Official Starrsoft WIN500 Software Thread

[smason]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm no programmer (ok I do some scripting for work, and about a million years ago I took a C class and wrote a basic control program for a Yaesu 757 but have done nothing since), so I have no idea what's easy/hard/impossible in whatever dev tools you use.

Those would be "nice to have" features, but like I said, I still think the program is awesome.

P.S. If you ever get close to beta with a Windows Mobile client, I'd be happy to do some testing for you.

 

[eyes00only]

Please help

I just tried to download Win500, but all was got was coded text. I'm using Vista, and it could be because I have Works instead of Word. Do I need to buy a Word program just to use Win500?

JK

 

[DonS]

I just tried to download Win500, but all was got was coded text. I'm using Vista, and it could be because I have Works instead of Word. Do I need to buy a Word program just to use Win500?

No.

Win500, along with its supporting files, are distributed as a ZIP file that should be handled by Vista with no problems. Try right-clicking on the link on the Win500 web page, then saving the file. Then browse to wherever you saved it, and extract the contents to a new, empty directory.

 

[eyes00only]

Don,

I tried right clicking on the 'Download' , and then saving, but I still get the Word Pad mess. I'll keep trying during football breaks.

JK

 

[IndyEmsGuy]

Don,

Would it be possible to make the monitor client have an option to automatically reconnect if it gets disconnected for some reason and to keep trying until it gets connected?

 

[DonS]

Would it be possible to make the monitor client have an option to automatically reconnect if it gets disconnected for some reason and to keep trying until it gets connected?

Done in version 1.09.

If the new checkbox is checked, it will retry at 5 second intervals if an established connection fails. The program will be "unresponsive" during each retry if the server is still not available, but with then be "responsive" again for 5 seconds. There's a "Reconnecting, please wait..." message followed by either "connected" or "failed". Between "please wait" and "failed" is where it won't respond to user input.

EDIT: personally, I use my TCPMux program as a "gateway" between the server and client. If the server goes down, TCPMux automatically retries forever. The connection between the client and TCPMux is never affected.

 

[Highpockets]

Don,

In the new version of win500, it says capture CC Dump data to console window, can you explain what is meant by that.

 

[DonS]

In the new version of win500, it says capture CC Dump data to console window, can you explain what is meant by that.

If you check that option, Win500 will create a new "console" window (looks like a "command prompt" window) when you click the "START" button. The window will contain any CCDump data received from the scanner, prefixed by a time stamp.

(The related option "to File" logs the same data to a new text file in the "Log directory").

 

[Highpockets]

If you check that option, Win500 will create a new "console" window (looks like a "command prompt" window) when you click the "START" button. The window will contain any CCDump data received from the scanner, prefixed by a time stamp.

(The related option "to File" logs the same data to a new text file in the "Log directory").

Thank you, works very well, put log file in the C:\Root Directory

 

[WayneH]

If you check that option, Win500 will create a new "console" window (looks like a "command prompt" window) when you click the "START" button. The window will contain any CCDump data received from the scanner, prefixed by a time stamp.

Awesome!

Maybe soon we'll have a channel activity window too?

 

[DonS]

Awesome!

Not so much "awesome" as "trivial" - as I mentioned in the release notes, the "filtering" was already there. Now I'm just doing something with the filtered-out data.

One thing I haven't yet mentioned is that Win500 will tell the scanner to send CCDump data when you click "START" if either of those new checkboxes are checked - you don't have to mess with the scanner.

Maybe soon we'll have a channel activity window too?

What kind of "channel activity" are you thinking of?

 

[WayneH]

Not so much "awesome" as "trivial"

I meant it will be awesome to have that way we don't have to describe to someone how to run a terminal program and save the data.

What kind of "channel activity" are you thinking of?

I was being facetious but something like what the old Uniden Trunktrackers had where it would show you that a channel was in use, maybe you could expand it to show TG and frequency. What would be nice is to permit the CCDump to be sent to a virtual comport which you could then set in UniTrunker or an applicable program since the comport is already in use by Win500. Anywho, just thinking out loud.

 

[DonS]

What would be nice is to permit the CCDump to be sent to a virtual comport which you could then set in UniTrunker or an applicable program

Yeah, I'd already thought about the virtual COM port. It's kind of a hassle... I'd have to write a driver (not trivial) or buy someone else's VCP drivers to include with Win500 (not cheap).

The cheapest/easiest option (for me, at least) would be to add another option "to COM port"... if the user had already purchased/installed a VCP package, and had COM port X's output looped into COM port Y's input (all virtual, of course), he could tell Win500 to echo the data to COM port X. A program like UniTrunker or PRO96COM could then "read" COM port Y.

 

[DonS]

Come to think of it, the easiest/cheapest (for everyone except Mike and Rick) option would be to have Win500 send the data to a UDP port on the local machine. PRO96COM and UniTrunker, if modified, could then read datagrams from a "well-known PSR-500 port" as if it was a COM port.

 

[lorin]

I am still wanting to know " Lew's " question. Can someone still answer these?

In Win500 General Settings -- if you check the following, what does it do and how does it affect the scanner?

1)"TUNE mode RSSI LED"

2) "Quck post-priority unmute"

In Winn500 Monitor/contol -- if you check the following, what does it do and how does it affect the scanner?

3) "Auto-create new TGRPS from wildcard hits"

4) "Auto-create new TGRPS from RadioIDs"

Thanks

Lorin

 

[DonS]

I am still wanting to know " Lew's " question. Can someone still answer these?

In Win500 General Settings -- if you check the following, what does it do and how does it affect the scanner?

1)"TUNE mode RSSI LED"

In TUNE mode, the tri-color LED changes color to indicate signal strength.

2) "Quck post-priority unmute"

When returning from a "priority" check in SCAN mode, one that interrupted a CONV object, unmute immediately after tuning back to that CONV object (rather than waiting for any CTCSS/DCS/NAC values).

In Winn500 Monitor/contol -- if you check the following, what does it do and how does it affect the scanner?

3) "Auto-create new TGRPS from wildcard hits"

When Win500 detects a "new" talkgroup ID from a "hit" on a wildcard TGRP object, it will create a new TGRP object for that talkgroup ID.

4) "Auto-create new TGRPS from RadioIDs"

When Win500 detects a "new" RadioID in a talkgroup call, it will create a new "Private" TGRP object for that RadioID.

EDIT: (3) and (4) don't directly affect the scanner. They only change the data in the current ".P500" file. The scanner is only affected if you upload the changed P500 file.

 

[lorin]

WOW! Thanks for the quick reply. Win500 is still the best damn software out there.

Thanks Don

Lorin

 

[emscapt9816]

Win500 V01.66, Win97 V01.17

More updates. Awesome. Don, do you ever sleep?

 

[eyes00only]

Newbie to Win500

Just got my new PSR500, kind of have the Denver EDACS working. Doing 24 freq. entries was tough, but I now have some idea of how the scanner works. Now for my first of many questions to come. I can't get Win500 to work. I get this message:
unable to open the port \\.\ COM9
2: COM9 does not exist.
What do I need to do to try Win500 before I pay for the long term commitment?

JK

 

[lorin]

In Win500, go to Configuration and then serial port. I had to start with comm port 1 ( Use the up arrow to change ) and I got comm 3 to work with my computer. Try them all until you get the one to work. Subcribe to this forum, then you can import your channels correctly by the feature in win 500. That process is file then web import. I tried to enter the channels manually and had some trouble. I then subcribed to RR and used the web import and it went smoothly. Thanks to hoser for helping me out.

I hope that helps?

Lorin