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.

 

[DonS]

Don, I have made the skywarn frequencies in the conv obj list but my GRE600 does not have a sky button, my question is: How do I access it?

FUNC WX, as mentioned above.

 

[pappy1]

I read that but did not grasp it. Thanks for answering it again. Me being dunb again.

 

[DaveNF2G]

Global ATT setting?

I can't find a way to access the Attenuator Mode (Channel or Global) setting in Win500. Where is it?

 

[DonS]

I can't find a way to access the Attenuator Mode (Channel or Global) setting in Win500. Where is it?

The "Global" attenuation settings are not available externally to the scanner.

Within Win500, individual object (e.g. CONV, TSYS) attenuator settings are available within each object. For example, a CONV object's attenuator setting is in the "Att" column in the "CONV Objects" tab.

 

[DaveNF2G]

The "Global" attenuation settings are not available externally to the scanner.

Then how does Butel's ARC-500 do it?

 

[DonS]

Then how does Butel's ARC-500 do it?

It doesn't.

The "Atten Mode = Normal/Global" and "Global Atten = On/Off" settings come from the last power-off state (just like the "mode" - scan, manual, program, etc.), not from what comes over the PC/IF port.

 

[Xbullworker]

Where is the Help File

Just ordered a GRE 600 yesterday. I am demo-ing the 3 Software programs for the Radio. Arc500 has a nice manual. The other 2 don't have help files or manuals that I can find.

When I hit the help key in Win500 it says it cant find the win500help.chm file. It also says I can get the current help file from the Win500 website.

I went to the website and cant find any help files or manuals. WHERE is the manual or help file??

Thanks

 

[DonS]

Just ordered a GRE 600 yesterday. I am demo-ing the 3 Software programs for the Radio. Arc500 has a nice manual. The other 2 don't have help files or manuals that I can find.

When I hit the help key in Win500 it says it cant find the win500help.chm file. It also says I can get the current help file from the Win500 website.

Win500's "Help File" is not yet done, and is in the list of things to do (described under "Planned Features" on the Win500 web site)

 

[SCPD]

Just ordered a GRE 600 yesterday. I am demo-ing the 3 Software programs for the Radio. Arc500 has a nice manual. The other 2 don't have help files or manuals that I can find.

When I hit the help key in Win500 it says it cant find the win500help.chm file. It also says I can get the current help file from the Win500 website.

I went to the website and cant find any help files or manuals. WHERE is the manual or help file??

Thanks

The difference with Don Starr's software is you can ask any question about the program and Don will answer it fairly quickly. If you read every post in this thread, you will pick up a lot about the software. It may result in the answer to your question. Another bonus with Don's software is that he has listened to all the suggestions we have made about the program he wrote, and has modified it dozens of times in response to our comments. I've never experienced that level of service for any software, radio related or not.

 

[Xbullworker]

Help File

Yes I agree the forum here is very helpful. However for someone like me that is not familar with the program yet, the forum is not a subistitute for a good manual or help file.

I think the win500 program may be the program looking for. It does however have 2 competitors, one of which has a nice PDF manual.

Not having a manual or help file is ok if a program is freeware. However when I plan on spending $$$ for software, I do expect instructions on how to use all the features.

This is merely my view as a prospective customer of any software product...

Stan K9IUQ

 

[RKG]

The difference with Don Starr's software is you can ask any question about the program and Don will answer it fairly quickly. If you read every post in this thread, you will pick up a lot about the software. It may result in the answer to your question. Another bonus with Don's software is that he has listened to all the suggestions we have made about the program he wrote, and has modified it dozens of times in response to our comments. I've never experienced that level of service for any software, radio related or not.

I agree.

 

[SCPD]

Yes I agree the forum here is very helpful. However for someone like me that is not familar with the program yet, the forum is not a subistitute for a good manual or help file.

I think the win500 program may be the program looking for. It does however have 2 competitors, one of which has a nice PDF manual.

Not having a manual or help file is ok if a program is freeware. However when I plan on spending $$$ for software, I do expect instructions on how to use all the features.

This is merely my view as a prospective customer of any software product...

Stan K9IUQ

Your comments and perspective are absolutely valid. I had some real trouble getting past a few basic procedures when I first received the radio and started with the software. The first problem to overcome was how to adjust the font and grid size of the spreadsheets. The second was how to add rows in order to enter data. A good manual would walk you through such basic steps and eliminate the frustration that a person, such as myself who is a computer illiterate, experiences at startup.

I'm one who is very critical about the unbelievably poor instructions that Microsoft provides with its operating system. Microsoft could really care less about their neophyte customers. To me it is an indication of why monopolies result in poorer service for the average customer, but that is another subject full of differing opinions.

Now that I understand how to use the Starrsoft program I'm very happy with it. I've been using the combination of Don's software with GRE manufactured scanners since the PRO-92 came out. I'm able to move data around the various programs, which has saved me a number of hours I cannot estimate. I have a couple of Don's programs for radios I don't even own, but use for programming radios owned by people in my small town. It's worth being able to use the data for one program in another. Don has freeware for massaging the data for use in another program that is only limited by the design of some of the various GRE scanners.

I had a some bad experiences with some other scanner software and companies stonewalling me when I've had problems, to give me the perspective that Don's approach is like a breath of fresh air.

I think that once Don is allowed the time to write the instructions he will do so. I think we have kept him pretty busy answering questions and responding to our requests for modifications. The Win500 program has been revised 55 times and that must be time consuming.

 

[Xbullworker]

Fonts

Not surprised you had the problem with the fonts and data grid. I experienced the same problem. I use big fonts on my computer and some programs have to be adjusted for this. I finally figured out how to get Win500 to look decent and readable.. ARC500 worked fine with big fonts, no adjustment needed.

However PSREdit is a different story. This program appears to be unusable with big fonts, which is a shame because it looks like a good program.

The reason I use big fonts is i have a 22 inch wide screen monitor at 1600x1200 rez. Small fonts are un-readable at this rez for me. Because it is a LCD monitor a lower Rez would just look fuzzy.

Stan K9IUQ

 

[compubandit]

Don,

I updated to version V01.56 last night. Now the log history on the Monitor/Control tab doesn't seem to work. I have it set to both, redefined the file directory, and saved the settings but it's still a no go. Just after the update the area was grayed out. I turned on the logging and it remained the same until it finally gave me the option to update the file directory. After that I was able to clear the Auto Scroll option and any history although it doesn't log anything for these buttons to work with... Any ideas?

Never mind... I figured out that I had not downloaded the scanner to the updated software before starting the logging feature. Now it works fine. Thanks anyway!

 

[fmon]

Try max resolution at Normal font.

1680X1050 Normal font (96 DPI) has outstanding resolution and sizing on my 22" LCD. All three softwares work very well with this setting as does everything else.

 

[Xbullworker]

Fonts

>"1680X1050 Normal font (96 DPI) has outstanding resolution and sizing on my 22" LCD. All three softwares work very well with this setting as does everything else."

I use the same rez but HAVE to use big fonts. Small fonts at this rez are too hard for me to read.

PSREdit is useless with big fonts for this reason:

In the import edit window after getting freqs from RR the buttons at the bottom of the window are NOT useable. And there is NO way to get out of the window except going to task manager and dumping the program. This makes the program useless for anyone using big fonts at 1600x1050 rez.

WIN500 program is adjustable with the fonts and has no problem running with the big fonts. Arc500 needed no adjusting with the big fonts.

Stan K9IUQ

 

[Xbullworker]

Does "import " Work?

I have about 30 hamradio freqs I want to import from my ARC780 program.

I exported the files to a ".csv' file.

I have tried to import the file into Win500.
I use import, get the file location window.
Pick out the .csv file.
Hit open.
Win500 does nothing except go back to the main screen.
What am I doing wrong?

Stan K9IUQ

 

[DonS]

I have about 30 hamradio freqs I want to import from my ARC780 program.

I exported the files to a ".csv' file.

I have tried to import the file into Win500.
I use import, get the file location window.
Pick out the .csv file.
Hit open.
Win500 does nothing except go back to the main screen.
What am I doing wrong?

Stan K9IUQ

Win500 doesn't [yet] import CSV files. That's in the "Planned Features" section of the Win500 web page.

You should be able to copy/paste from external software into Win500. If you have Excel (or another "spreadsheet" program that can read CSV files), you can arrange/massage the data there, then copy/paste into Win500.

 

[Scan-Denver]

Win500 Remote Monitoring Client

Unable to get the monitoring/remote control client to connect with the win500 server. I'm using a home network using a comcast business class internet router. Yes I have forwarded the 8086 port and using the router's ip address but still no joy.

Don or anyone else, your assistance is greatly appreciated!!



Thanks,

 

[DonS]

Unable to get the monitoring/remote control client to connect with the win500 server. I'm using a home network using a comcast business class internet router. Yes I have forwarded the 8086 port and using the router's ip address but still no joy.

Don or anyone else, your assistance is greatly appreciated!!

Can you connect to my public server?
Addr: home.starrsoft.com
Port: 26755

If you can connect, then the problem is with either your Win500 server setup or your local networking environment (firewalls, NAT, etc.).