Talkgroup Skip/Lockout

[dispatchgeek]

I put a lot of thought into this device and what I would desire to set this up as a mobile in my vehicle. I keep coming to a stopping point- It doesn’t look like there’s a way to lockout talkgroups while operating headless. I frequently run my BCD436HP in my vehicle in ID search mode. It’s nice to hear all the traffic flowing when things are slow, but also nice to “nuisance delete” animal control when Fire/EMS is hopping.

Is there any plan to add nuisance delete/lockout/skip functionality in either headless mode or with a display module?

This feature and either the display unit or a way to display/mildly control the unit from a smartphone would be the “killer apps” to make this mobile for me.

I understand why you haven’t brought out an android app yet and I certainly don’t have the coding chops to pull it off either.

Don’t get me wrong, you are doing a phenomenal job with this product. These are just the features that would seal the deal for my use case. Keep up the good work Todd and thanks for being so active with your customer base!

 

[btt]

Thank you for bringing this up. It does seem that a display would be the best way to add this option. Another thing that could be done with the current device would be to have the ability to map TG button single-click, double-click, etc to different functions?

Have you heard of the Pine64 Phone? I ran across a reference to that the other day. I haven't really dug into the details enough yet, but that looks like it would be a very interesting device to interface with.

 

[cmjonesinc]

Thank you for bringing this up. It does seem that a display would be the best way to add this option. Another thing that could be done with the current device would be to have the ability to map TG button single-click, double-click, etc to different functions?

Have you heard of the Pine64 Phone? I ran across a reference to that the other day. I haven't really dug into the details enough yet, but that looks like it would be a very interesting device to interface with.

I didn't even consider a pine64 for a display option. I like where this is heading.

 

[goldmyne99]

The P25RX appears to have the ESP32 chip for bluetooth. The ESP32 also should have WIFI. Could a simple ESP32 web server type interface be used inside the P25RX to display /control the unit via WIFI to any phone or tablet, etc.? Just a suggestion to could reduce some extra hardware.

 

[dispatchgeek]

This idea is especially appealing to me since I use iOS. I don't need audio streaming, just talkgroup/status display and basic control. My quick research shows that a ESP32 web portal could be useful for this.

The P25RX appears to have the ESP32 chip for bluetooth. The ESP32 also should have WIFI. Could a simple ESP32 web server type interface be used inside the P25RX to display /control the unit via WIFI to any phone or tablet, etc.? Just a suggestion to could reduce some extra hardware.

 

[dispatchgeek]

Being able to re-map commands on the control button would be a helpful stopgap until a mobile control solution could be realized.

Thank you for bringing this up. It does seem that a display would be the best way to add this option. Another thing that could be done with the current device would be to have the ability to map TG button single-click, double-click, etc to different functions?

Have you heard of the Pine64 Phone? I ran across a reference to that the other day. I haven't really dug into the details enough yet, but that looks like it would be a very interesting device to interface with.

 

[goldmyne99]

Plenty of examples on line showing the power of the ESP32 as a stand alone AP web server to allow a direct WIFI connection to any device...no internet. Then just use the device browser to display data and send commands, etc. Just brainstorming...

 

[btt]

The P25RX appears to have the ESP32 chip for bluetooth. The ESP32 also should have WIFI. Could a simple ESP32 web server type interface be used inside the P25RX to display /control the unit via WIFI to any phone or tablet, etc.? Just a suggestion to could reduce some extra hardware.

The P25RX does utilize an ESP32 based module for Bluetooth. The current firmware for the Bluetooth / audio processing on the P25RX requires all of the available ram in the ESP module (WROOM32 4MB). Interfacing with WiFi would require different firmware and dropping the Bluetooth support. This would probably be acceptable when interfacing with an open-source phone like the Pine64. The audio could be streamed over the Wifi along with control / display functions. There is a lot to think about here.

 

[btt]

Plenty of examples on line showing the power of the ESP32 as a stand alone AP web server to allow a direct WIFI connection to any device...no internet. Then just use the device browser to display data and send commands, etc. Just brainstorming...

I didn't see this post show up before the previous post. Are you a C developer goldmyne99? I would be willing to share details and related code to get something like this going. It took a couple of months of my time of modifying the ESP32 SDK code in order to get the Bluetooth A2DP working with an automotive lcd panel (works with few vehicles so far) / Bluetooth speakers. It was definitely not an out-of-box solution. I can't afford to pay for help, but there might be some HW available for serious/interested embedded developers out there.

 

[goldmyne99]

I am not a C developer. I have only played the ESP chip with the Arduino IDE to create a WIFI Access Point to do remote control via a browser with direct connection to any phone/tablet.

I only wanted to point out that there may be other options for external display and control with current hardware in the unit given the shortage of electronic components in the current marketplace. The browser solution eliminates the hardware addition but requires more software work.

Perhaps having a menu selection configuration for Bluetooth as you have now and a second option to select a direct connect browser interface to WIFI for display/control. Maybe audio could also go through the browser?

Not being a programmer myself, not sure what is easy/hard to do. Just wanted to share the concept as you brought up the Pine64 interface idea.

 

[dispatchgeek]

Ramblings of a don’t know much hobbyist- Most scanners I currently own have a serial protocol for passing control and metadata to/from the scanner. Is this something that could be accomplished via the usb-c port? Heck, even if I could have a remappable button for Nuisance skip and a terminal spill of active talkgroups rolling over on my phone, that would be a real good start.

 

[btt]

Ramblings of a don’t know much hobbyist- Most scanners I currently own have a serial protocol for passing control and metadata to/from the scanner. Is this something that could be accomplished via the usb-c port? Heck, even if I could have a remappable button for Nuisance skip and a terminal spill of active talkgroups rolling over on my phone, that would be a real good start.

Thank you. The P25RX is the device side of a CDC ACM type virtual serial port over USB. I'm not familiar enough with iOS to know if it supports that or not. Linux definitely does support it. Android/Linux may support it, I don't know. It would be trivial to add a new command for controlling a "nuisance skip" via virtual serial port.

 

[goldmyne99]

FYI. I can connect to the P25RX on my Andriod tablet with an OTG cable. I can see the "Console" messages using the CDC driver with the Serial USB Terminal app. There are some Terminal Apps available that save commands as buttons. I just have not determined how to stop the console messages so I can try entering/sending a command to the P25RX. Just experimenting...have fun. It is a Great device!!

 

[btt]

FYI. I can connect to the P25RX on my Andriod tablet with an OTG cable. I can see the "Console" messages using the CDC driver with the Serial USB Terminal app. There are some Terminal Apps available that save commands as buttons. I just have not determined how to stop the console messages so I can try entering/sending a command to the P25RX. Just experimenting...have fun. It is a Great device!!

Cool! Let me know how that goes. I'm trying to put out fires right now, but I will get a "nuisance skip" command added when I can.

Use the command: 'logging -999' to stop console scrolling output
..enter your commands here
Use the command: 'logging 0' to resume

 

[goldmyne99]

FYI...I did some playing the MIT App Inventer free online app builder. I was able to make a quick display app for my Android tablet attached to the P25RX usb. I am not a programmer, but finding ways to play with the P25RX. Thanks!

 

[Napalm]

FYI...I did some playing the MIT App Inventer free online app builder. I was able to make a quick display app for my Android tablet attached to the P25RX usb. I am not a programmer, but finding ways to play with the P25RX. Thanks!

Awesome!

Can you elaborate a little? I have a practically free Android tablet I got from the pawn shop for almost nothing. Its sitting here doing nothing but would be great as a display for the car.

Todd, I would vote for a "lockout" functionality for the TG button. Maybe a click and hold? One click for TG pause, and a hold for lockout.

Thanks.

 

[goldmyne99]

The P25RX is the device side of a CDC ACM type virtual serial port over USB. I'm not familiar enough with iOS to know if it supports that or not. Linux definitely does support it. Android/Linux may support it, I don't know

Can you elaborate a little? I have a practically free Android tablet I got from the pawn shop for almost nothing. Its sitting here doing nothing but would be great as a display for the car.

When I saw the P25RX uses the USB as a Virtual Serial Port, I connected the P25RX to an Android Tablet using an "On The Go" (OTG) cable.

Then I searched the Play Store for a Serial Terminal app. With the terminal app I was then able to connect to P25RX to see the serial data. Just like the message console in BTconfig.

Once connected, commands can be sent to the P25RX with the tablet. Some of the terminal apps have macro buttons that can store commands to send to the P25RX.

Experimenting further, I saw that the "MIT App Inventer" online platform had the usb serial programming component to build an app to also connect to the P25RX.

I have built many apps with the App Inventer, so I gave it a try. The app I created parses the serial data to get the dBm, Freq, TGroup, Name and displays it in the app.

The App Inventer is pretty simple to use. Plenty of online examples and books. You build android apps via a browser on line. It uses component blocks to drop and drag the program tasks, etc. You do not write the code. It builds the app file when you are done.

I tried my app on 3 different Android version tablets: 2 older 2012-13 Nexus 7's and a newer 2020 ONN Walmart 10 inch tablet. All three connect and display the P25RX data as shown in my screenshot above.

I hope this answers your question and encourages others to experiment with the P25RX. Thanks.

 

[Napalm]

Sweet! Thank you so much. I'll play with it once I get the cable to connect it all up.

 

[brndnstffrd]

Would you be interested in sharing the app? I already have a USB OTG cable and i have a Moto G Play phone running Android 7.1.1

 

[goldmyne99]

Sweet! Thank you so much. I'll play with it once I get the cable to connect it all up.

FYI...To test if your Android device supports usb OTG connections, there are free OTG test apps on the play store. I do not think a cable is needed to run a test. You may not need to build an app if a Serial Terminal app gives you the info you want to see, etc.