MARCS Site Download

[amcferrin90]

I noticed that on the MARCS information page https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=6643 that the primary and alternate control channels are colored and tagged. When I download the CSV sites list from the downloads page, the control channels aren't tagged. Is there a way to reorient the columns to list the control channels since the database has them tagged anyways?

Thanks.

 

[tvengr]

What scanner and programming software are you using?

 

[amcferrin90]

I use Sentinel with the SDS100. I'm using the download file as an external reference to an Excel spreadsheet.

 

[wa8pyr]

I noticed that on the MARCS information page https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=6643 that the primary and alternate control channels are colored and tagged. When I download the CSV sites list from the downloads page, the control channels aren't tagged. Is there a way to reorient the columns to list the control channels since the database has them tagged anyways?

I would say no, as it would require quite a bit of back-end reprogramming of the database/site.

Just copy and paste directly from the web page to an Excel spreadsheet. The formatting from the web page should be preserved and you can then arrange things to suit your personal preference. Once it's done the info doesn't change; you could export that to whatever software you're using.

 

[amys17]

I noticed that on the MARCS information page https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=6643 that the primary and alternate control channels are colored and tagged. When I download the CSV sites list from the downloads page, the control channels aren't tagged. Is there a way to reorient the columns to list the control channels since the database has them tagged anyways?

Thanks.

I have a CSV file that has the primary frequencies of all towers only, with the alternates of just the towers around me. I don't know if you want this if it would help you or not. But if you do email me at ahohenberger17@gmail.com. I created the file in November 2020 so there may be some updates, but it should work for pretty much everywhere.

I will look, i don't know that i have one with primary and alternate control channel frequencies both for all towers.

 

[wa8pyr]

I have a CSV file that has the primary frequencies of all towers only, with the alternates of just the towers around me. I don't know if you want this if it would help you or not. But if you do email me at ahohenberger17@gmail.com. I created the file in November 2020 so there may be some updates, but it should work for pretty much everywhere.

I will look, i don't know that i have one with primary and alternate control channel frequencies both for all towers.

Actually, there's a lot of frequency reuse on MARCS, so there are primary frequencies which are alternate frequencies elsewhere and vice-versa. You could probably re-work your file to include the whole list (primaries and alternates, minus duplicates) and be just fine; the list I use has a total 227 frequencies in it with no duplicates.

Only once did I have to edit for space (more control channels than the scanner would hold), so I just edited out the alternates of some sites in the middle of nowhere until I reached a quantity the scanner was happy with.

Update: With new sites having been added I redid the list; there are now 256 control channels and alternates, which includes all of the alternates to the alternates at simulcast sites; real radios only get the primary and secondary, not the alternates to the alternates. If I trim out the alternates to the alternates, it probably comes out more like 230.

 

[amys17]

Actually, there's a lot of frequency reuse on MARCS, so there are primary frequencies which are alternate frequencies elsewhere and vice-versa. You could probably re-work your file to include the whole list (primaries and alternates, minus duplicates) and be just fine; the list I use has a total 227 frequencies in it with no duplicates.

Only once did I have to edit for space (more control channels than the scanner would hold), so I just edited out the alternates of some sites in the middle of nowhere until I reached a quantity the scanner was happy with.

Update: With new sites having been added I redid the list; there are now 256 control channels and alternates, which includes all of the alternates to the alternates at simulcast sites; real radios only get the primary and secondary, not the alternates to the alternates. If I trim out the alternates to the alternates, it probably comes out more like 230.

I could pribably do that. I just never took the time. It was pretty quick for me to just remove everything except primary sites. I never took it any further than that. I was able to do it so it was not maxed out. So I never had a reason to trim it down. But maybe I will look at it cause I thought about updating my sheet

 

[amcferrin90]

I'm sure there's a way to set the ***.*****c to capture to one column, then build a list of cell contents with ***.*****a to other cells. I think I'll have an easier time setting the cell color based on a condition of the last digit then deleting by hand the other cells. An expression using MATCH, INDEX, RIGHT and LEN. Maybe a couple other tricks. Bet there's a way to parse a CSV file in Python too. It's almost midnight and my head says "don't try to figure it out now or you'll be up all night."

 

[wa8pyr]

I'm sure there's a way to set the ***.*****c to capture to one column, then build a list of cell contents with ***.*****a to other cells. I think I'll have an easier time setting the cell color based on a condition of the last digit then deleting by hand the other cells. An expression using MATCH, INDEX, RIGHT and LEN. Maybe a couple other tricks. Bet there's a way to parse a CSV file in Python too. It's almost midnight and my head says "don't try to figure it out now or you'll be up all night."

I do it the easy way with a one-time manual edit in Excel to delete all the chaff, then sort and remove all the dupes. Once the list is established all I have to do is enter new sites when they pop up from time to time. Takes a bit of time that way, but probably less time than figuring out all the formulas to get Excel to do it automatically.