Hey folks,
I am a new user to rec.radio.scanner group. I was once a scanner
junkie years ago. I had an old 800mhz radio shack scanner. Now I
recently purchised a Uniden BC796D Trunker. I read the reviews on the
internet and it said this product was not for the "newbie" Heck, I am
jumping in with both feet here. I hope you people @ rec.radio.scanner
group can help.

Here is my question(s) to the group.
Is there any software I can download that I can use for a nightlogger
on my computer?

Is this sucker hard to program? How much radio knowledge should one
need to program it? I consider my self to be some what computer tech
savy..

I hope I can meet some new freinds with the same or similar Unidens.
Thanks for your time and reading my post.

In article . com,
"ckfire1923" wrote:

Hey folks,
I am a new user to rec.radio.scanner group. I was once a scanner
junkie years ago. I had an old 800mhz radio shack scanner. Now I
recently purchised a Uniden BC796D Trunker. I read the reviews on the
internet and it said this product was not for the "newbie" Heck, I am
jumping in with both feet here. I hope you people @ rec.radio.scanner
group can help.


If you are going to use it for Motorola trunking take it back to the
store and get a BCD396D or BCD996T. It will be useless in a few months
because of rebanding. If you bought it used you are SOL.

"ckfire1923" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hey folks,
I am a new user to rec.radio.scanner group. I was once a scanner
junkie years ago. I had an old 800mhz radio shack scanner. Now I
recently purchised a Uniden BC796D Trunker. I read the reviews on the
internet and it said this product was not for the "newbie" Heck, I am
jumping in with both feet here. I hope you people @ rec.radio.scanner
group can help.

Here is my question(s) to the group.
Is there any software I can download that I can use for a nightlogger
on my computer?

Is this sucker hard to program? How much radio knowledge should one
need to program it? I consider my self to be some what computer tech
savy..

For logging and recording you can use IDtracker.
http://personal.bellsouth.net/k/d/kd.../IDTracker.htm

Ignore the other post about rebanding as it is completely wrong. Uniden has
committed to support the 796D for rebanding with a firmware update that you
can apply with your computer. Since no Motorola systems have been rebanded
yet no one knows exactly what will change. Fiirmware updates offer
considerable flexibility but there is no guarantee that any current scanner
model will be able to adapt to a rebanded system. Search for rebanding on
the Uniden web site for more details on what rebanding is and what scanners
they will support.

For programming most people like ARC250.
http://www.butel.nl/bc785/bc250index.html

It is very tedious to program the radio by hand. ARC250 makes it
considerably easier.

In article ,
"Frank346" wrote:

"ckfire1923" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hey folks,
I am a new user to rec.radio.scanner group. I was once a scanner
junkie years ago. I had an old 800mhz radio shack scanner. Now I
recently purchised a Uniden BC796D Trunker. I read the reviews on the
internet and it said this product was not for the "newbie" Heck, I am
jumping in with both feet here. I hope you people @ rec.radio.scanner
group can help.

Here is my question(s) to the group.
Is there any software I can download that I can use for a nightlogger
on my computer?

Is this sucker hard to program? How much radio knowledge should one
need to program it? I consider my self to be some what computer tech
savy..

For logging and recording you can use IDtracker.
http://personal.bellsouth.net/k/d/kd.../IDTracker.htm

Ignore the other post about rebanding as it is completely wrong. Uniden has
committed to support the 796D for rebanding with a firmware update that you
can apply with your computer. Since no Motorola systems have been rebanded
yet no one knows exactly what will change. Fiirmware updates offer
considerable flexibility but there is no guarantee that any current scanner
model will be able to adapt to a rebanded system. Search for rebanding on
the Uniden web site for more details on what rebanding is and what scanners
they will support.

For programming most people like ARC250.
http://www.butel.nl/bc785/bc250index.html

It is very tedious to program the radio by hand. ARC250 makes it
considerably easier.

In article . com,
"keith" wrote:

If you are going to use it for Motorola trunking take it back to the
store and get a BCD396D or BCD996T. It will be useless in a few months
because of rebanding. If you bought it used you are SOL.










Well, both posters may be right, depending on the area you live in.

The 796 will be able to be reflashed with the proper firmware for 800
MHz. trunking. The rub is if you are in an area that will be using the
new 700 MHz. band. This band is not and will not be supported by the 796
even after being reflashed. If your area uses or will use 700 MHz. then
you should invest in a 396 or 996.

In Illinois for instance, there are a bunch of sites using 700 MHz right
now on the new StarCom21 trunked system that only the 396 or 996 can
follow.

I do concur that Arc250 is the way to go for programming and control of
the 796. I have 2 of these radios and Arc250 works great!

"Richard Carlson, N9JIG" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Frank346" wrote:

"ckfire1923" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hey folks,
I am a new user to rec.radio.scanner group. I was once a scanner
junkie years ago. I had an old 800mhz radio shack scanner. Now I
recently purchised a Uniden BC796D Trunker. I read the reviews on the
internet and it said this product was not for the "newbie" Heck, I am
jumping in with both feet here. I hope you people @ rec.radio.scanner
group can help.

Here is my question(s) to the group.
Is there any software I can download that I can use for a nightlogger
on my computer?

Is this sucker hard to program? How much radio knowledge should one
need to program it? I consider my self to be some what computer tech
savy..

For logging and recording you can use IDtracker.
http://personal.bellsouth.net/k/d/kd.../IDTracker.htm

Ignore the other post about rebanding as it is completely wrong. Uniden
has
committed to support the 796D for rebanding with a firmware update that
you
can apply with your computer. Since no Motorola systems have been
rebanded
yet no one knows exactly what will change. Fiirmware updates offer
considerable flexibility but there is no guarantee that any current
scanner
model will be able to adapt to a rebanded system. Search for rebanding
on
the Uniden web site for more details on what rebanding is and what
scanners
they will support.

For programming most people like ARC250.
http://www.butel.nl/bc785/bc250index.html

It is very tedious to program the radio by hand. ARC250 makes it
considerably easier.

In article . com,
"keith" wrote:

If you are going to use it for Motorola trunking take it back to the
store and get a BCD396D or BCD996T. It will be useless in a few months
because of rebanding. If you bought it used you are SOL.

Well, both posters may be right, depending on the area you live in.

The 796 will be able to be reflashed with the proper firmware for 800
MHz. trunking. The rub is if you are in an area that will be using the
new 700 MHz. band. This band is not and will not be supported by the 796
even after being reflashed. If your area uses or will use 700 MHz. then
you should invest in a 396 or 996.

In Illinois for instance, there are a bunch of sites using 700 MHz right
now on the new StarCom21 trunked system that only the 396 or 996 can
follow.

I do concur that Arc250 is the way to go for programming and control of
the 796. I have 2 of these radios and Arc250 works great!

Yes, the 796D does not cover 700 MHz and if that band is essential the
original poster should consider the newer models you mentioned. The 700 MHz
issue is not related to rebanding at all since that only affects 800 MHz.

I have a BC796D.

The programming software that comes with the radio is pretty bad.
The money spent for software like Butel ARC250 is well worth the expense.

Thanks very much for all the information. I have gotten out my wallet
and put forth the extra money for the Butel ARC250 Pro software. Now I
just need to find out how to set up my computer to record as a night
logger. And find some groups for local scanner frequencies.
Again, I can't thank you folks enough. I hope someday I can help
anyone one of you.


On Dec 17, 1:56 pm, "Steve Stone" wrote:
I have a BC796D.

The programming software that comes with the radio is pretty bad.
The money spent for software like Butel ARC250 is well worth the expense.

Thanks very much for all the information. I have gotten out my wallet
and put forth the extra money for the Butel ARC250 Pro software. Now I
just need to find out how to set up my computer to record as a night
logger.

The ARC250 software has a built in recorder feature.
Just make sure you turn on record mode for the channels you want to
save.