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CAT Applications—Part II by Joe Cooper <joe@provcomm.net> |
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This month I’m continuing my overview of the Computer-Assisted Tuning (CAT) software that’s available today for compatible monitoring radios. As I’ve said before, the availability of well-designed and easy-to-use CAT software is one of the most significant advances in radio monitoring. Today just about anyone with a good personal computer made during the past five years and a compatible radio can take advantage of a wide range of CAT software products. What CAT software will do for you is supply more than a “radio front panel under glass.” While there are many software products that simply operate a compatible radio through a computer, CAT software is different. The key here is the word assisted, because the software actually does assist you in finding stations to listen to in a variety of ways. Some software assists you by allowing you to access a database of frequencies with known activity so that you can tune in those stations. Others help you find stations by scanning defined groups or ranges of frequencies, automatically stopping the scan when a signal of a pre-determined strength is found. Others provide you with an analysis of current radiowave propagation conditions, which predict where to look for possible station activity. Some can undertake statistical analysis of signal activity over a range of frequencies to show you the probability of more activity occurring on a specific frequency. At this time, there is still a lot of software development going into finding the best combination of features to make a good CAT software product for a particular monitor radio. This month I will be looking at four CAT software packages to illustrate some of the features you should be looking for when deciding which package is best for you. I will look at the specific application of each of the software package through the hands-on use of their features. |
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