Scan Control - Software in 2 parts

Part I: The Lite Version

by Mike Agner, KA3JJZ

About 2 years ago, I became aware of a package that was being developed to program and control the Uniden scanners. It started with the BC245, and has since added Uniden's programmable scanners (including the new digital trunktrackers) as well as the RadioShack PRO-2052.

As the title implies, the software is a bit unique in that it's sold in 2 parts; you can buy either the lite version (which is a programming only package), or the full version (which includes PC control for all their supported scanners except the BC895). If you buy the lite version, you can later upgrade to the full version. As such, this review will be done in 2 parts; we'll talk about the lite version first, and in the next installment, we'll discuss the full version including the control functions.

Installation
Once you unpack the zip file, you will notice that several DLLs and OCXs are loaded. If this is an upgrade, you can use Control Panel to delete the program safely; any data files you created will not be affected. The installation is clean and went without incident. When you're done, you will have the program and a PDF-based quick start guide. The full user's guide (which is also in PDF format) is available as a separate download. They're both a good sized download (about 3.3 MB each, at last check), so it will take some time on a 56k modem.

Initial Setup
When you double click on the icon for the program, you get a welcome splash screen; the program then proceeds to search the COM ports for a supported scanner and speed. You can cancel out of this procedure by pressing a 'Cancel' button on the message box, and use Scan Control (hereafter SC) as an editor. This is handy if you are building large files that aren't necessarily ready to be uploaded yet. When you decide you're ready, there's a 'Connect Radio' box on the main screen [Figure 1] that will connect your scanner and get it ready for loading. You can even change radios or speeds at will. This is handy in that if you decide to jump to another scanner, you don't need to end your session and come back in.

As with a couple of other programs we've tested, there's a COM port speed slider on the middle left. Experimentation (or perhaps familiarity with other programs that use a similar control) will determine the correct setting for your system. As you use the program, if you have problems uploading or downloading to/from your scanner, decrease this value.

Next, hit the 'Program Options' button, and you get a screen that allows you to configure various options within SC [Figure 2]. For the most part, the options are self explanatory; notice that there are options for controlling the columns and how talkgroups/frequencies are printed.

One box marked 'Delay Flag Default' does deserve a little explanation. This flag comes into play if you decide to clear a bank, or clear an entire file. If this option is checked, all the delay flags will be turned on upon initialization; if not, no delay flags are set.

Once you're done with this screen, press the 'SAVE' button and these options will be saved for future use.

New File
If you wish to start up with a new file (or are programming the scanner for the first time), press the 'New File' button. You'll be asked if you want to clear Scan Control's memory; you will then need to assign a name to the file you will create. A file dialog will pop up [Figure 3]; type in the name you wish. SC will then ask if you wish to wipe out your scanner's memory. You'll then be taken back to the main screen.

Downloading From The Radio
If you already have data in the scanner, SC provides 3 different ways to download it. First off, and perhaps the one that might the simplest of the 3, is to look at the 'Load Fr Radio' box [Figure 1]; there, you simply click the 'from' button, and select 'all channels'. If the bank is trunked, and you have scanlists built, you can select 'all talkgrps'. SC will put the scanner into trunk mode (if required) and load all the scanlists in the radio.

That's fine for unloading all banks, but what if you just want to unload 1 bank? Either hit the 'Edit Bank Memories' button, or double click on the name you want to edit in the Bank Names box. You will be taken to the bank editor form [Figure 4]; in the upper right, you see a box marked 'All Channels'; hit the 'Load' button, and all the frequencies in that bank will be loaded to the form.

A trunking bank is handled a little differently, though. When the load is complete, SC will ask you whether you want to load your talkgroups as well. If you answer yes, SC will again put the scanner into trunk mode and download them.

Alternately, you could say no, then when you're ready (perhaps you're building a large list and want to do it all in 1 session), press the 'Edit Scanlists' button. You will be taken to the scanlists form [Figure 5]. Then press 'Load All ScanLists'. You can even just download 1 bank of scanlists by pressing the 'Load ScanLists' button.

In both cases, check the Clear Tag buttons before proceeding. This button is used when loading frequencies from a scanner that doesn't support alpha tags (like the 245) into one that does. The tags will be cleared from SC's memory; the rationale here is that it's possible you might want to use the same tags in a different scanner; if not, use this button.

What if you simply want to update a couple of channels? SC provides a handy little form called 'Single Channel Update' [Figure 6]. Simply put the cursor on the channel number you want to update and single click. Press 'Load From Radio' and only that channel will be downloaded. Be careful here; it's easy to assume you can update the data here. This form is read only; you must update the data on the edit banks screen.

Load A Pre-Existing File
Press the 'Load File' button, and you'll get a similar file dialog to the one you just saw in the new file section [Figure 7]. This time, click on the file name in the listing, and press OK. The file will be loaded, and you will be taken back to the main screen. If you have named your banks, those names will show up in the 'Bank Names' box; notice that you also see what kind of bank it is (CONV for a conventional bank, for example).

It's worth noting here that SC will upgrade a file from an older model to a newer one; for example, a file for a BC245 can be upgraded to a BC796 file. However, you cannot downgrade a file - go from a BC796 file to a 245, for example. This upgrade happens automatically, but you should check the results to see if any other functions need to be set to satisfy your needs (for example, the 245 doesn't support PL or DCS programming, but the 796 does).

Importing Data
If you have data from another program that you'd like SC to use, you have several options. Press 'Import Data Files'; SC will accept data from some unique sources; ARC250, Winscan, Trunktracker Fleetcall and perhaps the most unique of all, the Senss/BC245int program we reviewed earlier [Figure 8]. If you don't see the name of your file, simply press the 'Show all filetypes' box; this will cause all of your files to be listed. Then press 'IMPORT'; you will get a warning that this action will clear the Scan Control memory, then if you agree, a new filename will be needed. If you have already allocated a new file, use the same name (you'll get a warning about overwriting a file); if not, give it another name.

But that's not all. SC can import data from a .csv file, mapping the following data:

• Frequencies
• Frequency Alpha Tags
• Mode
• Tones
• Step
• Talkgroup ID
• Talkgroup Alpha Tags

Editing Data
To start, access the banks by pressing 'Edit Bank Memories' on the main screen, or double click on the name of the bank you wish to edit in the 'Bank Names' box in the upper right [Figure 1]. If you're typing in a new bank, you can give it a title and change the bank type. SC will warn you that you will need to change the bank type in the scanner. Backspace out the zeros in the frequency box, type in the frequency, then add the alpha tag in the 'channel tag' area; this activates an area called 'Edit Rows' (in the left portion of the screen [Figure 4]). These selections are mostly familiar, except for 'CPT', which means 'Copy Previous Tag'. Note that these options only exist when the cursor is in the 'channel tag' area.

Editing the frequency and channel tag areas is a simple process of putting the cursor in the area, backspacing or changing data as you go. You can, of course, change the bank type, and SC will warn you when you do this. In addition, SC creates a backup file (with a .bak extension), so you can recover from a bad file or if you made a series of mistakes and want to start over.

If you need to clear a bank (perhaps you made some serious mistakes in programming), you can use the 'clear' button in the 'bank actions' area. It only affects Scan Control memory, but will not clear the scanner memory. The single letter abbreviations represent options, and they're defined at the bottom of the screen. Those that aren't supported are greyed out. Just click these on/off as appropriate.

Accessing the tones and other selections in the pink area to the right is done by the use of selection boxes. For example, click the 'tones' column [Figure 9]. The top of the box is read only, so use pull downs to select the the CTCSS (or if supported the DCS) required. A similar function is used to select delay, step and mode; click in a supported column, and a selection box structured very similarly to the tones box is displayed [Figure 10]. Again, it's important to note that SC is aware of what options are available for each radio, so as an example, while step size selection is available for user selection on the 895, mode and a programmable delay are not, and are greyed out.

If you are programming trunk systems, there are a couple of unique selections to use. The 'T'runk box should be checked; you can use the 'L'ockout button to program a dummy control channel that you can use for loading scan lists for systems that are not in your area. On the bottom of the screen you'll find 'AutoTR' - this option will mark all frequencies entered as trunked. This is handy if you're building a file for a large system with many frequencies.

A handy feature for 895 and 2052 users is the 'trunk l/o flip' button. Since these scanners can't scan conventional and trunked frequencies at the same time, this feature flips the lockout so you can either scan this bank as a conventional bank if needed.

If you're defining a trunk bank that requires a fleet map, hit the 'Edit Fleetmap' button, and you get a screen that allows you to either define your size codes, or select a pre defined fleet map [Figure 11]. In the case of a VHF/UHF trunk, you must define a base frequency and offset. SC allows for this by putting a box at the bottom of the screen [Figure 12].

Creating scanlists is very easy. Unlike the Senss software we discussed in an earlier review, SC does not need to be hearing the control channel to access this screen. Press the 'Edit Scanlists' button, and you will be taken to this screen [Figure 5]. Entering data is very similar to the entry actions we talked about in the editing bank screens. If you're defining an EDACS system, you can choose to use agency fleet subfleet (AFS) formats widely recognized on most hobby sites by selecting the 'AFS' button on the bottom left [Figure 13].

Last but not least, you can edit your search banks, if your scanner supports them. Unfortunately, neither the 245 nor the 895 have multiple search banks, so these functions weren't tested. However, the screen shot in the manual details this function nicely.

Once you're done editing, be sure to 'Save' your data. You'll get a file dialog box identical to the one used for allocating files [Figure 3]; simply click on the name you assigned (or loaded) earlier. SC will warn you if you are about to overlay a file.

The Enhanced Copy Screen [Figure 14]
Pressing the 'Copy' button in the Bank Actions box brings up perhaps the most powerful section of the bank editor. The Enhanced Copy Screen allows you to move, export (to a CSV or a clipboard) a bank, import a bank from the clipboard, and copy whole banks. By the way, the export functions are also available by pressing the 'data copy/export' button on the main screen.

This screen is a very powerful tool. As such, it takes a bit of study to use it effectively. There are a couple of rules to keep in mind;

1. There is a significant difference between exporting to a CSV file, and exporting to the clipboard. The clipboard export is intended for moving/transferring banks with SC from one file to another; the CSV export is to be used with external programs such as Excel.
2. The 'move data' option includes an initialization routine for both source and target banks; the source bank will be cleared, while the target bank will have any unused memory cleared. Therefore, use this function with some caution.
3. Be sure to check the 'bank ranges' options and see if they're appropriate for what you want to do. You should note that, when a conventional bank is involved, the 'Scan List Data' and 'Fleet Map Data' options are greyed out, as they're not applicable.

This screen will also copy scanlists for trunking banks. The 'Sloc' boxes are the channel number within the selected scanlists; be sure to check this carefully when trunking banks are involved.

Exporting Data To Other Programs
The Enhanced Copy screen is also used to export data in 2 formats; a clipboard format or to a CSV file. As we noted previously, the major difference is how the data is to be used. The clipboard format [Figure 15] uses the very arcane Uniden protocol, and is really not useful for most folks. When using the clipboard feature, a 'clipboard.dat' file is created; you can delete this file once you're finished; if you don't, it isn't that important as this file is overwritten when the export function is used.

On the other hand, the CSV file format [Figure 16] is a little easier to comprehend. Instead of using the wierd Uniden flags, most of the options are laid out with on/off, auto, or in the case of the PL codes, the actual code instead of the Uniden scheme. With the title and column headings, this should present no problem importing this data into Excel or other spreadsheet products.

Uploading Data To The Scanner
As with downloading data, SC has 3 distinct methods of uploading data, which parallel the downloading functions. If you have built several banks and want to do a complete upload, select the 'to' button in the 'Load Fr Radio' area in the lower left [Figure 1], then press 'all channels'. To load your scanlists, press 'all talkgrps'.

If you are just updating a bank, go to that bank (either double click the name in the Bank Names box or hit 'Edit Bank Memories' and select the bank), and hit 'Program' in the 'All Channels' area. Be aware that if you check the 'Prog 0s' box, empty selections will be zero-filled [Figure 4].

Trunk bank programming needs a bit more attention to detail. If you programmed a fleet map, you must do this first; hit 'Edit Fleet Map' and go to the Fleet Map form [Figure 11]. You'll notice that there's a 'Prog Fleet Map' box. Then after uploading the frequencies, if you have scanlists, press 'Edit Scanlists' on the frequencies form, and you'll be sent to the Scanlists form [Figure 5]. There you can program one bank at a time, or program all the scanlists for that system. Again, SC will automatically attempt to acquire the control channel before the upload begins.

Finally, if you want to update just a couple of channels, use the 'Single Channel Update form' [Figure 6]. On the right, you'll see a box called 'Program to Radio'.

Conclusion
As you can see, SC has a great deal of programming power, and it's attractive for several reasons; you can only use it as a programming package if that's all you need (which makes it a bit cheaper to register). Editing scanlists is always a challenge, particularly for newcomers, and SC makes this easy by separating the editing and uploading functions. There's a very active Yahoo group, where Ken D. (the developer) answers questions, accepts suggestions for improvements and provides technical advice. In fact, he's one of the few developers that do this on a regular basis, and it's both refreshing and commendable.

Additionally, this program is not static, as are so many of the packages we've reviewed in the past. It's constantly evolving, adding new features and fixes which are identified by the users, often through the Yahoo group mentioned earlier. In fact, the next version (3.4) is due for release in July. You can view a list of the new functions and bug fixes on their website (see link below).

If you decide to download the demo version, the only limit is, per Ken D., that only 3 banks can be changed. With all other functions still available, this limitation is not all that bad.

Next time, we'll finish up this review by detailing the full version, which includes the control functions. If this review has gotten you interested, check out their website here. See you next time.

Mike Agner, KA3JJZ
ka3jjz@erols.com