Update? Siren app (beta)

[XTS3000]

With the sound from the phone, that opens the door to use a BT headset.

If BT headset isn't your style, there are tons of BT amplified speakers that plug into the cigar lighter.

Some car stereos have phone BT sync features that should work.

 

[rcool101]

Another thought is the scanner is designed to run at home or anywhere else that has a constant wi-fi or "Hot Spot"...Thats what the dongle is for... The idea of putting this scanner in the trunk and using your phone as a remote wont happen unless your scanner is constantly connected to wi-fi. The app connects to the internet. Your scanner connects to the internet. They don't talk to each other directly. Thats why you enter an ip address into the app

 

[Voyager]

Do we know if audio is only going to come from the phone/tablet or is there some way to use this as sort of a "remote head" and audio still come from the actual scanner?

UPMan said in another thread that the audio will be "live" from both, but will be delayed on the remote unit (like any other audio streaming).

 

[Voyager]

Another thought is the scanner is designed to run at home or anywhere else that has a constant wi-fi or "Hot Spot"...Thats what the dongle is for... The idea of putting this scanner in the trunk and using your phone as a remote wont happen unless your scanner is constantly connected to wi-fi. The app connects to the internet. Your scanner connects to the internet. They don't talk to each other directly. Thats why you enter an ip address into the app

Again, per a post in another thread, it will have two modes - connected via the internet or direct phone to scanner.

 

[rcool101]

With the sound from the phone, that opens the door to use a BT headset.

If BT headset isn't your style, there are tons of BT amplified speakers that plug into the cigar lighter.

Some car stereos have phone BT sync features that should work.

One thing a BT uses on your phone is battery life. When ever I use Blue Tooth its around the house or at work and I plug my phone power in. BT transmits a signal to your speaker as you know and that means battery loss. So if I have to plug it in I might as well plug the speaker wire in instead. (except BT headphones) I have a couple of Jawbone BT speakers that have pretty good sound

 

[rcool101]

Again, per a post in another thread, it will have two modes - connected via the internet or direct phone to scanner.

Sorry Voyager.. I missed that post. Never saw anything about 2 modes. I'll believe it when I see it

 

[rcool101]

Frankly, I think that's asking a lot for a cheap dongle. No wonder it's taking so long. This concept is nothing new as ProScan and others have been doing it for a while. What I can't figure out is why the analyze features are tied in when they've been out for a while with the HP-1....This Dog Won't Hunt

 

[RadioSquad]

Whats going to happen if you want to use it remotely from outside the home is enter in the IP address that your ISP is allocated for you. If you have a DHCP address then it will change from time to time.

You internal computer network will assign and static IP and then on your router you will have to use port forwarding

 

[rcool101]

You still need wi-fi in your trunk. What does it do, keep searching for the nearest hot spot like my phone does?

 

[UPMan]

No. The scanner can create its own local network w/o connecting to the broader internet.

 

[wise871]

UPMan said in another thread that the audio will be "live" from both, but will be delayed on the remote unit (like any other audio streaming).

AP Mode
Very true, I asked this question also about the slight delay. If it's that bad I may run a small audio cable from phone to aux audio in in my car stereo. This will defiantly give me loud audio over the external speaker.

Infrastructure Wi-Fi
Again I'll be just happy to control and listen to my home scanner while at work or on the road.

 

[rcool101]

How many phones or apps can connect to the local network and is the distance similar to Blue Tooth?

 

[wise871]

No. The scanner can create its own local network w/o connecting to the broader internet.

Will being connected to the scanners local wifi (AP) effect the other wifi required phone apps? Reason I asked is, while connected to the 536 AP in my car, I am unable to retrieve email until I disable the phones wifi and it displays LTE on the phone. I haven't tried other apps yet like maps, waze, etc but I'm afraid the phone will think it's connected to a wifi network without Internet access. This is probably why vehicle communication devices use Bluetooth.

UPDATE: Just went out to my car and connected to my 536AP. I was unable to get any wifi related apps to work until I turned off the phones wifi. So in ordered to get things like iMessages, Google Maps, Push Notifications, which runs in the background or or any wifi app to work you have to disable wifi on the phone or scanner. So I will have to either use an old phone as a remote head or cycle between WiFi/LTE. I'm sure most peoples hopes were to be able to run the Uniden App while mobile but still get important notifications.

 

[bravo14]

Are you able to change Systems or Departments while using the App? I thought you were able to use your phone while using 3G/4G.

 

[wise871]

How many phones or apps can connect to the local network and is the distance similar to Blue Tooth?

As far as distance goes, set up your scanner to AP mode and connect your phone.Then walk away and see how far you get before you loose the signal. A lot will depend on dongle placement. I know in my Tahoe, I can get about a couple of car lengths before I loose my signal.

 

[wise871]

One last question for the evening. I have two BCD536HP that will be connected to my router. My router will issues each one an internal IP, 192.168.xxx.xxx. If I want to use the Uniden App, it will require my ISP external IP to connect sine 192.168 mean nothing to external connections. How will I be able to tell the App which scanner to connect too? Will the app have that capability or will I be limited to one scanner connected to my wifi? I'm guessing I would have to configure each scanner to use a different port in the router so I can use port numbers ":" in the IP.

 

[ofd8001]

Doing a little more thinking out loud. As I understand it, getting the Siren App going is a two part process. One is to download/update the dongle firmware, the other is the actual Siren App on to the iPhone and configuring it.

Presuming that the dongle firmware is "up to snuff", with nothing else to do with that, I was wondering if the firmware update could be posted. That would give us some time to deal with that in case issues arose.

MIght be easier for some of us to get Part A out of the way and then deal with Part B when the time comes. If there are issues, dealing with them one at a time may be less frustrating and confusing.

 

[rcool101]

One last question for the evening. I have two BCD536HP that will be connected to my router. My router will issues each one an internal IP, 192.168.xxx.xxx. If I want to use the Uniden App, it will require my ISP external IP to connect sine 192.168 mean nothing to external connections. How will I be able to tell the App which scanner to connect too? Will the app have that capability or will I be limited to one scanner connected to my wifi? I'm guessing I would have to configure each scanner to use a different port in the router so I can use port numbers ":" in the IP.

Wow... I'm trying to get my head wrapped around 1 and your asking about 2. That's called multi-tasking. But I saw your pics. I think you can handle it

 

[rcool101]

Doing a little more thinking out loud. As I understand it, getting the Siren App going is a two part process. One is to download/update the dongle firmware, the other is the actual Siren App on to the iPhone and configuring it.

Presuming that the dongle firmware is "up to snuff", with nothing else to do with that, I was wondering if the firmware update could be posted. That would give us some time to deal with that in case issues arose.

MIght be easier for some of us to get Part A out of the way and then deal with Part B when the time comes. If there are issues, dealing with them one at a time may be less frustrating and confusing.

Thinking more out loud. How would you know part A didn't work if you didn't have part B yet? ....Just thinkin

 

[DSC45]

IP Address for Scanner

I viewed the latest demo on You Tube of the Siren App, and first thing said was to "enter the scanners IP address" How do you find the scanners IP address?