I get this question all the time, Which scanner do you recommend? I used to say Uniden because they have always worked the best for me. Then the BCDx36 line came out.
Everything was great the first few months. Yes the 536 had the headphone issue, requiring me to send the unit back, however they extended the warranty from 1 year to 3, so they made up for it.
After that, weeks turned into months, which now had turned into over a year. the story has changed.
1) None of the extended features have been delivered
2) The WiFi works up to a point and only an incomplete IOS version of the software is out.
3) Both scanners have the clock issue, requiring you to reset the clock every time you power it on.
(as of 4/6 still no firmware patch to bypass the clock reset, and it has been over a month now)
4) No other bugs have been fixed.
At this point I feel I own $1200 worth of crap. Since there appears to be serious quality control issues now, i would not buy any BCDx36 scanner until they address any of these issues. I "think" you would be ok with the Home Patrol 2, since that is 90% based on an existing unit and 6 months later nothing serious has shown up. I am a bit skeptical about the new "P" series like (Based on the XT scanners). They may be fine, however I would suggest waiting a while to see.
If you need at TDMA capable scanner right now. I would suggest a Pro-668. You can still get they pretty cheap if you look around. Anything under $250 is still a great deal for a TDMA capable scanner. You can always sell it later on for most of what you paid, and then get a Uniden later on, assuming they work out the issues.
For mobile, it becomes less clear. The HP-2 may be the way to go (especially if you need GPS). The Whistler mobile should be out soon, however that will go for top dollar at first and I would not go that route until I see some reviews on it.
Finally, I think this clock issue is worse than we all think. When the headphone issue turned up last year, within weeks they had a plan to fix it. nearly 2 months later, not a word from Uniden which leads be to believe that this is going to be a giant recall of every x36 radio out there. It took just over a year for this issue to surface on both my radio's, so those saying they bought a later radio means nothing. See what happens when you hit 14 months.
Monday, April 6, 2015
Friday, April 3, 2015
Pro-668 Update and Uniden needs to get a clue
So now I am 2 plus weeks with the Pro-668. Now that the honeymoon period and ended and reality has set in, I can say that my opinion has not changed much. There is some tweaking that you can do, and there are some really good posts on radio reference (in the GRE and RS forums) on what to adjust.
The TDMA issue I posted about, turns out the be a specific channel on the NJICS system coming off Montana Mountain. After some testing, I determined that any TDMA traffic coming over on 773.03125, will not decode on either the Pro-668, or the Uniden BCDx36 radio's. Normal P25 traffic will however decode. Since I don't have a real TMDA radio, I can't tell if this is something with the scanner's themselves, or if that tower is having an issue. We don't have a whole lot of TDMA radio's in this area, so this may very well be an issue and is just going un-noticed for a while. I am also interested to see if this is isolated to my tower, or if this is a wide spread issue.
After getting a break with the iPhone Siren App release, The BCDx36 owners are once again screaming. This time the internal clock batteries appear to be failing. I never had a problem until I plugged that damn WiFi dongle in mine. I made it through 2 months of minus temperatures, and I put the dongle in 1 time and the clock is all screwed up. I have a feeling you may be seeing another recall. Nice Going!
The TDMA issue I posted about, turns out the be a specific channel on the NJICS system coming off Montana Mountain. After some testing, I determined that any TDMA traffic coming over on 773.03125, will not decode on either the Pro-668, or the Uniden BCDx36 radio's. Normal P25 traffic will however decode. Since I don't have a real TMDA radio, I can't tell if this is something with the scanner's themselves, or if that tower is having an issue. We don't have a whole lot of TDMA radio's in this area, so this may very well be an issue and is just going un-noticed for a while. I am also interested to see if this is isolated to my tower, or if this is a wide spread issue.
After getting a break with the iPhone Siren App release, The BCDx36 owners are once again screaming. This time the internal clock batteries appear to be failing. I never had a problem until I plugged that damn WiFi dongle in mine. I made it through 2 months of minus temperatures, and I put the dongle in 1 time and the clock is all screwed up. I have a feeling you may be seeing another recall. Nice Going!
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Optimize your scan list
First an update to my Pro-668 post yesterday. My adapt level change isn't working out as well as I had hoped. I am going to swing it the other direction today and see if that makes a difference (I went from 64 to 16, now I moved it to 90).
I also forgot to mention that they Pro-668 battery life is much better than the 436, however it does have 4 batteries vs the 436's 3.
Optimizing your scannerThe nice thing about these new scanners is you can put in your zip code, everything in your area downloads and off you go. The problem with that is the way it downloads is probably not the most efficient way to scan.
The radio scans in sequential order, and you hear the first active frequency or talkgroup it comes across. By moving things you want to hear to the front of the list, you will improve your chances of hearing the things that are most important. Things that are less important, or tend to hog air time, put them at the back of the list. This applies to the system level as well. Put your most important trunk or conventional system first.
This is particularly useful if your county or state is migrating to a new digital system from an old one. Many times the old analog systems are simulcasted, either part time or full time. This is the case for example with Somerset County, and often NJSP talkgroups show up in the NJICS 700 System. By putting the newer system first, you increases the odds of listening to that particular talkgroup on the digital side, vs the analog side. If you want to increase your chances even more, add a hold time (if you have a Uniden) of 3-4 seconds to the digital group.
You can also use this method to your advantage while mobile (especially if you use GPS scanning). Many trunk systems have fill in sites, which are fill in sites for area's with poor coverage (usually referred to as IR Sites). NJSP has them all over the place for the 800 system, and Bucks county has a couple as well. Since they are only active when a nearby radio affiliates to it, they are normally not worth monitoring, since you only hear maybe 1 or 2 talkgroups and even that may be inconsistent. However while you are mobile, by putting these sites first in the site list, you will be more likely to lock on to those when you are in an area where the main site has poor reception and hear the local traffic more clearly. Your mileage may vary with this particular technique. A good example of where this works well is the NJSP on route 78. The Bedminster IR site was setup to improve coverage on Route 78 between Clinton and Route 287. By scanning the IR site first, the 5 Comm traffic comes in much better, than when I was only relying on the main simulcast site.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Uniden BCD436HP Vs PSR-800/WS-1080/Pro-668 Revisited
When I got rid of my PSR-800 last year, I never thought in a million years I would discuss it ever again. In the end it turned into quite a hate/hate relationship. Thanks to Radio Shack blowing out the Pro-668 for $150, it was an offer I couldn't refuse. The timing is actually perfect, considering Uniden's popularity right now is neck and neck with Congress.
I had a lot of issues with my PSR-800, and some of that has not changed. One thing I have noticed with the new 668 is I don't have as much front end overload. My 800 was an early model (with the faceplate issue), and they have seemed to have made some minor improvements under the hood over the last couple years.
Since I deleted all my EZScan files, I had to start from scratch with the radio. It took me a few days to get everything in order and to re-familiarize myself with the radio.
First thing I missed was the LED light. Uniden gives you 2 options, 1 color and either flash or solid for 5 seconds, then it shuts off. The 668 (going forward includes the PSR-800 & Whistler 1080), gives you the option of a solid light or flashing. You can change how many colors to flash, and how fast. You can even change the pattern. It also stays on as long as the squelch is broken.
Another thing is the Scan Lists (now called Play Lists for some awful reason). You can setup a lists for specific purposes. For example I have a slim list consisting of a few NJSP Talkgroups, and my local Fire/EMS/OEM frequencies, for when I don't want to listen to a whole lot and just what is happening locally.
There are also the V Folders, which lets you setup an entirely different configuration. I always found this useful for when I am going away and want to setup the scanner in advance.
When I first got my 436, I thought the display was much better, a year later I am not so sure:
They both show pretty much the same information.
The 436 can show 23 characters vs 16 on the 668.
The 436 text is smaller and the fonts are thinner, the 668 has nice bold fonts which are easier to read. The 436 does have text in 2 different sizes to differentiate things, where the 668 kind of runs together.
The 436 is not that bright, in fact the brightest level is the 668's lowest level.
The 436 light can come on with the squelch, but it is time limited, where you can set the light on the 668 to come on (per channel), and will stay on until the squelch closes.
I have to say I have changed my mind and I like the 668 display better now.
Another pet peeve I had was the front end overload, and with that being toned down (It is still present, but nothing like before), the 2 scanners seem to perform very similar, with the 668 pulling in signals a bit better than the 436. I did have some difficulty pulling in some TMDA traffic, but changing the DSP Level Adapt to 16 seems to have helped the situation.
There are still plenty of things I think the 436 does better, and I also prefer the HP Sentinel software, and I like the one touch recording, and being able to actually make changes without a computer. That is the one reason why I would probably take the 436 with me on vacation vs the 668. I was burned too many times when my programming wasn't correct on my PSR-800 and I had no way to correct it.
In conclusion, for $150, this is the scanner deal of the year and you can't go wrong. You will not find a deal like this again anytime soon. After a year with the 436 and Uniden's drama over the last 6 months, the 668 (and it's clones) have redeemed itself.
I had a lot of issues with my PSR-800, and some of that has not changed. One thing I have noticed with the new 668 is I don't have as much front end overload. My 800 was an early model (with the faceplate issue), and they have seemed to have made some minor improvements under the hood over the last couple years.
Since I deleted all my EZScan files, I had to start from scratch with the radio. It took me a few days to get everything in order and to re-familiarize myself with the radio.
First thing I missed was the LED light. Uniden gives you 2 options, 1 color and either flash or solid for 5 seconds, then it shuts off. The 668 (going forward includes the PSR-800 & Whistler 1080), gives you the option of a solid light or flashing. You can change how many colors to flash, and how fast. You can even change the pattern. It also stays on as long as the squelch is broken.
Another thing is the Scan Lists (now called Play Lists for some awful reason). You can setup a lists for specific purposes. For example I have a slim list consisting of a few NJSP Talkgroups, and my local Fire/EMS/OEM frequencies, for when I don't want to listen to a whole lot and just what is happening locally.
There are also the V Folders, which lets you setup an entirely different configuration. I always found this useful for when I am going away and want to setup the scanner in advance.
When I first got my 436, I thought the display was much better, a year later I am not so sure:
They both show pretty much the same information.
The 436 can show 23 characters vs 16 on the 668.
The 436 text is smaller and the fonts are thinner, the 668 has nice bold fonts which are easier to read. The 436 does have text in 2 different sizes to differentiate things, where the 668 kind of runs together.
The 436 is not that bright, in fact the brightest level is the 668's lowest level.
The 436 light can come on with the squelch, but it is time limited, where you can set the light on the 668 to come on (per channel), and will stay on until the squelch closes.
I have to say I have changed my mind and I like the 668 display better now.
Another pet peeve I had was the front end overload, and with that being toned down (It is still present, but nothing like before), the 2 scanners seem to perform very similar, with the 668 pulling in signals a bit better than the 436. I did have some difficulty pulling in some TMDA traffic, but changing the DSP Level Adapt to 16 seems to have helped the situation.
There are still plenty of things I think the 436 does better, and I also prefer the HP Sentinel software, and I like the one touch recording, and being able to actually make changes without a computer. That is the one reason why I would probably take the 436 with me on vacation vs the 668. I was burned too many times when my programming wasn't correct on my PSR-800 and I had no way to correct it.
In conclusion, for $150, this is the scanner deal of the year and you can't go wrong. You will not find a deal like this again anytime soon. After a year with the 436 and Uniden's drama over the last 6 months, the 668 (and it's clones) have redeemed itself.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Whistler 1095 Mobile scanner finally appears
Please see this thread on radio reference for pictures:
http://forums.radioreference.com/general-scanning-discussion/305241-ces-2015-starts-tomorrow.html#post2316267
From the pictures, the scanner has a nice minimalist look to it. The SD Card is easily accessible from behind the detachable radio head. The display is nice and of course the remote head is a much welcomed and overdue feature.
If anything beats the Uniden 536, it is the remote head. I never liked the fact of having to use my phone, or an old ipod/tablet for a remote display. The last thing I want to do when I get in my car is have to manually turn something else on, worry if the batteries are charged, or even coming up with a way to mount it. Lets all not forget that this is still speculation, and that a year later, we still have no remote head option from Uniden. I would not be surprised if the 1095 comes out before Uniden has the software out. Fortunately, I never planned on using the wifi option to begin with.
Operational wise, I posed a blog a while back comparing the Uniden's to the PRS-800/WS-1080 radios. My opinion hasn't changed much. Bear in mind that this is essentially a 2+ year old scanner in mobile form. If you already have a PRS-800 or WS-1080, you already know the pluses and minuses.
Without GPS, or an easy access to the scan list, I still don't feel this is really a great mobile scanner. The exception is if you only keep to 1 or 2 area's, or plan on monitoring a statewide trunk system. The radio can by design change to the trunk site with the strongest control channel. There will come a day when most of the state is on the NJICS Trunk system, or their own county 700 systems, tied into the state system. When that takes place many years from now, this scanner would surely be a winner.
As a base scanner, this is sure to be a nice addition, however you will probably run into the VHF overloading if you have a base antenna. From what I have seen and read, the GRE/Whistler scanner either works great for some people, or it works like crap. There seems to be no middle ground. If you are one of the lucky ones, then this radio will be for you. I had been considering this one to replace my Home Patrol 1 on my desk, however I am probably more likely to go with the HP-2. Now that I have perfected the radio id import script, it makes more sense for me to stick with Uniden (despite how pissed I still am at them). I also had problems with VHF overloading, so the Uniden makes sense for me.
I give Whistler credit for jumping into the scanner arena and coming out with this finally. Although I will be passing this one up, I am hoping that within a few years, we will be seeing newer scanner models designed by Whistler and with improvements over the current scanner shortcomings.
http://forums.radioreference.com/general-scanning-discussion/305241-ces-2015-starts-tomorrow.html#post2316267
From the pictures, the scanner has a nice minimalist look to it. The SD Card is easily accessible from behind the detachable radio head. The display is nice and of course the remote head is a much welcomed and overdue feature.
If anything beats the Uniden 536, it is the remote head. I never liked the fact of having to use my phone, or an old ipod/tablet for a remote display. The last thing I want to do when I get in my car is have to manually turn something else on, worry if the batteries are charged, or even coming up with a way to mount it. Lets all not forget that this is still speculation, and that a year later, we still have no remote head option from Uniden. I would not be surprised if the 1095 comes out before Uniden has the software out. Fortunately, I never planned on using the wifi option to begin with.
Operational wise, I posed a blog a while back comparing the Uniden's to the PRS-800/WS-1080 radios. My opinion hasn't changed much. Bear in mind that this is essentially a 2+ year old scanner in mobile form. If you already have a PRS-800 or WS-1080, you already know the pluses and minuses.
Without GPS, or an easy access to the scan list, I still don't feel this is really a great mobile scanner. The exception is if you only keep to 1 or 2 area's, or plan on monitoring a statewide trunk system. The radio can by design change to the trunk site with the strongest control channel. There will come a day when most of the state is on the NJICS Trunk system, or their own county 700 systems, tied into the state system. When that takes place many years from now, this scanner would surely be a winner.
As a base scanner, this is sure to be a nice addition, however you will probably run into the VHF overloading if you have a base antenna. From what I have seen and read, the GRE/Whistler scanner either works great for some people, or it works like crap. There seems to be no middle ground. If you are one of the lucky ones, then this radio will be for you. I had been considering this one to replace my Home Patrol 1 on my desk, however I am probably more likely to go with the HP-2. Now that I have perfected the radio id import script, it makes more sense for me to stick with Uniden (despite how pissed I still am at them). I also had problems with VHF overloading, so the Uniden makes sense for me.
I give Whistler credit for jumping into the scanner arena and coming out with this finally. Although I will be passing this one up, I am hoping that within a few years, we will be seeing newer scanner models designed by Whistler and with improvements over the current scanner shortcomings.
Friday, January 2, 2015
Importing a Radio ID listing into your HP Series Scanner Favorite List
Yesterday I showed how you can export a list of Radio ID's from Unitrunker. Today I will show how you import those into your Home Patrol Favorite list.
If you do not have Unitrunker, but want to import the ID's, you can always download my list (which is updated several times a week) from here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4rxgywkd7xe6fch/AAAxFoNA-CToO9WxjT2iLqJka?dl=0
Again, you will need access to a bash shell to follow my instructions. Again I suggest installing cygwin on the same computer where you have your Uniden software installed.
I should also point out that since I have so many radio id's in my NJSP and NJICS systems, each one has their own favorite list. This will probably not work if you have multiple systems in the favorite list you want to import ID's to.
I will say this again, BACK UP Everything before attempting this. If you do not back up and render your favorite list un-usable, you are out of luck. I managed to break mine several times before I got the process right.
First thing you need to do is determine which file you need to copy. Usually the folder in is your Documents, Uniden, BCDx36HP or HomePatrol, FavoriteLists.
You will find a bunch of files similar to f_000001.hpd or favorites_000001.hpd. look for a f_list.cfg or favorites_lists.config file. Open it with notepad and you can figure out which list you need to edit.
Because there are hidden control characters in the favorite lists, we need to take the radio ID list I exported from Unitrunker and reformat it. Also, the Home Patrol list is formatted somewhat different than the BCDx36 lists.
This file with the ID's is 700ids.txt, and the favorite list is f_000011.hpd
First step is to process the radio id list and create a new list that can be imported into Sentinel (BCDx36 lists only). Also, if you are planning on importing the ID's into multiple favorite lists, you only have to perform this step once.
rm rid.out
cat 700ids.txt | while read line
do
a=$(echo $line)
echo -e "UnitIds\t\t\t"$a"\tOff\tAuto\tOff\tOn" >> rid.out
done
If you are doing this for a Home Patrol 1, replace the echo line with this:
echo -e "UnitIds\t\t\t"$a"\tOff\tAuto" >> rid.out
This may take over 5 minutes to run, however if you are working with multiple favorite lists, it will save time in the long run.
The next step is to cut the top and bottom of the favorite list (the id's are in the center)
sed -n '/UnitIds/q;p' f_000011.hpd > top.out
sed -n '/Site/,$p' f_000011.hpd > bottom.out
Now we put it all back together again
cat top.out > f_000011.out
cat rid.out >> f_000011.out
cat bottom.out >> f_000011.out
Finally, we need to run the unix2dos command, otherwise the software will not read the file properly and it will not work.
unix2dos -n f_000011.out f_000011.hpd
If you did everything properly, it should have worked. Because everyone's setup is different, it would be impossible to a simple script for everyone to use. Since I have several favorite lists, I setup a script that copies all the favorites over, creates the new radio ID section, updates all the lists and copies them all back. I also incorporated the Unitrunker export from yesterdays blog, so I can accomplish all this in 1 step.
Finally, I do not have a Home Patrol-2, so I have no way of knowing if this will work on that. If someone wants to provide me a favorite list from one (Trunk System with Radio ID's), I can look at it and I will update the instructions.
Remember, if you are going to try this...BACK UP EVERYTHING FIRST, and make sure your backup works.
If you do not have Unitrunker, but want to import the ID's, you can always download my list (which is updated several times a week) from here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4rxgywkd7xe6fch/AAAxFoNA-CToO9WxjT2iLqJka?dl=0
Again, you will need access to a bash shell to follow my instructions. Again I suggest installing cygwin on the same computer where you have your Uniden software installed.
I should also point out that since I have so many radio id's in my NJSP and NJICS systems, each one has their own favorite list. This will probably not work if you have multiple systems in the favorite list you want to import ID's to.
I will say this again, BACK UP Everything before attempting this. If you do not back up and render your favorite list un-usable, you are out of luck. I managed to break mine several times before I got the process right.
First thing you need to do is determine which file you need to copy. Usually the folder in is your Documents, Uniden, BCDx36HP or HomePatrol, FavoriteLists.
You will find a bunch of files similar to f_000001.hpd or favorites_000001.hpd. look for a f_list.cfg or favorites_lists.config file. Open it with notepad and you can figure out which list you need to edit.
Because there are hidden control characters in the favorite lists, we need to take the radio ID list I exported from Unitrunker and reformat it. Also, the Home Patrol list is formatted somewhat different than the BCDx36 lists.
This file with the ID's is 700ids.txt, and the favorite list is f_000011.hpd
First step is to process the radio id list and create a new list that can be imported into Sentinel (BCDx36 lists only). Also, if you are planning on importing the ID's into multiple favorite lists, you only have to perform this step once.
rm rid.out
cat 700ids.txt | while read line
do
a=$(echo $line)
echo -e "UnitIds\t\t\t"$a"\tOff\tAuto\tOff\tOn" >> rid.out
done
If you are doing this for a Home Patrol 1, replace the echo line with this:
echo -e "UnitIds\t\t\t"$a"\tOff\tAuto" >> rid.out
This may take over 5 minutes to run, however if you are working with multiple favorite lists, it will save time in the long run.
The next step is to cut the top and bottom of the favorite list (the id's are in the center)
sed -n '/UnitIds/q;p' f_000011.hpd > top.out
sed -n '/Site/,$p' f_000011.hpd > bottom.out
Now we put it all back together again
cat top.out > f_000011.out
cat rid.out >> f_000011.out
cat bottom.out >> f_000011.out
Finally, we need to run the unix2dos command, otherwise the software will not read the file properly and it will not work.
unix2dos -n f_000011.out f_000011.hpd
If you did everything properly, it should have worked. Because everyone's setup is different, it would be impossible to a simple script for everyone to use. Since I have several favorite lists, I setup a script that copies all the favorites over, creates the new radio ID section, updates all the lists and copies them all back. I also incorporated the Unitrunker export from yesterdays blog, so I can accomplish all this in 1 step.
Finally, I do not have a Home Patrol-2, so I have no way of knowing if this will work on that. If someone wants to provide me a favorite list from one (Trunk System with Radio ID's), I can look at it and I will update the instructions.
Remember, if you are going to try this...BACK UP EVERYTHING FIRST, and make sure your backup works.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Exporting Radio ID's from Unitrunker
Happy New Year!
I still have to complete my GPS series, but for now I am changing gears for a bit and going to post how to easily export Radio ID's from Unitrunker, so you can easily cut and paste them into Uniden Sentinel or GREComm software. In my 2nd part to this, I will show you a way to update your Sentinel favorite lists without the hassle of cutting and pasting.
First a warning, unless you are somewhat familiar with Linux, this probably isn't going to be for you. 2nd, before attempting anything like this, BACK UP EVERYTHING. I would go so far to back up your files, move them to another computer if you have one, and make sure they work there. I am not responsible if you make a mess of your stuff.
Unitrunker is a great problem, and for keeping a watch on a trunk system, it is invaluable. You can alpha tag all the talkgroups and radio id's and keep watch for new users and/or new talkgroups. Where it falls short is that it does not really give you an easy way to export the data into something usable. You can load up the unitrunker file in excel and do the manipulation there, however it is messing and time consuming.
It is very simple to export the radio ID"s out. My method requires you to have access to a linux bash shell. This means either a PC with linux on it, running it in a virutal machine, or you can install cygwin (https://www.cygwin.com) and do everything from there.
First step is to copy your Unitrunker.xml file over to a working directory. Before you do, you should hit the "X" on the main unitrunker screen. It will say it saved the data and ask you if you want to quit. We do this to make sure all the updated data has been saved.
Since I have cygwin on the computer that runs unitrunker, I do this:
cp "/cygdrive/c/Users/John/AppData/Roaming/UniTrunker/Unitrunker.xml" .
Next we want to pull out only the Radio ID's
grep User Unitrunker.out > uni.out
Which leaves you a file with a bunch of lines that resemble this:
<User id="9681" label="Troop Car 2212P" color="00FF00" lockout="0" rank="50" group="53296" first="20140318174455" last="20140718182323" hits="11" voice="1" mask="1" logon="2" />
Next we issue this command to grab only user ID and Label, it also will move label to the left for easier import into Home Patrol.
paste <(cut -d "\"" -f 4 uni.out) <(cut -d "\"" -f 2 uni.out) > uni1.out
Finally, more often than not, there are a bunch of radio id's that have not been identified or alpha tagged yet, you won't want to import those, so we issue this command to ignore those, and create the text file:
grep -Ev '00FF00' uni1.out > 700ids.txt
You now have a text file that you can load into excel and cut and paste into Sentinel or the GRE program. That User id entry above now looks like this:
Troop Car 2212P 9681 (There is actually a delimiter between 2212P and 9681)
One final caveat to this, if you have several systems in your Unitrunker file, you will have to isolate the system before pulling out the radio id's, otherwise you will wind up with a file with all the id's from all your systems in your Unitrunker setup. By looking for a unique pattern (The system ID is usually a good one), you can do this this the sed command:
Cuts from the top of the file to a pattern match:
sed -n '/pattern/q;p' old_file > new_file
Cuts from a pattern match to the bottom of the file:
sed -n '/pattern/,$p' old_file > new_file
You can combine the 2 commands above if you have a bunch of systems and the one you want is in the middle.
As you can see, this is very specific to how each person has things setup, so there really is no way to come up with a universal setup.
The next segment will show how I take apart a Home Patrol favorite list, and re-assemble it with an updated ID list.
I still have to complete my GPS series, but for now I am changing gears for a bit and going to post how to easily export Radio ID's from Unitrunker, so you can easily cut and paste them into Uniden Sentinel or GREComm software. In my 2nd part to this, I will show you a way to update your Sentinel favorite lists without the hassle of cutting and pasting.
First a warning, unless you are somewhat familiar with Linux, this probably isn't going to be for you. 2nd, before attempting anything like this, BACK UP EVERYTHING. I would go so far to back up your files, move them to another computer if you have one, and make sure they work there. I am not responsible if you make a mess of your stuff.
Unitrunker is a great problem, and for keeping a watch on a trunk system, it is invaluable. You can alpha tag all the talkgroups and radio id's and keep watch for new users and/or new talkgroups. Where it falls short is that it does not really give you an easy way to export the data into something usable. You can load up the unitrunker file in excel and do the manipulation there, however it is messing and time consuming.
It is very simple to export the radio ID"s out. My method requires you to have access to a linux bash shell. This means either a PC with linux on it, running it in a virutal machine, or you can install cygwin (https://www.cygwin.com) and do everything from there.
First step is to copy your Unitrunker.xml file over to a working directory. Before you do, you should hit the "X" on the main unitrunker screen. It will say it saved the data and ask you if you want to quit. We do this to make sure all the updated data has been saved.
Since I have cygwin on the computer that runs unitrunker, I do this:
cp "/cygdrive/c/Users/John/AppData/Roaming/UniTrunker/Unitrunker.xml" .
Next we want to pull out only the Radio ID's
grep User Unitrunker.out > uni.out
Which leaves you a file with a bunch of lines that resemble this:
<User id="9681" label="Troop Car 2212P" color="00FF00" lockout="0" rank="50" group="53296" first="20140318174455" last="20140718182323" hits="11" voice="1" mask="1" logon="2" />
Next we issue this command to grab only user ID and Label, it also will move label to the left for easier import into Home Patrol.
paste <(cut -d "\"" -f 4 uni.out) <(cut -d "\"" -f 2 uni.out) > uni1.out
Finally, more often than not, there are a bunch of radio id's that have not been identified or alpha tagged yet, you won't want to import those, so we issue this command to ignore those, and create the text file:
grep -Ev '00FF00' uni1.out > 700ids.txt
You now have a text file that you can load into excel and cut and paste into Sentinel or the GRE program. That User id entry above now looks like this:
Troop Car 2212P 9681 (There is actually a delimiter between 2212P and 9681)
One final caveat to this, if you have several systems in your Unitrunker file, you will have to isolate the system before pulling out the radio id's, otherwise you will wind up with a file with all the id's from all your systems in your Unitrunker setup. By looking for a unique pattern (The system ID is usually a good one), you can do this this the sed command:
Cuts from the top of the file to a pattern match:
sed -n '/pattern/q;p' old_file > new_file
Cuts from a pattern match to the bottom of the file:
sed -n '/pattern/,$p' old_file > new_file
You can combine the 2 commands above if you have a bunch of systems and the one you want is in the middle.
As you can see, this is very specific to how each person has things setup, so there really is no way to come up with a universal setup.
The next segment will show how I take apart a Home Patrol favorite list, and re-assemble it with an updated ID list.
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