I've been doing some research into the hardware to do a Raspberry Pi-based remote head for the SDS200 and BCD536HP, and it looks like a finished unit in a decent case with a 7" touchscreen, ready to plug and play, would be $150-200 out the door.
SDS200/BCD536HP Pi4 Remote Head Project
- Thread starter jonwienke
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Jon just a quick question. How will this connect the 9 pin serial on the 536 and USB on the SDS200?
If the hardware is robust enough to handle multiple scanners and audio streams, another feature I would investigate is buffering audio, so if a transmission comes in while another transmission is in progress, the second transmission gets buffered and played when the first one is done, instead of playing simultaneously.
How about a remote that can be operated over the internet...actively looking to remote locate an SDS200, but cannot find a tablet like Windows device to run the Scanner over IP for ProScan to control it.
Paul
Paul
The remote is going to use the LAN/Wi-Fi ports on the scanners for remote control and streaming, and possibly USB (for control only) as well, so it could be used to control multiple scanners over the internet, as long as it can see the scanners' IP addresses. My goal is to support the SDS and x36 families at a minimum.
Regarding the user interface, I'm looking at going with something along the lines of Siren and the HP-1/-2 since I've got a touchscreen, but with a dedicated fourth line for site info, and applying site holds and avoids without the user having to play with a Function key. And instead of using the scroll knob to scroll off an active transmission or cycle through menu items, you swipe up and down on the touchscreen to scroll, and tap a menu item to select it. To control multiple scanners, there will be a row of icons for each connected scanner, and when you touch an icon, that scanner's information is shown in the main display area. If the user isn't using the screen, (no touch registered for 15 seconds or so), then when a transmission comes in, the active scanner's info is automatically displayed.
Regarding the user interface, I'm looking at going with something along the lines of Siren and the HP-1/-2 since I've got a touchscreen, but with a dedicated fourth line for site info, and applying site holds and avoids without the user having to play with a Function key. And instead of using the scroll knob to scroll off an active transmission or cycle through menu items, you swipe up and down on the touchscreen to scroll, and tap a menu item to select it. To control multiple scanners, there will be a row of icons for each connected scanner, and when you touch an icon, that scanner's information is shown in the main display area. If the user isn't using the screen, (no touch registered for 15 seconds or so), then when a transmission comes in, the active scanner's info is automatically displayed.
freqseeker
Member
I'm looking forward to following your progress with this project. I really like the concept.
Vince.
It will be a few months before I have anything working, I'm still doing basic research on tools to build the software, and figuring out how the user interface should work. My main goal right now is to figure out which features are of the greatest interest, so I can get those working first.
wowologist
Certifiable
Considering their is a large, HUUUUGE amount of people that don't consider the sds200 to be worth more then 200....I doubt you're idea is profitable...but alas if you build it, theirs a sucker born every minute...some guy said at some point, good luck though. IMHO.
If you do not own a SDS200 then you have no idea how great of a scanner we own. There is more happy owners than there are unhappy owners. Sorry you are missing the use of a great scanner.
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As evidenced by the HUUUGE number of SDS200s for sale here and on Ebay for less than $200.00. There are suckers and then there is no nothings.
dougjgray
Member
I looked on eBay and did not find the $200 sds200 I might want one
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Weird. Looking on ebay ATM, and see one used SDS200. 9 bids, current top bid $586.
Another feature I'm considering:
When controlling multiple scanners, if one scanner is receiving a transmission, if another scanner starts receiving the same channel, it will be sent a command to resume scanning, so you never have two scanners playing the same transmission at the same time.
When controlling multiple scanners, if one scanner is receiving a transmission, if another scanner starts receiving the same channel, it will be sent a command to resume scanning, so you never have two scanners playing the same transmission at the same time.
wowologist
Certifiable
....I'm still trying to figure out what your trying do here. Wouldn't an 39$ 8" Android tablet and an APP accomplish all this? Or even more to the point...the Android phone(s) I already carry with me 24/7?
eorange
♦Insane Asylum Premium Member♦
Are you open-sourcing this? If not, how do you plan on distributing upgrades and bug fixes to what essentially will be an embedded device?
A $39 tablet won't have the CPU power of the Pi 4, and a phone is going to have a smaller screen. Any phone or tablet with similar hardware specs is going to be comparable in price. The other issue with an app is device fragmentation--different versions of the OS, different hardware, etc. An app might work great on one phone and crash constantly on another. Siren is a great example. It works on some devices and doesn't on others, and unless you're willing to collect dozens of phones\tablets for testing, debugging device-specific compatibility issues is shooting in the dark.
With a dedicated device, I have control of the hardware, and only have to test and debug functionality on that hardware. The case I'm using has a cooling fan and the 75mm vesa mount hole patternon the back, so it can be securely mounted in a vehicle with a simple RAM mount, and stay cool enough to function even in a hot vehicle.
With a dedicated device, I have control of the hardware, and only have to test and debug functionality on that hardware. The case I'm using has a cooling fan and the 75mm vesa mount hole patternon the back, so it can be securely mounted in a vehicle with a simple RAM mount, and stay cool enough to function even in a hot vehicle.
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