SC_DAve said:
I'm not sure I understand how you are actually recording MacombMonitor. What type program are you using? If you don't mind explain just a bit. Thanks, David
One BC796D hooked up to COM1 serial port.
One BC796D hooked up to COM2 serial port.
Both radios being controlled by Butel's excellent ARC250 software.
Then from one of the BC796D's, I have a audio patch cord connected from the speaker jack, to the MIC input of the sound card on the PC. The I connected an external speaker to the output of the sound card. The audio recording could probably be done with both radios, but I haven't tried it yet.
When ever the scanner stops on an active signal, Butel's ARC250 software activates Windows recorder software, and records the audio. When the active signal stops, the software saves the file to the hard drive, named similar to this:
audio_416.3000_7-5_2005_4-06-20PM_to_04-06-21PM.wav
This tells me the frequency, date, time, and duration, of the signal received. Then using Window Media Player, you can play these back and listen. You can also listen in real time. Using Windows File Manager, you can sort on the file name, to group comon frequencies, to determine how active they are, and during what time of the day. Or, you can sort by file size, to find comms that were maybe more involved than just a quick acknowledgement.
The BC796D, (and some other Unidens) also have a special recording output jack, that allows you to selectively tag only the channels you wish to record, and bypass the ones you don't. I read where this causes a very slight slow-down in scanning speed. I haven't tried it yet, but plan to in the near future.
If you don't have ARC250, or even a computer controlled scanner for that matter, no worry. Just connect the audio output of your scanner to your computer, and run a free application such as:
Scanner Recorder:
http://www.davee.com/scanrec/
or...
Xcorder:
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/1068442936/1
There are several others out there as well.
Remember, if you're using a version of Windows greater than 98, it does multi-task quite well, so you do have the ability to run more than one program at a time.
Not only does this document what is going on. It allows you to monitor on days, and during times that would normally not be convenient, or impossible. I've run this setup numerous times overnight, while I sleep. If you get up the next day, and there is something hot on the news that occured during the night, you can go back, and see what you missed!
I've also used this technique to determine what FRS/GMRS channels were acitve in my neighborhood, so I could choose a channel that would not interfere with anyone.
As I mentioned before, I'm doing all this on an old Pentium-III 550MHz system that I bought off a friend for only $45.00! Previously, I was doing it on a Pentium-II 300MHz laptop. So as you can see, it doesn't take much of a computer. It's cheap enough that you can pick one up, and dedicate it to this use. I've also successfully run all of these processes from my main computer, while web surfing, emailing, using MS Word, etc.
