Freescan or Butel ARC246 Software ?

Madhouse · #1 (**permalink**) 08-22-2008, 12:10 PM

Could anyone tell me the pros and cons regarding the Freescan, BCTool or Butel ARC246 Software?
Keep in mind I'm old and slow

.
I like the free part and the author of Freescan is not too modest about what he feels about it.
So far I haven't been able to find anything definitive to recommend one over the other.
Please share your experience with either or both programs. Thanks

ka3jjz · #2 (**permalink**) 08-22-2008, 12:25 PM

I could be wrong here, but last I heard, FreeScan doesn't do logging with the 246 very well yet. I'm sure that's on his list of things to fix. I'd jump to their forum - Assaf set one up on his page - and ask about that if logging - that is, keeping a list of what you heard, and when - is an important function to you. BCTool is another freeware package that might bear investigating and here's the link (it's supported via a Yahoo group)....

http://www.bctool.org/index.php

73 Mike

loumaag · #3 (**permalink**) 08-22-2008, 12:42 PM

Moved to the correct forum, please try and place queries in a more specific forum than the General Scanning forum, thanks.

mikea7531 · #4 (**permalink**) 08-22-2008, 02:38 PM

Stick with Freescan.... You'll be wasting your money with Butel. These are the problems with butel:

-Lack of Support
-Lack of Updates & Enhancements
-Very very very slow to fix bugs in THEIR software.

If I were you, stay far away from butel. The author is apparently spread too thin and cannot keep up with all of the software he has written.

kellykeeton · #5 (**permalink**) 08-22-2008, 02:41 PM

i have found that bctool is a little buggy with 246 freescan works great but like said less other features.

i dont really like butel software its very expensive and slow to update and normally has bugs. donate to bctool so that product gets better its awesome..

The one thing that butel software will do very good is quick key managment, no other product has the great UI for quick key managment.

basically if you want to spend money butel is good for the 246 otherwise try out freescan, one thing it will do very good for a new scanner owner is it has tool tip help text on every option so you can understand what it is a little better.

cpuerror · #6 (**permalink**) 08-22-2008, 02:55 PM

You got nothing to lose by trying any software package. Theres different ways of solving the same problem, and what works for me might not work for everyone.

Logging isnt broken on the 246, however on conventional systems the sys name and groups aren't recorded, or the tone. This is more of a shortcoming with the 230/246, as the programming language simply does not make this information available to software. In UASD for example, there is no logging supoprt for conventional hits on the 246.

In my perhaps slightly biased opinion I think FreeSCAN is the strongest for programming, and other packages have more developed logging/recording.

kellykeeton · #7 (**permalink**) 08-22-2008, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cpuerror

In my perhaps slightly biased opinion I think FreeSCAN is the strongest for programming, and other packages have more developed logging/recording.

2nd that FreeScan i would compare to butel and that is no-compare in my book (freescan wins) for programming

can i make a off topic post as well to suggest that freescan implements the quick key management like butel software? (a graphical representation of the quickkeys that can easy set)

cpuerror · #8 (**permalink**) 08-22-2008, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kellykeeton

2nd that FreeScan i would compare to butel and that is no-compare in my book (freescan wins) for programming

can i make a off topic post as well to suggest that freescan implements the quick key management like butel software? (a graphical representation of the quickkeys that can easy set)

Thanks!! As for the quick keys, you can bring up the quick key manager by going to Tools * System Quick Key Manager.

captclint · #9 (**permalink**) 08-22-2008, 05:48 PM

Neither BCtool or FreeSCAN work well with the 246 logging, so if that is something think you would like, then I can strongly recommend ACR246. The logging is great when searching, but it is also handy for normal scanning. Often, I do not look up in time to see what agency was just talking, so I just look at the log. I would not use a program unless it did logging well. However, if logging is not needed, then I lean towards BCtool, because the display can be easily minimized and made to "stay on top". However, you can download all three and see which one you like(ARC free demo has some limitations, but it is robust)