New UniTrunker release

[SCPD]

Why is my EDACS in Limbo?

What's up with EDACS? What's the "Limbo" thing? Read on ...

EDACS error... Import the data from RR and I've got groups and my frequencies filled in. Exit the software, start back up - and it ignores the existing system and starts tracking a new system (labeled "Limbo") and I have to repeat the process.

The "Limbo" EDACS problem occurs for me as well, exactly the way rdale described it.

When ever the signal is lost or i close UT and reopen it it saves all my setting and such, but when i go to enble RUN it willnot load my edacs system. It will always find the same system and make a new system entry called Limbo. Even when i delete it a new one pops up. It wont reopen the one i have all the TG's saved in.

See the pattern?

Here's the explanation:

The monitored system is in "Limbo" because the EDACS control channel does not provide system identity - only site identity. You can't tell if a site belongs to a previously logged system. On the calls tab, the program will indicate "Frequency needed!". Fill in the frequency for the control channel and your "Limbo" site should go away. This is a manual process each time you start a new decoding session.

 

[Cappyton]

Will you have some way to make it an automatic thing? Or will it always be manual?

 

[SCPD]

Knowing the signal's frequency is an effective way to distinguish different systems that use the same site number.

If the "Signal" radio is a manual-only radio that provides no computer interface - the program has to ask the user. There's no safe way to make this inference. In the future - with a receiver configured as providing Both signal and control; I should be able to query the receiver for the currently tuned frequency and resolve the correct EDACS site.

The alternative is to follow the method employed by the previous generation of Unitrunker - which will result in data corruption as soon as you encounter a second system with overlapping site numbers. In large metro areas - this is common.

I know - it's an extra pain - but it's the only way I've found to keep the data clean.

 

[SCPD]

Is there a way i can lock out certain targets?

I don't know what this means.

Exiting and reloading, somehow, I only have two of my 50+ systems listed in "Systems". The XML files are still in the "Universal Trunker" folder, but the archive is only ~4500 bytes. Can't seem to bring the individual XML files back to the DB/archive. I thought maybe it would auto-load the XML when/if the signal was received for a given system, but that proved not to be the case as it created new entries in the archive for the system.

This may be an XML "special char" problem where some character that has special meaning in XML syntax appears in some of your data. The confused XML parser gives up midway through the data. The XML generator is supposed to "escape" these characters in user data. Compare the large 3 Mb file to the smaller one. You may be able to identify the offending characters.

Is there a way to quick-save everything - is that what the save icon in the archive page is for?

Yes. You are correct, sir!

the program crashes as soon as you click on the receiver box or any other box except the model.

I have a theory on this but nothing that I can confirm just yet.

I just figured out my problem and it may be a help to others. My settings were the exact same as the older version and running side by side the new program would not work. I found that when I extracted the zipped file all the folders and files were set to "read only" I removed the settings in the properties menu and now everything works.

I have no idea why that would prevent the program from running. It would prevent the program from saving data.

I tried changing the font color but it will not let me. I want to set the background to black and the font to white. I changed the actual font but it wont change the color, as soo as i click on white then close it it goes back to black.

Don't use the "Font" settings to change the color. Look for "Data Fore" and "Data Back" to change the text foreground and background colors for the data areas of the screen.

Is there a way to show the TAG in the Site window. Right now under 'Audience' I see the "label" field but I cant seem to see the option to view the "TAG" field.

For the "Calls" tab, this isn't an option (but makes for a good suggestion).

How are the colors assigned upon an import and is there a way to change the colors or 'key words' that are being searched for?

No - the colors come from your imported data.

I was able to figure this out. From the Unitrunker Window, click on the systems tab and click (select) the system in question. Click on the 'A' icon at the top of the window. Using the tabs at te bottom of the new window you can pick the key words and colors.

The program uses those "color words" to add text colors during an RR DB download.

I just downloaded, but I get a program error (unexpected error and program must shut down) when I try to import my old Unitrunker files

This fits the import problem Jay911 described yesterday. Do you have any unusually named unitrunker data files in your import directory?

It also crashes after I download the system from RR and when I try to manually enter a channel in the same EDACS system. I am running XP Home SP3.

Tom - can you provide some details such as where and how you're entering a channel?

 

[Lakotawolf]

Lockout certain groups so they wont show.

 

[Mattsenft]

The read only problem didn't keep the program from running, just decoding. I'm guessing it wasn't really making the configuration changes as you set up your receiver.

 

[Jay911]

This may be an XML "special char" problem where some character that has special meaning in XML syntax appears in some of your data. The confused XML parser gives up midway through the data. The XML generator is supposed to "escape" these characters in user data. Compare the large 3 Mb file to the smaller one. You may be able to identify the offending characters.

I found that the new UT is choking on any of the <notes> lines found in the XML file. I can send you the original (prior to trimming out the notes lines) if you like.

Other thing I forgot to mention: I can't get the program to "take" the change of display for Motorola systems from Decimal to Motorola. Every time I restart the program, it resets to "Decimal".

 

[nd5y]

Tom - can you provide some details such as where and how you're entering a channel?

I wanted to enter the voice channels, because this particular site has low amount of traffic and it hasn't received anything but the control channel yet.

1 . Open the EDACS narrow system that was saved previously.
2. Go to Sites tab.
3. Double click on a site. Site window appears.
4. Click on Channels tab
5. Click + to add new blank channel. New channel LCN 0 appears.
6. Doube click on channel LCN 0. Channel window appears.
7. Try to change LCN to 1 or 2 (the control channel is LCN 3)

 

[nd5y]

It looks like it only crashes if you try to change the LCN before you enter the frequency

 

[SCPD]

I wanted to enter the voice channels, because this particular site has low amount of traffic and it hasn't received anything but the control channel yet.

1 . Open the EDACS narrow system that was saved previously.
2. Go to Sites tab.
3. Double click on a site. Site window appears.
4. Click on Channels tab
5. Click + to add new blank channel. New channel LCN 0 appears.
6. Doube click on channel LCN 0. Channel window appears.
7. Try to change LCN to 1 or 2 (the control channel is LCN 3)

I have been attempting to do the same with MPT systems. Using the exact same steps as Tom is with Edacs, gets the same result with trying to enter voice channels for MPT (crashes).

 

[SCPD]

I found that the new UT is choking on any of the <notes> lines found in the XML file. I can send you the original (prior to trimming out the notes lines) if you like.

Please send to unitrunker@radioreference.com ... thank you!

Other thing I forgot to mention: I can't get the program to "take" the change of display for Motorola systems from Decimal to Motorola. Every time I restart the program, it resets to "Decimal".

Should be easy to fix.

7. Try to change LCN to 1 or 2 (the control channel is LCN 3)

Yep. I'll see what I can do to clean this up. If you don't edit the LCN - you should be okay (not very helpful in this situation of course).
On systems with some call activity - you can wait for the channels to appear over time.

Lockout certain groups so they won't show.

There's no provision to hide information. You could set the text color to something close to the background color to allow the other groups to stand out more.

The read only problem didn't keep the program from running, just decoding. I'm guessing it wasn't really making the configuration changes as you set up your receiver.

Weirdness. I'll have to try this out myself.

 

[Lakotawolf]

Thanks Unitrunker. I`ll try to route. Just to let you monitoring my counties MOT 2 Hybrid the program is working perfect.

 

[FlashSWT]

Congrats on getting it out the door, I'm really looking forward to monitoring multiple tower sites at the same time. In the mean time it seems to be running on my Celeron 398 MHz w/ 192 MB of RAM just fine (WinXP).

However my top priority is getting the color scheme back to the same as the old version. I see where I can change the background and the users/groups easily. However I can't see a way to change the color of the frequencies so they don't disappear into a black background.

On the old version the default group/user color was black however displayed as bright green. Is the easiest way to get these back to bright green to edit the user/groups file with a find and replace before importing into 1.0?

Another minor issue, things that were previously "green" are now a neon green and my "bright blues" are now a weird pale blue. The old "blues" are now the brightest blue in the default color picker!

I absolutely love how I can just double-click on a group or user and type in a label, this will save me lots of time on my quest to ID every user.

A few suggestions in case they aren't already on your list:

An "are you sure you want to quit" warning when clicking the X on the main Universal Trunker window. I've closed it on accident several times quitting the whole program.

After closing the active Site window I couldn't find a way to reopen it without quitting the program. My receiver setup showed it still had a signal, but I couldn't get the Site window open, maybe it is simple and I overlooked it.

The ability to add spaces between the columns on the Calls window. On the old version the Source ID justified to the left however on 1.0 it justifies to the right making it butt right up against the text label. I'd love to be able to have a little space in there. Justifying left would fix it in all those ID boxes.

I also think having a button on the toolbar of a Site window that would open it's corresponding System window would be great.

How about "running" and "stopped" toolbar buttons so you can simply highlight a receiver setup and start or stop it without opening it's details?

Thanks again for all your hard work!

.

 

[SCPD]

On the old version the default group/user color was black however displayed as bright green. Is the easiest way to get these back to bright green to edit the user/groups file with a find and replace before importing into 1.0?

Import ... sort by color ... multi-select the groups you want set to green. Click the spy-glass. Edit the color - all will be updated at once.

An "are you sure you want to quit" warning when clicking the X on the main Universal Trunker window. I've closed it on accident several times quitting the whole program.

Good idea.

After closing the active Site window I couldn't find a way to reopen it without quitting the program. My receiver setup showed it still had a signal, but I couldn't get the Site window open, maybe it is simple and I overlooked it.

From the main window, select the Systems tab. Locate the system, double click. Select the "Sites" tab. Locate the active site. Double-click and you're there.

I also think having a button on the toolbar of a Site window that would open it's corresponding System window would be great.

Click the "home" icon on the toolbar of the Site window.

How about "running" and "stopped" toolbar buttons so you can simply highlight a receiver setup and start or stop it without opening it's details?

Another vote for this. Noted.

 

[DaveNF2G]

I've gotten as far as getting the program to decode a control channel. Looks good so far.

Now for the problems.

Importing crashes the program to the desktop.

- I've tried importing from the original UniTrunker beta directory. CRASH.
- I copied all of the HZ etc. files to c:\Universal Trunker and tried importing from there. CRASH.

This happens whether a system is currently being decoded (and the tooltip says "Import files for this system") or no system is currently being decoded.

Running under Windows XP Pro SP2.

 

[rdale]

I do have the EDACS working using the control channel technique. It clearly appears to be picking up the system since it instantly gets all the other LCN frequencies, but it doesn't have any of the group / radio info that had been previously downloaded. I have to download every time.

 

[rdale]

Changed EDACS to display in Fleet format... It also changed the tower number to fleet format, and changed all the radio ID's as well -- not just the talkgroup.

Also it did not save that setting, and still can't get the groups to stay after I shut down. But I do see them in the .xml file in the main directory.

 

[LordJ]

WOW! Great job on this...No problems getting it up and running at all (WinXp SP2) I had just started with the old version not too long ago, and still hadn't figured out all the labelling and stuff. This new version makes it 1000 times easier. Thanks for doing this...This brings even more enjoyment to an already enjoyable hobby!!

 

[WG8E]

Import ... sort by color ... multi-select the groups you want set to green. Click the spy-glass. Edit the color - all will be updated at once.

Whilst trying this, it ends in a fatal crash every time.
However it only occurs when sorting by color. If I multiple select users from the base window (unmolested...) then I am able to change the attributes with no crash.

Running on WinXP SP3

And thanks for all of your work on this - it is greatly appreciated and an extremely useful tool!

--DTS

 

[Stick0413]

Rick,

I haven't seen anything on here after quickly skimming through. Do you have any idea on what is causing the problems in Vista? If so do you have an idea on an approximate time for a fix?

Thanks for your hard work!