SAFE-T tower waypoints for you GPS users

[racin06]

I was thinking today while I was driving down the road about how I would like to have all of the SAFE-T towers programmed as waypoints in my Garmin GPS receivers. Knowing the distance and direction to a tower while traveling is very useful information, IMO. Therefore, this evening I created the file: SAFE-T Towers.GPX. You should be able to open the .GPX file in your GPS mapping software (i.e., Mapsource for the Garmin GPS receivers) and then upload the waypoints to your GPS receiver. Each tower waypoint contains the following information:

- Latitude/Longitude
- ID Number
- City (County)
- Primary control channel and backup control channel frequencies (Primary control channel listed first)
- Tall tower symbol

The attached file contains waypoints for 66 towers. I will try to keep this file updated when changes occur. By the way, instead of me reposting updates on this thread, is it possible for me to just upload the updated file to RR?

I just wanted to share this file with other fellow GPS users on this board. Enjoy!

 

[dlbrock]

I am not sure why but the geek in me thinks this is great! While I have never thought of using one of my GPS' for this it might be interesting to play with.

Thanks,

Doug

 

[racin06]

I am not sure why but the geek in me thinks this is great! While I have never thought of using one of my GPS' for this it might be interesting to play with.

Thanks,

Doug

I hope you enjoy it. One good reason to use this information is if you were traveling somewhere in Indiana and didn't have the SAFE-T frequencies programmed into your scanner for the area in which you are located. You could just fire up the GPS and locate the nearest SAFE-T tower and program the control channel frequency (which is provided in the waypoint information).

 

[dlbrock]

Thanks! I now have a good use for my Garmin Emap that's been in the drawer for a couple of years.

Just curious... has anyone ever gotten the Control Channel Plan to work on a BC296? Mine never has worked. I program in the control channel, set the plan and scanner to ID Search and it never picks up anything. I use ARC Software to program it and the bank is setup correctly. If I just add the other channels and remove the setting for the Control Channel Plan it works fine...

Any ideas?

 

[dlbrock]

I went ahead and coverted the file for TomTom GPS users.

 

[djbrane]

Control Channel

I do not have a 296, however did try CC only mode for Safe-T in my 785. I had it on Plan 3 and was not picking anything up. When I switched it to Plan 1, I began picking everything up. CC only mode is working great now.

 

[scannerfreak]

Nice! If it helps you, I created a GPS list for all 114 known sites for the preload that will be with the new BCD996T. It has all the coords for all sites You can get it Here Scroll down the list until you see Indiana SAFE-T. Thanks again for the files!

 

[dlbrock]

Thanks, I figured it out. I was using Plan 3 when I should of been using Plan 2.

 

[djbrane]

I am assuming you were trying it on a different system other than Safe-T? Or are there different plans for the Safe-T system?

 

[dlbrock]

I was trying it on the Safe-T system. My Uniden manual states that if the highest frequency is above 866 and the last three of the frequency is 000, 125, 250, 375, 500, 625, 750 or 875.

Plan 3 is for the last three as 000, 250, 500, 750.

Some areas on the Safe-T system uses frequencies below 866 so they would be Plan 3 according to my scanner manual.

 

[racin06]

Attached is the updated SAFE-T tower waypoint list in .gpx format. Below are some screenshots from my Garmin Nuvi 350 showing the Hortonville SAFE-T tower which is located just north of my home in Hamilton County.

With the new Garmin units, like the Nuvi, you can also create your own points of interest (POI) that can do things like warn you if you are, for example, entering a school zone or if you are speeding. You can also set proximity alarms that will alert you when you are within a certain range of a POI. For instance, I can set a proximity alarm that will alert me if I am within xx miles of a SAFE-T tower.