ID Tracker / ID Tracker II  / ID Tracker III
Freeware
Updated: 03/05/10

Programmer's Disease

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)    ID Tracker Tips and Uses

Source Code    Acknowledgements    The Future    Home Page

Reporting Problems    ID Tracker Mirror Site

If you enjoy ID Tracker, donations are graciously accepted.  Any funds received will be used to support the continued development of ID Tracker through the purchase of updated scanners, etc.

WEB IMPORT NOTICE!!!!

With Radio Reference converting to the SOAP interface for data download, the ID Tracker Web Import is no longer functional for ID Tracker II.  ID Tracker III is required for web importing.

Introduction

ID Tracker's main purpose in life is to help find and identify new trunk system IDs.  One important item, the program is not designed to be a complete control program.  It will not download IDs or frequencies to or from the scanner.  There are programs available that already serve that purpose.

The ID Tracker is designed to be used in conjunction with the Uniden TrunkTracker scanners to find and identify new trunk system IDs and was inspired by A. Giammarino's DOS based program (780TMON).  My basic design criteria was that the program must be small (as small as a VB6 program can be) and have a small footprint on the screen.  I originally designed the program so that no DLLs or special controls were required with the exception of the main VB6 runtime DLL (MSVBVM60.dll).  However, in order to easily provide certain functions, the program now uses one other file which is the MS FlexGrid control (MSFLXGRD.ocx).

I will update the program as I find bugs or add items that I think will be useful.  Suggestions for improvements will be considered (e-mail me).

The program is freeware.  I designed it for my personal use and thought others may get some use from the program.  Therefore, use these programs at your own risk (please see notes on Programmer's Disease).  I do not guarantee the functionality of this program and that it will be supported.  If you experience any problems and send me the complete error message or description of the problem and I may attempt to help.  Also, before sending email, please read the help page and make sure the answer is not already here.

The programs have been tested on Windows 98, Windows SE, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Vista.

Other Information

For more information on trunking see Lindsay Blanton's web site.  A great resource for trunked radio systems.

ID Tracker
Current Version: V3.11.0

ID Tracker Help File    Version History    Known Issues    Downloads

Features

• Supports the BC245XLT, BC780XLT, BC250D, BC785D, BC296D, BC796D, BC898T, BC3300 and BCT8 scanners.  Limited support for the PRO-2052.
• Supports Motorola Type I, Type II, Type IIi, EDACS and LTR trunked systems.
• Unlimited IDs/Frequencies in search modes.
• Supports monitoring multiple banks.
• Supports recording of scanner audio to WAV files with no gaps. Audio is time and date stamped.
• Provides a method of performing ID limit searches.
• Tracks frequencies used during Trunk Tracking.
• Can be used to expand the number of tags tracked on a system. Virtually unlimited ID tags.
• Efficient code requiring minimal processor usage.  Normal conditions on a 1 GHz Pentium III running Windows XP Professional requires less than 1% CPU usage.  A 300 MHz Pentium II running Windows 98 requires 3 to 4% CPU usage.
• Multiple copies can be installed to support multiple scanners.
• Limited control of the scanner while in remote mode.

ID Tracker Downloads

Complete Setup Kit (about 1.7 MB, zipped): This is required if you do not have any VB6 programs previously installed.   Download

Executable and Help File Only (about 260 KB, zipped): Can be used if you have already installed the complete setup kit or have installed other VB6 programs.  If you are updating ID Tracker, you may wish to save or rename the previous version of the executable (IDTrack.exe) in case you experience problems with the new version.  Download

ID Tracker II
Current Version: V3.3.0

ID Tracker II Help File    Version History    Known Issues    Downloads

Features

• Supported scanners:
  PSR-500/600, PRO-106/197, BCT8, BCT15, BC250D, BC296D, BR330T, BC346XT, BCD396T, BCD396XT, BC780XLT, BC785D, BC796D, BC898T, BCD996T (also, non-US versions of these scanners)
• Supports Motorola Type I, Type II, Type IIi, EDACS, EDACS SCAT, LTR and Motorola P25 trunked systems.
• Unlimited IDs/Frequencies in search modes.
• Supports monitoring multiple systems.
• Supports recording of scanner audio to WAV files with no gaps. Audio is time stamped with support for comments.
• Provides a method of performing ID limit searches.
• Provides unlimited lockouts.
• Can be used to expand the number of tags.
• Efficient code requiring minimal processor usage under normal monitoring conditions.
  • A 300 MHz Pentium II running Windows 98 requires 3 to 4% CPU usage.
  • 1 GHz Pentium III running Windows XP Professional requires less than 1% CPU usage.
  • 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo running Windows XP Professional registers no detectable CPU time.
• Multiple copies can be installed to support multiple scanners.
• Supports Radio ID tracking and labeling on GRE scanners.

Notes: ID Tracker II functions much the same as the original ID Tracker with some exceptions.

• Since the newer scanners use "systems" instead of "banks",  it is necessary that system names loaded in the scanner be unique so that ID Tracker II can identify each system correctly.

• The system indicators on the ID Tracker II main screen represent systems assigned to Quick Keys 0 through 99.

• The quick reference has been updated to list the new keyboard definitions.

ID Tracker II Downloads

Complete Setup Kit (about 1.7 MB, zipped): This is required if you do not have any VB6 programs previously installed.   Download

Executable and Help File Only (about 260 KB, zipped): Can be used if you have already installed the complete setup kit or have installed other VB6 programs.  If you are updating ID Tracker II, you may wish to save or rename the previous version of the executable (IDTrack2.exe) in case you experience problems with the new version.  Download

ID Tracker III
Current Version: V1.3.0

ID Tracker III Help File    Version History    Known Issues    Download

Features

• Supports scanners:
  PSR-500/600, PRO-106/197, BCT8, BCT15, BCT15X, BC250D, BC296D, BR330T, BC346XT, BCD396T, BCD396XT, BC780XLT, BC785D, BC796D, BC898T, BCD996T, BCD996XT (also, non-US versions of these scanners)
• Supports Motorola Type I, Type II, Type IIi, EDACS, EDACS SCAT, LTR and Motorola P25 trunked systems.
• Supports monitoring multiple systems.
• Supports recording of scanner audio to WAV files with time and date indexes.
• Supports tracking and labeling of Radio IDs (UIDs).
• Provides a method of performing ID limit searches.
• Provides unlimited talkgroup and frequency tags.
• Provides unlimited lockouts.
• Efficient code requiring minimal processor usage.
• Multiple copies can be installed to support multiple scanners simultaneously.
• Multiple sound cards supported.
• Scanner control from the PC.

Notes:

• Since the newer scanners use "systems" instead of "banks",  it is necessary that system names loaded in the scanner be unique so that ID Tracker III can identify each system correctly.

• The system indicators on the ID Tracker III main screen represent systems assigned to Quick Keys 0 through 99.

• The quick reference has been updated to list the new keyboard definitions.

ID Tracker III Download and Installation

Installation Steps:

1. Install Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 if it is not already installed on your system. You can check for the framework by looking for the folder “C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5”.
   
   .Net Framework 3.5 Installation
    
2. Download the Setup Kit ZIP file (~300KB)
   
   Download ID Tracker III
    
3. Extract the contents to a temporary folder or your desktop.
4. Execute the script “IDTrackerIIISetup.vbs”.
5. Delete the extracted files.

Visual Basic Source Code

ID Tracker and ID Tracker II was written in Visual Basic 6.   ID Tracker Source     ID Tracker II Source

Note: Due to proprietary agreements, the ID Tracker II source is pre-V2.00 (GRE support) only.  ID Tracker III source code will not be released due to these agreements.

Programmers Disease

I have recently been informed that I have programmer's disease.  At first I was in denial, but after some time I have come to realize that it is true.  The ailment apparently manifests itself as a mental block that prevents me from anticipating every possible system combination that can ever be conceived and every possible thing that a user might attempt with my software.  This results in imperfect software.

Users who do not understand my condition might think I am trying to ruin their lives, but it is not so.  Due to my condition I am simply incapable of being omnipotent.

With that said, please understand, if the software is not perfect or fails to work with your system or scanner, it's not my fault.  It's programmer's disease.

The Future

Here are some possible future enhancements:

• Ideas as suggested by users.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to A. Giammarino for the program that got this started and Doug Fisher for help testing the software and suggesting the name ID Tracker.  Also thanks to those who reported problems, beta tested and helped make this a better program.

Baton Rouge Area Scanning Home Page