WS1080: No EZ Scan Database Updates?

[GTR8000]

This isn't a Whistler issue. The guys here at RR do the updates. They're actually for both Whistler and Bearcat radios.

Wow, this is a big change

What "big change"? It's been the same way for a number of years at this point.

RR database admins maintain the RR database, which is the backbone of the whole operation...the "master" database. Uniden and Whistler (previously GRE) pull from the RR database once a week, and repackage the raw data for use with their own software. The two companies are responsible for their own weekly updates, it has nothing to do with anything on RR's end.

 

[GTR8000]

You guys are joking, right? The updates rarely change anything... I don't think a single freq, talkgroup, tag, system or anything has changed on my db (aka the stuff I use, which is about 8k freq's/talkgroups) in 2 years. 2 "weekly" updates missed, I'm sure we are not missing anything!

There have been dozens of updates in Nassau and Suffolk counties over the past two years, including some noteworthy changes to the Suffolk County trunked systems as they start migrating over to P25. Perhaps nothing you are interested in listening to has changed, but to state that "the updates rarely change anything" is misleading.

 

[fxdscon]

Wow, this is a big change

Here is a post from DonS (Starrsoft - Win500 software) explaining the database update process (back when the scanners were GRE) from 9 years ago when the database scanners were first becoming available .

Uniden's New Product Called Home Patrol

Why would I say you were wrong when all wanted was answers? Just open your mind a bit. Trust me a have gotten a few email and PM's from folks reading this thread telling me that they agree with me. It's not all about pissing up a rope!

forums.radioreference.com

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[buddrousa]

Just as a reader here it is easy to say over 100 updates a week in the US

 

[iMONITOR]

Is it possible Whistler isn't meeting contractual agreements (payments) with Radio Reference? Considering Whistler owners do not have to be paid members of RR to obtain their updates, I would think Whistler has to pay for them. Anyone at liberty to say?

 

[buddrousa]

That was my 1st thought

 

[jdolina]

Don't think anyone wants to say anything officially. I sent an email to support asking about no updates for a month and if we could expect more or they were done providing them. I received a horrible canned response back that did not answer my question. Disappointing from a customer service perspective.

"When you run the update check in the software, if they all say current, then they are all current."

Well we know they are not current!

Updates come from Dreamhost maybe they didn't pay that bill or as other posts have alluded they 'borrowed' that hosting process to provide updates and cant figure it out on their own.

The whole technology piece of scanning is very disappointing especially since it is a required piece at this point. Neither major player has any semblance of what it is to provide software or information technology support. They don't monitor and alert someone when the processes fail. It is like they run this stuff from a closet or under a desk. Look at how long some sites were down when someone moved offices. In this day and age you would think they would have active-active recovery and monitoring of systems. I would bet they have no disaster recovery plan and would be down for who know how long if something happened.

 

[radio3353]

Well, look at Uniden. One man becomes seriously ill and all firmware updates stop. Talk about lack of disaster recovery and backup for continuation of support. We do have a Uniden support representative on the Uniden forum, but they seem to just be a message handler as opposed to a technology expert.

 

[buddrousa]

Yes Paul has been and still is sick but we still get database updates also before the NXDN and DMR updates we did not get many firmware updates for the x36's.

 

[kruser]

Well, look at Uniden. One man becomes seriously ill and all firmware updates stop. Talk about lack of disaster recovery and backup for continuation of support. We do have a Uniden support representative on the Uniden forum, but they seem to just be a message handler as opposed to a technology expert.

I liked the first 40 years or so of my radio hobby and scanning life, there were no firmware updates as they did not exist. Nobody complained and everything worked just fine.

 

[radio3353]

I liked the first 40 years or so of my radio hobby and scanning life, there were no firmware updates as they did not exist. Nobody complained and everything worked just fine.

True that! All we had to do was buy crystals and listen.

 

[radio3353]

Yes Paul has been and still is sick but we still get database updates also before the NXDN and DMR updates we did not get many firmware updates for the x36's.

I think the database updates must be handled by another group of techs because as you say those updates are still active (thankfully.) But, it is a shame that firmware updates for two new products stopped because Paul is ill. That does not speak well for Uniden's business continuity. They need a better backup plan.

 

[JustLou]

HI guys -
Sorry for the delayed response. It has been a bit busy around here because of the holidays.
I apologize for any inconvenience. We have been working on a new (updated) way to provide these updates and apparently it inadvertently caused us to not process the last couple of updates. Please be patient with us as we flush out the issue and get them back up and running.

Happy Scanning!
WW

Didn't this answer the question quite clearly?

 

[GTR8000]

I think the database updates must be handled by another group of techs because as you say those updates are still active (thankfully.)

The Uniden updates are automated. It's not that complicated to setup a batch job to run weekly to pull from the RRDB and format it for use in Sentinel the next morning.

 

[kruser]

Didn't this answer the question quite clearly?

Nope, it sounds suspiciously more like their TRX-100 and 200 vaporware announcement did.

I do hope I'm wrong, I really do. As an owner of both GRE and Whistler SD or DB driven models, it would be bad if the ease of downloading periodic DB updates was removed.
Especially for those that are not or do not wish to become paid or premium members here.

If they do drop the RR update feature as it is now, it would really be nice of them to release the code so 3rd parties could write software that works much like Freescan, Butel or ProScan (examples of a few) for programming the respective Uniden DB driven models. That may depend on if Don Starr still holds the rights for the current method though.

Again, I hope I'm totally wrong here but something just smells awful fishy about the whole thing.

I mean, what company in their right mind would halt their update process just before XMAS so all those new owners will not be able to get the latest DB updates tomorrow when they hookup their new toys. I guess at least they can still get the Nov update and be fairly current.

 

[jdolina]

Didn't this answer the question quite clearly?

It should not take weeks to 'flush' out the issues maybe a day, two at most.......

 

[buddrousa]

Do not forget all the Scanner and Hardware fire sales that never have been done before.

 

[CycleSycho]

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'Jaws theme' …

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[ProScan]

This situation is so strange. Everyone knows to keep the old or existing system online until the new system has been cutover and tested. If an outage after the cutover then revert back to the old system.

 

[Machria]

There have been dozens of updates in Nassau and Suffolk counties over the past two years, including some noteworthy changes to the Suffolk County trunked systems as they start migrating over to P25. Perhaps nothing you are interested in listening to has changed, but to state that "the updates rarely change anything" is misleading.

I didn't mean to imply "you database administrators" are not working hard keeping things up to date, or that "NO CHANGES" have been made. You folks are doing a fine job, as a semi-retired software engineer and director of IT for 25 years, I'm aware it's tedious to keep up to date. Having said that, statring there have been "dozens of changes to Nassau and suffolk over 2 years" just confirms what I was trying to point out. Nas. and Suff. are both large counties geographically AND in population, and few people (save for those living in the middle of the two counties) will be interested in both. I'm interested in Suffolk only, so we can cut your # of updates in half, that would make 6 or 12 updates over a 2 year period? Ok, that's maybe 1 update a month for the county. I'd guess this is fairly common for the rest of the country less a few places that are in the middle of changing their entire system rapidly. So missing a few weeks of updates seems to be nothing, maybe you missed one freq. / talkgroup change at worst? So the reality is, the sky is not falling, thats the point I was making, which is a perfectly valid point.

Just as a reader here it is easy to say over 100 updates a week in the US

Same here. "100 updates in the US", well, google tells me there are 3007 counties in the US. That means the chances are, NOTHING has changed in the county near you!

Is it possible Whistler isn't meeting contractual agreements (payments) with Radio Reference? Considering Whistler owners do not have to be paid members of RR to obtain their updates, I would think Whistler has to pay for them. Anyone at liberty to say?

Oh oh! Here come the lawyers to really put them out of business, of they weren't already!

Didn't this answer the question quite clearly?

Yep, it sure did.

OR, maybe Whistler is in the middle of buying Uniden??? Should we start a new thread for the purchase details?