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It wasn't that many years ago that radio hobbyists were hard pressed to find
a handful of software offerings for the few radios that supported computer
interfaces. With more and more radios now catering to the increased user base
who demand a way to use their PC to program their billion-channel radio, the
ranks of software vendors, both professional and hobbyist, has swelled by
leaps and bounds. With all the packages out there, it gives users many
different choices (which is good) but makes it all the more difficult to choose
the one that suits your needs.
One supplier who came onto the scene a few years back has continued to grow in popularity with both hobbyists and professional users is BuTel. Located in the Netherlands, they have proven receptive to the average radio users and continue to expand their offerings for today's most popular radios. Their latest package supports Uniden's latest marvel, the BC780XLT, and joins the ranks of other vendors selling similar offerings. What sets BuTel's software apart? Let's take a look and see just what it has to offer... What follows are my personal impressions regarding the features and usability of this software. This, in no way, should be viewed as an endorsement to purchase this software nor is it intended to discourage anyone from buying it. These are simply thoughts offered to my fellow hobbyists who may be interested in purchasing this particular software or simply knowing more about it. A lot of hard work and effort has gone into the testing and writing of this review. I would appreciate it if every effort is made to keep this document whole with me as the original author. Of course, it doesn't hurt that this document is copyrighted and therefore protected by US law and international treaties governing intellectual property. Except for personal use, and for the sake of brief passages quoted in reviews and given appropriate credit, no part of this work may be reproduced in any forms or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the author. And if you want to share your thoughts about this review with me or have further questions, feel free to send e-mail. Thank you and enjoy!
Rich Wells |
The ARC780 web page states that the program can be run under all flavors of Windows from the ancient 3.1 right up to the most recent XP incarnation. Program exclusions include no support for USB users nor for those who use a PC simulator running on a Mac. For the purposes of this review, I ran it under Windows 98SE.
Besides the usual program files, also installed are two, user-editable files: one to edit the radio's bandplan (frequency ranges and the mode and step size to be used) and extended search ranges.
ARC780 is shareware which allows you to download and try it (with some features disabled). If you like it, you can return to the BuTel web site and pay the US $29 (Euro 39) fee to obtain a registration key which, when entered into the program, unlocks all of its features. Future upgrades to the program are also available for free.
Communications Setup
Before you start the program, it's a good idea to make sure your BC780XLT is
on, connected properly to your PC to a known COM port with a normal RS-232
cable and that the baud rate for the radio has been set to 19200.
After starting the program, you'll want to go to the menu bar and under the BC780 option you'll want to select Rs232 Communication Setup. This will bring up a handy screen which allows you to select the COM port (1-8 or Other) and baud rate as well as containing handy instructions for ensuring a proper connection to your BC780XLT.
Startup
Starting the program should fill the screen with what I like to refer to as the
data manager system
(Figure).
Most of the real estate is taken up by a grid which resembles a multi-tabbed
spreadsheet. Above this are data entry "widgets", a tool bar and the expected
menu bar. Taking everything in the first time, it's a bit easy to be
overwhelmed and not know where to start.
Reading and Writing
Since I already had useful data contained in my 780, I found it useful to
select the Read Data From Scanner option. This provided a dialog window which
prompted me for what data to upload
(Figure).
Options include all banks, just one bank or a range of user-specified channels.
As far as what data is uploaded from the specified bank(s), options include the
ability to select frequencies, trunk bank settings, trunk bank IDs and search
events.
Since this was my first time using ARC780, I selected to read all banks and all data from my 780. Once I gave the command to start, a handy percentage indicator appeared letting me know how fast things were being transferred as well as giving a warm fuzzy that the program is actually doing something. Each channel takes about 1 second to download and empty channels whiz by at about 10 per second. For all of the conventional programming data it took about 2 minutes to read. To read all of the trunking data took about another two. And reading all the search event data took about 30 seconds. Once done, I quickly saved the info to a file as a base reference should any disaster wipe out all or even some of my 780 programming.
With data now readily available on the screen, I could tweak it to my heart's content (which is usually in the form of editing bank, channel and search event alpha-tags which are the most arduous to perform via the front panel). Once all of the data was changed to my liking, it was time to send it back down to the 780 to make use of. Simply selecting the Send Data To Scanner began set the process in motion. Again, I was prompted for which bank(s) and what data were to be sent to the scanner. Once the selections were made, I simply clicked on the Send Data button and sat back to watch the update info as it did its thing.
Data Manager
Getting back to the data manager screen, new users should spend some time
looking over the large assortment of editing features available via the menu
and tool bars. Data for each channel is presented on a single line with each
column representing a specific channel attribute. Using the tabs just above
the data grid, it's easy to navigate between banks since the current screen
shows just one bank which is called the current bank.
For immediate editing of data, you can simply use the mouse to move the cursor focus onto the data grid (the part that looks like a spreadsheet). Moving around is as simple as using the arrow keys or the Tab key. Of course you can use the mouse but I find it much more efficient to strictly use the keyboard instead of having to continually reach over to the mouse and then bring my hand back to the keys.
As you do navigate the various data cells, you'll notice that the line above the grid changes to display data input field values. You can use these field values to input cell data or simply type in the desired value. Frequency values can be entered directly and for fields like the receive mode, typing the first character of the mode suffices to select that mode. For other fields, simply pressing the space bar cycles through the possible choices.
The usual cut, copy and paste operations are provided which allows frequency and alpha-tag data to be copied from another application. There are also cut, copy and paste of entire lines which allows you to easily move data within or between banks. Other handy editing operations include the ability to copy, move or swap individual channels or the contents of entire banks. An easy method to move one channel around within a bank is to use the shift function which allows it to be moved up and down one line at a time.
To make room for new data, the insert empty line function can be used. The current line or selected lines can also be cleared of all contents and there's the same function which does the same thing for an entire bank. A similar remove operation not only clears the current/selected lines of contents but then removes them from the bank with all higher channels moving down in number. The last clear operation to cover is that which clears the contents of all locked out channels.
A find feature allows specified text to be located in either the frequency or alpha-tag field of the current bank or all banks. Another find feature is one which locates duplicate channel data either in the current bank or in all banks. The user can decide whether the PL tone is used or not when considering if entries are duplicates. If duplicates are located, a handy function is available which can be used to remove them.
Most scanners scan the quickest when their frequencies are programmed in ascending order. It's also useful to do so to help locate specific channels without having to slog through them all. To help keep frequencies in order, there is a function which can order a bank's contents by frequency in either ascending or descending order.
Getting back to the chore of data entry, there are a few other functions which have been included to make life a lot easier. The first is the Fill Down feature which can be used to replicate the contents of a single cell into selected cells above or below it. Another useful feature is to have ARC780 examine a banks contents and compare the frequency to its receive mode and step size against the selected bandplan. Any discrepancies are then fixed, making each mode and step conform to its proper value for each frequency per the bandplan data.
ARC780 also provides a "dummy bank" which can be as a sort of scratchpad to experiment with. Use this bank to create new contents and tweak them to your liking without fear of messing up any other bank data. If you like what you create, simply use the copy, move or swap functions to transfer the dummy bank contents into one of the 10 normal banks. After this, it's just a few more mouse clicks to download into your 780 for use!
One feature that strikes me as odd is Easy Fill. When selected, this feature displays a dialog and instructions on how to use it properly. In its most basic sense, you specify a starting frequency, step size and a number of channels to operate on. Once activated, Easy Fill will program the specified channels, starting with the base frequency and incrementing it by the specified step size for each successive channel. What this does, effectively, is to program a search range into the memory channels.
To make sure you get the full use out of ARC780's features, save a copy of your 780's data into a test file, load it and then experiment with the various features until you understand how they work. Once done, you'll being to truly appreciate the benefits of computer-aided scanning!
Bandplan
Supplied in the ARC780 program directory is a user-editable file for changing
the default band plan of the BC780. The band plan for any radio simply consists
of a series of frequency ranges and instructs the radio which receive mode and
step size to tune when the current frequency is within that range. And while it
is nice for the BC780 to automatically select these values for use, it is
handy to have a way to edit the bandplan should individual needs depart from
normal listening needs.
To change the bandplan data, the appropriate file must be located in the install directory and edited accordingly. It's easy to do but I would have preferred an editor window to make this lest arduous. I was also put off by the fact that when receive modes and step sizes are specified, you must use code values (like 0 for FM, 1 for WFM, etc.) instead of the actual modes or step sizes.
Data Import/Export
Computers help to automate many, boring tasks and what better device to use
when moving data between your radio and other applications. Not only are there
a number of frequency directories available to most listeners, the availability
of the Internet opens up a vast field of data to be tamed. Luckily, ARC780
includes a number of features to help you migrate data between other
applications.
Should you save two or more different files with BC780 memory contents, it's possible to use ARC780's import feature to scan one of these files for frequency, trunking or search event data to be imported into the data grid. Once a file has been selected, ARC780 will parse it and display a window with the results. This data can then be examined and then pasted into any of the banks. This makes it easy to build multiple files which contain shared data with each giving the 780 a different "personality" once downloaded.
Another file type which can be parsed and read in is Icom's ICF format. For US users, the web site www.icomreceivers.com can be used to look up PerCon's FCC frequency data and then save the results to a local file in ICF format. Once done, it's easy for ARC780 to read this file and copy the desired contents into the data grid for download into the 780.
Speaking of web sites, most of us are aware of the large amount of data that can be found on various users sites. Using ARC's Webcatcaher feature, it's easy to display a frequency data page in your web browser, highlight the desired data, copy it to the Windows clipboard and from there, ARC780 can read it, parse it and allow you to paste the data into the data grid.
The last and most complex import feature is that of the Advanced Data Filter. This is used to read data from either files (CSV, TXT or tab), the Windows clipboard or a web page. ARC780 will parse the specified data for frequency info and display it for the user to verify. From there, selected data can be copied directly to the data grid into the specified channels.
The one, supported data export feature allows either a bank, all banks or search event data to be written to a file of your choosing using the comma separated format (CSV). This format is supported by most word processing and spreadsheet programs which allows ARC780 data to be manipulated by other applications in whatever way the user desires.
Trunking Data
ARC780 provides two windows which are used to display and modify the trunking
data associated with the BC780. The first window is for the scan lists and
contained trunking IDs
(Figure).
From this window it is possible to edit the trunking IDs and their associated
alpha-tags for any scan list within any bank along with associated record and
alert beep settings. The alpha-tags for the scan lists themselves are also
displayed and can be edited here.
Just like the conventional data grid, there are provided several functions to allow IDs and lists to be copied, moved or swapped either within or between banks. Also provided is a dummy scan list for temporary or experimental work.
The second trunking data window is used to set up bank parameters regarding specific trunked system information (Figure). It is here that the trunking type is displayed (Motorola, Ericsson or LTR) and can be changed along with all of the associated data parameters for the selected type.
Search Data
The BC780XLT made great strides in providing ten user-defined search ranges
and ARC780 allows you to easily program them without having to slog through the
Menu system to do so. This feature brings up a window dedicated to displaying
and editing search event data
(Figure).
There is a button to read the BC780's current search data which is then
displayed. This data can be edited at will (and consists of start/end frequency
pairs, receive mode, step size and alpha-tag) and then sent back to the BC780
for use. There's even a dedicated dialog to help manage the list of search
lockout frequencies
(Figure).
There is also a facility in this window which allows any of the 200 search range extender events (see below) to be pasted into any of these 10 default search ranges quickly and easily.
Search Range Extender
While there are some of us who will find the BC780's 10 search events more than
will ever be needed, there are some of us who feel that this is just not
enough. With today's wide range receivers, twenty is closer to a more useful
number. Luckily, ARC780 has stepped up to the plate and provided a whopping 200
definable search ranges which should satisfy even the most hungry of power
users.
Installed with the program files is a user-editable file titled search.txt. It is this file that can be edited to provide up to 200 different search ranges. My file came with 18 search ranges pre-programmed for immediate use.
Should you decide to create your own extended ranges, you'll need to use an editor to edit the file (there's no facility within ARC780 to do so, bummer). Each entry of the file is contained on one line and must contain the lower and upper frequency limits, receive mode, step size and band name.
Once the file is edited accordingly, ARC780's Search Range Extender feature can be activated. This displays the search range contents in a separate window and allows the user to start and stop a search of a selected range as well as change the search direction and lock out undesired frequencies (Figure).
Once a range is selected and started, the relevant search data parameters are transferred to the BC780 into search event 10 and a search operation is begun for this event. Just remember that this feature effectively erase any previous contents of search event 10 so be sure to reprogram it for field operation if you need to do so before disconnecting from your PC.
BC780 Other Options
When selected from the menu bar, this function display a small window which
indicates the miscellaneous settings for the BC780
(Figure).
Included here are fields for the dimmer setting, screen mask, key beep, enter
lock, PC parameters, data skip and squelch control. There are also fields
provided for the Search Events delay, attenuator and record settings.
Two buttons at the bottom of the window allow these settings to be read from the 780 and displayed for verification. Once done, they can be changed at will and then another button is used to send them back down to the 780 to take effect.
And be careful on this window for this found the Reset control which will wipe erase all of the 780's contents and return it to its just shipped from the factory condition. Of course, this isn't a dangerous action since all users will first back up their 780's entire contents to file as soon as they start ARC780 the very first time!
Virtual Control
ARC780 provides more features than just the upload, download and manipulation
of BC780 scanner data. Selecting the Virtual Control option from the menu bar
brings down the data grid screen and replaces it with a new window
(Figure).
This window is designed to allow control over and provide the status of your BC780 during normal operation. Provided on the screen is a representation of the 780's LCD and below it a panel of buttons which replicate the buttons on the radio's front panel.
The virtual LCD provides the user with all the same indicators and test that are found on the 780 LCD. But the good part about this LCD is that its text is render in a large font making it much easier to read. Those who are use to the "real" 780 LCD will likely have to get use to the location of some of the virtual LCD's indicators since they have been moved.
The S-meter is also replicated although it is labeled "Busy" instead of the "S" label found on the real LCD. Some nice addition are the display of the step size and a center tuning indicator, neither of which are found on the real LCD.
One thoughtful touch is the ability to change the colors of the text and indicators of the virtual LCD. Selecting a button at the bottom of the screen brings up a dialog which contains entries for the background, foreground, info, S-meter (two levels) and active bank colors (Figure).
As mentioned earlier, below the virtual LCD is a grid of buttons designed to mimic the function of the radio's actual keypad and controls. Using the mouse, it is a simple matter to control the radio just as though you were pressing the real buttons with your fingers. You can even manipulate the MENU system although it is a bit slow to slog through this level of intricacy.
One of the nicest features of this virtual keypad is that it provides direct access to some of the more often used MENU features just by clicking on a single button. These include direct access to the receive mode, step size, attenuator, audio mute, data skip and squelch mode.
At the bottom of the keypad is a refresh timer control which allows you to balance how often the virtual LCD is updated (compared to the real LCD contents) versus the amount of system resources used and overall PC response time. Increasing the timer value will create less frequent screen updates (so that the virtual LCD will lag behind the real LCD) but any other running programs will be largely unaffected. Decreasing the timer will refresh the virtual LCD more often but have an impact on the throughput of other programs.
Also available on this screen is a tab which replaces the virtual keypad with access to the search range extender. Just like its usage from the data grid, any of the 200 available user-defined search ranges can be started, paused, change direction and lock out undesired frequencies. There's even control, at this level, of the attenuator and delay value (Figure).
Help System
If ARC780 has a weak spot, it would be its Help system. With very little
software coming with printed manuals these days, it's very important for
developers to fully document their programs. This can be done with the hooks
provided by the Windows Help system or a well-managed web page. ARC780 relies
primarily on its Help system accessed from the main menubar and it could be
much more helpful than it is.
Certain features aren't documented and many features are sparsely commented on. Even though BuTel is in the Netherlands, the help system is in English but it would benefit from a scrubbing by an English-speaking person to weed out the misspellings and grammatical errors.
It would also be helpful if all the windows had Help buttons on them to launch context-sensitive help for each window to cut down on the amount of hunting one has to do to try and locate details about more obscure details.
Luckily, ARC780, like most of the ARC products, are relatively straight forward to use so require little in terms of documentation. But those who are new to the hobby need all the help they can get since they are already overloaded with both manufacturer and then software terminology with regards to features and functions. And even us old salts like to have confirmation as to the exact meaning of certain functions since we've been burned in the past and have spent previous minutes or hours reprogramming our radios after a particular blunder that could have been avoided.
Things I Like
My biggest wish for ARC780 would be a "professional" level which provides the more advanced features like audio logging and the ability to log and plot statistics regarding received signals. This would definitely take more work and increase the product price for this "professional" version but I think it would be well received by many users.
Building on their past successes, extensive radio support, excellent customer support, extensive operating system support and program reliability and ease of use, adding more features to its repertoire would serve to broaden BuTel's offerings and make them even more popular with the hobbyist community.
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If you are interested in giving ARC780 a spin, please stop by the BuTel web site and download your copy today. For further details, please write them at info@butel.nl.
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| Copyright © 2010 by Richard J. Wells |
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