If you are a newbie to this type of scanner, trying to read the manual and programming it by hand can be discouraging and frustrating. I have over 10,000 items in my 396XT. Unless you are an engineer with lots of time, the best option is to install a supported software tool (like Proscan, Freescan, etc.) and download the desired agencies / organization info from this site. Once captured on your scanner you can edit and adjust it manually as needed. Of course you will need the programming cable to connect your PC to your scanner. A supported software tool is one that is set up to download frequencies, etc. directly from radioreference.com.
I use Proscan and like it a lot. You can from a drop-down menu in Proscan, select the desired system (agencies / organizations, etc.) from the radioreference site and download them into a file. Once you have the file (or DB if that is the term you prefer) you can upload it to the scanner.
As been said, make sure you have the latest firmware installed on the scanner. You can do a google search to find and download the Uniden tool that allows you to update the firmware. I must admit the first time I did this I was a bit worried I was going to mess something up. But, it all worked out fine. It took me a little while too to understand how to efficiently use the scanner - quick keys, search buttons, etc.
Once you get the scanner all set up, come back to this site and join discussions on antennas, new talk groups, etc. Good luck.
