Sentinel Updates

[ofd8001]

If I was to completely re-do a Favorites List, I'd probably export to an HPE file adding "Old" to the name and tuck that HPE file away some where. That way if there was ever a need to refer back to it, I'd have that ability.

One thing that would be really nice would be the ability to have two instances of Sentinel running at the same time for copying and pasting purposes. ARC 536 does this, but it's possible that the "mechanics" of Sentinel work a little differently, thus making it impractical.

 

[AuntEnvy]

Updating the master DB have no impact on your favorite lists.

The message (popup) you are receiving is related to your favorite lists, not the Master DB. You will get the message if you have one FL or more in your scanner that are not exactly the same as the same FL in Sentinel on your computer.

When you get the message (popup), do you select Copy & Replace on Scanner or you select Skip ? If you select Skip, it won't change the FL in Sentinel on your computer... the FL on you scanner will remain different from the FL in Sentinel on your computer, and the next time you Read from your scanner, you will get the same popup. Unless you do a Write to scanner and you select Copy&replace (or you enable "Erase Favorites Lists on Scanner").

I have always selected copy and replace because I was under the impression it was updating my favs from the new DB.

 

[Voyager]

I have always selected copy and replace because I was under the impression it was updating my favs from the new DB.

No - that is updating the FLs on your scanner from the PC.

 

[AuntEnvy]

Well, I hate to sound more confused now but maybe I'm not understanding what the last two replies were. It appears as though they contradicted each other...

I guess the only answer is, there is no way to include new information from the DB to your fav lists unless you do it manually, i.e. edit the new information yourself.

That should settle it.

 

[UPMan]

That is correct. The software has no way to know that a channel is not in your FL because it is new, or because you deleted it because you didn't want it (or maybe it is new, but you still don't want it). Or, if the channel is there, but has a different description, it cannot know if the description changed at RadioReference or if you changed it on purpose because you didn't like RadioReference's description. If it constantly added channels you didn't want and changed descriptions back to ones you didn't like, you'd really not like that, I suspect.

 

[Voyager]

Well, I hate to sound more confused now but maybe I'm not understanding what the last two replies were. It appears as though they contradicted each other...

I guess the only answer is, there is no way to include new information from the DB to your fav lists unless you do it manually, i.e. edit the new information yourself.

That should settle it.

The post above mine said he was under the impression that copy-n-replace meant the FLs were updated from the dB, and I clarified that it meant the scanner FLs are updated from the Sentinel FLs.

But yes, manual intervention is required for the reasons UPMan mentioned and others. To properly update the FL from the dB, the scanner would have to be able to read your mind.

 

[ofd8001]

There has been a lot of discussion on whether Sentinel should automatically update data in Favorites Lists.

I suspect many users customize their Favorites Lists after they have created them from the database and doing an automatic update might trash a lot of hard work.

An option might be to set the systems (or counties) associated with Favorites Lists to be "watched" for you by RR. That way you'll get notification if something in these things change and you can make changes to FLs as desired.

 

[rwier]

" ... I suspect many users customize their Favorites Lists after they have created them from the database and doing an automatic update might trash a lot of hard work ... "

For me, creating a suitable workable "bare bones" scanning list for any given new area can be measured in seconds or a few minutes, depending on the radio and the software.

However, as you suspected, probably 98%-99% of my work with about three dozen FLs (or whatever the other radio models/brands call them) per radio involves such customization. Possibly several hundred hours (over ~ten years) have been spent editing or creating text, removing or turning off Channels,TGs, Sites, sorting various entities, setting alerts, setting LOs, establishing delays, and updating/making necessary changes, etc.

 

[MFCJR]

I have changed names in favorites list and removed channels I did not want to hear in others. A few times after updating the Master DB and removing a favorites list and replacing it with the updated version of the same system it somehow changed either the name change back to what it was before or put a channel back that I removed in another favorites list that I did not touch. It's done this a few times and I'm not sure how it is doing that.

 

[UPMan]

If you copy the channel from the Main DB back into a FL, it will use the description, etc. from the Main DB, overwriting the custom description you had before.

 

[detroit780]

FL Updating

Would it be possible in a future update to use the TG number rather than the TG name for updates? That way when updating FL's if the user has renamed his TG's it will ignore those and only add new TG's to the FL's?

If you copy the channel from the Main DB back into a FL, it will use the description, etc. from the Main DB, overwriting the custom description you had before.

 

[AuntEnvy]

The post above mine said he was under the impression that copy-n-replace meant the FLs were updated from the dB, and I clarified that it meant the scanner FLs are updated from the Sentinel FLs.

But yes, manual intervention is required for the reasons UPMan mentioned and others. To properly update the FL from the dB, the scanner would have to be able to read your mind.

Yes, it would. Or simply do what the EZScan does for the 800.

Uh-oh, wait, does that mean I've been reading that software wrong as well?

 

[MFCJR]

Thanks UPMan, I was referring to a FL I did not touch. If I copied a channel from the Main DB back into a FL (Like FL 2) I would notice the change in another FL that I changed at another time. (Like FL 9) It would revert back to what it was before I changed it in Sentinel. But others are not effected. It's just strange.