Polk County and ISICS and Sentinel

[drdeputy]

There may be another place to ask this, but I thought Iowa folks would know better about ISICS. First, I have not yet had the 'aha' moment, so struggling to understand programming the SDS200. When I attempt to add just one department under ISICS, it adds over 70 sites and over 30 departments. Is there a better way to get rid of the 90 plus things I don't need in the Favorites List than manually deleting them one by one? It just seems like I am not getting it very well.

 

[thatoneiowan]

Have you tried shift + click to select several sites at once to hit delete? I think that's what I did to get rid of extraneous sites. Although, I will mention, I have been able to pick up all sorts of traffic on various sites as far away as Donnellson and Cherokee, and I'm in Huxley.

Edited because apparently it's too difficult for me to read a topic title. Lol

 

[hiegtx]

There may be another place to ask this, but I thought Iowa folks would know better about ISICS. First, I have not yet had the 'aha' moment, so struggling to understand programming the SDS200. When I attempt to add just one department under ISICS, it adds over 70 sites and over 30 departments. Is there a better way to get rid of the 90 plus things I don't need in the Favorites List than manually deleting them one by one? It just seems like I am not getting it very well.

In Sentinel, the first time that you try to select only one or two departments and the appropriate sites of a large system, and then use the Append to Favorites list option, it will carry all of the system sites with your intended departments. There's no way around it in Sentinel. However, in ProScan, you can, instead, import only the departments and sites you want, either from the database in Sentinel, or through a web import if you are a Premium Subscriber. You show to be Premium, so you do have that option. (I don't have ARC536, so I'm not sure whether you can both of those in that software, or only a web import.)

Once you append the department(s) that you want, you can then select & delete the sites you do not want. In the main screen of Sentinel, you can select them (they'll be highlighted once selected), as thatoneiowan noted, by holding down the Shift key and selecting the first and last site (if they are consecutive. Then, either hit the delete key to delete, or <right><click> and select "Remove from Favorites list". If some of the sites are not contiguous, then hold down the <Control> key to pick & sites to delete. Again, once you have your items all selected, either use the Delete key, or Right Click and select "Remove from Favorites list". Either way you do this, you'll get a pop-up asking you to confirm you want to remove the ones you selected.

Or, you can choose to edit the Favorites list, and then delete whatever you need to by using the Editor. Note that in the appended system, the sites will be in alphabetical order. On the database page for the system, the sites are shown in site order. You can click either the Name column header, or the County column, to sort them on the database page. That's helpful since some of the sites may have names you are not familiar with.


Once you've cut down the sites to what you want, be sure and save the changes if you used the Favorites Editor.

Note that after I append a few departments, and cut out the extra sites, I can then go back to the database and select and append one or more additonal departments to the same system, If I'm appending to the same list, and as long as I have not edited the system's name, Sentinel will let me select and append individual departments or sites without dumping all of the sites again.

 

[drdeputy]

In Sentinel, the first time that you try to select only one or two departments and the appropriate sites of a large system, and then use the Append to Favorites list option, it will carry all of the system sites with your intended departments. There's no way around it in Sentinel. However, in ProScan, you can, instead, import only the departments and sites you want, either from the database in Sentinel, or through a web import if you are a Premium Subscriber. You show to be Premium, so you do have that option. (I don't have ARC536, so I'm not sure whether you can both of those in that software, or only a web import.)

Once you append the department(s) that you want, you can then select & delete the sites you do not want. In the main screen of Sentinel, you can select them (they'll be highlighted once selected), as thatoneiowan noted, by holding down the Shift key and selecting the first and last site (if they are consecutive. Then, either hit the delete key to delete, or <right><click> and select "Remove from Favorites list". If some of the sites are not contiguous, then hold down the <Control> key to pick & sites to delete. Again, once you have your items all selected, either use the Delete key, or Right Click and select "Remove from Favorites list". Either way you do this, you'll get a pop-up asking you to confirm you want to remove the ones you selected.

Or, you can choose to edit the Favorites list, and then delete whatever you need to by using the Editor. Note that in the appended system, the sites will be in alphabetical order. On the database page for the system, the sites are shown in site order. You can click either the Name column header, or the County column, to sort them on the database page. That's helpful since some of the sites may have names you are not familiar with.
View attachment 85520

Once you've cut down the sites to what you want, be sure and save the changes if you used the Favorites Editor.

Note that after I append a few departments, and cut out the extra sites, I can then go back to the database and select and append one or more additonal departments to the same system, If I'm appending to the same list, and as long as I have not edited the system's name, Sentinel will let me select and append individual departments or sites without dumping all of the sites again.

Thanks much! I’ll get going on this again tomorrow using your info. It’s is absolutely true that the names of the sites were largely unknown to me, even though I’ve been in Iowa almost 20 years! Sorting by county will help. I thought we were in for a tornado in Ankeny today. Hopefully tomorrow will be less exciting.

 

[drdeputy]

Have you tried shift + click to select several sites at once to hit delete? I think that's what I did to get rid of extraneous sites. Although, I will mention, I have been able to pick up all sorts of traffic on various sites as far away as Donnellson and Cherokee, and I'm in Huxley.

Edited because apparently it's too difficult for me to read a topic title. Lol

Thank you! As was mentioned in the next post after yours, most of the site names are unfamiliar, so I’m going to have to figure out where they are.... My problem with editing out in quantity was that I was in the wrong place. It seems you can only X out one at a time in Favorite List editor. But I’ve got that part now. I’ve known the technique for a few decades, but couldn’t get it to cooperate for me. I’ll get back at it tomorrow. I hope you dodged today’s weather up in Huxley. It got a little interesting here for a while this evening.

 

[hiegtx]

Thanks much! I’ll get going on this again tomorrow using your info. It’s is absolutely true that the names of the sites were largely unknown to me, even though I’ve been in Iowa almost 20 years! Sorting by county will help. I thought we were in for a tornado in Ankeny today. Hopefully tomorrow will be less exciting.

If all the sites were named by the closest city, it'd be easier to figure out which ones you need. But that's not the case.

Some, indeed, might be named for a city or county, but others are all over the place, named for maybe a specific geographic location, like "Black Mountain" or "Agnes Peak" (actual sites from a system in Nevada). Or maybe some local landmark, not well known outside of the immediate area. There's one on the TxWARN system (a large regional system here in Texas) named simply "Reed Road". Yeah, that really nails it down. When trimming sites after an append, I generally sort by the County, then look at the site list in Sentinel & start wading through those I don't need. I generally do the trimming in thr main Sentinel window. There, you can select a number of them, and delete at the same time.

 

[drdeputy]

If all the sites were named by the closest city, it'd be easier to figure out which ones you need. But that's not the case.

Some, indeed, might be named for a city or county, but others are all over the place, named for maybe a specific geographic location, like "Black Mountain" or "Agnes Peak" (actual sites from a system in Nevada). Or maybe some local landmark, not well known outside of the immediate area. There's one on the TxWARN system (a large regional system here in Texas) named simply "Reed Road". Yeah, that really nails it down. When trimming sites after an append, I generally sort by the County, then look at the site list in Sentinel & start wading through those I don't need. I generally do the trimming in thr main Sentinel window. There, you can select a number of them, and delete at the same time.

How true. I used to volunter for a few Sheriff's Departments and I would always laugh when they would send me on a call and for directions it could be something like "turn right where that tree burned down last year" or at "Slocum's Corner". Mmmm, yeah.

And yes, I should have been doing my trimming in the main menu.....got it now!

Thanks again....