RadioReference Import

RadioReference Import

Scanner Manager can pull channel rows straight from RadioReference.com in two modes, depending on what's available.

Modes

HTML scrape (no account needed)

Paste any public RadioReference URL and Scanner Manager parses the page. Works for:

• Conventional frequency categories (/db/aid/... / /db/sid/... conventional pages).
• FCC callsign pages.
• Trunked talkgroup listings.

Login isn't required for HTML scraping but RadioReference rate-limits aggressive scraping - don't hammer it.

SOAP API (requires an RR account)

If you have a RadioReference premium subscription, Scanner Manager can talk to the official SOAP API via zeep:

1. Settings → RadioReference account - enter your username + password. They're stored in the OS credential vault (Windows Credential Manager / macOS Keychain / Secret Service on Linux) via keyring. Scanner Manager never writes credentials to disk in clear text.
2. The Import dialog will prefer the SOAP API when credentials are present, falling back to the HTML scraper only if the API is unreachable.

SOAP is more reliable for trunked systems with many TGIDs and for bulk pulls; the HTML scraper is handy for one-off categories.

The import dialog

1. Click Import from RR....
2. Paste a URL.
3. Scanner Manager loads and parses, then shows a two-column diff:
   • Left: what's currently in the HPD.
   • Right: what RR has.
4. Tick the rows you want to add or overwrite; leave the rest alone.
5. Apply.

How the import is logged

A multi-hundred-entry import would normally produce one MetaStore event per added row. Instead, Scanner Manager:

1. Enters a MetaStore batch so only one sidecar write hits disk.
2. Performs every add / update / avoid / delete with log=False so no per-entry event is recorded.
3. Records one composite OP_IMPORT_APPLY event summarizing the entire operation, with enough payload to reverse it later.

Result: imports are fast, produce tiny change-log entries, and one Revert click in the Changes dialog rolls the whole import back.

Reconciliation with user edits

When you re-run an import later:

• Your Avoid and Delete flags are preserved.
• Your service-type overrides are preserved.
• Renames you've made are preserved when RR can still be matched by frequency or TGID.
• New RR rows are added.
• RR rows you deleted stay deleted.

See Architecture for how the event replay logic backs this up.

Troubleshooting

• "Unusable page" - double-check the URL. A .../db/sid/... that shows talkgroups should work; a site index page won't.
• Slow / stuck loading - the SOAP API has better per-request throughput than scraping; consider entering RR credentials.
• Login errors - clear the credential via Settings and re-enter.