iSCAN Post-Release Discussion Thread

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DonS

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So when enabling/disabling certain sites when in "Sites" screen exactly what is being saved and what is being affected by enabling/disabling certain sites? If you can't say "only monitor Site X when Playlist A is enabled" what happens when you add a playlist from a completely different area that uses a completely different set of towers? Are both sets of towers stored?

BTW I'm not trying to be picky. I'm just trying to understand the various interactions.

When you select a Site within a trunked system, the scanner stores information about that site: frequencies, alpha tag, etc.. The Site is added to the list of possible sites to scan when monitoring any talkgroup within that system.

The scanner doesn't know anything about any "tower-specific" talkgroups. That is, the scanner presumes that any talkgroup within a system can be heard on any site.

When you hit "Play", the scanner:
1. looks through the enabled playlists, finding "objects to scan" (talkgroups and conventional channels)
2. for every talkgroup found in #1, remembers the "system" to which the talkgroup belongs
3a. cycles through every conventional channel
3b. cycles through every trunked system that had at least one talkgroup from #2

In (3b), the scanner also looks through the system's sites, looking for an active control channel.

Adding a new site to an existing system merely alters the geographic area in which you can monitor the programmed talkgroups, since "sites" are, in general, location-specific. Adding too many sites (e.g. the entire state when you're always near 4 or 5 "towers") can impact performance, since the scanner might have to search through many distant sites to find a control channel.

Adding new talkgroups to an existing system alters what you'll hear on that system. You should only add talkgroups that are actually used near your location. For example, if a statewide system had specific talkgroups for the northern part of the state, you wouldn't select them if you lived in the southern part of the state.

Changing talkgroups' playlist membership alters your ability to control what you hear at any given time. Typical membership criteria might be "system", "geographic area", "Law Enforcement vs. Fire", etc.
 

jpunix

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Ok. Let's see if this can be clarified further. The League City site and Galveston sites are both part of the Greater Houston Trunking System. The two sites are geographically distant so both sites can't be heard at the same time. If I create a "Galveston" playlist with all-Galveston traffic and select only the Galveston site and then create a "League City" playlist with all-League City traffic and specifying only the League City site under "Sites" what happens? They are both part of the same trunking system although geographically distant. I would think the optimal way to listen to Galveston would be *NOT* to poll for League City since it can't be heard from Galveston and vice-versa. How is it going to work?
 
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DonS

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Ok. Let's see if this can be clarified further. The League City site and Galveston site are both part of the Greater Houston Trunking System. The two sites are geographically distant so both sites can't be heard at the same time. If I create a "Galveston" playlist with all-Galveston traffic and select only the Galveston site and then create a "League City" playlist with all-League City traffic and specifying only the League City site under "Sites" what happens? They are both part of the same trunking system although geographically distant. I would think the optimal way to listen to Galveston would be *NOT* to poll for League City since it can't be heard from Galveston and vice-versa. How is it going to work?

* You'll have one trunked system: "Greater Houston Trunking System".
* That system will have two sites: "Galveston" and "League City".
* The system will also have some talkgroups:
** "all-Galveston" talkgroups in playlist X
** "all-League City" in playlist Y

When either playlist X or playlist Y is enabled, the scanner wil "scan" the "Greater Houston Trunking System". While scanning that system, it will look for an active control channel in any site programmed into that system - i.e. either of your two sites. Once it "locks onto" a control channel, it will look for channel grants/updates that refer to any talkgroup that is in any of the enabled playlists. At any given time, the scanner will be monitoring a control channel on one of the two sites (which site it "hears" depends only upon your location - not on which playlists you've enabled). While on such a control channel, the scanner will "play" the audio from talkgroups that are in enabled scan lists.

Depending on how the system broadcasts talkgroup traffic among its towers, it's entirely possible that you could be monitoring the "Galveston tower" but hear "League City talkgroups". It depends on the system's programming, how units/talkgroups are affilliated with sites, etc.
 

jpunix

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That answers all my questions! BTW the consensus by the scanner enthusiasts here is not all sites carry all traffic. Traffic seems to be more or less geographically specific. I.E. hear you won't Galveston traffic on the Tomball (far n. Houston) site and vice-versa.

Thanks for the great explanation Don! You've really enlightened me!
 
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petrol88

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Anyone else notice that this scanner uses the same cable as Uniden's Scanners? So now, can I just use the one cable for both of them? I haven't tried, yet (don't want to be the first one :) ).
 

DonS

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Anyone else notice that this scanner uses the same cable as Uniden's Scanners? So now, can I just use the one cable for both of them? I haven't tried, yet (don't want to be the first one :) ).

The PRO-107 / iScan uses only the cable that's included in its packaging. It's highly unlikely that any other scanner uses the same cable - notwithstanding what the jack on the scanner may look like.
 
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petrol88

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Well, I looked at both connectors using my reader glasses, and they are identical. I unplugged everything and removed the batteries (to be safe), and either cable plugs smoothly into either scanner. (This is my BC246T...but I think Uniden uses the same connector on all their scanners.) I would think if GRE uses the same cable then it must be safe/compatible, but I am just not willing to try for real.
 

DonS

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Well, I looked at both connectors using my reader glasses, and they are identical. I unplugged everything and removed the batteries (to be safe), and either cable plugs smoothly into either scanner. (This is my BC246T...but I think Uniden uses the same connector on all their scanners.) I would think if GRE uses the same cable then it must be safe/compatible, but I am just not willing to try for real.

The jack / receptacle on the scanner might look the same, but that doesn't mean it's "the same cable". They're not compatible (i.e. signals and levels on any given pin won't be the same).
 

UPMan

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Uniden became aware Monday that the same connector is being used, and we are currently investigating whether any damage (to scanner, PC, etc) could occur if the wrong cable is used with a scanner. Our initial finding is that plugging the GRE cable into a Uniden scanner does not cause any immediate damage, but testing is ongoing and we likely will not have a definitive answer until after the holiday break. We cannot guarantee that damage will not occur, in any case.

Until we make a final determination, users should take extra care not to mix up the cables. It is probably nothing (I'm sure GRE engineers would have taken this into consideration, they are a smart lot), but safety first.
 
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austinscan1

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user manual

How good is the supplied book?? Any chance of 1 of those improved (pro 97 style) books will be needed, or done? Thanks, Austin
 

jpunix

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How good is the supplied book?? Any chance of 1 of those improved (pro 97 style) books will be needed, or done? Thanks, Austin

The Pro-107 really doesn't need much of a book because it is so easy to use. All the freqs are in it already. You just select the area/service that you want to scan.
 

gmclam

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The Pro-107 really doesn't need much of a book because it is so easy to use. All the freqs are in it already. You just select the area/service that you want to scan.
I was in a Radio Shack on Black Friday and they had one of these scanners in stock. I was able to browse the database but unable to get it to scan. Considering that I am a Geek, and understand too much about these things, I gave the unit to my GF who also could not make it scan. So apparently it is not all that "easy to use". I'll have to browse the User Manual and give it another shot.
 

DonS

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I was in a Radio Shack on Black Friday and they had one of these scanners in stock. I was able to browse the database but unable to get it to scan. Considering that I am a Geek, and understand too much about these things, I gave the unit to my GF who also could not make it scan. So apparently it is not all that "easy to use". I'll have to browse the User Manual and give it another shot.

Do you remember what you did in trying to "make it scan"? It should be as simple as selecting items from the library, importing them into a playlist, enabling that playlist, then hitting the "play" button.
 

gmclam

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Do you remember what you did in trying to "make it scan"? It should be as simple as selecting items from the library, importing them into a playlist, enabling that playlist, then hitting the "play" button.
Oh sure I remember what I did. I didn't look to see what my GF tried doing. I should preface this by saying that I do not have an iPod, iPhone or ANYTHING "Apple". I do have an MP3 player and cell phone and lots of scanners.....

I pressed and held the button with the clock symbol to turn it on. I don't recall if the menu came up or I had to press MENU to get to it. But I recall trying to just press PLAY from power up and got a message that there was nothing selected to play.

In the menu I selected California, then Sacramento County. I remember being given a list of "types of agencies" (my words, not what the scanner used). I selected the trunked system. As I recall I had to use the -> arrow key each time I selected something. When I got into the trunked system it gave me every TG. I didn't see a way to select "ALL". If such a selection was at the end of the list, that's a horrible place for it as I would not wade through 100s of TGs to get to it. Attempting to press PLAY at this time led me nowhere. None of the other keys seemed to get me anywhere as well.

If this thing is to be easily run by any one without reading a manual, then the messages on the display need to prompt what action needs to be taken at EACH step of the process. The 4 arrow keys made sense, the MENU key takes you back to the beginning. There is no "select" key and PLAY didn't get me in to play apparently because I had not yet populated a play list. And the fact the scanner had nothing in its play list shows me no one else had gotten that far either (including the store employees).
 
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