Undien BCD396XT in Central CO?

Hello everyone. Its been a long time since I've posted. I'm looking at possibly picking up a used BCD396XT. Many years ago I owned its predecessor, the BCD396T (and remember it had issues with simulcast repeaters).
What I'd like to confirm, is if the 396XT is sufficient enough for scanning the Denver area (centered near Castle Rock). From what I've seen in the database, it looks like every P25 system in the South Denver metro area is still Phase I. Am I correct? Does anyone have any knowledge if there will be any sort of change to Phase II in the near future? I'd just hate to spend money on this radio only to have it become obsolete in a year or two.

Thanks in advance,
Jeremy K9MAP

The BCD396XT should be able to monitor just about every agency in Colorado currently, exception being the users who are encrypted or Arvada depending on the day. Something that should be kept in mind is that Douglas County will be replacing Silver Heights sometime in the next few months with a simulcast that might might be a bit detrimental depending on where you are.

With that said, the systems that have the capability of using TDMA voice (Phase II) are FRCC (Adams, Weld, and soon a large portion of Larimer County), MARC (Arvada, Denver, Lakewood, West Metro Fire, and Wheat Ridge), and Westminster. Aurora's Phase II system should also be going online sometime soon and it is unknown if they will be using TDMA at the start.

As far as I know the state hasn't said much about Phase II. I would think that it would be very costly to upgrade the entire state. Historically, the funding for the system has been uncertain and because of that a number of agencies that have the money are leaving for FRCC. There's also no more 700 MHz narrowbanding pressure from the FCC, so there's no pressure to go to Phase II unless they wanted to double the capacity or the current system reaches end of life.

Even if the system went Phase II today, it is very unlikely that an agency would use TDMA on their current talkgroups anytime soon. Many of the agencies in Colorado have radios that do not support TDMA and would likely end up staying with FDMA (Phase I) for at least a couple years. A Phase II system does automatically mean that the Phase I scanner is obsolete.

I would hasten to add one cautionary note: If you become like some of us (the hard-core "users") and begin listening to the many, many, many, many agencies who use the Denver-Metro DTR sites with varying frequency and duration, you will quickly find the 396XT's limits of 500 talkgroups per system to be a terrible, awful never-ending headache. I believe the only scanner with a higher TG capacity (i.e. storage of ALL DTR talkgroups throughout the State in one system) is the newest Uniden X36HP's.

Now, you may never notice this limitation, if you have no desire to monitor every talkgroup used by every agency that ever uses any tower DTR in your area. If you only want to monitor a few agencies/counties on DTR, you will be just fine with a 396XT.

I am selling my 396, if you are interested in picking it up, PM me.