RR2T88 User Manual
------------------


RR2T88 is a simple utility that can be used to extract the talkgroup data
from a RadioReference.com trunking system database page and then reformat
that data into TRUNK88 talkgroup records.

Note: RR2T88 will not convert Type I talkgroup data.


Step 1:

Navigate to the database page of interest with the web browser of your choice.


Step 2:

Use your browser's View Source feature to display the raw HTML code.

  Internet Explorer: Tools / Developer Tools / View / Source / Original

  Firefox: Tools / Web Developer / Page Source

  Opera: Page / Developer Tools / Source


Step 3:

Save the raw HTML code to a file on your PC.

  Internet Explorer:

    The source HTML will be displayed in a viewer/editor window;
    click on File / Save / HTML Source
    and save it to a file (for example, c:\foo)

  Firefox:

    Firefox will display the HTML data in a window titled "Source of http...";
    Use that window's File / Save Page As dialogue and save the HTML to a file.
    Firefox will append a .htm extension to the file name, so an example file
    name could be c:\foo.htm

  Opera:

    Opera will display the HTML code in a new tab; click on File / Save As
    and save the data to a file.  Opera will append .htm to the file name.


Step 4:

Use RR2T88 to extract the talkgroup data from the saved HTML data.

At a command prompt, type RR2T88 <sourcefile >targetfile

Replace sourcefile with the name of the saved HTML file and
replace targetfile with the name of the file to save the talkgroup data to.

Example:  RR2T88 <c:\foo.txt >bar

The file "bar" will contain the extracted talkgroup data.
You can verify this by typing:

notepad bar

A copy of the Windows Notepad editor will open and display the contents
of the "bar" file.  Keep this copy of Notepad open and proceed to step 5.


Step 5:

Verify that your TRUNK88 system control file is using the "TrunkTracker"
format for talkgroup IDs.


Start TRUNK88 and force it to load the system .ctl file that you want to update.
Do this by appending the system .ctl file name to the command line, e.g.:

TRUNK88 1234.CTL

will start TRUNK88 and load the control file for SysID 1234.

Select 'S'ystem Menu / 'E'dit Settings / 'F'ile and display formats
and then scroll down to the Talkgroup Display Format entry and verify
that it is set to 4 (TrunkTracker format).  If it isn't set to 4,
change it to 4 and press Enter.  When you're done, Esc back to the
main Command prompt and select 'Q'uit to exit.


Step 6:

Load the system .ctl file into Notepad; example:

notepad 1234.ctl

This will start a second copy of Windows Notepad.
Delete all of the talkgroup records; they are the lines between the

;;[TrunkTracker Talkgroups]

and

;;[Patches]

lines.


Step 7:

Flip over to the other copy of Notepad and copy all of the data that RR2T88
created by pressing Ctrl-A and then Ctrl-C.


Step 8:

Flip back to the copy of Notepad that has your system .ctl file loaded and
dump the talkgroup data:

Make sure the cursor is flashing away between the

;;[TrunkTracker Talkgroups]

and

;;[Patches]

lines.

If it's not, click between those lines until you see the cursor there.

Press Ctrl-V to paste the talkgroup data into the system .ctl file.

Click on File / Save to save your changes.


Step 9.

That's it.  You're done.  Close all the windows you've got open and start
using your updated system .ctl file.


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Error Messages
--------------


  "You didn't provide an input file."

You didn't provide the name of the HTML dump file, or you left out
the '<' symbol that has to precede it.


  "Invalid decimal talkgroup (xxx) near line xxx; Alias = 'xxx'"

Valid decimal talkgroup IDs (in TrunkTracker format) must be multiples of 16;
this error warns you that the highlighted ID isn't.  It means that the
talkgroup value is wrong and either the original submitter and/or an RR
database admin has messed up.  RR2T88 will write the suspicious data to
its output file and TRUNK88 will truncate the talkgroup value to the
nearest multiple of 16.


  "Decimal / hex mismatch (hhh [hhhh] vs xxx) near line xxx; Alias = 'xxx'"

The DEC and HEX values in a talkgroup listing should match; when they don't,
RR2T88 doesn't know which one is correct.  RR2T88 will use the decimal value,
but you should verify that the data is correct.


  "Duplicate talkgroup number (xxx) near line xxx; Alias = 'xxx'"

RR2T88 is warning you that it has already processed this talkgroup earlier
in the HTML dump.  Since it doesn't know which occurrence is the correct one,
it writes both of them to the output file.  You will have to manually edit
the output file and delete one of the duplicate lines before you copy the
data to your system .ctl file; if you don't, TRUNK88 will refuse to load
the system file until you fix it.


  "Duplicate talkgroup number (xxx and xxx are equivalent) near line xxx..."

RR2T88 has detected two talkgroup entries (with different talkgroup numbers)
that actually refer to the same talkgroup.  This can show up if one submitter
has provided the actual talkgroup number (e.g. 16) while another, who has his
status bits setting messed up on his scanner, submits TG 19 (e.g. 16 + patch)
and the database admin doesn't catch it (hint: NEVER accept ODD talkgroup
numbers!)

TRUNK88 will treat both talkgroup values as equivalent and will refuse to
load the system file until you manually remove one of the entries.

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