Sentinel for multiple scanners?

[ButchGone]

I'm running Sentinel to update/program my 436. I just acquired a 536, so can I connect that 536 to the same Sentinel app, and program it exactly like the 436 or do I have to download a separate Sentinel app for the 536? Thnx,
BG..

 

[RandyKuff]

I'm running Sentinel to update/program my 436. I just acquired a 536, so can I connect that 536 to the same Sentinel app, and program it exactly like the 436 or do I have to download a separate Sentinel app for the 536? Thnx,
BG..

436 and 536 are essentially the same scanner...
Your setup for one will work on the other...
Only one instance of sentinel needed.
It is the same sentinel for both scanners.

 

[ButchGone]

Great, thank you!
BG..

 

[ofd8001]

The only difference you may see is the Opening Message on the "cloned" scanner being the same as the source scanner, if you changed that in Sentinel.

 

[Jay911]

I run a 536 and a 436 off the same instance of Sentinel, although you could run it on two different computers if you wished. What you probably should do so that things don't get confused between the two radios is create two different profiles within Sentinel, and be really diligent about changing to the right profile before doing anything relating to one radio or the other.

One thing that's important to remember is that the profiles are different between the two scanners (so long as you load one or the other before working with the different radios), but the favorite lists are not. Think of the favorite lists as being in a basket that either radio can take from. If one radio changes the contents of the basket (by deleting something from/changing something in a favorites list), the other radio will experience the same changes. There's been some cases where people have deleted favorites lists, or changed avoids/removed channels/etc from within FLs, because their 536 doesn't need that, and didn't realize that their 436 would be affected.

Profiles are managed through the File menu (New, Open, Save, etc) and the Edit>Edit Profile menu. A Profile can have different configuration inside the Edit Profile menu, including choosing what FLs the Profile "sees" or uses, but anything modified in the main screen of Sentinel is applied to all favorites lists globally.

 

[RandyKuff]

I run a 536 and a 436 off the same instance of Sentinel, although you could run it on two different computers if you wished. What you probably should do so that things don't get confused between the two radios is create two different profiles within Sentinel, and be really diligent about changing to the right profile before doing anything relating to one radio or the other.

One thing that's important to remember is that the profiles are different between the two scanners (so long as you load one or the other before working with the different radios), but the favorite lists are not. Think of the favorite lists as being in a basket that either radio can take from. If one radio changes the contents of the basket (by deleting something from/changing something in a favorites list), the other radio will experience the same changes. There's been some cases where people have deleted favorites lists, or changed avoids/removed channels/etc from within FLs, because their 536 doesn't need that, and didn't realize that their 436 would be affected.

Profiles are managed through the File menu (New, Open, Save, etc) and the Edit>Edit Profile menu. A Profile can have different configuration inside the Edit Profile menu, including choosing what FLs the Profile "sees" or uses, but anything modified in the main screen of Sentinel is applied to all favorites lists globally.

The only thing I see different in the profile settings would be the backlight setting and three line mode. Unless there is something else I missed...
That should only be those two items... Is that correct Jay...

 

[Jay911]

The only thing I see different in the profile settings would be the backlight setting and three line mode. Unless there is something else I missed...
That should only be those two items... Is that correct Jay...

Those are the things which only apply to one radio or the other (i.e. there's no such thing as "3 line mode" on a 436), but you can make anything in a profile different from another profile. For example if you wanted your 436 to have Close Call enabled and not the 536, you could do that. First, make sure that your appropriate profile is loaded on the main Sentinel screen, on the titlebar, it's listed after the "BCDx36HP Sentinel" text. On mine it currently says "BCDx36HP Sentinel : 436", because I named my profile simply 436. On a standard installation I think it comes up as either Default or Preset.

Then you can do Ctrl+1 or Edit>Edit Profile or click on the icon with a red pen writing on paper, to go into the Edit Profile screen. Navigate to the section you desire, edit it, and exit the profile editor. When you do that, "(updated)" will appear beside the profile name to remind you to either write it to the scanner or save it to disk (or both).

To change from one profile to the other, go File>Open and choose the profile you wish to load.

 

[RandyKuff]

Those are the things which only apply to one radio or the other (i.e. there's no such thing as "3 line mode" on a 436), but you can make anything in a profile different from another profile. For example if you wanted your 436 to have Close Call enabled and not the 536, you could do that. First, make sure that your appropriate profile is loaded on the main Sentinel screen, on the titlebar, it's listed after the "BCDx36HP Sentinel" text. On mine it currently says "BCDx36HP Sentinel : 436", because I named my profile simply 436. On a standard installation I think it comes up as either Default or Preset.

Then you can do Ctrl+1 or Edit>Edit Profile or click on the icon with a red pen writing on paper, to go into the Edit Profile screen. Navigate to the section you desire, edit it, and exit the profile editor. When you do that, "(updated)" will appear beside the profile name to remind you to either write it to the scanner or save it to disk (or both).

To change from one profile to the other, go File>Open and choose the profile you wish to load.

I know how sentinel and profiles work...It was good to post that though... The OP was asking if he could use the 436 settings to load his 536 so it would be the same as his 436. As far as I seen those two settings were the only specific ones related to the 536. The 436 would ignore the 3 line setting and 536 would ignore the backlight timer setting.

Granted... If he wants to make changes down the road were the two radios have a different configuration ... The use of another profile is the way to go... Agreed... It's easy to switch between them.
I just wanted to make sure those were the only two items specific to one radio or the other and that I did not miss anything.

I wish you could have more than one profile on the radio to load up. But... Oh well...
Thanks

 

[ButchGone]

So what I'm hearing, is that I should create a separate 436 and 536 profile but share systems, sites, departments and talkgroups within the same sentinel app. Thanks,
BG..

 

[RandyKuff]

So what I'm hearing, is that I should create a separate 436 and 536 profile but share systems, sites, departments and talkgroups within the same sentinel app. Thanks,
BG..

If your keeping them both the same you are ok. But Jay is right... If you change something on one radio you will be changing it for both.
Another profile is easy... Your favorite lists are already there... Then you can tweak things on one without affecting the other.

 

[ofd8001]

So what I'm hearing, is that I should create a separate 436 and 536 profile but share systems, sites, departments and talkgroups within the same sentinel app. Thanks,
BG..

If you want both scanners to "behave" the same way, use the same profile in each.

If you want the portable to do something different than the mobile, then a different profile is needed.

 

[fenderblue]

I use my home computer using sentinel to program my 36's. I bought a new laptop and put sentinel in it. I downloaded from the scanner of what was on my home computer then I deleted some of them added some more. I wanted to change a lot of FL's etc., on my scanner so I just started from scratch and have new favorite lists. Now I have a lot of problem. Can't hear the some of the Fl's and some they do show as they are enabled but nothing!!!. 996xt is just beside it. I am thinking thar I have different profiles and I really don't know to fix it. I finally used my home computer to programs. Do I have to use one computer to program?

 

[ofd8001]

You can use multiple computers to program your scanners. It is no different than creating a word document on computer A and transferring it to computer B for editing.

You'll have two different versions if you aren't cautious about coordinating your files. The worst predicament is that you do a lot of editing but get confused/distracted and use the "old" version some way that obliterates your changed version.

The best way to use multiple computers is for each one of them to see a mapped/networked/cloud type drive - the very same one.

I suspect in your situation you are looking at different profiles - they might have the same name, but have different contents - because of two computers. When you created a new Favorites List your settings for it in the profile could be different (Monitor Off, Download Off, Quick Key Off, Service Types enabled, etc.)

 

[jonwienke]

If you delete a favorite list, or edit it, the change will affect all profiles. Profile settings control whether a list is downloaded to the scanner and enabled.

If a list is downloaded and enabled but still not being scanned, its quick key is probably turned off.

 

[fenderblue]

The best for ME is to use just use one computer and go from there. I need to be educated about how to use changing profilesetc. With freescan 996xt I have 2 different lists. The mapped/networked/cloud is beyond my intelligence. Thanks guys

 

[ofd8001]

Yeah, less opportunity for things to go wrong with just one computer. (Hopefully you do have a back-up system in place in case there is a crash and files get lost).

The thing to remember is that "Profiles" for your x96 scanners are different than "Profiles" for the x36 scanners. The x36 profiles are a lot more elaborate and contain those settings that had been in the configuration file for the x96 scanners.

 

[Xplorer00]

Yeah, less opportunity for things to go wrong with just one computer. (Hopefully you do have a back-up system in place in case there is a crash and files get lost)..

BACKUP to SD Card

One option around the backup - do you have a SD Card Reader on your computer?

If you do, make an exact copy of your Uniden scanner SD card and paste onto a spare SD card.
Leave the spare SD card in your computer/laptop SD card reader.
When selecting read from or write to Scanner within Sentinel with your scanner plugged in, you effectively will see two drives.
One is your actual scanner SD card, and the second drive is your spare SD card in your reader.

Whenever you make changes in Sentinel, and select write to scanner, select both drives and write to both.
This ensures you have an exact copy of your scanner SD card if it becomes corrupt.

 

[drsn0w]

BACKUP to SD Card

One option around the backup - do you have a SD Card Reader on your computer?

If you do, make an exact copy of your Uniden scanner SD card and paste onto a spare SD card.
Leave the spare SD card in your computer/laptop SD card reader.
When selecting read from or write to Scanner within Sentinel with your scanner plugged in, you effectively will see two drives.
One is your actual scanner SD card, and the second drive is your spare SD card in your reader.

Whenever you make changes in Sentinel, and select write to scanner, select both drives and write to both.
This ensures you have an exact copy of your scanner SD card if it becomes corrupt.

Clever. I'm going to start doing this. Thanks you for the tip!

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

 

[Xplorer00]

Clever. I'm going to start doing this. Thanks you for the tip!

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

It is a neat trick. I've been doing this for quite some time and it has saved me twice before.

Not sure why it hasn't been mentioned lots more after hearing many having SD card problems.

 

[586ED]

I just read the posts. I’m confused. I have one 436 and two 536 scanners. I want only the updated RR frequency updates. However the software on my computer will only allow me to update one scanner. Am I understanding that I have to create profiles for each scanner? If so, I find that unreasonable. I also have several Whistler scanners and there is no problem updating the RR frequency updates on all of the Trx-1 and 2 one after the other. Thanks