Programming ALL of Safe-T into a 396XT

[mckeeb]

Anybody out there have ALL of indiana programmed? I hope to accomplish this and was seeing if anybody has done it, and how you have it set up. This is my first DMA scanner, but I love it! So far I've programmed by hand, waiting for a Windows machine to install FreeScan. Here is what I was thinking of doing:

System - Since the 396XT supports multiple sites, I figured only 1 system is needed.

Sites - Plan to add every site from the DB and assign it a SQK based on it's county. I know alot of county's have multiple sites, but having them all on while in that county doesn't seem like a bad thing. So for example Lawrence county (where I'm at), There are 2 sites. Bedford and Georgia. County number: 47 This way if traveling, I could just turn on and off counties as I entered them.

Groups - Here is where I'm not sure what to do. Being only allowed 20 groups, can't have a group for each county. Could do Police, Fire, EMS I guess.

Channels (TGIDS) - I've not counted ALL the talkgroups listed for the Safe-T system, but hopefully not more than 500.

That's the plan. Might be trying to put a lil too much into one system, but being a statewide system, that's how I see it. One system. Any other folks from around here care to share their setup I'd appreciate it. On top of Safe-T I know each county has it's own set convential's. Be hard to do a mutli-state setup it seems. But I'm still learning! Have a great day!

- Big Mac

 

[JStemann]

sounds interesting

I don't remember for sure, but i think there was over 1100 talkgroups on safeT. Maybe you could divide it up between north and south? Or even in quadrants, NE, SE, SW, NW? I have programmed a lot of safet for my 996t, but it's permanently mounted in my truck. I use the gps to turn everything on/off. For me, the hard part would be remembering what district i was going to/from.

The way i ended up doing my 996, i set up a system with the statewide common freqs(plan a/b, fire, ems, 800 interop, etc...) I can use that system throughout the state and don't have duplicate freqs in several counties. I still have individual unique freqs for each county, normally ones with pl tones. In my case, since i use the gps to open/close systems, i created several common systems with approx. 50 mile radius to turn on/off with the gps.

good luck on your project
jeff s.

 

[DaveIN]

I used FreeScan to do it for me, however Uniden alread had SAFE-T in the preprgrammed systems.

 

[mckeeb]

Thanks for the replies Jeff and Dave! I clicked the link to show ALL talkgroups under safe-t and copy/pasted the whole column into a text editer that then displayed the lines. I came up with 2160! That's alot of talkgroups. So I guess if you wanted every talkgroup programmed, you'd have to have at least 5 sytems. Good thing about the xt though, each system can hold all the sites. I'm still waiting on my windows machine (USPS estimated delivery of 04/10/09). Have to experiment in FreeScan and see what works. And dave, I checked the Safe-T that uniden has, and it only has 3 sites. Probably near Indy. Do you have every site and all the talkgroups on your scanner?

 

[aliby19]

Hello all,

I was wondering if any of you would be willing to provide your programming file for Indiana Safe-T? I will be doing a bit of traveling throughout indiana and would love to take a look at how you set it up (I'm using a BCD396XT and FreeScan).

JStemann I am specifically interested in yours as you have GPS information already enabled (I would be using a GPS with my XT as well).

Thanks,

-Noah

 

[JStemann]

996t and xt files compatible?

I should clarify a little. I have only done the gps programming for my 996t. I don't know if the program files would be compatible with the xt.

I have no problem sharing what I do have, though. just let me know if you still want the files.

jeff s.

 

[aliby19]

Jeff,

The 996t files should be compatible with the 396XT. And yes, I would love to take a look at what you've done/have a copy of your files if you don't mind. I've sent you a PM regarding this as well.

Thanks,

-Noah

I should clarify a little. I have only done the gps programming for my 996t. I don't know if the program files would be compatible with the xt.

I have no problem sharing what I do have, though. just let me know if you still want the files.

jeff s.

 

[whitesox4life]

Wirelessly posted (LGE-VX9100/1.0 UP.Browser/6.2.3.2 (GUI) MMP/2.0)

i am in the process of putting the entire state into freescan. Once i have that accomplished i will be more than happy to share the file.

 

[aliby19]

I would love to take a look at that when you are done. Are you including GPS coordinates as well?

-Noah

 

[JStemann]

sorry for the hold-up

I've been busy with other stuff and kind of forgot about this. Noah, i've sent you an e-mail with a few systems for safe-t. It would be so easy if I knew how to get all the systems from a profile into a single e-mail, especially if i could do it without having to select each individual system. Maybe I'll give outlook express a try.

Anyway, yes I have the gps coord's and ranges set for all the systems on the 996. shortly after getting the 996 and arc software I started programming. As of right now I have profiles covering se indiana to oklahoma city and another covering me down to west palm beach, florida. Along with the "local" area stuff. I cover all state and county systems along the way and except for a few mdt/data channels that I have to lockout along the way, I never touch the scanner. (maybe a bit OCD). I had to play around with what systems i could include in the different profiles, because I started running out of room, too many channels if i remember right.

Also, for doing the gps coordinates, I open up street & trips and turn on the location sensor, shows gps coord's of the mouse pointer in the corner of the screen.

jeff s.

 

[mckeeb]

Any updates?

I kind of forgot about this thread. I ended up only programming my surrounding counties. I did get some sites in, and kind of divided them by ISP districts. whitesox4life, did you ever get ALL of indiana into freescan? I'd be interested in seeing how you did it.

 

[whitesox4life]

i have been busy with fire department stuff and haven't really had alot of time to play with it. i will be continuing that project very soon. i will keep you all updated on my status daily.

 

[whitesox4life]

just an update for y'all...i have been working on FreeScan today and will continue to do so daily until I get the entire state on it...again, i will share the file upon completion...just please remain patient

 

[frankcastle]

just an update for y'all...i have been working on FreeScan today and will continue to do so daily until I get the entire state on it...again, i will share the file upon completion...just please remain patient

I would love to have a copy of the file too. Thanks for all your work!

 

[aliby19]

Hey whitesox4life, any updates on this?

Thanks!

 

[whitesox4life]

I had a major computer failure the other day and lost all info. I am going to start on this again very shortly.

 

[aliby19]

Sorry to hear about the computer problems. Hope they're fixed soon. Still looking forward to seeing your safe-t file.

 

[whitesox4life]

I won't be working on this as hard as I have been lately due to some personal and family issues. I will still continue to work on this here and there. I still plan on getting it completely done as soon as I can. I will still post the file so that everyone can see it. Just to clarify, this file will have not only SAFE-T but also all conventional as well as other trunking systems used by the various counties and cities.

 

[frankcastle]

I won't be working on this as hard as I have been lately due to some personal and family issues. I will still continue to work on this here and there. I still plan on getting it completely done as soon as I can. I will still post the file so that everyone can see it. Just to clarify, this file will have not only SAFE-T but also all conventional as well as other trunking systems used by the various counties and cities.

Thanks for all your hard work! I would love to take a look when you are done.

 

[aliby19]

All,

I'm still curious to see how everyone is setting up their Uniden scanners. What I've done so far is create a system for a county's Safe-T frequencies/channels as well as a system for conventional freqs. Inside each are separate groups (Fire, EMS, Police, Sheriff, State Police, etc).

Does anyone have any suggestions, best practices, examples, etc. of how they've programmed their Uniden scanner for Safe-T and conventional? I plan to use mine while mobile and before I start throwing everything I can find in it, I'd like to make sure I'm setting it up in the most logical manner.

Also, here's a Safe-T related question. Monroe County has 3 different Safe-T towers (Bloomington, Paynetown, and Hindustan). With my setup, I have only included the Bloomington tower and not the other two. Should I be including the other two towers in my scanner configuration? If so, should I be locking them out and just enabling them when needed?

I'm still getting the hang of programming my scanner. I do use FreeScan and import from the RadioReference database. Any thoughts or suggestions on the matter would be appreciated.