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NewEndian

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FreqFinder version 1.8 for Android has been released and iOS version 2.3 is soon to follow. And what is new to both is worthy of a little bit of explanation.

Settings which will affect the intermodulation calculation have been added. iPhone users had the 3x3 and 2x7 settings previously. The transmitter spacing and intermod spacing factors will be added soon. A summary of each of the settings:

 
- Enable 7th Order Products
This setting was enabled by default. Turning it off will provide you with more compatible channels at the cost of the quality of those channels. 7th Order Products tend to be much less severe and therefore users may wish to disable their calculation.
 
- Enable 3 TX 3rd Order Products
This setting was also enabled by default. Turning it off will provide you with more compatible channels at the cost of the quality of those channels. 3 TX 3rd Order products occur mainly when you have large groups of radios in tighter spaces. One might disable this if he were reasonably sure that the transmitters will be rather spread out.
 
- Intermodulation Spacing Factor
The default for this setting has always been at its least conservative. This is the padding between a transmitter and any intermodulation product. Increasing this value will result in fewer compatible channels. 
***Note that the number itself is rather arbitrary. I do ask that you play with different settings and if you come to any interesting conclusions, I would very much like to hear them***
 
- Transmitter Spacing Factor
This factor determines the minimum spacing between transmitters according to their bandwidth. The calculation averages two transmitters' bandwidths and then multiplies by this factor to determine the spacing. The default for this setting has always been at its least conservative, however a couple of transmitters have built in alternative minimum spacings (Lectrosonics has 300khz). This setting will override that minimum if it calculates a larger spacing.
 
Even with maximum settings, a user will still get 10 channels out of a single Lectrosonics block. These controls are meant to provide extra protection and still allow a users with larger transmitter counts the ability to squeeze more channels in. I would recommend for most cart setups dialing the settings to maximum and keeping them there.
 
I want to note that for these settings, you can not dial down the settings midway through adding transmitters and expect the first set of transmitters to stay protected at the higher settings. When you change the settings, all of the transmitters are protected at those settings.
 
On that note, hopefully everyone has noticed the "Protection" switch on the transmitter details page. That is meant to add transmitters which would contribute to intermodulation but for which you do not care about the performance of the transmitters. In the future I'd like to have three protection options (NONE, DEFAULT, and EXTREME) that would allow for extra protection to selected transmitters.
 
I hope everyone is finding FreqFinder suitable to their needs, and as always I love to hear from you guys.
 
Best,
James
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Great additions James. I was going to ask this on the beta testers group, but I'll post it here.

Why did you choose to average the tx bandwith and multiply by a factor as opposed to setting a controllable spacing amount in khz? After playing with it a bit i realized i was doing the calculations the app was in my head so i could set the spacing to a specific amount, in essence converting the spacing factor number into a specific amount.

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Ah, yes. It wasn't my favorite decision. The reason is because the spacing between Lectrosonics transmitters wouldn't be appropriate for Comtek transmitters and I didn't want users to have to configure each transmitter type individually. I rather wish it were more straight forward, but this was the best way that accounted for most of what I wanted these settings to do. The settings are more about gaining extra protection because you can, and dropping it if you need to.

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Ah, yes. It wasn't my favorite decision. The reason is because the spacing between Lectrosonics transmitters wouldn't be appropriate for Comtek transmitters and I didn't want users to have to configure each transmitter type individually. I rather wish it were more straight forward, but this was the best way that accounted for most of what I wanted these settings to do. The settings are more about gaining extra protection because you can, and dropping it if you need to.

That makes sense.
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Ande. I have actually found databases for Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. However, they not as easy to query as the US database. They usually require a full download of the database and are also in a proprietary format like MS Access or something. I'm afraid it is lower on my list of priorities. However, if I hear from enough people who want it from a particular place, I would consider it more seriously.

 

I have been thinking about what it would take to do a type of crowd sourcing thing where users could create and share lists with each other and come to a consensus on the most accurate information for their location. I feel like it would be of great value to wireless users, particularly if it included things like legality...

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  • 4 months later...

Wish I could leave a channel but take it completely out like greying a region on pro tools... so when need be I can turn it back on to see where it stands as it is less crucial. Say a camera has two WiFi transmitters and seeing how many others you can fit in the space.

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Wish I could leave a channel but take it completely out like greying a region on pro tools... so when need be I can turn it back on to see where it stands as it is less crucial. Say a camera has two WiFi transmitters and seeing how many others you can fit in the space.

iPhone version has this capability. Choose "Disable" in the sliding menu. It has not yet been added to Android, but will be soon.

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NewEndian i have created a Google doc spread sheet with some info for some of the Northern European countries! https://docs.google.com/a/tjockishjartafilm.se/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgnGQulSs_YrdFAwZGZ2LWVjRkRuY0owOEtHcHZqclE&usp=docslist_api

Hope it helps somehow :)

Unfortunately I can't rely on user supplied data without an authority backing the data. That is to say, I need to be able to officially support any data that I supply. However, I do have an idea for crowdsourcing data like this. I've spoken about it before. But I haven't been in a position to focus on it or any other programming really. I hope to be again soon, and in fact are taking steps to make programming more of a priority.

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I like the spreadsheet. The FCC addon works because the app gets the data from the FCC directly. I can't be checking for rules changes for every country. I have something more expansive in mind though. Give you guys the ability to share and +1 each other's information and have that directly accessible by FreqFinder.

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Great! Yeah I understand every country can't be integrated in the app. Your idea sounds good! All of Europe is supposed to be following the same rules for frequency allocation, at least within the EU.. I've tried to get the Swedish authorities to make an app, or at least make the info dynamic so that it can be used by third party developers.. No go though

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  • 6 months later...

I have been thinking about what it would take to do a type of crowd sourcing thing where users could create and share lists with each other and come to a consensus on the most accurate information for their location. I feel like it would be of great value to wireless users, particularly if it included things like legality...

 

What about teaming up with Gotham Sound and incorporating their dealer and user-supplied scans into the app? Say if a scan of an area X amount of miles away from your current location is available, the data can be used along with the current TV database to better coordinate. I'd gladly pay for another add-on to get that sort of functionality all in a single app. Thoughts?

 

http://gothamfaxes.com/

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Personally I appreciate the fact the FreqFinder uses the FCC database.  It may not cover all interference, but I can count on the information being reliable and consistent.  I think the user database could be useful, but I don't trust a collection of user scans nearly as much, especially considering I don't what equipment they are using, how their RF system is setup, what kind of noise floor and interference may be present in their system, and the data may be quite old.

A disable feature on Android would be great.

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