New Scanning Notes Web App: Survey

[NebraskaCoder]

What are you using the term "buckets' for?

Think of bucket like just that. You have a 5 gallon bucket and you put your SDS favorites inside of it. It can be conventional frequencies, trunk systems, etc... Then, you can have multiple buckets where those frequencies and systems you put in the first bucket are completely separate from another bucket. Another analogy is folders. I can separate these files into folders.

 

[NebraskaCoder]

Will your software include a virtual operation feature? I already use 2 progs for my scanners, Sentinel & RRDB to program and ProScan for virtual operations. If one could do it all I would be interested.

I will have to look into what virtual operations are. What would you use it for?

 

[TailGator911]

To view and control the radio on your PC monitor. That would be hard to beat, re ProScan. You pay a one time fee ($50) that gives you 8 (?) instances or copies. I have one copy each for SDS100, SDS200, BC536HP, and BCT15X on 2 different computers. Bob is very liberal with the license, no doubt familiar with the average scanner listener's home desk requirements. The only reason I don't use ProScan to program is simply that it's too much back and forth between 2 progs and I'd rather keep it simple. I am always interested in keeping up with new innovations within our hobby. More toys

 

[NebraskaCoder]

To view and control the radio on your PC monitor. That would be hard to beat, re ProScan. You pay a one time fee ($50) that gives you 8 (?) instances or copies. I have one copy each for SDS100, SDS200, BC536HP, and BCT15X on 2 different computers. Bob is very liberal with the license, no doubt familiar with the average scanner listener's home desk requirements. The only reason I don't use Sentinel to program is simply that it's too much back and forth between 2 progs and I'd rather keep it simple. I am always interested in keeping up with new innovations within our hobby. More toys

That would be something interesting I might dive into in a second phase. Except for the web interface, I plan to open source (and make available for free) the actual desktop clients, so I would say I this is possible in the future.

Another goal of mine was to let users keep their data and be able to import and export it at will. That is for both backup reasons and portability reasons, since I don't plan to hold anybody data hostage. Imagine being able to import data from ProScan into my software and export it to OP25 or whatever GRECOM is now a days. I use Unication, so I want to port data from there to my SDS100 easily. You could export data into Excel spreadsheets or a nice PDF.

I will have to piece together features over time but I plan to make a lot of it free and open source so others can dive into my code, improve, and use it in other programs. I've read the software control for scanners, so I'm pretty sure it will be a fun project for me.

Another exciting feature will be (at least to those that use OP25 for SDR) is making a config online with things explained having it launch from the command line using that config.

 

[NebraskaCoder]

I also wanted to point out that I will be working on mobile apps (Native Android and iOS) once the web service part is finished.

 

[TailGator911]

Sounds very cool. Let us know your progress!

 

[Scan125]

Just for your information while you are formulating your ideas and plans I would like to tell you what my Scan125 Control Program does with regards to logging.

I has 3 basic built in logging functions.

1) A notepad like function where hits can be manually recorded via a button or automatically stored. Also the user can make their own entries and notes: Scan125 Control Program User Manual

2) Manual and Auto storing of frequencies in a special data array which is in addition to the scanners channel banks: (same URL as above)

3) A separate "Frequency Log File": Scan125 Control Program User Manual

My users have found these "in one place" facilities of value. Also all the files are plain text / CSV so are readily usable by/in other software.

One user of mine uses EXCEL/spreadsheet program exclusively to manage his frequencies and his own notes. He has many 1000s, far more that the scanner can handle so in his spreadsheet he has many tabs with each tab being for specific frequencies/groups. From any tab he can select one, more or all entries and fire off a macro to built a data file that the scanner can then load. Others may be using some database programs like Access etc.

SO FOR YOUR PROGRAM you might like to consider "building model specific scanner data files" from your program. I think you may have already hinted at this but the devil will be in the detail. By that I mean that the user main operating and input fields and formats will require careful thought and scrupulous integrity checking because these data / fields will be gathered and turned into specific scanner model data files and a single character out of place, or too many will quickly break things. Same goes for frequency formats and ranges for each scanner.

I'm not into trunked scanners so no doubt there are potential issues there as well.

And while you are there another "gotcha" is language and locales. For example in Europe the "," is used as the decimal point.

Hope the above gives you some extra useful information for your program.

Nick

 

[NebraskaCoder]

Just for your information while you are formulating your ideas and plans I would like to tell you what my Scan125 Control Program does with regards to logging.

I has 3 basic built in logging functions.

1) A notepad like function where hits can be manually recorded via a button or automatically stored. Also the user can make their own entries and notes: Scan125 Control Program User Manual

2) Manual and Auto storing of frequencies in a special data array which is in addition to the scanners channel banks: (same URL as above)

3) A separate "Frequency Log File": Scan125 Control Program User Manual

My users have found these "in one place" facilities of value. Also all the files are plain text / CSV so are readily usable by/in other software.

One user of mine uses EXCEL/spreadsheet program exclusively to manage his frequencies and his own notes. He has many 1000s, far more that the scanner can handle so in his spreadsheet he has many tabs with each tab being for specific frequencies/groups. From any tab he can select one, more or all entries and fire off a macro to built a data file that the scanner can then load. Others may be using some database programs like Access etc.

SO FOR YOUR PROGRAM you might like to consider "building model specific scanner data files" from your program. I think you may have already hinted at this but the devil will be in the detail. By that I mean that the user main operating and input fields and formats will require careful thought and scrupulous integrity checking because these data / fields will be gathered and turned into specific scanner model data files and a single character out of place, or too many will quickly break things. Same goes for frequency formats and ranges for each scanner.

I'm not into trunked scanners so no doubt there are potential issues there as well.

And while you are there another "gotcha" is language and locales. For example in Europe the "," is used as the decimal point.

Hope the above gives you some extra useful information for your program.

Nick

Thank you! I will keep these pointers in mind as well. I plan to do some beta testing once I get a working version for each milestone in my app, so that will hopefully present many of the bugs.

 

[rgchristy]

I use Excel to manage my frequencies. The trick would be to be able to import the correct columns into each radio/scanner. It would probably mean the creation of multiple .csv files; one for each radio/scanner. One spreadsheet with multiple export/import options.

Just for your information while you are formulating your ideas and plans I would like to tell you what my Scan125 Control Program does with regards to logging.

I has 3 basic built in logging functions.

1) A notepad like function where hits can be manually recorded via a button or automatically stored. Also the user can make their own entries and notes: Scan125 Control Program User Manual

2) Manual and Auto storing of frequencies in a special data array which is in addition to the scanners channel banks: (same URL as above)

3) A separate "Frequency Log File": Scan125 Control Program User Manual

My users have found these "in one place" facilities of value. Also all the files are plain text / CSV so are readily usable by/in other software.

One user of mine uses EXCEL/spreadsheet program exclusively to manage his frequencies and his own notes. He has many 1000s, far more that the scanner can handle so in his spreadsheet he has many tabs with each tab being for specific frequencies/groups. From any tab he can select one, more or all entries and fire off a macro to built a data file that the scanner can then load. Others may be using some database programs like Access etc.

SO FOR YOUR PROGRAM you might like to consider "building model specific scanner data files" from your program. I think you may have already hinted at this but the devil will be in the detail. By that I mean that the user main operating and input fields and formats will require careful thought and scrupulous integrity checking because these data / fields will be gathered and turned into specific scanner model data files and a single character out of place, or too many will quickly break things. Same goes for frequency formats and ranges for each scanner.

I'm not into trunked scanners so no doubt there are potential issues there as well.

And while you are there another "gotcha" is language and locales. For example in Europe the "," is used as the decimal point.

Hope the above gives you some extra useful information for your program.

Nick

 

[NebraskaCoder]

I use Excel to manage my frequencies. The trick would be to be able to import the correct columns into each radio/scanner. It would probably mean the creation of multiple .csv files; one for each radio/scanner. One spreadsheet with multiple export/import options.

This is why I'm not rushing into designing it before enough people give their input for a week or two. I can freely change the layout I use for my web service until I deploy it. I still need to figure out what I plan to do for exporting to a format that people can take their "data" with them but the end goal is to not use exporting unless someone wants a copy of their data that I have stored. I plan to have applications that maybe start with interfacing with existing programming software, and long term goal is to make my own. It will sync with the cloud but have an offline copy on the computer AND mobile apps. The bulk data probably won't be in a CSV file but instead a database or database file on the local computer. CSV will be one of the many formats that I plan to allow exporting to. The exception to this is applications to prefer CSV as input such as OP25 or some of the scanner programming software.

 

[w2lie]

Here is how I have been doing this for years.

I keep a personal spreadsheet with every value I would need.
A category, Long Description, Frequency, Tone, Step Size, 16 character alpha tag, 11 character alpha tag, 6 character alpha tag, Locked out PL tone, DMA group, FCC Call Sign, the last modification to that row, the date it was added, and any additional comments. And you can't forget delay time, LED color, Record, Lockout, etc etc etc.

Then I use Access to take that master database and convert the output into a spreadsheet that I can copy / paste into the programming software I mostly use for that radio.

Example: Chip, BuTel, ProScan.

The Access file also has all the heading rows set to match and usually imports directly in. This works great for talk groups and also for conventional frequencies.

The file is also smart enough at this point to make sure narrow FM is NFM or FMN depending on the software.
For Baofeng radios, it will not export any frequency below 100MHz or above 520Mhz.

I've spent years working on this, and I've never come across another tool that works as well for me as Excel and Access. I tried to do something with Google Sheets, but there is no easy way to export out the data I need into the format that works well with radio programming.

If your new project could handle this, I'd love to give it an Alpha or Beta run!
And when you are ready to launch, please reach out to me because I'd love to have you on as a guest on my Podcast to spread the word on your new project.

 

[GlobalNorth]

Build it out. It may well be better than other products on the market.

 

[NebraskaCoder]

Here is how I have been doing this for years.

I keep a personal spreadsheet with every value I would need.
A category, Long Description, Frequency, Tone, Step Size, 16 character alpha tag, 11 character alpha tag, 6 character alpha tag, Locked out PL tone, DMA group, FCC Call Sign, the last modification to that row, the date it was added, and any additional comments. And you can't forget delay time, LED color, Record, Lockout, etc etc etc.

Then I use Access to take that master database and convert the output into a spreadsheet that I can copy / paste into the programming software I mostly use for that radio.

Example: Chip, BuTel, ProScan.

The Access file also has all the heading rows set to match and usually imports directly in. This works great for talk groups and also for conventional frequencies.

The file is also smart enough at this point to make sure narrow FM is NFM or FMN depending on the software.
For Baofeng radios, it will not export any frequency below 100MHz or above 520Mhz.

I've spent years working on this, and I've never come across another tool that works as well for me as Excel and Access. I tried to do something with Google Sheets, but there is no easy way to export out the data I need into the format that works well with radio programming.

If your new project could handle this, I'd love to give it an Alpha or Beta run!
And when you are ready to launch, please reach out to me because I'd love to have you on as a guest on my Podcast to spread the word on your new project.

Thank you. This gives me a lot of columns that I can use for data in my database. I'll reach out once I'm ready to alpha or test any features.

 

[Scan125]

A program I have not seen anywhere on the web which you could build into your app / web server is a Scanner Conversion function.

For Scan125 I have a companion program called Scan125Convert. (https://www.nick-bailey.co.uk/scan125convert/scan125convertmain.jpg). This allows a user to take *any* CSV file and create from that CSV file a data file that is compatible with Scan125. Scan125 itself can handle Butel ARC125 format files.

As you propose to address multiple scanners then you will already need to develop code to handle those specific scanner file formats. So it is just a little step further to take any supported scanner data file and directly create another scanner's data file. Now clearly your app already intends to store and manage "user data" and then export to their scanner/scanners so what I'm suggesting can/will be done as a two stage process. However some people who would prefer to use alternate methods to manage their data might appreciate a utility that will just process file A into file B.

 

[NebraskaCoder]

A program I have not seen anywhere on the web which you could build into your app / web server is a Scanner Conversion function.

For Scan125 I have a companion program called Scan125Convert. (https://www.nick-bailey.co.uk/scan125convert/scan125convertmain.jpg). This allows a user to take *any* CSV file and create from that CSV file a data file that is compatible with Scan125. Scan125 itself can handle Butel ARC125 format files.

As you propose to address multiple scanners then you will already need to develop code to handle those specific scanner file formats. So it is just a little step further to take any supported scanner data file and directly create another scanner's data file. Now clearly your app already intends to store and manage "user data" and then export to their scanner/scanners so what I'm suggesting can/will be done as a two stage process. However some people who would prefer to use alternate methods to manage their data might appreciate a utility that will just process file A into file B.

I agree. This will be a fun project and hopefully I learn a lot along the way. Will probably be a piecemeal project as well where I add much of the functionality feature by feature.

 

[Scan125]

Will probably be a piecemeal project as well where I add much of the functionality feature by feature.

Trust me I think it will have to be a piecemeal project but what is most important is that as many of the "future" ideas are taken into the consideration of the base design architecture otherwise adding future functionality could prove "tricky" with also the risk of breaking something.

 

[NebraskaCoder]

Trust me I think it will have to be a piecemeal project but what is most important is that as many of the "future" ideas are taken into the consideration of the base design architecture otherwise adding future functionality could prove "tricky" with also the risk of breaking something.

The exact reason why I'm giving this a week before REALLY starting to work on it. Get the ideas rolling.

 

[w2lie]

I agree with Scan125.
What is the MVP (Minimal Viable Product) that you can launch. Then go from there!
If you wait for the final and finished product before you publish, you may never publish your work.

Look at all the software out there, from your desktop to your phone. Software and operating systems will always add more features as upgrades along the way. Plus, it allows you to track bugs as you release instead of a massive list of bugs.