TRX-1: EZ Scan problems on my new TRX-1

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designeq

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Just got the TRX-1 and am trying to set up scanlists. I have 5 I'm trying to set up via the Preferred Import type. I set the first one up without problems. Then it got strange. I would create another scanlist by importing from the DB. It would seem to go fine, but when I set up a third one, all the data from the previous scanlist would be gone!

There are several other questions I have about importing from the DB but I'll get to those once I solve this problem.

Now I'm at the point where I have two scanlists populated but when I try to create a third by importing from the DB, it always contains nothing.

Under what circumstances would EZ Scan take you through the Library Import process, show you a list of talkgroups which are selected, and then, upon clicking Import Selected Channels and selecting a scanlist to import into, ends up with that scan list being empty?

And here is something even more bizarre: this problem occurs when running EZ Scan under Windows 7 via bootcamp on my Mac. I also have it running under CrossOver on another Mac (CrossOver doesn't require Windows). I can't use CrossOver to program the scanner because, so far, it can't actually communicate with the scanner (driver issues?) but it does allow me to use the database without problems. With EZ Scan under CrossOver, this case of vanishing data in the scanlists does not occur and I can set up multiple scanlists as I would expect things to work. As far as I can tell, I have EZ Scan set up the same on both computers and I am following the same procedures on each.

Too weird! But right now I'm dead in the water since I can no longer create the scanlists that I want to send to the scanner.

Clearly there is something about EZ Scan I am missing. Any ideas pointing in the direction of a solution would be appreciated.

Update: Before I sent this I decided to try to actually program the scanner with the two scanlists that I could create. This worked as expected, but when I went back to try to create another scanlist, the same thing happened: the data was imported but the scanlist was empty (???!)
 

Wackyracer

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Just got the TRX-1 and am trying to set up scanlists. I have 5 I'm trying to set up via the Preferred Import type. I set the first one up without problems. Then it got strange. I would create another scanlist by importing from the DB. It would seem to go fine, but when I set up a third one, all the data from the previous scanlist would be gone!

There are several other questions I have about importing from the DB but I'll get to those once I solve this problem.

Now I'm at the point where I have two scanlists populated but when I try to create a third by importing from the DB, it always contains nothing.

Under what circumstances would EZ Scan take you through the Library Import process, show you a list of talkgroups which are selected, and then, upon clicking Import Selected Channels and selecting a scanlist to import into, ends up with that scan list being empty?

And here is something even more bizarre: this problem occurs when running EZ Scan under Windows 7 via bootcamp on my Mac. I also have it running under CrossOver on another Mac (CrossOver doesn't require Windows). I can't use CrossOver to program the scanner because, so far, it can't actually communicate with the scanner (driver issues?) but it does allow me to use the database without problems. With EZ Scan under CrossOver, this case of vanishing data in the scanlists does not occur and I can set up multiple scanlists as I would expect things to work. As far as I can tell, I have EZ Scan set up the same on both computers and I am following the same procedures on each.

Too weird! But right now I'm dead in the water since I can no longer create the scanlists that I want to send to the scanner.

Clearly there is something about EZ Scan I am missing. Any ideas pointing in the direction of a solution would be appreciated.

Update: Before I sent this I decided to try to actually program the scanner with the two scanlists that I could create. This worked as expected, but when I went back to try to create another scanlist, the same thing happened: the data was imported but the scanlist was empty (???!)

Interesting ...what operating system are you using?
 

designeq

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Upon further experimentation, I've found that I cannot import items into a scanlist if they have already been imported into another scanlist!! That's nuts. Why would this happen?

Again, this doesn't happen under CrossOver, which is really nuts because that environment didn't fully install the EZ Scan software. However, under bootcamp, which should be running exactly like running under Windows 7 (it is running Windows 7), this weird constraint appears.

Can I just verify that I should be able to import the same systems, talkgroups and frequencies into more than one scanlist?

Does anyone have any explanation why EZ Scan is not allowing this to take place or can provide a workaround for this?

This is really driving me crazy and is keeping me from programming my scanner the way I want.
 

k3sls

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Upon further experimentation, I've found that I cannot import items into a scanlist if they have already been imported into another scanlist!! That's nuts. Why would this happen?

Again, this doesn't happen under CrossOver, which is really nuts because that environment didn't fully install the EZ Scan software. However, under bootcamp, which should be running exactly like running under Windows 7 (it is running Windows 7), this weird constraint appears.

Can I just verify that I should be able to import the same systems, talkgroups and frequencies into more than one scanlist?

Does anyone have any explanation why EZ Scan is not allowing this to take place or can provide a workaround for this?

This is really driving me crazy and is keeping me from programming my scanner the way I want.

Objects (conventional frequencies, trunk frequencies, TGIDs, etc...) only need to be imported once. Those objects can then be assigned to multiple scan lists or in the case of trunk control frequencies, they can be assigned to several sites or systems.

To simplify…import 154.25 once…then you can assign it to scan list 2 and 14.
 

rwier

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The system I use when using EZScan: Import without selecting a Scan List name/number. Go to the Unassigned Objects Scanlist. Assign the unassigned objects to one (or more) Scan Lists of your choice.
 

designeq

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The system I use when using EZScan: Import without selecting a Scan List name/number. Go to the Unassigned Objects Scanlist. Assign the unassigned objects to one (or more) Scan Lists of your choice.

Thank you! I've seen the unassigned scan list and it has all the objects I need but I couldn't see that you could do anything with them. After your note, I saw that the last field was "Scanlist" and that by clicking on it, I could assign them to a scanlist! Boy, I would have never figured that one out.

That also lets me copy items from one scan list to another, which was something I wanted to do also. Is this information in any of the documentation?

While I now have a solution to my problem, I'm still left wondering why EZ Scan was not acting like it should during my initial importing.
 

designeq

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Again…you're not copying items to another location. You're simply tagging a single object as belonging to multiple scan lists. Read the object oriented memory section here:
Easier to Read PSR700 Scanner and EZ-Scan Software Manual

I understand the object model being used here. We're just conceptualizing it differently. For managing scanning, I like to think of scanlists like banks. So I think of filling the banks with objects I want to scan. I realize that the scanlists don't actually have additional copies of an object. They just reference one existing object. But when I think of the management of scanlists, it's easier for me to think of just copying stuff from one bank to another. Conceptually that's what I'm doing even though it isn't actually taking place "physically".

My problem has been practical. The document you referenced says "Each scannable object can be assigned to one or more of the main lists". The way I understand how to do this is to use the import library tab (are there other ways?). The problem I ran into was that after importing and assigning a group of objects to a scanlist, they didn't appear in that scanlist. I still don't know why this is happening.

rwier's suggestion helped because some of these (missing) objects appeared in the unassigned objects list and I was able to "copy" them (assign them) to the scanlists I was creating.

Am I still way off base here?
 

k3sls

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Highlight the object(s) and click the highlight in the scanlists column.

Precisely! There is no reason to go through the additional step of importing an object that you've previously imported.

Just guessing, but thinking of lists as "banks" may be leading you to assume an object would have to be added/imported again for each "bank" it would appear in. That would be true of older scanners where you would have to do that if you wanted the freq. to appear in several different banks.

In the object oriented systems, a freq/TGID imported can be "reused" numerous times.
 

designeq

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Yes, I understand. As I mentioned before, I didn't see how an object could be accessed at all until rwier mentioned accessing it from the unassigned objects list. I didn't know that by clicking on the scanlists column, you could assign objects to other scanlists. BTW, is this action (clicking the scanlist column and getting the dialog to set an object to any scanlist) documented anywhere?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but an object has to be imported at least once to be able to do anything with it. The problem I have yet to resolve is that when I import objects and assign them to scanlists, they don't appear in the scanlists. I'd be happy if you could explain why this is.
 

k3sls

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Yes, I understand. As I mentioned before, I didn't see how an object could be accessed at all until rwier mentioned accessing it from the unassigned objects list. I didn't know that by clicking on the scanlists column, you could assign objects to other scanlists. BTW, is this action (clicking the scanlist column and getting the dialog to set an object to any scanlist) documented anywhere?
Probably somewhere in Easier to Read PSR700 Scanner and EZ-Scan Software Manual

Correct me if I'm wrong, but an object has to be imported at least once to be able to do anything with it. The problem I have yet to resolve is that when I import objects and assign them to scanlists, they don't appear in the scanlists. I'd be happy if you could explain why this is.
Actually an object doesn't have to be imported at all! You can create your own objects on the "scan lists" tab, click the "new channel" button and proceed from there. Also can be done on the "conventional frequencies" tab by clicking the "new" button.
 

TES

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. . . . . BTW, is this action (clicking the scanlist column and getting the dialog to set an object to any scanlist) documented anywhere? . . . . .

Almost.

The Easier to Read PSR700 Scanner and EZ-Scan Software Manual mentioned by k3sls is not a Whistler Group production. My TRX-2 User Guide (and likely your TRX-1 User Guide) contains the following:
  • For complete instructions on how to use the EZ Scan Software refer to the Help Menu in the PC Application.
When I look at the Help Menu in my version of the EZ Scan Software I find the following on a page headed Conventional Frequencies Tab. :
  • In most cases, you may select multiple frequencies and adjust a setting on all selected frequencies by clicking on the column heading . . .

I think the User Manual is in error with the column heading part since clicking on column headings tends to sort table data based on the clicked column.
 

designeq

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Almost.

The Easier to Read PSR700 Scanner and EZ-Scan Software Manual mentioned by k3sls is not a Whistler Group production. My TRX-2 User Guide (and likely your TRX-1 User Guide) contains the following:
  • For complete instructions on how to use the EZ Scan Software refer to the Help Menu in the PC Application.
When I look at the Help Menu in my version of the EZ Scan Software I find the following on a page headed Conventional Frequencies Tab. :
  • In most cases, you may select multiple frequencies and adjust a setting on all selected frequencies by clicking on the column heading . . .

I think the User Manual is in error with the column heading part since clicking on column headings tends to sort table data based on the clicked column.

I think you're right about the column headings. What you can do is click many of the setting (like Att or L/O) check boxes for any of the selected items and all the rest of the selected items will change to mimic that setting.

As to my original question, I have yet to find anything in the official Whistler documentation that describes that feature of clicking on the Scanlist column to assign objects to a scanlist. I did find these two sentences in the Easier to Read WS 1080/1088 manual (which seems more appropriate for my case than the PSR-700 manual): Click anywhere on the object line to highlight then click the Scanlists field. Scroll to select and click the box next to one or more list(s) then press SET to assign.

So I don't feel too badly for not knowing about this feature. Fortunately, there are smart, nice folks here on RR who are willing to pass on such esoteric knowlege to those in need.
 

wbswetnam

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Actually an object doesn't have to be imported at all! You can create your own objects on the "scan lists" tab, click the "new channel" button and proceed from there. Also can be done on the "conventional frequencies" tab by clicking the "new" button.

This is what I do. It's a lot easier to simply create my own object (with a more meaningful description) than importing it from the database.
 

designeq

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Thanks for reinforcing this suggestion. I agree, however, to initially set up my scanner, I didn't want to have to hand-enter hundreds of new objects. So I was happy to use the database. I consider it a huge timesaver.

I am disappointed with the alpha tags from the database. I know on my (now-returned) Uniden BCD436HP, it was able to grab the channels descriptions for the display. Not only were they more descriptive, they were in Upper/lower case, which is much easier to read.

I wonder if there is some way for the TRX-1 to grab these more robust alpha fields.
 
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