wrote in message
oups.com...
As I mentioned, nobody knew anything about it at Fry's. I asked the
whole department, but nobody who knew anything. If I knew the unit
was
good I would have put more time and effort in it. The manual doesn't
provide any basic setup steps. Goes rimmediately into describing the
systems: trunking, digital, etc... I did experiment for almost half
a

You can't expect the people at a big box electronics store to be
knowledgeable about scanners. These are not like computers. They're a
tiny part of the market. You aren't likely to find a
knowledgeable geek at the store or living a few houses down the
street.

The Radio Shack and Bearcat scanner manuals I've seen are dreadful.
They're fairly complete, but the information is badly organized. It's
fortunate that I have a background in electronics. I feel sorry for
newbies who don't have that advantage.

It just happens that I have the BCD396T manual on my computer, since
I've been thinking about buying one. Reading that manual is no walk in
the park, even for somebody with experience in the hobby. The 396 is a
marvelously advanced scanner, but when you combine its sophistication,
and the poor manual, and a scanning novice, the result will probably
be trouble. With a good deal of determination, I believe you could
eventually learn it, though.

The web is a good resource, but take the info with a grain of salt.
For example, I just went to the radioreference.com site and looked up
my county. Maybe a third of the listed freqs are any good at all where
I live.
Some of the info is outdated, but much of it's probably correct. Just
because a freq is used *somewhere* in the county, doesn't mean it's
audible *everywhere* in
county.

When your search did pick some traffic, did you stop,
monitor that frequency for awhile, and (if it was interesting) put
that frequency in a channel? Once you have some channels loaded,
switch from search mode to scan mode. Now the scanner checks only
those channels. You get a lot more action because the scanner isn't
wasting time checking all possible frequencies.

What part of the frequency spectrum did you search? If you simply
search the full range of the scanner, it'll spend a lot of time
tediously plowing through freqs where there's little to be found. Most
of the good stuff is in the 148-174 and 450-512 MHz bands (or maybe
450-470, since I think 470-512 has TV in some areas).

--
Paul Hirose
To reply by email remove INVALID

In article ,
says...
You paid $580.00 for a USED 396????

I am in the wrong business...

Dan


You got that right.

People buy **** all the time for insane prices. I've had friends buy
Icom, Kenwood, and Yaesu, etc "OEM" batteries for 2 or 4 times what a
replacement should and does cost without the name on it. Where I work
they bought telephone headsets for twice what I found them for online.

Even now, they still buy stuff for insane prices without checking first.
I told the big boss I could save a ton of money if he made me the online
buying agent. I would make the actual purchases, and would get a salary,
or a base plus 10% of what I saved off the prices from the place they
buy everything now. If I had that base plus 10%, I would have made 100
grand last year, easy.

I don't know why they never took me up on it!

They still buy almost everything from some really high priced place
online, or a local place that's just as bad, if they need it right away.
Yet they cry about the electric bills no end. I really don't get it.

BDK

On Jun 11, 9:19 am, wrote:
Hi,

Bought a bcd396t last weekend and was really excited about scanning.
Never owned one or new anything about it. I turned it on and cleared
all memory first, since my area didn't seem to be pre-programmed. I
live in Bay Point CA, 94565. Sat outside my house to see what was
going on on a Saturday night. I did an automatic search for police
activity and had one or two frequencies that gave me some messages
every once in a while. Was hard to understand too by the way

Is this all there is to it, or should it be more exciting? I expected
more action on a Saturday night, especially in my area, but all I got
was a message every once in a while. Or should I not use the automatic
search, because it doesn't work properly?

Is the automatic search able to find all different frequencies, like
trunking, conventional, etc...?

I guess I'm confused because it didn't give me the action I was hoping
for.

I returned the unit on sunday...very disappointed, but maybe someone
could tell me I'm wrong and I need to do certain things to get this
unit to work.

thanks


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BCD396T

wrote in message:
I entered the following frequencies in my scanner but heard
nothing:
Frequency Input License Type Tone CH Description Mode
460.15000 465.15000 KLP745 BMRF 127.3 PL 1 Dispatch FM
460.25000 465.25000 KLP745 BMRF 127.3 PL 2 Secondary FM
460.55000 465.55000 WPKV955 BMRF 127.3 PL 3 Tactical FM
154.71000 155.67000 KMC308 F 123.0 PL CLERS Diablo FM

According to radioreference.com it looks like Contra Costa county sheriff
(on VHF, not UHF) provides services to Baypoint and uses the East dispatch
channel. Try 155.19 with PL of 136.5.

155.19000 155.64000 KMA371 MR 136.5 PL 3 East FM

http://radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&aid=707

wrote in message
ups.com...

So, right now I'm thinking about getting a new one instead of used and
probably pay much less and maybe get a bundle with the software you
guys mentioned.

Given where you live for listening to public safety you don't need a digital
scanner or even a trunking radio (although I would recommend you get a radio
capable of trunking in case you want to listen to a trunked system in the
future). I second the suggestion that you visit Scanners Unlimited in San
Carlos and talk to a knowledgeable salesperson about the equipment that
would work well for you. For fixed station use consider the Uniden BCT-8 or
BCT-15, plus a good quality discone antenna. Hopefully Scanners Unlimited
has a better antenna selection than they show on their web site. If not, go
elsewhere. Don't spend more than about $250 for the radio and another $50
or so for the antenna and 50' feedline.

http://www.grove-ent.com/unidenscanners.html
http://www.grove-ent.com/ANT5.html