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Live Bandscan Returns; Scheduled Maintenance Coming

The Live Bandscan returned last week. Unfortunately, the backups were also toast and so we lost some (not all) data going back to the end of 2016. I think it's about back to where it needs to be, notwithstanding a few tweaks needed that I know about (like KSPR still showing up even though it's KYCW-LD now).

On the rest of the site, I'm back in the swing of trying to move things over from CDBS to LMS. The Tower Query and the Location Map now use LMS, and I've got the contours and population data regenerated for use with LMS entries. I wanted to make this post to note that the next big task related to that is going to be moving the coverage maps over, and probably the main listings right after. The result of this is that there will likely be a period of time that I hope is measured in hours and not days during which the maps will not work. I have to rename all the map files to line up with the new LMS ID numbers, and with more than 10,000 of them to pick through, even an automated process to do so will not be instantaneous. I do not yet know exactly when this will be, but I'm hoping it's overnight one night soon. I know there will be some amount of manual cleanup needed afterward, so it may not all be back up and running right away.

I also want to flag that things may be broken here and there even after the maps are back up and running and the main listings are moved into LMS format. The CDBS database has only been updated with TV data two or three times in the past month and a half, and so I'm urgently trying to get away from it. My plan had been to try to transition everything over slowly and as seamlessly as I could, but the lack of updates to CDBS and the coming LPTV filing window are making me rush over to LMS. So, once the maps come back online, notwithstanding Canadian and Mexican data which will likely remain in a state of limbo for several weeks at a minimum, please let me know if you trip over anything that doesn't work properly. With as many features as RabbitEars has, I can't really test it all, and it's easy to overlook things.

The last note I want to make is that I'm not actually making an entirely clean break from CDBS just yet. To those that are familiar with the data structure of the FCC databases, I'm still using the facility table from CDBS but then relating it to the application_facility table in LMS. I'm doing this to hurry the conversion process along, and will ultimately have to go back and adjust the code again to make it use the facility table in LMS instead. Since the facility table changes so infrequently and time is of the essence, I'm leaving RabbitEars on the CDBS facility table for now.