Scanning frequencies not in database

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oldno7

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Sep 11, 2011
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I have a Home Patrol and a Home Patrol II. I bought them to scan public safety but since they’re all going encrypt in my area and I have a amateur radio license I want to convert them to monitor amateur radio frequencies . The problem for me is the Sentinel programming software pulls from the Radio Reference database and it is incomplete. I will need to include frequencies not in their database. I live in Dallas county and the database for amateur frequencies in Dallas county is very incomplete. What is the best way to do this ? I understand it can be done without the extreme upgrade but I can never get the Favorites List Editor to give me a cell for entering a frequency. I really don’t know what I’m doing. This is the first comment/question I’ve ever posted on RR and I’ve been a member for several years.
 

DudleyG

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Nov 20, 2004
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Lexington, Ky
Once you get into Sentinel, at the top of the screen, click edit, then click edit favorites, then pick a favorite you want to edit. One in there, you can click on the name of the favorites and see a box pop up that list the systems. You will also see a large green "+" sign, click on that to add rows (more systems). Same thing happens if you expand the list on the left to show systems, highlight a SYSTEM, then highlight a DEPARTMENT in that SYSTEM, then you will see the same green "+" sign so you can add frequencies. You can also remove, move up or down using the arrows. So find/highlight the SYSTEM that you want to add more amateur radio frequencies and type them in. BE SURE TO SAVE them after the edit. Sentinel should warn you about if you forget.
 
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hiegtx

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Dallas, TX
I have a Home Patrol and a Home Patrol II. I bought them to scan public safety but since they’re all going encrypt in my area and I have a amateur radio license I want to convert them to monitor amateur radio frequencies . The problem for me is the Sentinel programming software pulls from the Radio Reference database and it is incomplete. I will need to include frequencies not in their database. I live in Dallas county and the database for amateur frequencies in Dallas county is very incomplete. What is the best way to do this ? I understand it can be done without the extreme upgrade but I can never get the Favorites List Editor to give me a cell for entering a frequency. I really don’t know what I’m doing. This is the first comment/question I’ve ever posted on RR and I’ve been a member for several years.
Also, when you are creating a new "Ham" system in Sentinel, be sure that the "Ham" service type is enabled. If the frequencies you want to add are in a spreadsheet, you can copy them & paste into a system in your Favorites list. (I don't use the ARC program, but it may be able to simply import your list.)

Once you create your new Favorites list, I'd recommend that you scan that list with "location control" set as off. Entering frequencies manually, their location setting will be zero degrees for both latitude & longitude, which is out in the Atlantic Ocean, so the scanner would treat them as not in range. You could, of course, update them with the correct locations, but that would be tedious.
 
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