Win 500 RR Download Problems

[gman65]

I've been having problems with RR downloads as of late. Not sure if it is related to the recent format changes, but suspect it is. When I go to download data into the software, I'm getting significant delays in the program's response. I have seen some posts regarding data being downloaded as the selections are made. I've had problems on both average and high speed connections (10mb/s dl).

I've also noticed that as I get into the drop down boxes, I'm getting multiple listings of agencies, some times up to 4-5 of the same.

I'm not sure how Win 500 caches data or if there is a way to select the location of it to clear. I've tried deleting all the program files from my working folder. This seems to solve the problem of multiple listings, but not the delays.

Tonight I've waited 5-10 minutes for listings of LA County Fire to come up once I make the county selection. This is not normal for the way the program has behaved for the time I've used it.

I hate making any type of comparisons to the software packages out there. I own both Win 500 and PSR 500 and like features in both. I've been able to get the same download out of PSR-500 quickly while waiting for Win 500. I'm not sure what the differences are in their methodology, but I keep going back to the cache issue in my mind.

I haven't been able to find a post with a solution to this. If I've missed it, I would appreciate some direction. I'm interested to find a solution if there is a real problem and not operator malfunction. If there is a way to control the cache activity of the program and a possible solution to the delay problems I would be most appreciative.

Thanks,

Greg

 

[NWI_Scanner_Guy]

I'm interested to find a solution if there is a real problem and not operator malfunction.

It is not operator malfunction.

I'm having the same problem for the Chicago area. I select Illinois, then Cook County and it takes forever and then some for the information to load, if it does at all.

It does it regardless if I'm looking for conventional freqs or trunking systems.

I was thinking maybe it's because of the vast number of systems for Cook County or perhaps even my computer was somehow to blame, but obviously it's not just isolated to my area, or computer.

Hopefully someone will have a tip or solution that can help us both.

SSSG

 

[DonS]

It is not operator malfunction.

I'm having the same problem for the Chicago area. I select Illinois, then Cook County and it takes forever and then some for the information to load, if it does at all.

It does it regardless if I'm looking for conventional freqs or trunking systems.

Here, it takes 8 seconds to populate the "System" drop-down box (and be ready for a user selection) after I select "Cook" in the County list while searching for trunked systems.

Conventional frequencies take signifiantly longer (just under 6 minutes)). This is because Win500 is retrieving all of the Agencies, Categories, Subcategories, and Frequencies for the County - and Cook County, IL has 2157 frequencies at the County level.

The "new" (SOAP) method is much slower than the "old" (REST) method of data retrieval. Much more data is moving back-and-forth, and it's a much more involved, bidirectional conversation. For example, Cook County requires 14,044 packets (6,648 sent and 7,396 received) for a total of 1.3MB sent and 4.8MB received. Over my anemic ADSL connection, I ended up with a total throughput of 139kbps, which is about 26% of my actual aggregate (Tx/Rx) bandwidth. Of course, with 14 thousand packets on the wire, per-packet latency starts taking a huge toll.

It would be possible to speed up the "response time" when selecting a county in the conventional import window. Instead of retrieving all the data for the county, I could just retrieve the "top-level" information (the county's agencies and categories). Of course, you'd still get the Tx/Rx hits whenever you expand something in the tree control, and you wouldn't be able to select an entire tree control item without also incurring that large (6 minute) transfer time.

 

[NWI_Scanner_Guy]

Here, it takes 8 seconds to populate the "System" drop-down box (and be ready for a user selection) after I select "Cook" in the County list while searching for trunked systems.

Conventional frequencies take significantly longer (just under 6 minutes)). This is because Win500 is retrieving all of the Agencies, Categories, Subcategories, and Frequencies for the County - and Cook County, IL has 2157 frequencies at the County level.

The "new" (SOAP) method is much slower than the "old" (REST) method of data retrieval. Much more data is moving back-and-forth, and it's a much more involved, bidirectional conversation. For example, Cook County requires 14,044 packets (6,648 sent and 7,396 received) for a total of 1.3MB sent and 4.8MB received. Over my anemic ADSL connection, I ended up with a total throughput of 139kbps, which is about 26% of my actual aggregate (Tx/Rx) bandwidth. Of course, with 14 thousand packets on the wire, per-packet latency starts taking a huge toll.

It would be possible to speed up the "response time" when selecting a county in the conventional import window. Instead of retrieving all the data for the county, I could just retrieve the "top-level" information (the county's agencies and categories). Of course, you'd still get the Tx/Rx hits whenever you expand something in the tree control, and you wouldn't be able to select an entire tree control item without also incurring that large (6 minute) transfer time.

Ahhhh, so it is because of the vast number of agencies. That's good to know.

I've used the WIN series software for other scanners in the past, and am trying out Win500 on the trial basis to see how it all works. I like its ease of use, but with what I thought was a download problem, I was going to be hesitant to buy the license. Now I'll be much more inclined to buy the license when the 30 day demo is up.

Thanks for the info Don. I really appreciate it.

SSSG

 

[gman65]

Thanks Don,

That explains also why I'm having trouble. There is so much data with LA County that it just compounds the issues. I also understand why the connection speed is less of a factor. I appreciate the info.

Any idea on why I'm getting multiple listings of the agencies?

Greg

 

[kd6ecz]

I guess I'm not the only who is having this problem then. In my case however, after selecting the conventional frequencies that I am interested in, the import window either freezes or it disappears and the program locks up. I then need to use the Task Manger to shut it down which usually takes several minutes before it finally does close. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[gman65]

Todd I've had that problem at times too recently. For whatever reason though I find that if Win 500 locks up while searching, I can open an new instance of the program with the same file and it seems to work better for me. Downloads seem to be a bit more prompt. Haver that though I still need to close the first instance with the task manager.

By the way, I'm using Vista Ultimate 64 bit.

 

[kd6ecz]

Thanks for sharing that tip. I'll give it a try this evening. I was about halfway through filling up my PSR-500 finally (I've had it since December) when I ran into this issue yesterday.

I'm running a Windows XP Pro machine that's a few years old now.

 

[mtaustin]

Win500 RR Database access error

I also am having a problem retrieving files from RR using Win500. I have never had a problem in the past and not when trying I get this error in the Win500 software:

XML error detected: mismatched tag

near:

</head>
^

while requesting URL:
RadioReference.com - Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Anyone else seeing this?
mt

 

[Highpockets]

I also am having a problem retrieving files from RR using Win500. I have never had a problem in the past and not when trying I get this error in the Win500 software:

XML error detected: mismatched tag

near:

</head>
^

while requesting URL:
RadioReference.com - Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Anyone else seeing this?
mt

What version are you using, you may have to upgrade, it's up to V1.88, read the instructions on the win500 site as you download the software.