Scanning on long trips using Full Database and GPS

[dave3825]

I guess the trick is to change those established ranges in the Full Database.

Editing full database - channel details and adding channels

Hi All, I hope this isn't a dumb question but I, for the life of me, can not figure out how to edit the full database. In the Sentinel software it appears all I can do is set/clear avoids in the full database. What I need to do is add a channel to the full database and I need to edit another...

forums.radioreference.com

 

[n1chu]

Another related point; With Full Database set to on, a FL of my own also set to on and Location Control set to on I find turning on Priority will not work. (I have 3 channels within the FL set to Priority.) But as soon as I turned off Set Location Control on those I was able to bring back the priority feature. I am thinking this is by design. I haven’t checked the manual concerning this yet… hoping someone already knows this to be the case.

 

[radiochuck]

As others have stated, rectangles would probably be a better option. I live in a city that is very tall from north to south but not very wide from east to west, so if I travel east or west of the city while using circles, I still get the calls from my town even though I have left.

Using rectangles, however, allows me to set smaller ranges that fit better with the geography of my city.

With all of that said, I recently took a road trip from Phoenix to Colorado Springs using the full database and it was close enough for my liking. Everything in the general area was activated even if I was outside of the immediate area.

 

[n1chu]

Well, I sure got some great mileage out of this thread! I want to thank all who contributed. My one last question relates to the ranges placed on the agencies in the Full database and how to change them, or if they are changeable. When I learned there was a predetermined range value placed on an entity (in certain or all cases), and any value I added would simply be added to that predetermined value, I wondered why Uniden decided to assign these range values. However I haven’t spent too much time trying to figure out Uniden’s logic because the whole intent of my original post was how to configure my SDS200 for a trip from Ct. to the air show at Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana, Virginia Beach, Va., in September… and since that show was canceled two days ago, my trip is a “No Joy”. So, if anyone cares to tackle why Uniden placed these range values instead of letting us do it, it would be appreciated. I suspect it was something needed for another aspect of the scanner, a need to designate these values.

As for me, we’ll I’ve got yet another year to figure it out while I wait for next year’s NAS Oceana Airshiw!

 

[donc13]

Using a suggested method of scanning on long trips, I decided to try turning on the Full Database and GPS. But setting the range doesn’t seem to have any effect. My trip will start from central Ct. and terminate in Virginia Beach, Virginia. When I set the SDS200 scanner to use the Full Database and GPS with the range severely limited I still get agencies outside the state. Is there a way of limiting the range further?

What portions of the full database did you turn on? In particular... Aircraft. Since aircraft signals are line of sight, it's highly unlikely for you to hear an airport tower from 33 miles away on the ground, but if you are scanning the full aircraft vhf band, it's very likely, even 33 miles away, that you can hear an aircraft calling that tower or approach control.

To be honest, I am not sure that Uniden even uses range on vhf (or uhf) aircraft frequencies.

 

[buddrousa]

What I do is make FAVORITES and change the range there. I know its lots of work but it works for me.

 

[nessnet]

"... why Uniden placed these range values..."

Uniden does not assign the range values. These values come directly from RR's database, which Uniden pulls from on a weekly basis.

I suspect the values come from the FCC license data (sites anyway).

 

[ofd8001]

Well, there IS a way to edit the full database if you really, really, really had to. It is fraught with the potential to corrupt the database if you make an error and will last only until you do a database update. Your more permanent solution and a lot less likely to mess up, is to do as suggested above - create a Favorites List and change those range values to you liking.

But if you want to experiment and don't mind having to fix errors without bellyaching about it:

Remove the SD card from your scanner and insert it in a card reader
Use the windows explorer to navigate to the scanner, look for the HPDB folder.
Use a text editor to open the HPDB.cfg file
Note the StateID= number for your state and close the file
Open the s_0000xx.hpd file where xx is your stateID number using the text editor
Locate the county/counties/Departments of interest
In the line starting with "C-Group" the numbers xx.x to the left of the word "Circle" are the range values for that department. Change them as desired.
Save the file
Put the SD card back in the scanner and re-boot the scanner, praying that you did not add too many spaces when you edited the range value.

If it does get messed up, remember I warned you this might happen.
Re-format the SD card, use Sentinel to do a Clear User Data
Then write to scanner. You should be back in business

 

[n1chu]

Ofd8001,

Thank you for the process. I doubt I would get that serious but it’s nice to know the ability is there. It also occurred to me the process should be preserved for future reference. Have you or someone else listed it on RR?

 

[garys]

How do you navigate to this? Or is this something that you appended to an existing Favorites List?

Have you looked at the range that each favorite is set to?View attachment 108138

 

[buddrousa]

I set mine in Favorite List

 

[donc13]

How do you navigate to this? Or is this something that you appended to an existing Favorites List?

I use the full database and service types and set range at 15 miles. No favorites.

 

[buddrousa]

But you are not changing the FREQUENCY RANGE that is preset in the database.
If the frequency / system has a preset range of 350 miles and you set your to 15 miles it looks at 365 miles.

 

[donc13]

But you are not changing the FREQUENCY RANGE that is preset in the database.
If the frequency / system has a preset range of 350 miles and you set your to 15 miles it looks at 365 miles.

Show me a fire or police dept (all I listen to) with a 350 mile range on their transmitter sites and I will show you a lie. 🙄

Last I saw, in both easier to read and standard manual, if any transmitter's range circle touches my 15 mile range circle, the SDS200 will include it in sites that match my selected service type, it will include that site in what it scans.

 

[buddrousa]

Look at the picture I posted as an example

 

[buddrousa]

Tn state parks UHF system 200 mile radius in the pulled database

 

[donc13]

Tn state parks UHF system 200 mile radius in the pulled database

You apparently modified it, I just pulled it from the database, range is 20 to 25 miles for all sites

UHF is line of sight, the curvature of the earth limits line of sight to about 25 miles for any single tower (site) over relatively level ground.

 

[garys]

The only way I found I could get it to work was to create a new Favorite and add systems to it. Which is actually pretty cumbersome, or at least I think so. I don't use the database for local scanning. I use it when I go out of my normal area and combine that with the GPS. It would be much easier to be able to change ranges in the database (on the scanner) itself.

I set mine in Favorite List

 

[KevinC]

You apparently modified it, I just pulled it from the database, range is 20 to 25 miles for all sites

UHF is line of sight, the curvature of the earth limits line of sight to about 25 miles for any single tower (site) over relatively level ground.

Looks like 240 miles to me...

Sub-Category Details: State Parks

Name:	Department of Environment and Conservation > State Parks
Unique ID:	16944
Latitude:	N 36.1003358
Longitude:	W -86.1319341
Range:	240 Miles

 

[donc13]

Looks like 240 miles to me...

Sub-Category Details: State Parks

Name:	Department of Environment and Conservation > State Parks
Unique ID:	16944
Latitude:	N 36.1003358
Longitude:	W -86.1319341
Range:	240 Miles

I did say ".. you apparently modified it.." I should have said ".. It is wrong...". For that, I apologize.

I just looked up all western Tennessee trunked sites belonging to the Tennessee Advanced Communications Network (TACN) and all sites show between 15 and 25 miles.

And you and I both know a single UHF site can not cover a 480 mile diameter circle (240 mile range)

Thus.. My original, "show me a 350 mile range on a UHF site and I will show you a lie" is correct... That value is wrong, it's not possible at ground level.