seamusg
Member
With all those GPS features - what is the price??????crazyboy said:
Remember he's on vacation.
GPS Controlled Scanner?
- Thread starter Videokid
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Remember he's on vacation.
K5MAR
Member
petrol88 said:
Came back as not valid.
Mark S.
crazyboy said:
How do you figure that?
Notice how it says "GPS not included"? That means that this is not a scanner with a built in GPS.
"How do you figure that?"
Because this thread is about (if you read the first message) having a scanner controlled in part on your location. That's exactly what the 996 will do. Whether or not it's integrated shouldn't be an issue - it only makes sense not to include one since most people either have their own or wouldn't want to pay extra for it being in the radio yet not get to use most of the features.
- Rob
Because this thread is about (if you read the first message) having a scanner controlled in part on your location. That's exactly what the 996 will do. Whether or not it's integrated shouldn't be an issue - it only makes sense not to include one since most people either have their own or wouldn't want to pay extra for it being in the radio yet not get to use most of the features.
- Rob
I agree. Even if a person didn't own a GPS unit it would be nice to be able to get the one you want with the features you want to add to the radio. It is an interesting idea. Hands on the wheel and not on the radio. The price is a touch high (I think Upman said 850 or so) but I'm sure it will come down as has everything else.
rdale said:
MarkWestin
Member
Hello,
How many of you have "OnStar" in your cars? If you do, you already have a GPS unit in your car. I saw somewhere on the web an article about how to interface something into the "OnStar" GPS unit, and I'm sure that it could be interfaced to the BCD996T also.
Just a little something to think about.
Mark
How many of you have "OnStar" in your cars? If you do, you already have a GPS unit in your car. I saw somewhere on the web an article about how to interface something into the "OnStar" GPS unit, and I'm sure that it could be interfaced to the BCD996T also.
Just a little something to think about.
Mark
Al42
Member
I just wonder what the interface in the scanner is - RS-232? I have some GPS units that have other interfaces.
"The price is a touch high (I think Upman said 850 or so)"
Nope, check the thread. Probably in the $500-$600 range.
Nope, check the thread. Probably in the $500-$600 range.
DonS
Member
The GPS-enabled scanner idea is pretty cool, but it's also quite trivial. All it has to do is receive [well-documented, plain text] NMEA sentences. Since the Unidens already have a '232 interface (compatible with most consumer GPS receivers), that just leaves software.
The software, in order to accomplish the features listed in Paul's post , just has to:
1. Display position information exactly as indicated by received NMEA sentences
2. Do whatever "Non-Radio Location-Based GPS Features" are required based on received NMEA sentences (perhaps with a database of POIs - hopefully these can be updated by the user)
3. For "Location-Based Scanning", just tag each bank/system/"insert manufacturer terminology here" with a location-enable flag, a proximity, and a lat/lon, and scan the bank/system/IMTH iff you're within X km of position Y.
It's really not rocket science.
Heck, I could modify Win9x to receive NMEA data and, in real-time, upload PRO-9x scanners with appropriate settings based on location. Disclaimer: Please don't ask when such a thing will be available!
Yes, it's cool and possible. But, how useful is it? Unless connected to a PC (with appropriate software), the scanner already contains all of the location-specific frequency/talkgroup programming. What we've saved is a few button presses - letting the GPSr tell the radio when it should scan specific systems.
Here's an extension that would make this really cool: an interface to the RR DB that lets us look up trunked and conventional systems by lat/lon. A PC with connected radio and GPSr, as well as some always-on, mobile Internet access (e.g. GPRS). Software on the PC takes NMEA data and, when it determines that we've moved from one "area" to another, queries RR DB for local frequency/talkgroup info and reprograms the scanner. No user intervention or pre-programming (manufacturer or user) required.
Hmmm.... I have a GPRS card in my laptop and a database of lat/lon boundaries for states/cities/counties. I could determine what state and county were appropriate for any given position, in real-time. I could then download that data from the RR DB wherever I might be - i.e. grab every trunked system in the current county. Time to start playing... (see disclaimer above!!!!!!!!)
EDIT: The most impressive, to me, aspect of such a GPS-enabled scanner would be the inclusion of all trunked and conventional frequencies and talkgroups (i.e. the entire RR DB for the conterminous 48 states), as well as all of the POIs we might see in a "mapping" GPSr or its associated PC software, within the scanner itself. If Uniden has accomplished such data integration, with the ability to let the user update it as information becomes obsolete, that would be very attractive.
The software, in order to accomplish the features listed in Paul's post , just has to:
1. Display position information exactly as indicated by received NMEA sentences
2. Do whatever "Non-Radio Location-Based GPS Features" are required based on received NMEA sentences (perhaps with a database of POIs - hopefully these can be updated by the user)
3. For "Location-Based Scanning", just tag each bank/system/"insert manufacturer terminology here" with a location-enable flag, a proximity, and a lat/lon, and scan the bank/system/IMTH iff you're within X km of position Y.
It's really not rocket science.
Heck, I could modify Win9x to receive NMEA data and, in real-time, upload PRO-9x scanners with appropriate settings based on location. Disclaimer: Please don't ask when such a thing will be available!
Yes, it's cool and possible. But, how useful is it? Unless connected to a PC (with appropriate software), the scanner already contains all of the location-specific frequency/talkgroup programming. What we've saved is a few button presses - letting the GPSr tell the radio when it should scan specific systems.
Here's an extension that would make this really cool: an interface to the RR DB that lets us look up trunked and conventional systems by lat/lon. A PC with connected radio and GPSr, as well as some always-on, mobile Internet access (e.g. GPRS). Software on the PC takes NMEA data and, when it determines that we've moved from one "area" to another, queries RR DB for local frequency/talkgroup info and reprograms the scanner. No user intervention or pre-programming (manufacturer or user) required.
Hmmm.... I have a GPRS card in my laptop and a database of lat/lon boundaries for states/cities/counties. I could determine what state and county were appropriate for any given position, in real-time. I could then download that data from the RR DB wherever I might be - i.e. grab every trunked system in the current county. Time to start playing... (see disclaimer above!!!!!!!!)
EDIT: The most impressive, to me, aspect of such a GPS-enabled scanner would be the inclusion of all trunked and conventional frequencies and talkgroups (i.e. the entire RR DB for the conterminous 48 states), as well as all of the POIs we might see in a "mapping" GPSr or its associated PC software, within the scanner itself. If Uniden has accomplished such data integration, with the ability to let the user update it as information becomes obsolete, that would be very attractive.
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