Occasionally, I see sites like this one, where multiple control channels are designated as primary ([add]: I heard 851.6500 as the current CC). Do I submit the correct configuration if I know it (i.e., which one is actually primary) or are these supposed to indicate the now-seemingly-rare systems that rotate CCs routinely? Apologies if this has been asked and answered (especially if asked by me), but I can't find it.
Multiple primary CC designations
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Now that you have confirmed which one is the primary channel, please submit the information to update the page. The others can be designated as alternates.
Thanks!
Thanks!
I heard from a RadioReference staff member a year or so ago that the "Alternate" control channel designation in the RRDB was being phased out, and all control channels would ultimately be designated as "primary" (or just "control channel"). They did indicate at the time, that it would be a gradual change, and that they would not en masse change existing sites that have alternate designations. It also eliminates the need to update the RRDB when the control channel does change for whatever reason, rendering the "primary" designated control channel invalid.
The idea of knowing which frequencies are designated as alternates is good if you are a TRS Administrator, but for those of us in the listening world, we could care less, since we load all the reported control channels into the scanner, letting it lock on to whichever is active.
The idea of knowing which frequencies are designated as alternates is good if you are a TRS Administrator, but for those of us in the listening world, we could care less, since we load all the reported control channels into the scanner, letting it lock on to whichever is active.
There are other use cases than just listening/programming a scanner, for which it is helpful to know which CC is likely to be the one being used. The vast majority of the couple hundred sites I've monitored have stable control channels, so I wouldn't think it would be a huge part of the maintenance workload.
Users need to watch for Harris systems where all channels can and do become control channels.
Following up on my previous comments, it has now been "officially" confirmed that the alternate control channel designation will be going away...
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RRDB 2.0 Beta Release Thread
I'm seeing the same thing, rather than listing the control and alts everything is listed as control channels. Is there a reason for this change @blantonl ? Based on questions I've seen in the forums, my guess would be that the alternate designation is being eliminated. Apparently too many...
And what if the frequency they are hearing as the control channel today is actually the alternate only being used for a short period of time, should they then submit another request and have it changed back, until the next time? Thus one of several reasons all cc capable freqs are being listed as primary.
More or less correct, but a system administrator would know without checking RR which frequencies are primary, or at least would have the official list close at hand.
In reality, there's a difference between Primary/Alternate versus "currently active." The primary control channel is always the primary, and that doesn't change simply because one of the alternates happens to be active at any given moment. So, asking the administrators to change the database is really an exercise in futility.
In the long run, having control channels listed as primary/alternate really doesn't change things, and doing away with the "need" to change them will relieve the administrators of a task that does not need to be done. Scanner users still need to program them all in order to make sure they don't miss anything.
I'd rather have the info than not, but don't feel strongly about it if it's too much hassle for the DBAs. Personally, I always tried to submit a change if I saw that a new CC was being used more than a couple of times spread over at least a week.
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