Senss Software - From North of the Border

by Mike Agner, KA3JJZ

When I first got my BC245XLT, there wasn't a whole lot of software, much less freeware, available for computer control. Since I was looking to use my 245 to do some local research, I waited until some messages came across a USENET group about the Senss software (also known as BC245Int).

Originally written by Alain Lefleche, it's now being maintained by a group of folks including Kevin Herzig and others. In addition, I found a Yahoo group devoted to the software- one of the first that I had ever found, in fact.

So I downloaded it, and have been playing with it on and off for several months now. I have installed the software on both my shack PC (a Celeron 500 MHz machine with 64 Mb RAM) and a laptop (Pentium II 200 MHz with 128 Mb RAM), both running Windows 98SE.

Installation
To start, download the bc245int-v243 file from the FTP site (see links at bottom of review). As it installs, it warned me about using and resetting fonts. A rather odd message, I thought; as it turned out, I didn't need to change them as the screens looked fine to me, but this is as much a matter of personal taste as it is a functional one.

Several DLLs are loaded, but there is one gotcha that requires special attention. A file that is usually found in Visual Basic 6.0 Professional or Enterprise edition is required to make the newer versions of the software work. If you don't have this file (called mscomm32.ocx), when you try to execute, the software will fail, giving a message about not being able to open this file. Fortunately, the fix isn't too difficult; you can get the file from someone on the Yahoo list, or download it from a number of resources. Once you have obtained the file it must be registered (that is, written to the Windows registry). With thanks to Pete Duffy, here is the procedure:

1. Select START
2. Click on RUN
3. Enter COMMAND and click OK
4. Enter regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\mscomm32.ocx (for WinXP/2000. mja)
5. [For Win98/98SE: regsvr32 c:\windows\system\mscomm32.ocx mja]
6. Press enter and you should get something like file registered okay.

Once you've done all of this, execute bc245-int.exe. One of the first screens you should see [Figure 1] lets you set the COM port and baud rate. Make sure you set this up correctly. Thankfully, if this isn't set up, you get a message saying 'Scanner Offline' (but most of the data entry functions are still available). That's handy, particularly if you're programming a large system or several banks. If you're all set to go, and your 245 is not connected as yet, you should see the screen like [Figure 2].

Entering Frequencies
Data is stored in the Senss program in 2 files; bank.dat (which holds your frequencies and alpha tags) and idbank.dat (which holds the talkgroups and their alpha tags). The program generates a new set of .dat files the first time you use it.

The way to enter data is by using the program directories. To start entering frequencies, you can either hit F6 or go to the 'memories' pull down, then select 'Edit Frequencies Directory' [Figure 3]. The directory has 2 areas; a list area and a data entry area [Figure 4]. Make sure you are in conventional mode when programming frequencies and in the actual bank you wish to program.

Start by selecting the bank number from the pull down, name the bank and indicate what kind of bank it is (conventional, in this case). You then go down to 'Selected Channel Details'. Tab to the channel in the list you want to enter, then use the pull down to select a 3 character abbreviation for the service you wish to identify the channel. Enter the frequency, then its alpha tag. You can select a delay, lockout or if this channel is to be trunked by selecting the appropriate box.

If you check one of the three boxes, or click on the disk symbol, the entry will be saved in the list. When you are ready, hit the 'scanner' button; after you read a warning about this package being 'beta' software - which it really isn't- press 'OK' and the data will be uploaded. 'OK' on the directory screen will save your data in the file.

Note that there are 2 options for downloading; one will pull data from the scanner, the other from a file. We'll talk about importing in a few minutes, but for now, just be aware that the import function is available here, as well as on the main screen.

As you enter data, you probably will want to insert or move things around. For this, you can use the bank editor; it's available from the 'memories' menu [Figure 3]; select 'banks'. Before you start, it's highly advisable that you copy bank.dat and idbank.dat to some other names as a backup, in case something should go wrong.

The first screen you should select (via tabs) is the bank screen [Figure 5]. Here, you can name the bank and tell what kind of system it represents. You can change the priority channel later, and it'll be reflected here.

The next screen is where you modify frequencies [Figure 6]. Make sure that the mode column says 'trunk' for a trunked system.

Tab to the data you want to change. Notice that this screen doesn't use standard Windows cut/paste controls. The symbols at the bottom of the screen have the following functions:

- = Delete a row
+ = Add new row
I = Insert a row
A = Select the entire bank
X = Cut selected text
C = Copy selected text (to Clipboard)
V = Paste from Clipboard

These selections don't quite work the way you'd expect; for example, the add function doesn't check to see if you are entering a 31st frequency. There are additional cautions; be sure you check the BC245 Tutorial page for a list of them. The author of the page describes how these keys work as 'wonky'; I guess that's as good a description as any.

Even though there are selections for just about everything the 245 is supposed to support, it appears that only the conventional, EDACS and Type 2 Motorola selections actually work.

Import/Export
There is yet another way to get data into/out of the Senss program. Go to the 'memories' menu and select 'export tagged data file'. Once you've created the output, notice that the file contains 3 different kinds of data; all your conventional frequencies [Figure 7], your trunking frequencies [Figure 8] and your scan lists [Figure 9]. The data is presented in a rather odd format. It's bracketed, and deliniated by what looks like the pipe symbol (|). This is the only format this program will export or import (which you can get to from the 'import tagged data file' selection in the 'memories' menu). This format is also used when you try to get data from a file in the directory screens that were described above.

Scanning and Trunking
Scanning is very easy. Just press 'scan' on the upper right hand corner of the screen. The software supports Multi Track correctly, so it will switch between trunking and conventional. [Figure 10] shows an example of the screen while in conventional mode. Notice that the 3 character abbreviation plus the alpha tag appears in the green shaded area. If a delay on this frequency is requested, the 'DLY' changes from black to red. All the active scan banks are indicated in red. The SVC key is the service search key, and works exactly as it would on the scanner.

Searching a range of frequencies is just as easy. Simply add the 2 frequencies into the box on the lower left, and press 'upload'. This uploads the ranges into the scanner; pressing 'SRCH' will begin the operation.

If you are in a conventional manual mode, the up/down arrows in the 'direct seeking' section will move you up or down in your bank. They can even change the direction of your scanning. But they have other, but related, functions, too.

If you type in a channel number in the box labeled 'freq ch', you will go directly to that channel. In this case, the up/down arrows will move you from that point. When you are in 'SRCH' mode, it changes the direction of the search.

The arrows don't work, though, if you simply type in a frequency in the 'frequency' box and hit enter. The 245 will tune to that frequency, but that's it - the arrows won't change it. This is likely due to the fact that the 245 doesn't have an actual 'VFO', as does say, the 895.

An example of a trunking screen (in this example, a type 2 Motorola system) is shown in [Figure 11]. You get a bit more information here; not only do you get the talkgroup and its tag, you get a readout of which frequency is being used as well as the bank name. Take a look at the lower right corner, and you get an indication of which scan banks are active (they're in red), the system type using the Uniden format. The talkgroup information is also repeated here. The last talkgroup encountered is memorized here, so if the scanner switches to conventional mode, it's easy to recall.

Entering Scan Lists
In order to enter your trunk ids for you scan lists, you *must* be in trunking mode. This is not a program fault; it's a firmware requirement for the radio. So, if you have entered trunk frequencies and uploaded them, go back to the main screen and hit 'trunk', then the bank you've programmed.

At this point, if you've programmed everything correctly, you should start seeing trunking IDs (talkgroups if it's a type 2 system you are using) appearing in the green area. While one is showing, hit 'manual' and the display should stop. At this point, you can hit F7, or from the 'memories' menu, select 'Edit ID Directory' [Figure 3]. This will bring you to a screen that is very similar to the frequencies screen you just saw [Figure 12].

It works exactly the same way, except here you must specify the frequency bank (which is always the one that is trunking) and which ID list you are using (remember, you have 10 lists of 100 entries each). Be sure to upload the banks to the scanner using the 'scanner' button, and hit 'OK' to save your work regularly!

The bank editor also has a section for editing your scan ids. You can see this on the third tab in [Figure 6]. It works just like the frequencies editor, except that this time you are moving through your scan banks when you use the slider bar at the bottom of the screen. It's always advisable to copy your idbanks.dat file regularly if you make lots of changes.

Once you're finished, return to trunking mode and hit 'scan'. You should now be using the scan banks you've just defined. Even though the program doesn't support programming modes such as UHF trunking, it will support trunking them.

The 'direct seeking' section has a special function while trunking. If you press 'manual', then enter which scan bank to view in the 'ID' box, and the ID number in 'CH', you will go directly to that ID. In this case, pressing the up/down button will move you up/down in that scan bank. That's very handy for quickly reviewing your scan list. The alpha tag that's associated with each ID is shown in the 'trunking' area.

There are a couple of things to watch. As stated in the 245 manual, type 1 IDs cannot be written as 'xxx-x'; they must be written 'xxx.x'. This is, once again, a firmware issue, not a program bug. If you forget and use the standard AFS notation, the upload will not work.

It seems that EDACS IDs must be entered in decimal format; fortunatly, you can revert to AFS format by pressing the SVC key for 2 seconds on the scanner itself. The Senss program doesn't support this function. In addition, you should be aware that EDACS frequencies *must* be entered in Logical Channel Number (LCN) order or trunking will not work properly.

There are a couple of other notes about entering IDs on the BC245 Tutorial page; please be sure to read both your manual and this page completely.

The File Menu [Figure 13]
There are a couple of interesting selections here. If you are interested in seeing the data that flows between the scanner and the PC, select 'See data computer'. You will get an additional screen beneath the main screen [Figure 14] that shows this data; it will also allow you to send native commands to the scanner (be very careful about doing this!).

If you started the program offline, usually hitting the remote button on the scanner will force the program to connect; if not, you can use the 'reset status' command. I imagine this can also be used if you had a lockup; but I've never had this happen to me (yet!).

As you can see, you can also call a screen to change your setup parameters. In addition, you can disconnect the scanner from the program from this menu. You should note, though, that when you exit the program, it asks you if you want to disconnect the remote anyway.

The Options Menu [Figure 17]
There's lots of people out there that still like to use a keypad; well, you have one here. There's actually 3 ways to get it; press the keyboard symbol next to the SVC key, press F5 or select 'Virtual Keypad' from this list. [Figure 18] shows the result; it appears most every common function is available here.

Need to convert a talkgroup to AFS format? There's a handy little talkgroup converter [Figure 19]. You can only do 1 at a time; it would make it real slow for a good sized system, but it's better than nothing. By the way, it's also available off the Edit IDs directory under 'Convert it'.

There's an option on this menu to use TCP/IP and listen.exe to broadcast audio locally [Figure 20]. I've never used it, but as I understand it you need an encoder such as Winamp to actually transmit the audio. This option is also available when clicking the tiny terminals between the keyboard and light buttons on the main screen.

There's a rather nice logging feature. First, make sure you check 'log enable', then hit 'setup general log' [Figure 21]. You'll then see a list of options that the program will use to write data to the log [Figure 22]. Select whether you want a specific name, or just use the date/time format. I checked everything except the 3 character IDs. You can see the results of my short little test in [Figure 23]. It records both conventional frequency and trunkgroup usage.

Double clicking the 'light' button on the upper right of the main screen turns on the light, but there's a more flexible solution available; - select 'light' and you have 3 options; permanent (which lasts only until you turn the scanner off; it then reverts back to normal mode), automatic (which hangs around even when the scanner is turned off) and off. [Figure 24]

Hearing something that sounds distorted or overdriven? Take a look at the 'center tuning' option. It's also available by hitting control-c. When you use this function, you will then see a little red line moving around the center black line [Figure 25]. Fooling around with this, I soon realized that it wasn't measuring frequency accuracy, but it did seem to indicate audio deviation or a rather crude way of detecting modulation peaks.

I mentioned earlier about how the log records activity, but it doesn't actually count the number of occurances, or the total time on a frequency. The 'statistics' selection will do this [Figure 26]. There are even a couple of different sorting options. However, this screen can't be used for printing; you'll need to copy/paste into Notepad, or use a good screen capture program (such as Print Screen Plus). Notice that here, too, it captures both conventional and trunking data.

When people saw the 'monitoring discriminator' entry, people got excited; it appeared that someone had found a software patch to actually get to the baseband audio. As it turns out, this is something of a misunderstanding; what this selection really does is turns the squelch off. At first, you might think this wasn't very useful, but if you are chasing skip or require a sync signal that the squelch would normally cut out (such as for ACARS), you will appreciate this little gem. On the opposite side of the coin, there is a 'mute' function, and it works just fine :.).

The Mode Menu [Figure 15]
If you want a smaller display, there are 2 options; smartview and popup. Smartview can be accessed off the 'mode' menu. The big display we have been using disappears, and [Figure 16] appears in its place. You might want to turn the virtual keypad back on so you can control the scanner; press the 'key' selection.

Popup (which is also available on the mode menu, or on the smartview menu at the right) is a little different as it's supposed to show up only when a signal breaks the squelch. This function didn't work all that well on my machine; sometimes it worked, sometimes not. It appears the longer the signal stayed active, the more reliable it became.

As you can see, some of the more common scanning functions are available as keyboard commands.

The Help Screen [Figure 27]
The help screen really isn't much help. There's descriptions of some functions, and part of the pull down is actually devoted to mIRC chat and TCP/IP. The functions and items that are described include:

• A screen that explains the 3 character abbreviations used in the directories screens [Figure 28]
• A brief narrative on center tuning [Figure 29], which as I noted before, really isn't.

1. Include programming support for the other systems, such as hybrid, type 1 fleet map programming, and VHF/UHF trunking;
2. Change the bank editor so it uses standard Windows conventions for cut, paste, etc.
3. The import/export function should be changed so it writes standard .csv or comma delimited files. These file types are recognized by just about every database, spreadsheet and word processor program, regardless of operating system. There was some suggestion about supporting Access databases, but that begs the question about which version, and how to allow for older versions?
4. The tutorial page on the web is pretty good, but the fact is that this program really needs a good context sensitive help system.
5. Remove the functions that are no longer necessary or working, such as the Chat boxes at the bottom
6. I think some of the functions, such as center tuning, are really misnomers. Alain (the original author of this program) is from the Montreal area, so his English can be a bit on the rough side; some parts of the program would benefit from a cleanup and review by a native English speaker.
7. Include mscomm32.ocx in the distribution package, and have the installation procedure check for, and install this file, if necessary.
8. I read on the list that you can change the fonts by right-clicking on the portion of the screen you want to change. I think that's a XP/2000 function, as it doesn't work on my 98SE system. A better solution is to have a pull down with font changes by screen area.
9. One badly needed improvement is the ability to load different data files. Right now, this software is slaved to using idbank.dat and bank.dat; you cannot name different data files for different areas.
10. The logging function seems to be persistent; if you turn it on, and later you decide to deselect it (say a couple of days later), the program continues to create a log file.
11. The ID directory should only be available when the program is in trunking mode. Right now there doesn't appear to be any edit to check for this, and this can be confusing to a newcomer.
12. Allow the statistics to be printed, either to a printer or as a file.
13. The AFS converter is really slow if you have to convert dozens of talkgroups. A better approach is to highlight the talkgroups column and have the converter do this in one fell swoop.

There's been much talk about a new version, but as of this writing, nothing has materialized. Once this happens, a great freeware program will become even better.

Update: March 1, 2004
In my review of the BC245Int program, I briefly mentioned one of the options to utilize TCP/IP to listen to the 245 remotely. I don't have a LAN over which to test this, but I did get a message from Craig Orban of Saskatchewan Canada, who provides us with this explanation. Thanks, Craig!

Having used it I'll say that perhaps a better name could of been used but then Alain's English translation could be improved in some spots. It really is a remote control feature that allows one to physically control the radio via the internet or LAN. Bank selection, the entering of search ranges and some of the features of the BC245 like delay, attenuation, etc. can be set.

I would think for most people wanting to use this feature they'll have to do a little configuration of their firewall if their using one otherwise this feature will appear not to work.

It serves no function in the broadcasting of audio - period. One would need to set-up Windows Media Encoder or use an online service if they want that functionality.

With the software properly set-up one would select "Listen" to select the local port (i.e.. 1025) that remote users would access. Then if "Auto Listen" isn't already checked then one would do that. The software then indicates that it's "listening" for a remote connection - I guess that's where Alain thought up the name? The remote users would load the LISTEN.EXE application on the remote computer (by the way it doesn't install any add'l files or muck with the registry) and select the terminal icon to connect. At that point they enter the IP address and port number and voila - they're connected. Works pretty slick with minimal fuss.

The LISTEN.EXE app provide pretty much the same feedback as the main program with the exception of trunked ID's - it'll display the tag but not the talkgroup number. Also, with the main program banks selected show up red (as opposed to black) when selected for scanning. This isn't the case with LISTEN.EXE.

Mike Agner, KA3JJZ
ka3jjz@erols.com

Related Links
The program: ftp://q2.herzig.net/pub/bc245
The Tutorial page: http://www.mousetrap.net/~mouse/scanner/245itut.html
The Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bc245int