, but only 100 of the 120 or so talk groups in there. Would I go to bank 2, copy the frequencies from bank 1 and then add the rest of the talk groups?
Also, is there a way to lock out a talk group?

Thanks for any info. I used to be heavy into scanners and SW back in the 80's and then got out of it. BOY have things changed. LOL.

John

 

[scanbc780]

Just got my BC796 and am "demo'ing" different software programs (namely Scancat Gold and Butel Arc250). One question I have is: How do I get more talk groups into a set of frequencies? For example, in my town we have over 100 talk groups assigned a set of 23 frequencies. I'd like to have all the talk groups scanned. I have the frequencies in Bank 1, but only 100 of the 120 or so talk groups in there. Would I go to bank 2, copy the frequencies from bank 1 and then add the rest of the talk groups?
Also, is there a way to lock out a talk group?

Thanks for any info. I used to be heavy into scanners and SW back in the 80's and then got out of it. BOY have things changed. LOL.

John

You can either put the other talkgroups and freqs into another bank or just not put the talkgroups in you don't want, unless you want all 120. To me with 120 talkgroups scanning at once I think I would go nucking futs :shock: .

Anyways when you go through the talkgroups manually you can press L/O and lock out the ones you dont wan't but like I was saying put in the ones you do and leave out the ones you dont. Better yet Put your favorites in bank one and the not so favorites in bank 2 (or whatever bank you want) then you can just turn that bank on and off as you feel.

Brian

 

[jhodal]

Just got my BC796 and am "demo'ing" different software programs (namely Scancat Gold and Butel Arc250). One question I have is: How do I get more talk groups into a set of frequencies? For example, in my town we have over 100 talk groups assigned a set of 23 frequencies. I'd like to have all the talk groups scanned. I have the frequencies in Bank 1, but only 100 of the 120 or so talk groups in there. Would I go to bank 2, copy the frequencies from bank 1 and then add the rest of the talk groups?
Also, is there a way to lock out a talk group?

Thanks for any info. I used to be heavy into scanners and SW back in the 80's and then got out of it. BOY have things changed. LOL.

John

You can either put the other talkgroups and freqs into another bank or just not put the talkgroups in you don't want, unless you want all 120. To me with 120 talkgroups scanning at once I think I would go nucking futs :shock: .

Anyways when you go through the talkgroups manually you can press L/O and lock out the ones you dont wan't but like I was saying put in the ones you do and leave out the ones you dont. Better yet Put your favorites in bank one and the not so favorites in bank 2 (or whatever bank you want) then you can just turn that bank on and off as you feel.

Brian

Thanks for the tip Brian. Yes, 120 talkgroups is a bit much but ya know when you first get your radio, ya gotta hear it "all". LOL. I like the idea of putting the "favorites" into one bank and then sliding the "yawners" off somewhere else. Never thought of that. Hills Brothers hasn't kicked in yet

While I have you here, any opinions on software. I have both the Scancat and Arc250. One thing I noticed is the Arc250 seems to have a better com port response time. The Scancat seems a little slow. The Arc is really simple to use. I like the way Scancat logs when in trunking, counting hits, I couldn't see where Arc250 would do this, it would make an entry for every hit. Decisions Decisions....

Thanks Again!

 

[scanbc780]

I love ARC250! I was never a fan of scancat at all. ARC250 its really easy to use and the control screen resembles the BC796D front panel almost exactly.
If scancat is still using the old scanner control screen its WAY to cluttered!

Good Luck

Brian

 

[scanbc780]

Also check out ID tracker if your interested in logging hits. I run this sometimes to find the REALLY active TG's.

http://bellsouthpwp.net/k/d/kd5eis/IDTracker/IDTracker.htm

 

[ka3jjz]

Something else to consider; if you have lots of .csv files that you'd like to use in your new 795, ARC250's import agent is very very limited; it only imports frequencies, nothing else. The Webcatcher product they talk about has also got this rather annoying limitation.

The full version of Scan Control has a much more flexible arrangemtnt; it can import not only frequencies, but alpha tags and PL as well as several other items. Its configurable, too - each item does not have to be in adjacent columns, you actually 'teach' Scan Control where each column is.

This is a much better arrangement than what ARC250 offers.

Their URL is: http://www.scannersoft.com
This is one package that you can actually buy in 2 stages; programming only software (Lite version and it doesn't have the import ability) or the full version. The cost is very reasonable, and there's a Yahoo group devoted to it.

73s Mike

 

[Butelsoftware]

WebCatcher was designed to only import frequencies.

If you want to import any other data you can open the csv file in for example excel and use copy/paste into the arc250 grid.

Gommert
www.butelsoftware.com

 

[jhodal]

I love ARC250! I was never a fan of scancat at all. ARC250 its really easy to use and the control screen resembles the BC796D front panel almost exactly.
If scancat is still using the old scanner control screen its WAY to cluttered!

Good Luck

Brian

Yep, it's cluttered and from what I have found, you can't change the colors. With ARC250, I can change the colors to make it look almost the same as the 796 display (how cool). I've been playing around with both of them on and off today and they both have merit, but it seems ARC250 has better data management capabilities. And is visually more appealing. Now if ARC250 Would have different logging, it would be a no brainer. <br> (Butel, are you out there?) :lol:

I'm getting ready to check out that one ID logger you gave me the link to. I just would like to have everything in one program. That one sounds good. I used to play around with Visual Basic 6 in the past so this really gives me some insight on what goes on inside these programs. Brian, thanks again for the help. Really 'preciate it.

John

 

[jhodal]

I love ARC250! I was never a fan of scancat at all. ARC250 its really easy to use and the control screen resembles the BC796D front panel almost exactly.
If scancat is still using the old scanner control screen its WAY to cluttered!

Good Luck

Brian

Well I made the leap and got ARC250. They even emailed me my registration code already (good service). They had some "sample" frequencies and I downloaded them. They had a butt load for my area (Madison, WI) and I loaded up the file. It had 10 banks full of info. That helped me more than anything. To show how to organize, do the bank tags, etc. mix trunk and conventional, do the PL codes. I'm not big on reading manuals (they are good for propping up monitors though), so just looking through the filled ARC250, I'm learning a lot about the program AND the radio.

Now it's on to find a decent outdoor antenna that will fit on my apartment balcony and won't make the managers think I'm trying to communicate with the space shuttle :lol:


Thanks to you and everyone else here for the help and the great information.


John