BCD436HP Maximum File Size

Status
Not open for further replies.

W4KRR

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Apr 1, 2001
Messages
3,462
Location
Coconut Creek
I created a file (with Butel ARC536 software) in which I added about 1000 individual unit ID's for a radio system. After I uploaded the file, the scanner displayed an error message "File too large". I removed some of the ID's until the radio accepted the file.

If I upgraded to a larger micro SD card, would this solve the issue, or is this a limitation of the number of systems/ID's that the scanner can use? What is the largest file size the '436 can hold, and is this a scanner memory limitation, or an SD card limitation?
 

nosoup4u

Member
Feed Provider
Joined
Jan 30, 2002
Messages
2,192
Location
High Bridge, NJ
I had a similar problem. I have 2 systems that have to have their own favorite lists. One of them has close to 20,000 id's and I am just under the 1 meg limit.
 

ofd8001

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 6, 2004
Messages
8,052
Location
Louisville, KY
If my calculations are correct, each radio ID uses about 59 bytes of memory. Each talkgroup is about 61 bytes.

As Upman noted, there is the 1MB file size limit on a Favorites List,regardless of SD card capacity. You may see some benefit with a newer card that has a faster read/write speed. This would hasten Favorites List load time when you power on the scanner, particularly since you have lots of stuff to load.
 

W4KRR

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Apr 1, 2001
Messages
3,462
Location
Coconut Creek
Thanks for the info. So in my case, a larger SD card wouldn't help me, storage space wise. I could, I guess, assign each of my systems its own Favorite List, which would easily make each FL under 1 mb.
 

nosoup4u

Member
Feed Provider
Joined
Jan 30, 2002
Messages
2,192
Location
High Bridge, NJ
Interesting enough, you can store more id's on an HP-1/2 than you can on the x36 scanners. The x36's have more data fields and use more space.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
 

ofd8001

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 6, 2004
Messages
8,052
Location
Louisville, KY
You may wish to take another look at your Favorites List for duplicates.

One FL I have is a statewide trunked system with 297 sites, 6,396 Talkgroups and 1,924 Radio/Unit IDs and it uses 543 KB of memory - about 50% of the allowable file size.
 

Voyager

Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2002
Messages
12,059
I was wondering about that, too. about 10K UIDs here with maybe 500 TGIDs. Nowhere close to the limit yet.
 

W4KRR

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Apr 1, 2001
Messages
3,462
Location
Coconut Creek
I have it set up where there is only one favorites list for everything. The individual systems I want to monitor are turned on and off via a System Quick Key. I may change this to where each system is its own Favorites List. This way I would not go over the 1 mb limit per Favorites List.
 

ofd8001

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 6, 2004
Messages
8,052
Location
Louisville, KY
I'd steer you in that direction. Not only will you avoid maxing out FL file size, it may reduce the number of key presses to turn things on and off.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top