I can relate, as its been 5 days of hasseling with the radio. Went from a 296d to a 396xt. Have worked with scanners for 40 years, from radio shack crystal units, a bc101, then into trunking. 396xt is a nother animal. But get a copy of freescan, very similar to butels arc-xt. First the 396 calls banks, systems. You can tell by looking at the software what icons to click. Scanner systems turn off and on with quick keys. These function the same way as the 296d and other scanners selecting banks to listen to or turn off.if your computeras a serial port, you do not need a usb to serial convertor but if you do not, thats a whole nother subject to discuss. Some work and some do not. You must create a system, then a site, then groups. This was confusing bit the software will do this very easy.you first create a site, saying what type of sytem you desire to listen to, conventional, motorola, etc. You highlight the type then give it a name. Like some fire dept or police dept..you will see a green cross, click and enter your data. If a conventional system, you are done.if you have multiple frequencies, keep enter the green cross, fill the blanks and move on. Trunking you create the system, then a site (where you enter the frequencies the trunking system uses, then the group where you enter the tgids. Try to make a quick ket on the site as that is how you can bring up a bank (system) like we did before on other scanners.
Mike mccrann, wd0gsy st. Peters, mo
