GPS and RRDB data

[ofd8001]

While those 3 mobile sites are being scanned, and are mostly likely too far away to receive control channel data, at the end of the day its minimal impact. Those 15 control channel frequencies (3 sites at 5 frequencies) go by very fast. That should not be detrimental to scanning.

I monitor a trunked system and one of the four sites is too far to receive control channel data. I have to watch this very careful to notice that an attempt to "listen" to the site is made. I'd say its spending perhaps a quarter second on that too far away to "hear" site.

 

[phask]

Good point Jon. Reminded me to go through and set avoid for those in several states - that I will probably travel in the future.

Anyone care to start a list of all such similar statewide systems with mobile sites?

I'm only familiar with MI,VA, Ohio, VA and a few Mid west states.

 

[jonwienke]

I would just go through the statewide sytems and look for sites with "mobile" in their description.

 

[ofd8001]

And if someone wanted to forego scanning mobile sites, it would require building Favorites Lists. So some time would be involved with that endeabor.

 

[jonwienke]

You can set Avoids in the main database, although they are cleared when you update it.

There are only a small number of these mobile sites, so Avoiding them isn't too onerous a thing to do.

 

[troymail]

During my drive through NC yesterday, I was still seeing the VA STARS system being scanned as far south as Mount Olive (probably beyond) - which is 90+ miles south of Virginia. I'm currently on the southern edge of NC (looking at the Atlantic Ocean) . Range in the radio, as is almost always the case, is set to 0.

As far as the STARS mobile sites, I submitted a request to have them updated to match the location in the name along with a more realistic range (they had neither). The admin for the area is very good and took care of it almost immediately. I haven't yet updated my programming because I wanted to confirm I see things beyond scanned beyond the "30 miles" previously mentioned.

There are others which are far less obvious -- I submitted a request about the same time to fix/set the range on a site on NC VIPER (Arba) which had no range value and seems to be defaulting to 225 miles. Still waiting for that one to be changed. There's probably lots of these out there.

 

[UPMan]

Scanning from the main dB or from a FL?

 

[troymail]

Scanning from the main dB or from a FL?

Location enabled FL

 

[jonwienke]

Did you happen to notice which STARS site(s) were being scanned in NC? Was it the mobile sites?

 

[troymail]

Did you happen to notice which STARS site(s) were being scanned in NC? Was it the mobile sites?

Dunno - I was driving - and the display is hard enough to see when I'm standing still.

 

[UPMan]

Location enabled FL

Ok, that is why you are seeing it 70 miles out. If scanning from the main dB, the scanner does not even load a state into active memory that for out (thus, that other state's overlapping stuff isn't scanned). But, if it is in a FL you've set to monitor, all the systems in that FL are loaded into active memory and activated/deactivated based on location.

 

[troymail]

Ok, that is why you are seeing it 70 miles out. If scanning from the main dB, the scanner does not even load a state into active memory that for out (thus, that other state's overlapping stuff isn't scanned). But, if it is in a FL you've set to monitor, all the systems in that FL are loaded into active memory and activated/deactivated based on location.

ok - well, the 30 mile thing doesn't help then....

 

[UPMan]

The 30 mile thing defines when the next state will be loaded in the main dB and is irrelevant for FL's. The scanner does not know what state a system is in once it is loaded into working memory. It only knows the defined location and range.

 

[JamesO]

While traveling in the NE corridor the the US, lots of smaller states with lots of counties, boros and smaller cities and it it is hard to understand and know what state these smaller areas are located in.

It would be very useful for the database and/or the scanner to be able to display the 2 letter state abbreviation at the beginning of the county, boro ,city or System/Department name. Then it would be helpful to be able to lock out an entire state with a few keystrokes while driving.

I think the problem we all have with GPS scanning is most of the scanner operators are also the drivers and there is only so much scanner you can safely play with while driving.

Also what happens when you have a non Phase 2 radio and you are in an area that is Phase 2? Is the Phase 2 database info loaded? The problem is while driving with my HP1 and I travel through areas that are Phase 2, the HP1 will obviously not work, but I do not know the area or if they are using Phase 2. It would be nice for some indicator that the radio may not be capable of receiving the area I am currently driving in.

I drove 2500 miles in a week and had my HP1 set up and after driving through the lower edge of Mississippi with total silence, I finally had to look into the database and find that the silence was probably not due to the lack of anyone on the road, it was due to the HP1 not supporting Phase 2. I also have my 436HP, but did not have this with me to try.

Anyway, would be nice to be able to figure out quickly and easily the state the comms you are listening to and if you have a Phase 1 only radio that there is no comms due to Phase 2 requirement.

 

[jonwienke]

It would be very useful for the database and/or the scanner to be able to display the 2 letter state abbreviation at the beginning of the county, boro ,city or System/Department name. Then it would be helpful to be able to lock out an entire state with a few keystrokes while driving.

I suggested this years ago, but that would require all of the name tags in the database to be redone in a consistent manner, and nobody wants to be bothered with that much work.

I sort of solved the problem by creating favorite lists with state names that contain only items located in the named state. Now when I'm receiving traffic from anything in Maryland, I know because I see the FL name "Maryland" in the scanner display. I assigned each state favorite list a quick key to turn it on and off, so if I'm driving near the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania but will not be in Maryland, I just hit the quick key for Maryland and all Maryland traffic goes away. I've reserved the single-digit quick keys for state-level favorite lists, so I can enable or disable all Maryland traffic simply by pressing 2 Enter.

It makes dealing with the 4-states-in-range problem a lot easier and less confusing.

 

[JamesO]

I guess I have not spent enough time using GPS scanning and when I do, I tend to be the driver and cannot spend much time playing with the scanner while driving.

The NE corridor of the US is a very different place than the Mid-West and anyone that drives I95 would understand the challenge and issues with driving parallel to a state you are not in and having to listen to chatter than has nothing to do with where you are located.

I guess I will need to think about options for controlling Favorite Lists or another option to better control what is being monitored.

I did have a good situation monitoring VA STARS about a month back when was traveling in VA. I live in the DC area and a with the STARS network now being statewide and you can often hear traffic from a totally different Districts or Regions. I was about 2+ hours from an area I would be traveling though and just after midnight heard a dispatch for an over turned tractor trailer that then turned into a HazMat situation due to a fuel spill. Around 2:30 am when I was going to pass through the area, I made sure to really be aware of what was going on ahead of me in this area on the road. Finally arrived at the scene and the truck was still on its side. 3 of the lanes were closed with only the far left lane being open.

It was helpful to know that there was something ahead that I had to be ready for because at 3 am Waze does not help much with few people on the road using Waze.

 

[marksmith]

If you travel an area enough, the favorites list is definitely the way to go in the NE, with lots of congested radio traffic.

I only use the full database when I am in unfamiliar territory and generally rely on shutting way down on the service types.

A lot of issues with GPS, signal identification and other issues are resolved by setting up lists just the way you want and tweaking everything to suit.

536/436/ws1095/996p2/996xt/325p2/396xt/psr800/396t/HP-1/HP-2 & others