ScanNow for AR8000

The Computer Controlled Scanning Software

What is it?

ScanNow is a computer scanner control program. "Yet another computer scanner control program?" - you ask. Yes, in some sense, - and no. ScanNow was written as a result of dissatisfaction with programs currently available on the market and full of unique features not found in other programs. It is also much smaller and cheaper than any other program with similar capabilities. You can run ScanNow in the background as it takes very little screen estate and doesn't consume much resources. Yet, it provides you with a standard set of capabilities you would expect from such a program (searching, scanning over selected frequencies, etc.) plus some more.

Following is a full list of ScanNow features:

Very small (less than 1MB)
Takes very little screen estate
Hierarchical frequency database (accessed as a tree)
Frequencies stored in normal text files
Controls organized into panels for easy access
Frequency range search (in background)
Scan over multiple frequencies (in background)
Spectrogram display for range search
Activity-over-time display for frequency scan
Manual scanner tuning panel
Direct console for sending commands to the scanner

Download

ScanNow 1.0 for Windows NT/95 (registered)
[#]

ScanNow 1.0 for Windows NT/95 (unregistered)

[#] AR8000 Serial Interface from Javiation
[#] AR8000 Serial Interface from CAT Technologies
[#] Homebrewn AR8000 Serial Interface

Availability

ScanNow is now available for general audience! You can download a shareware version of ScanNow from this page. It is fully functional but will not save frequency database into a file or upload anything to the scanner.

The complete version of ScanNow is available for only $35US. While this fee is low enough to make it affordable to anyone, it will allow me to continue development of this software. You can obtain registered copy in one of following ways:

ORDER ON THE WEB
Tell your WWW browser to go to

http://www.digibuy.com/cgi-bin/order.html?296825+93485169518
and use the online form to register ScanNow. This service is provided by DigiBuy. You can pay with a credit card: MasterCard, Visa, Amex, or Discover. The software will be emailed to you as soon as I receive the notification from DigiBuy.
ORDER BY PHONE
Call one of the following numbers in US:

1-800-242-4775 (extension 15674)
1-713-524-6394 (extension 15674)

and refer to product #15674 (ScanNow). This service is provided by DigiBuy. You can pay them with a credit card. Don't forget to give them your email address. The software will be emailed to you as soon as I receive the notification from DigiBuy.
ORDER BY MAIL
Send cash, checks, or international money orders to address below. Don't forget to include your email address and mention that you want ScanNow (as I'm selling several other products as well). The software will be emailed to you as soon as I receive the money.

Marat Fayzullin
3030 Southview Road
Ellicott City, MD 21042
USA

ScanNow is based on a C++ library designed to control scanners in general and AR8000 in particular. It will be freely available from this site for anybody who wants to write scanner control applications.

Requirements

To run ScanNow, you will need the following:

IBM-PC compatible computer
About 2MB of harddrive space
An unused serial port
Windows NT or 95 (support for more OSes is coming)
AR8000 scanner (support for other scanners is coming)
Interface to connect AR8000 to the serial port

Tutorial

Following tutorial will show you how to use ScanNow and demonstrate some of the features available in the program. Click on the tabs to see different panels.

Manual Tuning
Frequency Database
Scanning
Searching
Frequency Hunting
Direct Access
General Settings
Scanner Features

Manual Tuning

Manual Tuning Panel

This is the Manual Tuning Panel which appears when you start ScanNow. From this panel, you can tune scanner to any frequency as if you were using its built-in keyboard. There is also simplified access to the modulation type, step size, and other parameters. Accessing them via AR8000's keyboard is somewhat difficult as it requires pressing the FUNC button.

Frequency Database

Frequency Panel

The Frequency Panel provides you with access to the frequency database. All frequencies are organized in a tree structure. There are two kinds of entries in this structure, marked with different icons:

Wave signs mark ranges of frequencies.
Antennae signs mark actual frequencies.

Any frequency or range can be edited using the panel at the right. ScanNow will not allow to set frequencies not supported by the receiver, nor will it allow to narrow a range entry if this causes some of its descendants to go out of range.

To enter a frequency entry (as opposed to a range entry), simply set its From and To fields to the same frequency, or uncheck the Range box.

When you press the right mouse button on the frequency tree, a pop-up menu appears with the following options:

New [Ctrl+N]
Make a new entry. If you are currently at a range entry, the new entry will be created inside that range. Otherwise, it will be created in the parent range of a currently selected entry.
Cut [Ctrl+X]
Cut currently selected entry with all its descendants. It can be later pasted back with the Paste option.
Paste [Ctrl+V]
Paste an entry cut with the Cut back into the tree. If you are currently at a range entry, the new entry will be pasted inside that range. Otherwise, it will be created in the parent range of a currently selected entry. Paste will fail if the entry being pasted is out of destination entry's range.
Scan [Ctrl+A]
Add currently selected entry to the Scan Panel. Scanning will start immediately after adding first entry.
Load [Ctrl+L]
Load entire frequency tree from a file.
Save [Ctrl+S]
Save entire frequency tree into a file.
Save As...
Save entire frequency tree into a file with a different name.

Scanning

Scan Panel

The Scan Panel shows the status of frequencies being monitored for activity. For every entry, its name in the database, actual frequency, and modulation type are shown. When scanning is on, ScanNow will continuously go through the list and check signal levels plotting them on the graphs, from left to right.

If scanning was switched off for some reason (for example, ScanNow was temporarily switched into manual tuning), the corresponding parts of graphs are left gray.

Double-click on a scan list entry will automatically tune the scanner to selected frequency and switch you to the Manual Tuning Panel.

When you press the right mouse button on the scan list, a pop-up menu appears with the following options:

Cut [Ctrl+X]
Cut currently selected entry. It can be later pasted back with the Paste option.
Paste [Ctrl+V]
Paste an entry cut with the Cut back into the scan list.
Mute [Ctrl+M]
Mute the scanner. Check this option if you find scanning process too noisy for your ears.

Searching

Search Panel

The Search Panel is used to display results of the range search and modify its parameters. The range search is performed in the background, i.e. while you are using other features of the program. A graph shown on the screenshot is used to display signal strength distribution in the searched frequency range. Following controls are available:

<</>>
Search in a given direction. Pressing these buttons will automatically start search.
Start/Stop
Start/stop searching. The button will change its state depending on whether search is on or off.
Tune
Switch directly to the Manual Tuning Panel setting scanner to the current search frequency.
Zoom +/-
Zoom in and out of the search range. The search range will decrease or increase roughly by one third.
Clear
Clear all search results starting search from scratch.
Decay Rate
This parameter determines how quickly search results will decay with time. With its knob in the left-most position, results do not decay. When decay rate is selected though, the results will "fade out" with time, as if they were on a radar screen. This makes sense as the credibility of signal measurements decreases with time.
Hunt Threshold
This parameter determines when ScanNow will detect a valid signal source. With its knob in the right-most position, ScanNow will not specifically search for signal sources. When a threshold is selected though, ScanNow will "hunt" for signal sources entering them into frequency database every time signal level exceeds the threshold. Details on using this feature are described below.

Frequency Hunting

Frequency Hunting

When Hunting is on, the search creates a timestamped entry in the frequency database. All searched frequencies for which signal strength exceeds the Hunt Threshold will then be stored under that entry and labeled in a following way:

     WFM 98.7MHz (60%)
      |     |      |
      |     |      +---- Relative signal strength
      |     +----------- Frequency
      +----------------- Modulation type

The "active" entry under which search stores its results is labeled with a special icon (see above). Frequencies can be cut from it and pasted somewhere else. Entire entry can also be cut. In this case, search will create a new entry as soon as the first new frequency is found.

Direct Access

Direct Console Panel

The Direct Console Panel allows to communicate with the scanner directly, using its built-in commands. The direct communication should be used with extreme care though, as many commands may disturb ScanNow operations. Commands are typed in the box at the bottom of this panel. The upper half shows responses coming from the scanner.

General Settings

General Settings and About Panel

The About Panel gathers all controls which didn't find their place in other panels. Those include Communications and General settings.

You will be automatically switched to this panel if ScanNow hasn't been able to establish communications with the scanner. In this case, you need to change communication settings and restart ScanNow.

Scanner Features

Scanner Panel

The Scanner Panel gives user access to specific features of AR8000 scanner, such as internal search ranges and scan banks. The functions of buttons at this panel are pretty self-explanatory. All information downloaded from the scanner will appear as timestamped entries in the frequency database.