User`s guide

ScanControl

One Program, Multiple Scanners, Made in USA

• DataGrabber SmartTag – Enables / disables automatic alpha tag abbreviation during

DataGrabber pastes. When enabled, commonly found phrases like "Police Dept" or "Public

Service" are automatically abbreviated to "PD" and "Pub Svc" during the paste process. This

results in shorter alpha tags that don't have their right end characters "chopped off" in

ScanControl and in the radio's display. The list of phrases can be found in the file named

“SmartTags.cfg” which is located in the ScanControl Installation Directory ( Default is

“c:\program files\ScanControl” ) and can be amended by adding phrase pairs to the end of the

file using any text editor. MAKE A COPY OF THE ORIGINAL SMARTTAGS.CFG FILE

BEFORE AMENDING IT IN CASE IT NEEDS TO BE RESTORED. A phrase pair is a simple

two word pair record with the words separated by a comma. A valid word pair would be [US,

United States] without the brackets. The first word [US] is the desired abbreviation and the

second word or phrase [United States] is the phrase to be abbreviated. If the user amends new

phrase pairs to the file it is recommended the user make a copy of the updated file using a

different file name so it can be restored after a software upgrade (the upgrade will replace the

SmartTags.cfg file with a default list).

• DataGrabber Tag Prefix – Enables / disables automatic prefixing in bank style, non DMA

radios. This option uses the "Group" name from RR.COM as an automatic prefix for the alpha

tag going into a channel or talkgroup ID during a DataGrabber paste. If a group of frequencies is

titled "Chesterfield County" in RR.com and there are 20 frequencies with their alpha tags in the

group, the DataGrabber will append "Chesterfield Co" to the beginning of each alpha tag for

each frequency. This makes the tags more meaningful when you're pasting a large number of

channels from several groups into a bank during one paste step.

• DataGrabber Tag Pref - Selection for the DataGrabber alpha tag data source. The

DataGrabber can use either the Alpha Tag field or the Description field on the

radioReference.com web page for the alpha tag information during the DG Paste process. This

option lets the user determine which is preferred. The selection is not absolute. If Alpha Tag is

preferred but there is no Alpha Tag the DataGrabber will use the Description if one is available.

If Description is preferred and there is no Description the DataGrabber will use the Alpha Tag if

one is available.

• Comm Rate Slide Bar – Adjustment for the communications interface between the scanner and

ScanControl running on your PC. ScanControl communicates with the scanner asynchronously

through the serial port. Since much of that communication dialogue is timing dependent

ScanControl needs a way to compensate for differences in PC speed, CPU loading and overall

performance. This slider bar allows the user to “slow down” or “speed up” the communications

handshaking to accommodate these differences. The small window below the slide bar displays

the relative value selected (number from 1 to 19) with the default being a value of 10. The

optimum setting for most radios is between 11 and 14. If you change this setting the new value

will be stored as part of your session settings and recalled upon each future use of ScanControl.

OPERATING TIP: If you are experiencing problems using ScanControl such as losing the

connection to the radio, garbled or missing data in the radio or other error messages, selecting

a lower number on the control should help correct this problem. If ScanControl is operating

properly but appears to be running too slowly selecting a higher number on the control should

increase performance. The caution, however, is if you increase the value too much the

program may become unstable and communications with the scanner may cease to function

until you reduce the setting back to an operating value.