Hello I am new to this hobby and soon want to do Ham Radio but for the mean time I want to get this scanner Uniden BCD996P2 my question is Will it pick up all police and radio frequencies in Sussex County New Jersey? And if it’s compatible? Thanks everyone
Uniden BCD996P2 Question
- Thread starter Chris1594
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Thanks Kevin 👍🏻
Hi Chris
Looking at your county in the database, it appears that the 996P2 will cover most of the public safety agencies that might be of interest right out of the box, with a few exceptions.
Looking at the grouping for Fire/EMS, I see that some of the cities are using this DMR system: https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=8808
While your 996P2 will not handle DMR straight out of the box, Uniden does have a paid firmware upgrade that will enable that function. See this:
DigitalMobileRadioUpgradeforBCDxxxP2 < UnidenMan4 < TWiki
I also see the DMR mode used by Hopatcong (PD), and Vernon (Fire/EMS). The upgrade mentioned above would cover these as well as the trunked system referenced earlier.
While I did not notice any encryption listed in a skim through the page, should any agency switch to a secure mode (encrypted), you would then be unable to monitor them with any scanner.
Awesome I really appreciate your help I ordered the scanner just now it’s my first one so I’ll definitely be coming back and asking more questions so when I buy the DMR firmware I should be able to pickup those frequencies? Also what is Provoice I’ve seen that pop up on other threads is that something I’ll need it no? Again thanks a lot for helping me I really appreciate it.
I don't see any Edacs in your area so you won't need Provoice upgrade
After upgrading the DMR firmware, programming DMR can get confusing...you'll need to set up a single group for each service (adding CG and TG's) based on what I saw in the DB..one uses RAS so Im not sure it will monitor...we have DMR in Coastal South Jersey, but no RAS so I can't help you
Get yourself some programming software....I use Butel, but Proscan handles DMR better. Sign up for a paid RR account, buy the software and then just import what systems/groups you want and then upload to scanner...you shouldn't need to fiddle with anything if you do it this way, the software will do it for you...don't forget to look at the NJSP P25 system and the NJ Interop systems as well as your home county
After upgrading the DMR firmware, programming DMR can get confusing...you'll need to set up a single group for each service (adding CG and TG's) based on what I saw in the DB..one uses RAS so Im not sure it will monitor...we have DMR in Coastal South Jersey, but no RAS so I can't help you
Get yourself some programming software....I use Butel, but Proscan handles DMR better. Sign up for a paid RR account, buy the software and then just import what systems/groups you want and then upload to scanner...you shouldn't need to fiddle with anything if you do it this way, the software will do it for you...don't forget to look at the NJSP P25 system and the NJ Interop systems as well as your home county
Another thing...be selective when grabbing trunked systems and talk groups.(actually...any frequencies as well)....only pick what you want to listen to.....too many does two things...it slows the overall "scanning" because the scanner is "scanning" through all of the inputs you assigned, second...you'll likely miss out on what you want to listen to because the scanner has stopped on something else that you didn't really care about
Is setting up single groups easy? And how would I do that? Sorry for all the questions I’m new to this that Freescan software looks pretty easy to use I was checking out YouTube vids of it last night.
FreeSCAN will work fine for most of what is in your area. The exception, however, is DMR. The program was not updated to support DMR programming, so you'd need either ProScan or ARC-XT to program that mode via software. While you can program DMR manually, you cannot use FreeSCAN to "read" the scanner & save a copy of the configuration if you have any DMR systems. It garbles the data into an unreadable pile of useless data. What I did with my 325P2 was program the basics (the existing systems in my area that are not DMR) using a file created for a previous scanner (396XT). One that part was loaded, I 'read' the scanner into ProScan, then used that software to create the DMR systems I wanted to add to the file.
If you have not done so yet, be sure to visit this website: Digital Frequency Search
There, you can find agencies, companies, and other entities that are licensed for DMR. Bear in mind that just because a given user is "licensed for DMR" does not guarantee that they are using it. But, it at least gives you another option to check if you are trying to see if you can receive them on DMR, presuming that they are not currently analog or digital trunked or conventional usage.
thanks a lot Steve I’m definitely going to go with what you suggested to do and I’ll also check out that link it’s nice how hopeful this community is.
That scanner is suppose to be here tomorrow from Amazon so I’m definitely looking forward to setting that up
Should work great for Sussex county, I had this scanner,its very sensitive and loud.
I would invest in ARC XT its a good software to program the radio.
If you need any help getting a file to put in the radio, just drop me a PM.
I am in NJ.
I would invest in ARC XT its a good software to program the radio.
If you need any help getting a file to put in the radio, just drop me a PM.
I am in NJ.
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Did you actually mean ARC XT? ARC 996 would not work for the 996P2.
996XT to 996P2
Yes, Butel's ARC XT. I had a 996XT and bought the 996XT software at that time they called it ARC 996,I think.
I got a free upgrade by Butel when I got the ARC XT free download for the 996P2.
Great software, I have it for Home Patrol too.
Yes, Butel's ARC XT. I had a 996XT and bought the 996XT software at that time they called it ARC 996,I think.
I got a free upgrade by Butel when I got the ARC XT free download for the 996P2.
Great software, I have it for Home Patrol too.
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I just got the scanner I did the USB upgrade and just did the firmware now i'm going to check those programs out to program this thing
Hey guys I got the scanner hooked up and used Arc XT and I don't even know if I have it hooked up right I put in my local frequencies and all it's doing is saying Scan and with an up arrow I put a few frequencies in so i'm surprised it's not doing anything.
Chris...not sure what you are indicating
1. Did you hook up the USB cable and then set up the port correctly
2. When you do this, you go to the communications set up under the scanner folder (at top of Arc XT)
3. When the computer and scanner connect, go to the "down load from scanner" tab from the scanner folder....When I bought the scanner, I downloaded all of the pre-supplied frequencies and deleted them all...that gave me a clean virgin scanner
4. Go to the "Internet" folder at top of program. This will connect you to Radio Reference. You'll need a premium subscription.....paginate to the systems and frequencies you want in Sussex county ..it is intuitive...by state, by county, by system. Once you've decided what you want, hit the import button. This will load the data into the Arc XT program....NOTHING IS SAVED AND NOTHING IS PUT INTO YOUR SCANNER.....go to the File folder at top of program and save your imported frequencies as a "profile"......now go back to the Scanner folder and Upload to Scanner Tab.....this will load what you just downloaded from RR into the scanner...you should then be able to scan and start to receive traffic
On a note....with Arc XT...the DMR that gets imported from RR to Arc XT for Hopatcong will not be setup correctly...one of the downfalls of the Arc XT (Proscan will take care of it automatically)
In the ARC XT software, while you still have your profile loaded you will need to "add" (Under file folder) two new trunk systems for the 158.85 DMR groups, set them up as DMR...then you set up the CC, SL and TG in the frequency for each
There are 4 screen shots of Delaware County, Pa single freq EMS DMR...you'll see how it was set up as a Motorola DMR (under trunk) then single freq system)..this is how you set up a single freq DMR system in Arc XT
1. Did you hook up the USB cable and then set up the port correctly
2. When you do this, you go to the communications set up under the scanner folder (at top of Arc XT)
3. When the computer and scanner connect, go to the "down load from scanner" tab from the scanner folder....When I bought the scanner, I downloaded all of the pre-supplied frequencies and deleted them all...that gave me a clean virgin scanner
4. Go to the "Internet" folder at top of program. This will connect you to Radio Reference. You'll need a premium subscription.....paginate to the systems and frequencies you want in Sussex county ..it is intuitive...by state, by county, by system. Once you've decided what you want, hit the import button. This will load the data into the Arc XT program....NOTHING IS SAVED AND NOTHING IS PUT INTO YOUR SCANNER.....go to the File folder at top of program and save your imported frequencies as a "profile"......now go back to the Scanner folder and Upload to Scanner Tab.....this will load what you just downloaded from RR into the scanner...you should then be able to scan and start to receive traffic
On a note....with Arc XT...the DMR that gets imported from RR to Arc XT for Hopatcong will not be setup correctly...one of the downfalls of the Arc XT (Proscan will take care of it automatically)
In the ARC XT software, while you still have your profile loaded you will need to "add" (Under file folder) two new trunk systems for the 158.85 DMR groups, set them up as DMR...then you set up the CC, SL and TG in the frequency for each
There are 4 screen shots of Delaware County, Pa single freq EMS DMR...you'll see how it was set up as a Motorola DMR (under trunk) then single freq system)..this is how you set up a single freq DMR system in Arc XT
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Thanks that's exactly what I needed all I need to do now is upload the DMR but I still have to get the subscription soon for it. I do noticed on a few Sparta PD2 and Sparta EMS MX5 ones that there's so much static that you can barely hear their voice So i'm not sure what's going on with that if I uploaded the wrong frequency or something like that. Also is there a way to find my local DPW frequency? they were out infront of the house the other day and heard their radios going but didn't see anything up here for them. If possible is there a way to make a group as far as 1 for EMS 1 for Police and another one for Fire? Sorry for all the questions you've definitely been a big help to getting me up and running
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