GregOH
Member
I used Ctrl and Shift to highlight multiple lines to remove departments and channels, haven't gotten to the avoids yet.
Thanks that's good to know.
SDS100/SDS200: First attempt at using Sentinel
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Thanks that's good to know.
GregOH
Member
I decided to delete nothing because I do travel around a bit.
Is it possible to set alert sounds and lights with Sentinel? I didn't see it when navigating the program.
You can't do that from the main screen, but if you are using Favorites lists (not only the main database plus location), you can set alert colors & sounds via the Favorites list editor.
GregOH
Member
Ok, wow this is going to take a while.
Thanks.
I've been going through some of the same growing pains with the statewide trunking system in Illinois. My advice -- do two lists, one with just the sites/departments you'll be scanning regularly from home or on daily travel, and one that includes the entire statewide system. The reason for this is it takes forever to load that giant list with everything on it. It takes long enough for the scanner to start from power-up with just a small local list. I couldn't deal with adding another 30+ seconds to that for it to load the full statewide system every time. Leave the full list disabled and it won't load at startup but it will still be there if you need it.
If I want to run Discovery mode on that system, I'll use the full system with just the local sites enabled. This allows the scanner to know about all TGs I'm aware of and not land on any that have already been identified. As long as you don't enable to FL with the full system, you won't scan that system twice on each scan pass. You can also assign sites in regional groups to QKs, allowing you to quickly avoid/unavoid sites as you travel.
I would also strongly suggest checking out the ProScan software. It has advanced editing features that make dealing with very large lists like this much easier.
Remember that if you have a string of channels (or talkgroups) that you want to apply the same alert tone or alert color (like Red for Fire, in my screenshot above), you can set the first one in the string, and copy that setting to the clipboard. Then, select the rest of the string (hold down <Shift> and select the first and last item, to select a long string, then copy your setting to update the whole string at the same time. Once you copy the color or tone setting to the clipboard, you can then update other systems & departments in the same Favorites list, by selecting the items, then pasting your copied setting.
GregOH
Member
Finished with it now.
Thanks.
GregOH
Member
My FL is like 8 county's and two state agencies and the sites, that's about all I'm interested in other than doing ID Search when I feel like doing so.
If you include just the things you're interested in, when you do ID Search or Discovery it's going to stop on all the local TGs you didn't put on the list. I made this mistake initially, deleting from my FL all the encrypted PD TGs. The result is when I do Discovery the scanner stops on all those encrypted channels because it thinks they're new. If instead you leave them in the FL and Avoid them, they'll be skipped in ID Search and Discovery.
I find it fun to sometimes open things up a bit and see what I can receive. Having the full system in a FL that's normally inactive makes it a lot easier to scan the whole system. You can also turn on Location Control for the full system and then as you drive around the state you just need to update your location and it will automatically look for whatever should be in range.
I initially did just a couple counties and some other special FLs, but as time goes on I find I'm adding more and more so I can see what might come in. We had a big snow storm last night and I turned on Public Service for the first time so I could listen to the snow plows. Something I wasn't expecting was the plow drivers calling in all the crashed cars they came upon. Made for some interesting listening. It pays to be prepared.
I find it fun to sometimes open things up a bit and see what I can receive. Having the full system in a FL that's normally inactive makes it a lot easier to scan the whole system. You can also turn on Location Control for the full system and then as you drive around the state you just need to update your location and it will automatically look for whatever should be in range.
I initially did just a couple counties and some other special FLs, but as time goes on I find I'm adding more and more so I can see what might come in. We had a big snow storm last night and I turned on Public Service for the first time so I could listen to the snow plows. Something I wasn't expecting was the plow drivers calling in all the crashed cars they came upon. Made for some interesting listening. It pays to be prepared.
GregOH
Member
I'm basically making a backup SD card of what I have on my original card. I haven't heard much of the agencies I'm not interested in, so I don't think they'll be popping up in an ID search much on the new card. I'll add the full system to a new FL as you advise though because what you're saying makes sense.
I too recently added all of the ODOT County operations and I agree, they report more accidents than anyone.
GregOH
Member
If I'm using a card reader with the PC's usb port, when I click write to scanner, will the profile export to it, or will I have to change a setting on the pc first?
The card if new needs to be formatted to FAT32, for the first transfer you will need to initialize it with a clear user data command. In Sentinel select scanner>clear user data>view all drives> select card drive> clear user data. Then everything should transfer, just make sure you have the correct scanner model selected under target model and that you have the favorites lists turned on to download.
I wouldn't delete anything, especially if you're new. Turning on Location Control in the favorite list will automatically shut off distant sites and departments as long as your location is set correctly. Manually enter your GPS coordinates rather than entering a ZIP code, unless you have a GPS. Set avoids on whatever location control doesn't filter out. If Range is set sensibly, there won't be that much.
GregOH
Member
Is this what you mean by doing two list's? The top Marc's is one that would be regularly scanned at home with only what I want to hear and avoids set, the bottom one is the full system.
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I'm a little confused about the load time complaint. I'm loading the entirety of VA-STARS, WV-SIRN, and MD-FIRST in my favorite lists, and bootup takes less than a minute, more like 30 seconds. If boot time is longer than that, you probably have card issues.
GregOH
Member
I tried to upload the Sentinel file so you guys could see it if you felt like looking at it, but for some reason when I try to upload it as an attachment, the file (have a shortcut on the desktop) doesn't show up. Probably because when I look at the file location it's in Removable Disc "E".
I'd also like to put it in a flash drive because I have this program on a different family member's pc and this morning I found the program in the recycle bin. I've spent too much time editing the profile to lose everything.
I'd also like to put it in a flash drive because I have this program on a different family member's pc and this morning I found the program in the recycle bin. I've spent too much time editing the profile to lose everything.
If you want to post one or more of your Favorites lists, follow the steps below.
Use Sentinel to "read from scanner" if you have made changes on the scanner that were not also made in Sentinel. If nothing was changed only on the scanner, proceed to the next step.
Click on the drop-down File menu.
Select export the resulting Favorites list(s) into an *.hpe file.
Sentinel will ask you to select the list to export, and then you can choose whether to export all of the systems, or select only the ones to include.
Then, attach that to a post and upload so that we can take a peek & see if anything is out of place. The Export function is listed under the File drop-down menu. If you have more than one list, export each Favorites list separately.
Note: To upload an *.hpe file, to the Forums, you must change the file extension to one acceptable per forum requirements. To do that, note where your exported *.hpe file is saved on your PC.
Using Windows Explorer, <Right><Click> on your exported *.hpe file.
You'll get a pop-up menu. One of the options is "Send To"
Select that, which will open another, shorter, menu.
Select the option for "Compressed (zipped) folder.
You'll now have two versions of your file, one with the *.hpe extension, the other with a *.zip file extention. The 'zipped' file can be attached to a post (the *.hpe cannot).
GregOH
Member
Can I save the program file as a shortcut to the desktop and use zamzar file converter to convert the file to a different format and attach that file?
Edit: To answer my own question, no I can't convert that file with a file converter.
Edit: To answer my own question, no I can't convert that file with a file converter.
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That IS a long time as far as I'm concerned. Processing the full list takes about ten time longer than processing my abbreviated local entities only list.
I'm turning the scanner on and off many times every day. Waiting that long for it to start scanning is not something I want to do on a regular basis.
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