Should i keep the BCD396T ? ? ? ?

[lacountyscanner]

guess what. since im inpatient and did not want to wait on an internet order on anything. i called the local radio shack to ask what scanners they have in stock. the only one they had was the BCD396T. that of course is one i have been looking at for sometime now. $656.00 out the door. WAIT! I already know thats too much to pay for this scanner. if i end up liking it i will buy online. so no matter what this one will be returned. first off i had to dig out old pc so i can use the serial port on it and try some software out. it seems by using freescan and another one i downloaded. forgot the name of that one. its on the old pc. im on newer one now. anyway, it seems i have added all the los angeles county things available . its amazing how when i have both my scanners on the BCD396T will be doing nothing and then when somehing comes on that i have in my private bank on the bc350c, it comes on at the same time with the BCD396T. so basically what im saying is shouldn't i be hearing more on this thing. i have heard lakewood, century and a couple other lapd and lafd P25 frequencies. that seems to be the only "NEW" things im hearing. NO....i have not read manual yet. so i don't know what P25 even is. is it trunking? wheres all this trunking im always reading people talk about. am i too far away to hear all of la county. i just don't see how its possible if ALL of la county is programmed in there then why is it silent most of the time? does this go back to the antenna issue? as gmclan said - "In other words you are not going to hear any better than what your antenna can "see".

[Eng74]

Do you have Orange County Fire or ICIS programed? As to if you should keep it I would take it back and buy a 396XT online.

[mattfox27]

get the 396xt...buy from Scanner Master - Police Scanners by Uniden Bearcat, AOR and Radio Shack. best price $490 and fast shhipping...you don't need an old computer for the serial connection just get a serial to usb adapter like 20 bucks at office depot...

[lacountyscanner]

hey whats up? yeah thats where i had in mind to buy a scanner. as far as the serial port goes. your right they have the serial to usb. radio shack wanted a whopping $40.00 or so. i wonder why they can't just throw one so it hooks up to usb. isn't usb more standard these days. thanks for the input!

http://lacountyemergencyscanner.yolasite.com/

[mattfox27]

i know its stupid you would think they would be usb i don't know why they are serial its stupid. You know what if you have a fry's electronics near you i bought one there for like 9 bucks

[mattfox27]

this is the serial adapter i got and it works good and is cheap...
USB to RS232 Mini [USRS232Mi] - $16.95 : USconverters.com, Your Online Data Conversion Expert

[lacountyscanner]

yeah there is one about 20 or so miles away. have not been there in forever.

[RobertW1]

Originally Posted by mattfox27

get the 396xt...buy from Scanner Master - Police Scanners by Uniden Bearcat, AOR and Radio Shack. best price $490 and fast shhipping...you don't need an old computer for the serial connection just get a serial to usb adapter like 20 bucks at office depot...

Only $459.95 via Communications Electronics and that INCLUDES shipping.

Communications Electronics Inc-Emergency Operations Center - Emergency phone: +1-734-995-9000

[judas12]

i have a brand new bdc396t if anybody wants it for $350.00 .. its already programmed with ICIS and all LASD, LAPD, LAFD, LA County FD, LA County Police, Coroner and all the cities in LA County and all the TAC'S.. I've had it for 6 months, from FRY'S for 600 bucks. I wanna get rid of it because i want to buy the XT. Their is no scratches on it, no box or manuel cause i know how to program them so i just throw everything else away and no USB cable. I like to do everrything by hand. I've only used it for about 20 hours and just put in the Sanyo rechargeble batteries 2700 mah. They last a long time. The scanner is still knew and works great. LET ME KNOW IF ANYBODY IS INTERESTED