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BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
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 |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
wrote in message oups.com... 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 You had a very powerful scanner in your hands. I blame the person you bought it from for not showing you how to use it or at least program local agencies in it. Scanning is a great hobby but it's not a turn it on and listen kind of thing. You have to do some research of your area. A great place to start is www.radioreference.com . They have the most extensive database for police/fire/rescue . I looked up Bay Point, CA and see it's in Contra Costa County. Here's a listing for that county: http://www.radioreference.com/module...me=RR&ctid=189 . As you were scanning you were probably picking up bits and pieces of a "trunked" system. You can listen to it but it's hard to follow if you don't have your scanner set properly to listen to a trunked system. Here are the basics of a "trunked" system. http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Trunking Hope you reconsider. Dave |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
On Jun 11, 3:55 pm, "Dave Ferguson" wrote:
wrote in message oups.com... 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 You had a very powerful scanner in your hands. I blame the person you bought it from for not showing you how to use it or at least program local agencies in it. Scanning is a great hobby but it's not a turn it on and listen kind of thing. You have to do some research of your area. A great place to start iswww.radioreference.com . They have the most extensive database for police/fire/rescue . I looked up Bay Point, CA and see it's in Contra Costa County. Here's a listing for that county:http://www.radioreference.com/module...me=RR&ctid=189. As you were scanning you were probably picking up bits and pieces of a "trunked" system. You can listen to it but it's hard to follow if you don't have your scanner set properly to listen to a trunked system. Here are the basics of a "trunked" system.http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Trunking Hope you reconsider. Dave- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I bought it at Fry's, but nobody there who knew anything about it. When bought it, I had already looked at the website you mentioned, and entered the frequencies for police for my city. Every once in a while I could here someone talking for 1 or two seconds, but it seems that I should have heard much more than just a dispatcher going back and force only a few times an hour. Also, I found only 2 channels when I did the automatic search . I would expect to find much more. This was around 11 PM. I would still expect airplaines, Fire department, etc...I'm in the middle between two cities here(less than 2 miles), so there should be lots of stuff going on. How would one be able to program a trunking system then if the search is only for Convetional? also, I'm not sure if my PD uses digital or not. Is the search able to auto-detect digital as well? The user's manual that came with it is probably the worst manual I've ever read. Only today I found out about squelch. The manual said to set the squelch, but it didn't explain what squelch was and what to set it to. So, I put it in the middle when I tried the scanner and left it there. I would love to give it another try, but I am very sceptical now unless I can see somebody show it to me in my area... |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
On Jun 11, 4:00 pm, Evan Platt
wrote: On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:19:05 -0700, wrote: 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 Police use 10 codes, and penal and vehicle codes. 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...? Only conventional. 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. You'll want to program the 396. Take a look at RadioReference:http://www.radioreference.com/module...name=RR&stid=6 And select what county Bay Point is in, and enter those frequencies. -- To reply via e-mail, remove The Obvious from my e-mail address. I understand that the police uses codes. It's just weird I pick up only one or two dispatcher calls with a single reply in about half an hour or so. Maybe I should ask someone to show me exactly how to program it. Does the software that you can buy for it program it for you (i.e. arc396)? |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
The user's manual that came with it is probably the worst manual I've ever read. Only today I found out about squelch. The manual said to set the squelch, but it didn't explain what squelch was and what to set it to. So, I put it in the middle when I tried the scanner and left it there. I would love to give it another try, but I am very sceptical now unless I can see somebody show it to me in my area... Best thing I can tell you is to check the forum for California http://www.radioreference.com/forums...splay.php?f=37 and place a request for help. I'm positive you will find someone close to your area who would be willing to give you a hand.. Dave |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
On Jun 11, 6:29 pm, "Dave Ferguson" wrote:
The user's manual that came with it is probably the worst manual I've ever read. Only today I found out about squelch. The manual said to set the squelch, but it didn't explain what squelch was and what to set it to. So, I put it in the middle when I tried the scanner and left it there. I would love to give it another try, but I am very sceptical now unless I can see somebody show it to me in my area... Best thing I can tell you is to check the forum for Californiahttp://www.radioreference.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=37and place a request for help. I'm positive you will find someone close to your area who would be willing to give you a hand.. Dave thank you guys for all the info. I think the california forum will be usefull. I went back to Fry's tonight, and I also went to RadioShack. Nobody there was of any help and couldn't tell me anything I didn't know yet. What I would really like to know is: 1) What can one expect to find when one does an automatic search (How do I know the thing works) 2) How do you listen to a trunking channel (i.e., do you just program 1 frequency. I thought multiple sources share the same frequency) 3) How can you tell if a Police Department uses digital technology (is this mentioned on the frequencies website on radioreference.com) 4) How do I know my antenna is good enough. Is the stock antenna for the 396T good enough. I live in the hills, so I though I have best reception. It seems there's a tower almost in my backyard). 5) I read somewhere that you need a special antenna (800 Mz). Not sure what it is for. There's also 400Mhz antenna;s. Do they all fit? As you can see. I'm really a novice. I think I expect too much to be done for me. It's just I don't feel like spending the $600 for something I might not be able to use. Thanks, Michel |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
In article .com,
says... On Jun 11, 6:29 pm, "Dave Ferguson" wrote: The user's manual that came with it is probably the worst manual I've ever read. Only today I found out about squelch. The manual said to set the squelch, but it didn't explain what squelch was and what to set it to. So, I put it in the middle when I tried the scanner and left it there. I would love to give it another try, but I am very sceptical now unless I can see somebody show it to me in my area... Best thing I can tell you is to check the forum for Californiahttp://www.radioreference.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=37and place a request for help. I'm positive you will find someone close to your area who would be willing to give you a hand.. Dave thank you guys for all the info. I think the california forum will be usefull. I went back to Fry's tonight, and I also went to RadioShack. Nobody there was of any help and couldn't tell me anything I didn't know yet. What I would really like to know is: 1) What can one expect to find when one does an automatic search (How do I know the thing works) You should hear a lot of traffic. Some freqs should be very busy, like local police, and the airband 118-138mhz AM mode should have a lot of San Francisco traffic on it. You won't, or probably won't hear the towers very well, if at all, but the planes can be heard from a long ways away, because of the height they are at. 2) How do you listen to a trunking channel (i.e., do you just program 1 frequency. I thought multiple sources share the same frequency) You have to put the radio into trunking mode to do it right, but you can listen to a NON digital one just by putting the freqs in and scanning them. When it gets busy, it's annoying to listen to that way, and following a conversation, or chase (like I did last night) is nearly impossible. 3) How can you tell if a Police Department uses digital technology (is this mentioned on the frequencies website on radioreference.com) Yes, it is on radioreference. 4) How do I know my antenna is good enough. Is the stock antenna for the 396T good enough. I live in the hills, so I though I have best reception. It seems there's a tower almost in my backyard). You should be ok with the stock one. Too much antenna on a handheld is sometimes a problem (It overloads the radio). You can always get one later on. 5) I read somewhere that you need a special antenna (800 Mz). Not sure what it is for. There's also 400Mhz antenna;s. Do they all fit? You probably don't need it, and don't worry about it for now. As you can see. I'm really a novice. I think I expect too much to be done for me. It's just I don't feel like spending the $600 for something I might not be able to use. $600 is too much. About $520 is the going price: http://www.scannerworld.com/ http://www.usascan.com/files/bcd396T.cfm I would make the drive to scanners unlimited, in San Carlos, and get info and a radio from them. They can probably program it for you, or tell you who to talk to in your area to get the right freqs. The local scanner group (There has to be one) members will know about everything there is to know about your local area. I'm a customer, not connected in any way: http://www.scannersunlimited.com/ BDK Thanks, Michel |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
The radio I bought had been used. It was $580. I looked up the prices
on the links mentioned, what a difference. I thought it was nice to buy it in the store so I could get some help, but that was a mistake. It could be the radio wasn't working correctly, or my squelch was too high. I had to look up this term, since it wasn't explained in the manual. You can look i nthe online manual and see it wasn't explained. Only mentioned to set the squelch, but nowhere it explains what it was. I know now... thanks. You're right, I should be able to hear Martinez, Concord, Antioch, Oakley.... I'm wondering. Should I be able to hear a lot of frequencies on the conventional system? And if squelch was too high, I would have heard nothing? Also, maybe the frequency I was listening to was trunked. How would I know. 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 How can I tell from this data if it is digital, trunked, or conventional? I couldn't find a chart on radioreference that explains these codes. Last night I was listening to a live scanner feed on the web from Sacramento, CA and I heard non-stop conversations going on. I know I was doing something wrong, just don't know what. I will keep reading guides until I understand and then probably buy another scanner again and give it another try. Thanks so much for the advice and guidance. You've all been a really great help and encouraged me to go on solving this. Michel |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
On Jun 12, 8:51 am, wrote:
The radio I bought had been used. It was $580. I looked up the prices on the links mentioned, what a difference. I thought it was nice to buy it in the store so I could get some help, but that was a mistake. It could be the radio wasn't working correctly, or my squelch was too high. I had to look up this term, since it wasn't explained in the manual. You can look i nthe online manual and see it wasn't explained. Only mentioned to set the squelch, but nowhere it explains what it was. I know now... thanks. You're right, I should be able to hear Martinez, Concord, Antioch, Oakley.... I'm wondering. Should I be able to hear a lot of frequencies on the conventional system? And if squelch was too high, I would have heard nothing? Also, maybe the frequency I was listening to was trunked. How would I know. 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 How can I tell from this data if it is digital, trunked, or conventional? I couldn't find a chart on radioreference that explains these codes. Last night I was listening to a live scanner feed on the web from Sacramento,CAand I heard non-stop conversations going on. I know I was doing something wrong, just don't know what. I will keep reading guides until I understand and then probably buy another scanner again and give it another try. Thanks so much for the advice and guidance. You've all been a really great help and encouraged me to go on solving this. Michel I just was able to find out if my PD or FD uses conventional or not. It seems they use conventional. When I clicked on the license link that is shown in the frequency table it tells me what kind of system it is I believe. So, going back to the original question, why I couldn't hear anything still makes me wonder. I thought I had set the squelch somewhere in the middle, maybe around 4 or 6 or so. probably more on the lower end. I did an automatic search and throughout the whole scanning range it only stopped once or twice. Maybe the scanner was bad. |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
wrote in message oups.com... Hi, Snip 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 Maybe you should have ASKED how to use it BEFORE returning it ...... seems pointless to ask things now. next time, try reading the manual ( completely), look up frequency information ( on line or in books ), experiment a little ( if you program something wrong, you didn't really do any damage ), and then ASK questions BEFORE you return it. These new scanners are not plug and play, they are getting quite sofisticated, and you actually have to learn about all the new technology ( being used in the scanner and about the systems they are trying to receive ) |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
Maybe you should have ASKED how to use it BEFORE
returning it ...... seems pointless to ask things now. 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 day. No luck. I did read the manual from the beginning, but very vague. No explanations except for the simple things like volume control and how to charge it. All preprogrammed systems where pretty much useless to my area.. next time, try reading the manual ( completely), look up frequency information ( on line or in books ), experiment a little ( if you program something wrong, you didn't really do any damage ), and then ASK questions BEFORE you return it. These new scanners are not plug and play, they are getting quite sofisticated, and you actually have to learn about all the new technology ( being used in the scanner and about the systems they are trying to receive ) I understand now. I'll give it another try. Thanks. |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
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BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
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BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
On Jun 12, 1:51 pm, Jesse wrote:
wrote in news:1181578745.407049.267610 @x35g2000prf.googlegroups.com: 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 Well duh for you. You are supposed to figure out how to operate a high tech unit before taking it back. If you are the type that can't even program a VCR timer then yeah, I'd say you made the right move.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - As a matter of fact, I do know how to program. I program in more than 10 languages, I speak 4 languages, I have AS, BS, MS degrees in computer science and AI, and I don't consider myself a novice when it comes to technology. In addition, I also program everything that comes with a good manual. How would I know the unit I bought operates as it should if the manual cannot describe a basic test to perform to see the unit is working properly. I expected to hear some basic frequencies when I did a search, but I could not hear anything. That's my problem. The documentation assumes one knows all the tweaks of the unit. I just didn't want to get in knee-deep before I know the basics are working. I think I do understand the basics, but somehow cannot make it work. So here's what I did: 1) First I scanned the preprogrammed frequencies, but scanner didn't stop at any frequency. 2) Then I played with the squelch (didn't know what it was for, neither wasn't explained anywhere, neither wasn't pointed out what level to sit it to), so I put is in the middle 3) then did scan again, didn't matter. No conversations anywhere. 4) Then I reset the scanner. 5) then I did a search for frequencies. Found 1 or 2 frequencys, one was probably a PD, which only tracked a dispatch every few minutes, no real conversations going on. The other one I found during a search was a boater or so. 6) I live in the middle of the action, but wasn't able to find anything 7) I drove around, tried close calls, etc...nothing ... 8) I did try the FM radio, that seemed to work 9) I assumed either the unit was not working properly or the whole scanning thing must be really boring since I only here a dispatcher once every 5 minutes talking for 2 seconds, 10) I also entered some of my area's frequencies found on radioreference.com, but they were dead as well. So, obviously I am missing something Maybe the squelch wasn't set correctly. Still don't know what it does exactly. I read most people set it to either 1 or 2. If there's 15 settings for it, why would most people set it to either 1 or 2? shouldn't be somehwere average around 7, so one can go both ways? Thanks :) |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
Quick suggestion ......
IF you go back and buy another one, get on Uniden's site and download any firmware updates ( and the program to update the scanner ) and also grab the FREE ( good price ) software they have for the radio, setup is pretty easy and straight forward ..... as long as you have a TRUE serial port on your computer, USB to serial convertors some (most) times DO NOT WORK right. You'll spend a day or so just figuring out what to do within the software, but it makes programming the radio MUCH easier, since you don't have TONS of putton presses, and you can see what your doing in a "spread sheet" type enviroment. There are numerous sites that have frequency and trunking information, ( talk groups, Logical Channel Numbers, etc ) on them. The software ALLOWS you to copy & paste from web pages, which makes it even easier. Join Yahoo's "BCD396T" Group, and there is dozens of files in there, of programmed systems you can download and use. ( If the system you WANT is not there, down load a few anyway and load them in to see what the other people have done ( give you an idea how to set up systems ) The BCD396T & BCD996T ( same radio different package - handheld/mobile) are GREAT radios, I am always finding something new to do with mine, or how to use a feature I didn't know what to do with the first time around. Be patient, it does get frustrating because the radio does SO much its overwhelming at first. Litle by little however it all starts to make sense. Guess that wasn't such a 'quick' suggestion :o) wrote in message oups.com... Maybe you should have ASKED how to use it BEFORE returning it ...... seems pointless to ask things now. 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 day. No luck. I did read the manual from the beginning, but very vague. No explanations except for the simple things like volume control and how to charge it. All preprogrammed systems where pretty much useless to my area.. next time, try reading the manual ( completely), look up frequency information ( on line or in books ), experiment a little ( if you program something wrong, you didn't really do any damage ), and then ASK questions BEFORE you return it. These new scanners are not plug and play, they are getting quite sofisticated, and you actually have to learn about all the new technology ( being used in the scanner and about the systems they are trying to receive ) I understand now. I'll give it another try. Thanks. |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
Spend the extra money and buy the BUTEL software for the 396.
You can then download systems directly from Radio Reference along with conventional frequencies now as well, right into the 296. No fuss, no muss. It's a breeze, and well worth the $$$... Dan On Jun 11, 3:55 pm, "Dave Ferguson" wrote: wrote in message groups.com... 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 You had a very powerful scanner in your hands. I blame the person you bought it from for not showing you how to use it or at least program local agencies in it. Scanning is a great hobby but it's not a turn it on and listen kind of thing. You have to do some research of your area. A great place to start iswww.radioreference.com . They have the most extensive database for police/fire/rescue . I looked up Bay Point, CA and see it's in Contra Costa County. Here's a listing for that county:http://www.radioreference.com/module...me=RR&ctid=189. As you were scanning you were probably picking up bits and pieces of a "trunked" system. You can listen to it but it's hard to follow if you don't have your scanner set properly to listen to a trunked system. Here are the basics of a "trunked" system.http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Trunking Hope you reconsider. Dave- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I bought it at Fry's, but nobody there who knew anything about it. When bought it, I had already looked at the website you mentioned, and entered the frequencies for police for my city. Every once in a while I could here someone talking for 1 or two seconds, but it seems that I should have heard much more than just a dispatcher going back and force only a few times an hour. Also, I found only 2 channels when I did the automatic search . I would expect to find much more. This was around 11 PM. I would still expect airplaines, Fire department, etc...I'm in the middle between two cities here(less than 2 miles), so there should be lots of stuff going on. How would one be able to program a trunking system then if the search is only for Convetional? also, I'm not sure if my PD uses digital or not. Is the search able to auto-detect digital as well? The user's manual that came with it is probably the worst manual I've ever read. Only today I found out about squelch. The manual said to set the squelch, but it didn't explain what squelch was and what to set it to. So, I put it in the middle when I tried the scanner and left it there. I would love to give it another try, but I am very sceptical now unless I can see somebody show it to me in my area... |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
You paid $580.00 for a USED 396????
I am in the wrong business... Dan |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
Maybe the squelch wasn't set correctly. Still don't know what it does exactly. I read most people set it to either 1 or 2. If there's 15 settings for it, why would most people set it to either 1 or 2? shouldn't be somehwere average around 7, so one can go both ways? Thanks :) I turn the squelch down on mine to where I hear static. Then turn it up slightly where you don't hear the static. At this setting you should hear any sounds above the static level. If you don't want to hear weak signals from far away turn the squelch up more and you will only pick up the stronger signals. I have the Pro-96 handeld from Radio Shack and I am thoroughly happy with it. The base station is the Pro-2096. If you get one of these I recommend getting Don Starr's Win96 software to program these guys: http://www.starrsoft.com/ . This, with a programming cable from RS helps programming the radio a breeze. You should start seeing the Pro-96 going on sale because there is an updated radio coming out soon to replace it. I suspect that radios will be selling for around $350-$400 to get rid of stock. Dave |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
I did indeed look at the software beforehand and it looks nice. I just
wanted to make sure I could do some basics things, just to enjoy the evening, without spending hours gettings the software connection to work on the computer. I would definitely not get frustrated from being too overwhelmed. :) I just got frustrated because the basic simple thing didn't work. And yes, I did pay $580 for a used one. I know now I got ripped off big time! I didn't think the firmware would solve my problem. It rarely ever does, normally only fixes some rarely used features or improves a little here or there. But it would have been worth a try. 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. Thanks so much, I'm really hopefull this time. Michel |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
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 |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
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BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
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 |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
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 |
BCD396T Piece of junk or am I missing something?
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 |
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