WIN-500 - Web Import Errors

[brumey]

I am evaluating Win500 and ARC 500 for my pro-197 and pro-160 radio's. I decided to focus in on the Win500 product first but am loosing confidence.

1) It's running on a Win7, 64 bit system that is stable and reliable. The application has crashed out 4+ times, mostly while at the import screen. I think it's happened when doing trunked and conventional. Still, I move on...

2) No I notice it's missing channels when doing a web import from RR. I am importing Placer County. At first I tried to grab all Police and fire but excluded the utility services. I choose the bank 20 and I selected the 2nd option for Alpha tags. Lastly, I think I selected the "Set Objects Notes Fields to RR...." Not sure what that does as I have not been able to find notes yet. When I import and compare to what was selected, I see it misses some. Specifically, Placer County Sheriff. It has 15 channels, I get 13. It misses the two Admin channels. If I go back and import just those two, they do import just fine. So, I can not trust the import to be accurate and manually have to validate each.

Now for my friendly rant... on the product:
The interface is poor, windows that don't stretch. In a world of 24" moniotrs being the standard, you should be able to resize the windows in the application.

When doing the RR import you have to select all the country, State and County fields each time and it takes a long time. Maybe that is an RR thing.

Not being able to export to CSV or Excel is a real let down.

I'll be testing ARC-500 next but really wanted to keep my money local. I can maybe put up with a poor interface but inaccuracy in the import is something I will not put up with.

Thanks,

 

[brumey]

I stand corrected on the missing imported channels. It seems that it's not importing duplicates and RR has duplicate frequencies for some services.

As for the crashing, I'll try to capture any error codes and exact situation before the crash next time.

I tried to delete the thread but I could not figure out how.

 

[brumey]

Win500 continues to crash. Tested on two different Win7 64 bit machines. Captured errors (Attached).

The last error left the application unresponsive. It was like it had a dialogue box open yet it was hidden (I looked).

It always happens when in the RR Webimport applet.

I am so glad I have 30 days to pilot this software before dumping cash on it.

Are my experiences normal for those of you who use Win500?

I think I'll have to look for a more mature product

 

[K3HY]

Sometimes it works better to turn off the Monitor/Control.before import/export or upload/download.
If Monitor/Control is running, hit MAN then PGM then STOP.
Sometimes it works out better doing that.

 

[DonS]

I'm unable to duplicate this on my Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) system. No crashes or other unexpected behavior when I import conventional or trunked data.

Can you give a specific sequence of actions (i.e. exactly what items you're importing) that I can try in order to reproduce the problem?

 

[Mike_G_D]

Win500 continues to crash. Tested on two different Win7 64 bit machines. Captured errors (Attached).

The last error left the application unresponsive. It was like it had a dialogue box open yet it was hidden (I looked).

It always happens when in the RR Webimport applet.

I am so glad I have 30 days to pilot this software before dumping cash on it.

Are my experiences normal for those of you who use Win500?

I think I'll have to look for a more mature product

Well, since WIN500 has been in existence pretty much since the PSR500 was first released years ago and the WINXX series of programs have supported the GRE scanners since the old Pro-92 days I'd say it/they is/are pretty "mature".

I have used them for many years with no major issues and currently use WIN500 on multiple networked PC's and multiple operating systems including Windows 7 64bit, Vista 64bit and XP 32bit supporting multiple scanners (main PC supports 4 units) with no issues.

Now, I, personally, do not use the import feature since I actually prefer to manually enter the data myself as I have my own preferred organizational and tagging methodology so I can't comment on the import feature usability. However, if you peruse this site's forums concerning the feature you should note that many users use it quite successfully. PSREDIT500 is also very good and is, I believe, of about the same "maturity state" as WIN500. You should check it out as well. I am least familiar with the Butel software - it was primarily "Uniden-centric", I think, until the PSR500 came out some years ago.

In WIN500's case, you get full functionality for free for 30 days and afterward if you decide to pay the $35 registration fee it applies forever including all subsequent version updates and across multiple PC's as long as you save your license key and user name. I think that PSREDIT500 also works similarly. That's a pretty good deal, I think.

Don Starr, the author of WIN500 does read these forums and will respond to questions though, as I understand it, he is a one man show with a lot going on these days so it might take a little while for him to respond. In the case of PSREDIT500 and the Butel software the authors of those programs also read these forums and will likewise respond when possible.

I'm thinking that there is something unusual in some way that you are doing with your particular setup which is causing your problem. Unfortunately, again, as I do not use the import feature I am not the best person to offer advice BUT I am sure there are many others on here who can! I would just be patient and research these threads for similar discussions concerning similar issues and you may find your answer.

-Mike

 

[hoser147]

The best way to aviod crashes is to frequently download to the scanner, at least you have your info saved that way. Ive had a few random crashes with it but not excessive by any standards.

 

[scannerfreak]

When doing the RR import you have to select all the country, State and County fields each time and it takes a long time. Maybe that is an RR thing.

WIN500 will remember your last Country and State used. After hitting "Start", hit the tab button

 

[brumey]

Don:
I will try to be more specific with my actions that occur just before a crash/error. From memory, its seems to only happen (randonly, not every time) when I am in the WebImport dialogue box and connected to RR. I only have a few minutes today but should be back on it tomorrow or this weekend. Either way, I'll probably stick with Win500 and hope to register soon.

I was importing Sacramento Trunked SRRCS, Placer County (Partial, Public Safety and not other services), Nevada County, Yuba County and ELdorado County. I am sorry I do not remember which import or if it was even specific to any one. I really don't think it was. Actually - Looking at the first screen print, it looks like I was selecting specific items prior to importing from Nevada County, CA.

I have two theories:
1) It seems to happen when I drill down on a county selection in the import utility and then start selecting and deselecting services for import. I might be spending too much time in that screen and maybe RR is timing out in the background? I have been known to be in that screen for 10+ minutes. The last few imports I tried I previously viewed them in RR and I was quicker in my selection an import and it was error free.

2) I am sometimes logged into RR in a browser session while also doing a web import. Not sure if that matters.

Don't spend any time on it unless I find a sequence of events that can be duplicated.

Mike_G_D:
I appretiate your suggestions and comments. It's certainly not my intent to trash the product or nitpick minor things. I agree I might have come across that way in my posts and should probably not be so quick to post when I am experiencing problems. I know Don's product and legacy products from years ago. I was into this back in the Pr02006 and OS456 days. I also appretiate people like Don and the others for taking time to make software for these boxes. If I have to manually program these radio's manually, I think I'd take up another hobby :lol:

As for my comments on the interface, they are indeed suggestions for Don and nothing else. It would be nice to scale the windows and be able to get an Excel or CSV export with notes. Maybe you can and I just don't know. I see many possts instructing on the Cut/Paste to get frequency data into Win500 but doing the reverse does not seem to get all the fields. Again, I could be wrong and will stand corrected if someone can tell me how to do it.

Thanks and Happy New Year.

 

[Ensnared]

In my opinion, there is no comparison to the existing Win500. Butel, in my opinion, is better served as a coaster for my coffee cup. At present, it somewhere in the McLennan County landfill.

 

[jamesa53]

If you are trying to import items from a big trunking system like Project SAFE-T here in Indiana Win500 will sometimes time out.

 

[K3HY]

In my opinion, there is no comparison to the existing Win500. Butel, in my opinion, is better served as a coaster for my coffee cup. At present, it somewhere in the McLennan County landfill.

Well said Ensnared.
I got ripped off by Butel as well.