Official Starrsoft WIN500 Software Thread

[scan-pa]

Official Starrsoft WIN500 Software Thread.

This thread is to report & Discuss anything related to The WIN500 software.


Starrsoft WIN500 Software: http://starrsoft.com/ Version 1.07 is now Available **** updated on 11/27/2007

System Requirements
In order to run Win500, you'll need the following:

* A copy of the Win500 program
* A PSR-500 Scanner
* The blue GRE USB Scanner Programming cable that came with your PSR-500.
* A Windows (2000, XP, Vista) PC. Sorry - 95, 98, and Me are not supported.

 

[cgw58]

Feeds

Hello,

Is there any one out there have Win500 feeds online?

Thanks

 

[DonS]

How do i setup the favorites to work in remote client?

I'm not sure what you mean by that. To use the remote client to start scanning "Favorites", just click the FAV button in the remote client. Of course, the "Controllable" box must be checked in the Win500 server.

 

[cgw58]

Remote Client

Hi Don,

Is there a way to save Server Address and Server Port so i don't have to type it in all the time?

Thanks,
Cole

 

[TES]

Here's what I did with mine: I went to the folder where Win500Client.exe is an found a file called Remote Monitor Information.txt. Open that up and I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out.

 

[DonS]

Is there a way to save Server Address and Server Port so i don't have to type it in all the time?

In the directory/folder where Win500Client.exe resides, look for the file "Win500ClientFavs.txt". In it, you can put lines like:
Don (chain), localhost, 26755
* The first field is a "friendly name" that will show up in the client's "Favorites" drop-down list box
* The second field is the server name or IP address of the server ("Server Address")
* The third field is the port ("Server Port")

There's a default version of this file in the "Remote Client" ZIP file on the Win500 web page. The normal "Win500" ZIP file doesn't contain that file.

I've attached the default version to this message. It contains two entries. One is for the client to connect to a Win500 server running on the same machine, the other will connect to my public Win500 server.

 

[tbharper]

Don there is something wrong with ithe 30 day trial. it never quit working on my pc . it was still working the day i bought it thats was like 2 weeks later just thought i would let you know.

 

[SCPD]

Is there a way to insert more than one row at a time? I write a lot of files from scratch rather than importing data and it is cumbersome inserting rows one at a time.

 

[DonS]

Don there is something wrong with ithe 30 day trial. it never quit working on my pc . it was still working the day i bought it thats was like 2 weeks later just thought i would let you know.

The 30-day trial is actually 60 days. I set it to 60 during development ("alpha" and "beta" releases) then, after releasing 1.00, left it there. I was concerned that changing the period in the copy-protection software would invalidate any existing trials, including those that hadn't yet hit even 30 days.

 

[DonS]

Is there a way to insert more than one row at a time? I write a lot of files from scratch rather than importing data and it is cumbersome inserting rows one at a time.

If your hands are primarily on the keyboard (i.e. writing from scratch), would the existing "new item at end" keyboard shortcut (CTRL SHIFT N) work? It will create a new item in whatever grid you're using (except "all objects"), then will move the "focus" to the Object ID column in that new item, scrolling the grid down if necessary.

Another option would be to create your data in a separate text editor (e.g. Notepad), separating columns with TAB characters, then copy/paste multiple items. For example, if you had the following in Notepad:

Frequency 1	155.70000	FM	NAC	173
Frequency 2	156.21000	FM	Search
Frequency 3	154.25000	FM	CTCSS	162.2

you could select all 3 lines, copy to clipboard, then paste into the Win500 CONV grid.

 

[BrandonSi]

Hosting/Publishing scanner for remote listening

Don,

Thanks for all your hard work, I'm enjoying the software and plan on registering it shortly. I noticed that you have your scanner shared on starrsoft.com. I was wondering how I do that with my own domain? Are you hosting starrsoft.com yourself and actually plugging the scanner into the server, or is there some way to publish the scanner to a remote host? I was thinking that I could forward traffic from my domain into my LAN at home and to the PC that hosts the scanner, but I would much rather publish to the hosted domain than forward traffic to me. I apologize if this was covered already, I did do a search, and read about 10 pages back in the thread and didn't see the question asked.

Brandon

 

[DonS]

I noticed that you have your scanner shared on starrsoft.com. I was wondering how I do that with my own domain? Are you hosting starrsoft.com yourself and actually plugging the scanner into the server, or is there some way to publish the scanner to a remote host? I was thinking that I could forward traffic from my domain into my LAN at home and to the PC that hosts the scanner, but I would much rather publish to the hosted domain than forward traffic to me. I apologize if this was covered already, I did do a search, and read about 10 pages back in the thread and didn't see the question asked.

The main 'starrsoft.com' domain is hosted elsewhere and isn't handling any Win500 traffic.

However, the that domain's local DNS has a 'CNAME' record, redirecting 'home.starrsoft.com' to a public IP address at my home (this is why doing an nslookup on starrsoft.com and home.starrsoft.com yield two completely different public IP addresses). At home, my firewall is set up to redirect port 26755 requests to the PC that's running the Win500 app connected to my PSR-600.

So, when you try to connect to 'home.starrsoft.com:26755', something like the following happens:
1. your machine looks up starrsoft.com (using whatver DNS is configured on your machine and/or ISP) and gets an IP address for one of my hosting company's servers
2. your machine looks up home.starrsoft.com, using a DNS at my hosting company's server
3. the DNS in #2 sees a CNAME record and returns the corresponding IP address: one of my public IPs at my house
4. your machine tries to open a connection to <IP address>:26755, where <IP address> is at my house
5. my firewall sees port 26755 and, based on its configuration, forwards the connection to a particular PC on my LAN (one running an instance of my TCPMux app)
6. that TCPMux app has a connection to the PC that's actually running Win500
7. the TCPMux app accepts the incoming connection (if it hasn't yet hit the connection limit), and starts echoing all data it gets from Win500 to you

 

[RKG]

A Tip of the Hat

A bit of a philosophical observation, with a tip of the hat to you.

I am a radio consultant and tech. I’ve done a lot of work with Motorola systems, including trunked systems, and have necessarily devoted a substantial fraction of my life to the vagaries of Motorola programming software. The various packages range from more or less useful to downright dense.

I have not, until recently, had anything to do with “scanners” or, necessarily, software for programming them. A project, however, has led me to acquire your Win500.

What a pleasant surprise! On the one hand, your software appears to be carefully designed to be practically useful to the technician. On the other hand, you are not only open to suggestions for “improvement” but also blazingly fast to respond to them.

I’d love to suggest that you go to work for Motorola, but I suspect that would be a mean thing to do.

 

[BrandonSi]

The main 'starrsoft.com' domain is hosted elsewhere and isn't handling any Win500 traffic.

However, the that domain's local DNS has a 'CNAME' record, redirecting 'home.starrsoft.com' to a public IP address at my home (this is why doing an nslookup on starrsoft.com and home.starrsoft.com yield two completely different public IP addresses). At home, my firewall is set up to redirect port 26755 requests to the PC that's running the Win500 app connected to my PSR-600.

So, when you try to connect to 'home.starrsoft.com:26755', something like the following happens:
1. your machine looks up starrsoft.com (using whatver DNS is configured on your machine and/or ISP) and gets an IP address for one of my hosting company's servers
2. your machine looks up home.starrsoft.com, using a DNS at my hosting company's server
3. the DNS in #2 sees a CNAME record and returns the corresponding IP address: one of my public IPs at my house
4. your machine tries to open a connection to <IP address>:26755, where <IP address> is at my house
5. my firewall sees port 26755 and, based on its configuration, forwards the connection to a particular PC on my LAN (one running an instance of my TCPMux app)
6. that TCPMux app has a connection to the PC that's actually running Win500
7. the TCPMux app accepts the incoming connection (if it hasn't yet hit the connection limit), and starts echoing all data it gets from Win500 to you

Great, thanks! So to summarize, basically I just forward all dns requests to my domain to my public IP (router) which will then forward that port to the PC running Win500 (and tcpmux). Sound about right? Guess I'll have to pay a little extra for a static IP then.

 

[BOBRR]

Don: Search &quot;Problem&quot; ?

Hi Don,

Not sure if it's just the way I'm doing things, but you might want to take a look at the following:

I am in CONV
I do a search for a particular freq./Object, and it finds it, and highlights it.
Great.

But if I try to check another box to assign that freq to another scanlist it won't take it.

If I highlight the following freq. in the listing, and then go back to it, I can then
check a box, etc. ?

Is it just the way I'm doing it, or... ?

No big deal, but would be good if once a freq/Object is found via Search, you can work on it directly.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[DonS]

At present, you have to click on the "found" (highlighted) object in the grid before you can edit it. The controls at the right of the grid are "activated" by mouse clicks within the grid.

 

[BOBRR]

From OP

Hi Don,

Thanks for reply and info.

Great program.

Bob

 

[3mary2]

Sorry to bother you guys, but every time I try to download the new version of Windows500 program Mr. Starr came out with something goes wrong. I have repeatedly downloaded the program worked the new files and even changed the brightness of the LED colors downloaded to scanner, closed the program and then can not open it again. The Led colors is on the scanner tho. any suggestions?

 

[rkovalik]

Feature Enhancement &amp; Remote Client Issue

Hi everyone,

I have noticed when I import a large system, WIN500 doesnt pre-calculate duplicate frequencies. My post is referenced here

http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104574

Basically, When I select all the sites, WIN500 complains that it is over the 32 TSYS limit. This is with CC and Alternate selected. When you import and duplicates removed, I end up with 31 frequencies. So my request is if Win500 can predetermine the amount of frequencies to be imported ahead of time by eliminating duplicates and giving a tally. I like the way PSR500 does this.

2nd issue, I am getting no audio with the remote client.
I set up the server and can control the scanner no problem. I enabled the controllable and enabled feature. I can connect with the client on another laptop, see the data and is controllable but there is no audio.

This is in my lan with no firewall. I left the Audio Input device as default and tried selecting my sound card. In my sound card I ensured none of the sliders were muted.

I have not registered yet as I am evaluating that the functions work prior to paying.
Maybe audio does not work without a key????

Any suggestions?

 

[gusbuster1217]

When importing from R.R. Database

Don,
Maybe this has been brought up in an earlier question and response(don't want to read 33 pages) regarding this subject, but is there anyway to set as a default your country, and maybe state, so anytime you use the web import feature you don't have to select these every time you use it? It gets to be a real pain having to do this all the time.
Thanks.

 

[DonS]

Maybe this has been brought up in an earlier question and response(don't want to read 33 pages) regarding this subject, but is there anyway to set as a default your country, and maybe state, so anytime you use the web import feature you don't have to select these every time you use it? It gets to be a real pain having to do this all the time.

There are potential problems with this, depending on how the RR database is structured and if/when edits are made to it.

When Win500 "drills down" through the database hierarchy, it does so like this:
1. Request list of countries. RR returns a list of Name / Value pairs. The Name is what appears in Win500's drop-down list of countries; the Value is a "country ID" that is used in...
2. Request list of states for the selected "country ID". RR returns a list of Name / Value pairs. The Name appears in Win500's drop-down list of states; the Value is a "state ID" that is used in...
3. Request list of counties for the selected "state ID". RR returns a list of Name / Value pairs. The Name appears in Win500's drop-down list of counties; the Value is a "county ID".
etc.

To remember your last-selected country and/or state, Win500 would have to remember either the Name or Value data for your selections. Then, on a subsequent Web Import operation, Win500 would just grab the list of Counties for the stored State. Sounds easy.

But... if we store the Name field, we still have to request the data from RR (this could happen "in the background"), so that we can get the list and map the stored Name to a retrieved Value. What if someone edits the country or state Name? We'd never get a match.

If we store the Value field, there's no guarantee that the database will still have the same "Name" for that stored "Value". For example, California is currently state ID = 6; if that somehow changes, a stored "6" might end up retrieving Vermont. (Unless the country, state, and county IDs are "primary keys", which should never change - that's where the "how the RR database is structured" above comes in).

All that said, it shouldn't be too tedious to re-visit your desired country/state even without storing them. You can just hit the first letter (or two or three) of the country/state name then hit TAB. For example, if I wanted to see all the conventional data in San Joaquin County, California, I'd do this:
1. 'U' in country field, then TAB
2. 'C' in state field, then TAB
3. 'SAN<sp>J' in county field, then TAB