Uniden GPS capable scanners
PFD Mike, Thu Oct 21 2010, 09:38pm
Is anyone using a GPS receiver with a scanner? What GPS receiver are you using? I was thinking of playing around with it on my 996.
Any thoughts on this would be great.
Re: Uniden GPS capable scanners
w2lie, Fri Oct 22 2010, 02:34am
I never setup my radios to use GPS because of the hassle of setting up coordinates for everything in my scan list.
True, things have now gotten easier if you import using Radio Reference's database and a program that supports its SOAP.
I would like to try GPS with my Home Patrol. I would really have to set the distance pretty tight to see it work at all.
From what I gather, a regular GPS with NMEA serial output is all you need.
Re: Uniden GPS capable scanners
PFD Mike, Fri Oct 22 2010, 03:23am
I'm looking for a small GPS receiver and it was more to experiment with to see if there is a real use for the feature.
Re: Uniden GPS capable scanners
w2lie, Fri Oct 22 2010, 04:55am
I would think if you do a lot of "windshield time" you may want to have the GPS enabled, but on your daily commute - I don't know.
If you were driving from NY to Florida, you could use the GPS to lock all the NY systems when were far enough away from the Geotagged point of the systems in NY, and it would turn on the banks (um systems) that you were coming closer to based on their Geotags.
IMHO, it is a novelty here on Long Island, but if you DID play around with it, I would love to know how it works for you. Shoot, maybe I'll have to dig out my old serial GPS and play too
Re: Uniden GPS capable scanners
PFD Mike, Tue Oct 26 2010, 09:10pm
I Picked up a GPS receiver really cheap.
Here are the preliminary results -
Location Based scanning works great, however realistic use would make it impractical for local usage.
What I mean is if you were traveling great distances it is probably pretty cool, but if you wanted to enable GPS based scanning for - Lets say the State Police on the parkways you would have to make numerous sites/systems and would just be too tedious (realistically). It could be done - You would probably end up doing a ton of 1/2 mile to 1 mile radius's (size depending on your personal preferences).
The POI, Dangerous Crossing, and Dangerous Road - feature seemed to be more use locally.
You could program the location of intersections with "Red light cameras" or other hazards. You can even set the heading and speed limit for the Dangerous Crossing, and Dangerous Road alerts.
It may be realistic to have the scanner control Fire Divisions/Battalions, but individual towns seem to be more of a pain.
I guess if the area to scan is wide it seems like it might be worthwhile anything narrow (long) will probably be more of a pain.
Also because the radius of the GPS enabled scanning - you will have some overlap with sites/systems.
I'm sure it has its use - probably on a bigger scale.
If anyone plays with this - Post your thoughts on the site.
PFD Mike, Thu Oct 21 2010, 09:38pm
Is anyone using a GPS receiver with a scanner? What GPS receiver are you using? I was thinking of playing around with it on my 996.
Any thoughts on this would be great.
Re: Uniden GPS capable scanners
w2lie, Fri Oct 22 2010, 02:34am
I never setup my radios to use GPS because of the hassle of setting up coordinates for everything in my scan list.
True, things have now gotten easier if you import using Radio Reference's database and a program that supports its SOAP.
I would like to try GPS with my Home Patrol. I would really have to set the distance pretty tight to see it work at all.
From what I gather, a regular GPS with NMEA serial output is all you need.
Re: Uniden GPS capable scanners
PFD Mike, Fri Oct 22 2010, 03:23am
I'm looking for a small GPS receiver and it was more to experiment with to see if there is a real use for the feature.
Re: Uniden GPS capable scanners
w2lie, Fri Oct 22 2010, 04:55am
I would think if you do a lot of "windshield time" you may want to have the GPS enabled, but on your daily commute - I don't know.
If you were driving from NY to Florida, you could use the GPS to lock all the NY systems when were far enough away from the Geotagged point of the systems in NY, and it would turn on the banks (um systems) that you were coming closer to based on their Geotags.
IMHO, it is a novelty here on Long Island, but if you DID play around with it, I would love to know how it works for you. Shoot, maybe I'll have to dig out my old serial GPS and play too
Re: Uniden GPS capable scanners
PFD Mike, Tue Oct 26 2010, 09:10pm
I Picked up a GPS receiver really cheap.
Here are the preliminary results -
Location Based scanning works great, however realistic use would make it impractical for local usage.
What I mean is if you were traveling great distances it is probably pretty cool, but if you wanted to enable GPS based scanning for - Lets say the State Police on the parkways you would have to make numerous sites/systems and would just be too tedious (realistically). It could be done - You would probably end up doing a ton of 1/2 mile to 1 mile radius's (size depending on your personal preferences).
The POI, Dangerous Crossing, and Dangerous Road - feature seemed to be more use locally.
You could program the location of intersections with "Red light cameras" or other hazards. You can even set the heading and speed limit for the Dangerous Crossing, and Dangerous Road alerts.
It may be realistic to have the scanner control Fire Divisions/Battalions, but individual towns seem to be more of a pain.
I guess if the area to scan is wide it seems like it might be worthwhile anything narrow (long) will probably be more of a pain.
Also because the radius of the GPS enabled scanning - you will have some overlap with sites/systems.
I'm sure it has its use - probably on a bigger scale.
If anyone plays with this - Post your thoughts on the site.