UniTrunker first public beta

[brian]

I'm monitoring the same system (Palmetto 800) but different sites. I have the same thing happen using Unitrunker. It seems to happen after continuous monitoring for more than, say, 12 hours or so. It'll run just fine (along with the numerous bugs that have already been identified), and then I'll look and all the adjacent cell control channels are list as voice channels in addition to the "real" channels for the active site.

Perhaps it's displaying all the frequencies, including the adjacent cell frequencies, in the .sit file after some amount of time for some reason, and identifying them with the active cell.

Brian

 

[jamiewmorris]

Unitrunker

I let the program run for some 36 hours straight and started getting all these off the wall freqs, some that don't show even belonging to Palmetto 800 in the FCC database and were showing in white as a voice channel, but not hearing any comms. Could it be that is the frequency that the audio is coming from the associated tower and then when picked up by my home tower, then shows my audio channel?

 

[dfoutch]

I found that if I delete the freqs I don't want from the .HZ file, or all of them, and then using the properities menu, set the file for read only, no freqs can be written to the file. Once every so often, exit Uni Trunker and restart with a clean display. Uni Trunker will repopulate the list in time. But another stop and restart and so on.

dean

 

[loumaag]

Re: Unitrunker

I let the program run for some 36 hours straight and started getting all these off the wall freqs, some that don't show even belonging to Palmetto 800 in the FCC database and were showing in white as a voice channel, but not hearing any comms. Could it be that is the frequency that the audio is coming from the associated tower and then when picked up by my home tower, then shows my audio channel?

This sounds like the Palmetto system is throwing out some outbound messages that the program is interpreting wrong. Now the problem here is to be able to identify the packets causing this. To do so, you would have to run the Packets program at the same time as Unitrunker is running and capturing the packets to a file. You would also have to probably see the false freqshow up and shut down the packets program right after and submit the output file to Rick with the information as to what was on the screen that was wrong.

Since it seems that you everyone noticing this is only after the program runs for a good while, like overnight, could it be that the system does some diagnostic checking at night that Unitrunker doesn't understand? That is just a guess based on what you guys are saying.

 

[SCPD]

Re: Unitrunker

This sounds like the Palmetto system is throwing out some outbound messages that the program is interpreting wrong.

From the ten minute sample I have (thanks Jamie) - I don't see any mystery messages. I do see "with errors" frames every so often. Some messages span multiple frames so dealing with broken, incomplete messages can be tricky.

Now the problem here is to be able to identify the packets causing this. To do so, you would have to run the Packets program at the same time as Unitrunker is running and capturing the packets to a file.

Yes ... Jamie - is this something you can do?

1. run Unitrunker, delete all unwanted channels, leave program running.
2. run the packets program with a command line option to save the output to a file (both programs will be using sound input at the same time - Windows XP seems to do this well, not so good for Windows 9X and 2K).
3. periodically check the Unitrunker screen for any new / unwanted channels that may have appeared.
4. stop the packets program - email the HZ file and packets output to me.

I can usually find the offending message sequence that caused this in seconds. The hard part is figuring out a way to guard against these types of sequences from fooling the program into displaying false information.

A note on the packets program.

From a command-line, run the program like so:

C:\Program Files\rfmobile\UniTrunker> packets

If you don't see any output, type "I" to invert the input signal. Pressing any other key will exit the program.

To capture packets output to a file, use this command:

C:\Program Files\rfmobile\UniTrunker> packets >packets.log

This will send all output to a file named "packets.log". You won't see the output on screen. Depending upon your system, you may need to type "I" to invert the signal. Otherwise you will end up with an empty log file. As before, press any key to exit the program.

-rick

 

[BANDIT]

?? Wake up!!! :lol:

 

[SCPD]

?? Wake up!!! :lol:

Thanks for checking in - trying to get the next beta release out the door.

Here's a list of things that *should* be fixed in the next release.

Fixed for next release (0.1.0.19)

1. Self-describing data files (first line of text lists the column names).
2. shift-tab works as expected (moves cursor to previous field instead of next field).
3. priority was missing from GID and RID files.
4. It keeps changing all my priorities back to 50. It will not save them. Changes them back even if I edit the file (BANDIT 24-May-2005).
Save menu option added to manually save. Fixed for talkgroups and radio ids.
5. "Hit <Return> to Save if the cursor is in the Listen or Lockout fields on the Subscriber or Talkgroup edit (Find) screens." loumaag 28-May-2005
6. "I discovered that if you put commas in the alpha text tags of the talkgroup ID's, the program won't display any text to the right of the first comma." W4KKR 26-May-2005 Tolerates commas for text label and text notes fields (requires enclosing double-quotes which the program automatically provides). Probably has problems with embedded double quotes.
7. "Is there a reason that 1073741824 (1024^3) is added to the affiliated talkgroup ID in the file as it is saved?" Jay 26-May-2005 The bookkeeping bits are removed when the data is saved.
8. "I noticed that the public beta still misreport the radio ID which the radio setup a I-call. for example, the radio 091A call to 0312, Unitrunker display the 091A as 0910, always a 0 fill the last number.... even I changed the display mode to DEC, it still misreport the ID." Wang-He 26-May-2005 (Fixed: thanks for the feedback!)
9. MPT1327 support - now features a real FFSK decoder - other minor improvements. Note: you can use speaker audio for this type of signal.
10. Does not seem to have enough "memory" ... (25-May-2005 wwhitby). The raised cosine filter that was supposed to improve P25 signal decoding - has been removed - considerable reduction in CPU consumption.

More to come ...

-rick

 

[BANDIT]

Thanks for the update Rick. Looking forward to the new release.

 

[DualC]

The ZIP file, whas corrupted.. when i download'ed it..

 

[jlh]

DualC, did you read Rick's post about the file you downloaded?

 

[ScanWorcester]

If you are uncomfortable with hexadecimal numbers, you can change the display option to decimal. This will display the channel LCNs in decimal.

This will also display the system id in decimal (which freaks some people out).

This may make the chore of figuring out a working band plan easier.

In the Channel/Detail Log view, it shows the radio affiliations. Is there a way to get the radios/talkgroups to show in DEC? I know about the DEC/HEX view for the other windows, and I'm in fact in DEC mode, but cannot view the affiliations the same. Unless, of course, I might be missing something? Other than T4W, this is my first endevour into TRS decoding, so it might be possible.

 

[SCPD]

In the Channel/Detail Log view, it shows the radio affiliations. Is there a way to get the radios/talkgroups to show in DEC?

The data shown is a placeholder for future functionality. It's just a dump of select messages - this will be replaced with something more meaningful (eg. with text labels included) when I get the time. Meanwhile, selecting View -> Subscribers you can see the talkgroup last used by each radio id but not in real time.

-rick

 

[Forts]

How goes the battle with the next beta Rick? Can't wait to give it a twirl!

 

[SCPD]

How goes the battle with the next beta Rick? Can't wait to give it a twirl!

The View -> Channel display actually works. Working on fleet maps right now.

[edit]

Affiliations (finally!) ... you can choose Edit -> Affiliations and watch radios come and go in real time. Cleaning up some other weirdness.

-rick

 

[electricsheep]

Affiliations (finally!) ... you can choose Edit -> Affiliations and watch radios come and go in real time. Cleaning up some other weirdness.

-rick

Can you log affiliations? I am especially interested in logging affiliations on an EDACS system.

 

[swest90]

If he has access to the data and it can be displayed, It can be logged. This is great works and I cant wait until the next release.

Thanks
Shawn

 

[pmn929]

Web Service

I see in the Wiki that UniTrunker supports the webservice, but I can't seem to find any info in the help docs or on the forums on how to use the service with UniTrunker. Is this a feature that is to be added or is it there and I'm just missing it?

 

[SCPD]

It's under the system finder ...

From the main menu, type "F" for [F]ind; type "S" for ystem; press TAB key once; select type of system (eg. "Motorola"), press TAB key; type in the system ID; press TAB key; next to "RR DB User Id" - type your user id; press TAB again; and type your password.

If all looks correct, press "F8" and wait a few seconds.

Limitations:

You must of course be online for this to work. It may not work with some web proxies. This really only works for Motorola systems. Lindsay likes using "Site 1" for non-networked systems (like Type I and Smartnet) so RR DB channels are not downloaded properly - but talkgroups should come through just fine.

-rick

 

[SCPD]

Rick,

Where can I download Unitrunker from?

Craig N5XNQ

 

[digitaljim6]

Follow the RR Wiki link in the main RR menu bar, and look in the Software section for Unitrunker 0.1.0.17. A newer version is due out any day so keep checking back.