Adding DMR data into the wiki

[ka3jjz]

Folks, don't forget to add the color code for the trunk system once the trunk system page is in the wiki.

The variable to use in the Infobox template (that most of the new stuff recently entered is using) is Ccode. The database doesn't support this function yet, but the wiki does.

It's easy to overlook, since this is a whole new world of data that needs to be cataloged.

Thanks..Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

Here are a few that had entries recently. If you would fill in the color code it would be very helpful...

B&C Communications Con+ - The RadioReference Wiki

Eldorado Scioto Downs - The RadioReference Wiki

Hard Rock Rocksino - The RadioReference Wiki

Hollywood Racino Dayton - The RadioReference Wiki

Jack Casino - The RadioReference Wiki

Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

As more and more research is being done to identify and catalog DMR Mototrbo systems, now that the capability is more accessible to people, I thought it might be useful to review the structures we have in the wiki to describe them. In addition, since NXDN capability is coming, we have something for that as well. Note that each of these articles have a documentation link at the bottom to describe how they are to be used;

The first are warning templates - these should appear on Trbo or NXDN trunked systems of any flavor. They are designed to warn the viewer that only certain applications (and, for DMR Moto, scanners) can copy these modes;

Template:Tracker DMR - The RadioReference Wiki

Template:Tracker NXDN - The RadioReference Wiki

The next 2 are designed to describe the characteristics of a DMR Mototrbo system or single channel system. The first is for use on trunked systems, and gives the capability of describing each channel by frequency, slot and color code. As I understand it, Cap + systems have a specific LCN (like EDACS does), so this should be considered when entering data for such systems

Template:Table Trbosys - The RadioReference Wiki

The next is used with single channel systems that are currently listed as 'conventional' in the database (even though they really aren't), hence the name on the template. Note that there's enough space in the template to handle 36 groups, however this can be expanded easily enough if needed. The template also lists the color code if known, as well as the user;

Template:Table Trboconventional - The RadioReference Wiki

Note that each template also carries the MOTOTRBO warning template, making it unnecessary to repeat it again.

If you have questions about how to use these templates (even after reading the documentation), please post a question here.

Mike

 

[mtindor]

Way too much work. I'll just log my info in Notepad at this point. The wiki is supposed to be something users can edit, but you continue to make it more difficult for an average user to edit.

I noticed a trunked system I just added recently and then added a wiki page for. You put the infobox and all that suff on there and stuck the relevant information [as a link] on that page. So one must click on 'Wiki' from the trunked system, and then click on "channel assignments" instead of having it on the main wiki page where everyone would expect it to be.

On the same trunked system, the two people actively submitting info for it [me and somebody else] put in data, and hte other guy formatted it to look really nice. The next day it was reverted back to the prevoius layout because presumably somebody [not me,and not the other submitter] suggested to some wiki person that the tables were too hard to edit and that it should be reverted back.

Not to mention if you click on the Wiki page from the trunked system, you added category tags like "Ohio businesses", "Ohio Communications Providers" and "Ohio NXDN NEXEDGE" -- and if you click on them, they go to nonexistent pages.

Anything "easy" about editing the wiki and looking for data went out the window at that point. And if I forget to add a category to a new wiki page, I get chastised. But it's alright for wiki admins [i guess] to just add all kinds of nonexistent categories to the bottom of a page.

I'm referring to a NXDN trunked system, but I'm sure the same stuff applies to any DMR page I might have wanted to add.

Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

The 3 items you mentioned, Mike, are hardly empty - they are what is known as 'Categories'. Basically, these are used to group articles that all contain a particular specific topic. We use them extensively to group articles that have the same topic, which makes it lots easier to find. We even have a preliminary set of pages where you can find these topics (it's unfortunately not complete) starting here...

Collaboration Categories - The RadioReference Wiki

Yes it's a lot of work - but until the database is modified (and there is, I am told, a plan being developed) we need a common area that anyone can edit to store this information

Mike

 

[QDP2012]

Categories-Tree

Good afternoon,

• The Wiki now has one complete, comprehensive Categories-Tree, that makes it easier to navigate the entire Wiki, because there are no "orphan" or "lone" categories -- meaning that you can now move horizontally across the Wiki's categories-tree, not just vertically as before.
  
  The top category for the entire Wiki is Category:Gateways.
  
  The Categories-Tree article is composed of several pages that list all of the Wiki's categories in their respective groups, showing the hierarchical relations between categories.
  
  
  
• Included in the set of Categories-Tree pages is a list of the "Standardized Categories" for each country, and state or province.
  
  These pages make it easy to know which categories exist now (and have at least one article listed), and makes it easy to copy-paste the double-bracketed category-names so that they can be pasted easily at the bottom of an article that you are composing or editing.
  
  
  
• If you find an article with categories-names in "red font" at the bottom of an article, please post a note about that in the Wiki forum. The situation will be corrected -- either the category-name removed (or corrected), or the category properly created using the appropriate template(s).
  
  One not-yet-created category was pending, and was just created (Category:Quebec Common Carriers), so maybe that was the one that was seen previously.
  
  Thanks,

Hope this helps,

 

[QDP2012]

My apologies mtindor

On the same trunked system, the two people actively submitting info for it [me and somebody else] put in data, and hte other guy formatted it to look really nice. The next day it was reverted back to the prevoius layout because presumably somebody [not me,and not the other submitter] suggested to some wiki person that the tables were too hard to edit and that it should be reverted back.

My apologies mtindor,

After I received the PM'd suggestion to use a non-table format, I should have PM'd you to confirm your preference. The table-format has been restored, and also applied to the list of Unknown TGs.

Thanks for contributing to the Wiki and maintaining the DB.

Best Regards,

 

[EricCottrell]

Good afternoon,

• The Wiki now has one complete, comprehensive Categories-Tree, that makes it easier to navigate the entire Wiki, because there are no "orphan" or "lone" categories -- meaning that you can now move horizontally across the Wiki's categories-tree, not just vertically as before.
  
  The top category for the entire Wiki is Category:Gateways.
  
  The Categories-Tree article is composed of several pages that list all of the Wiki's categories in their respective groups, showing the hierarchical relations between categories.
  
  
  
• Included in the set of Categories-Tree pages is a list of the "Standardized Categories" for each country, and state or province.
  
  These pages make it easy to know which categories exist now (and have at least one article listed), and makes it easy to copy-paste the double-bracketed category-names so that they can be pasted easily at the bottom of an article that you are composing or editing.
  
  
  
• If you find an article with categories-names in "red font" at the bottom of an article, please post a note about that in the Wiki forum. The situation will be corrected -- either the category-name removed (or corrected), or the category properly created using the appropriate template(s).
  
  One not-yet-created category was pending, and was just created (Category:Quebec Common Carriers), so maybe that was the one that was seen previously.
  
  Thanks,

Hope this helps,

Hello,

I entered information for this system and noticed the New Hampshire MOTOTRBO Information and Rhode Island MOTOTRBO Information categories are in red.
Industrial Communications and Electronics (DMR) - The RadioReference Wiki

73 Eric

 

[QDP2012]

Hello,

I entered information for this system and noticed the New Hampshire MOTOTRBO Information and Rhode Island MOTOTRBO Information categories are in red.
Industrial Communications and Electronics (DMR) - The RadioReference Wiki

73 Eric

Those categories have now been created.

Thank you.

 

[ka3jjz]

And I've added this system to the Trunked Radio System tables...Mike

 

[QDP2012]

Thanks Mike for fixing my typo in the InfoBox.

 

[ka3jjz]

Since I see one or two folks putting data into the wiki, it's probably a good idea to review the various templates we have for structuring our data. Note that these templates are very much plug and play - put the data in the right spot, and most of the rest of the work will be done for you. There is documentation linked at the bottom of each that describes how to use the template in detail.

The first 3 create boxes with the basic TRS information- note that the first one is your lowest logical level (describes a TRS that covers a single city, county or state), while the others move up the line and require less variables to be filled in. Notice that some of the variables aren't consistent between templates - an error of the coder (me), but it's a minor annoyance as long as you pay attention to what is needed...

Template:Infobox TRS - The RadioReference Wiki

Template:Infobox TRS MultiCounty - The RadioReference Wiki

Template:Infobox TRS MultiState - The RadioReference Wiki

The next 2 are used for DMR Trbo systems - the first handles the 1 frequency systems we currently have listed in the database as 'conventional' (even though they aren't), and the other is for exploding frequencies, color codes, slots and any other pertinent information for a TRBO TRS

Template:Table Trboconventional - The RadioReference Wiki

Template:Table Trbosys - The RadioReference Wiki

If you have more information about a TRS that can't fit into the template, simply say something like 'See the next section below', add a section to the bottom and code away. It's intended to be somewhat free-form in the comments variables because we have no idea what will be put there

Lastly, is the template we use to warn people that only certain scanners and apps can copy DMR MOTO. The database can't do this yet, but the wiki can (it's had the ability to do this for some time now, in fact). It has no variables - just place the statement in the article you're building, and the text will be inserted into the article

Template:Tracker DMR - The RadioReference Wiki

As always if you have some questions as to how to use these templates, please ask. They may seem a bit time consuming, but they standardize the display of this data wiki-wide.

Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

Would it be helpful if I were to create a 'skeleton' for each of these templates? You would just need to download it from the wiki (it would be in a zip file), unzip it and start filling in the data.

Mike

 

[QDP2012]

Would it be helpful if I were to create a 'skeleton' for each of these templates? You would just need to download it from the wiki (it would be in a zip file), unzip it and start filling in the data.

Unless I'm misunderstanding your question/suggestion, .zip files seem too complicated for something that I think already exists.

Isn't there already a "skeleton" in each of the "/doc" pages, as an example, which can be simply copy-pasted into the new article? If not, that seems like where such a skeleton should be placed.

Just one opinion,

Thanks,