Bcd396t

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JH2184

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Clayton NC
I just want to comment on the my Uniden BCD396T and how dissapointed I am in my scanner. First of all..the annoying EDACS beep problem. I never once had that problem with my Pro 96 or Pro2096. The only thing I like about it is that it picks up alot father than my pro96. The pro-2096 however, in my opinion is one of the best scanners ever made. The next thing I don't like about it is the poor audio. The entire unit is just too small. This is the most overrated and overpriced piece of equipment. The biggest waste of money I have ever spent. Another thing is I can't get any batteries to work in the unit other than the batteries that came with it. I have tried every rechargable energizer battery that I have and used from my Radioshack but they do not work at all for my BCD396T. The unit will not even power on with other types of batteries. Another problem I have had is the dust problem around the speaker and some type of dust has accumulated on the display screen on the inside that I can't get out. Also, my belt clip broke for no apparent reason..the piece that makes it snap broke so now its easy to knock it off. Even my PC input cover doesn't go back correctly anymore after I try to put it down. I'm thinking about buying a normal size radioshack scanner that doesnt have an EDACS beeping problem and that annoying buzz alarm type sound it makes also on the EDACS system like this one. Maybe the new update will help it but I like my Pro-2096 alot better. I do not recommend this at all. The first and last Uniden I will ever buy.
 

rhutch

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Feb 5, 2005
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Ontario
I love mine

Had mine for years use it every single day, the small size is one of the main things I like about it. As for batteries it takes AA's there is no magic about it. I've use Energizer, Durcell, and Eneloops in mine with no problems what so ever. Like I said I used mine for years in very dusty environments, and I have had zero problems with dust getting inside.

Maybe you should just get a Radioshack scanner if you are that unhappy.

Personally I think its the best money I've spent on a scanner, along with the 296 and 996.
 
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UFEMTFF

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Also, the EDACS beep issue is going to be cleared up with the new firmware update...
 

cajun945

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Mar 27, 2003
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Parker,Co
BCD 396t

well i just spent over $1,100 on a new BCD 396t & BCD996T i LOVE everything about them...
everyday i learn something little more about both scanners....

PS: Thank god for this site... :)
 

gregmoss

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Feb 19, 2006
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Alaska
Yep! I love my bcd396

Only problem i've had thus far, is that the bcd396 displays illegal voltage when it's plugged in with the uniden supplied recharger. I've had this problem before with the br330t, and i know it's was the scanner, not the recharger itself. Now i charge the batt's outside of the scanner and it works flawlessly. The only thing i hate is constantly changing the batt's. I'm sending it too uniden for repair soon. Just wish i had a backup bc396t.
 

VE3RADIO

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I love it, best scanner i have ever had! Uniden all the way.. and do you really want a piece of electronic equipment that says radio shack on it?
 

Saint

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dirty display

:confused: I put the information on this web site how to go about taking the scanner apart so you can clean the inside of the display for the 396t if your having a problem with dust, it's a simple thing to fix your self all you need is a small screw driver to unscrew around 8 screws and 20 minutes of time, I did mine last year and have not had a problem since, as far as batteries as the other person has said I have also used several kinds of rechargeable batteries and also several kinds of regular batteries from the most expensive to the cheapest and all of them have worked for me. One of the number (ONE Reasons) why people went out and bought this scanner is because of the size of the scanner I can't believe your not happy with this, did you not see in the advertisement for this scanner the size measurements for this scanner. And again as someone else has pointed out there are going to be updates for this scanner I believe within a week or so to fix the other issues you are having with the scanner SO you won't have these issues with the scanner in the future.
Steve
 

Sjinndoawi

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Feb 12, 2007
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South Florida
Yes

Yea I just spent 1,700 On my Unidens ,I have 2 BCD996T'S. Aand I love them, they are by FARRRRR the best out there.. i AGREE don't want RADIO Shack on my radios
 

aar9sm

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Sep 10, 2006
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RS Scanner

If i am not mistaken the majority of the RS scanners are Uniden made.
 

NorthCOVideo

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Jul 15, 2007
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Fort Lupton, Colorado
Kinda sounds like you got a POS unit, I bought mine used from CaptainCraig for $400 on here and love it, there is the little problem with the voltage like said above, but I figured I just need to get new bateries sometime. My problem with the Pro-96 is I can't pick up 700Mhz and thats vital for my area since part of Colorados digital network is on it. Also like said I love the size, the are many features that are likeable, but in most cases its a matter of opinion and preferences. Radio Shack is like Dell they put their name on everything, the digital scanners by GRE/Radioshack are becoming outdated and they need to think up something new.
 
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K8TEK

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rhutch said:
Maybe you should just get a Radioshack scanner if you are that unhappy.
Is that your solution to everything? Get rid of it if you don't like it! These are suggestions! Look at other electronics with firmware. People complain and the company making it takes these complaints into consiteration. Uniden makes great products, but their lack of allowing customer input is a real issue.

Don't like that carpet in your house, buy a new house! Don't like the radio in your car, get a new car. Don't like the article in your newspaper, start your own. See how your suggestion is worthless!
 

kg4pbd

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K8TEK said:
Uniden makes great products, but their lack of allowing customer input is a real issue.

Sorry but I can't watch that one slide by.....
As far as scanners go Uniden seems to take a considerable amount of consumer input into consideration.

The 396 is what rekindled my interest in scanners. I've been buying scanners since the mid 70's starting out with Regency and Bearcat crystal scanners and my '396 is my all time favorite. Every programmable scanner I'd bought over the years was a GRE until the '396. Now I'm hooked on the Uniden line.
 

K8TEK

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kg4pbd said:
Sorry but I can't watch that one slide by.....
As far as scanners go Uniden seems to take a considerable amount of consumer input into consideration.

The 396 is what rekindled my interest in scanners. I've been buying scanners since the mid 70's starting out with Regency and Bearcat crystal scanners and my '396 is my all time favorite. Every programmable scanner I'd bought over the years was a GRE until the '396. Now I'm hooked on the Uniden line.
People have been complaining of issues with this scanner, and it takes them a year to offer a single update?
 

RogerH11

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Does a $500 radio really have poor audio? If so, that's a disgrace. I never been a big fan of Uniden because of battery packs, poor audio, poor way things work, and bad squelch tails. GRE has been over the years much better radios. However, Uniden may be better today. IMO, the first good radio or at least the best overall was the T246 which has good audio and does everything pretty good. So after all those years the T246 was the only noteworthy Uniden radio or at least handheld. I haven't bought a radio since the 246 so I don't know how Uniden (or GRE) does with base and H/Hs today.

I'm going to probably buy a radio or two when I get the tax rebate check thing. How does the audio of the 396 compare to the 246 and GRE 300/500? When will the 396 be replaced by a new model? I'm not sure if I need digital yet, but I may get one just in case because there are rumors of upgrading to digital.
 

bwilborn

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K8TEK said:
Is that your solution to everything? Get rid of it if you don't like it! These are suggestions! Look at other electronics with firmware. People complain and the company making it takes these complaints into consiteration. Uniden makes great products, but their lack of allowing customer input is a real issue.

Don't like that carpet in your house, buy a new house! Don't like the radio in your car, get a new car. Don't like the article in your newspaper, start your own. See how your suggestion is worthless!

Err, yeah. I hate the carpet in my house. Gonna get new carpet. My radio in my car sucks, gonna get a new radio too (one with an aux port so I can feed my scanner audio directly into it rather than use an FM xmitter.) The newspaper runs some articles of questionable quality at times, they get a reader editorial about it.

A rational person would sell or get rid of an item that they are not happy with and replace it with something they consider better. You're only making yourself suffer by using a product you don't like. And frankly, you're making us all suffer by making us listen to your incessant whining. If you think that the 396 sucks *that* badly, why don't you sell it here, and buy yourself a GRE (or Pro-96)?

-- B
 

rhutch

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K8TEK said:
Is that your solution to everything? Get rid of it if you don't like it! These are suggestions! Look at other electronics with firmware. People complain and the company making it takes these complaints into consiteration. Uniden makes great products, but their lack of allowing customer input is a real issue.

Don't like that carpet in your house, buy a new house! Don't like the radio in your car, get a new car. Don't like the article in your newspaper, start your own. See how your suggestion is worthless!


No brain wave if I don't like the carpet I get a new carpet, I don't expect the Mfg. to come over and re weave it. If I don't like the radio in the car I put a new one in (or I don't buy it to start with), I don't expect them to re-engineer the radio to meet my specific needs.

If it doesn't meet your needs get something that does. Don't buy a Porsche and complain that you can't plow fields with it.

Besides it beats your solution of whinning all the time.
 
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RogerH11

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bwilborn said:
Err, yeah. I hate the carpet in my house. Gonna get new carpet. My radio in my car sucks, gonna get a new radio too (one with an aux port so I can feed my scanner audio directly into it rather than use an FM xmitter.) The newspaper runs some articles of questionable quality at times, they get a reader editorial about it.

A rational person would sell or get rid of an item that they are not happy with and replace it with something they consider better. You're only making yourself suffer by using a product you don't like. And frankly, you're making us all suffer by making us listen to your incessant whining. If you think that the 396 sucks *that* badly, why don't you sell it here, and buy yourself a GRE (or Pro-96)?

-- B

Or he can't post his complaints here (after all, he did spend a lot of money for the radio) so others can read his complaints then deem them worthy or not when considering to buy the stated radio.

What's bad for this site is fanboys who bring up carpeting or some other nonsense not related to scanning. Then I keep reading that firmwares may soon be released to fix a problem on a radio that's over two years old!
 

bwilborn

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RogerH11 said:
Or he can't post his complaints here (after all, he did spend a lot of money for the radio) so others can read his complaints then deem them worthy or not when considering to buy the stated radio.

What's bad for this site is fanboys who bring up carpeting or some other nonsense not related to scanning. Then I keep reading that firmwares may soon be released to fix a problem on a radio that's over two years old!

There's complaining and ranting...then there's constructive criticism. I've said this in other threads, but building a receiver that will work on thousands of different implementations of multiple technologies without issue is impossible. The GRE units have issues. The Uniden units have issues. The Radio Shack (GRE) units have issues. They're all different, just like the systems people want to monitor.

If one tool doesn't work, then use one that will. You don't use a pair of vise-grips to tighten a bolt (unless you want to destroy it), why would you use a radio with known flaws on certain systems to monitor it? The 396 works fine for me in Colorado. If I were elsewhere, monitoring a different system that might not be the case. If the radio didn't work, I'd sell it and get a GRE. It's that simple.

The problems being experienced with this radio aren't across the board (as hundreds of satisfied users will attest), nor is there one magic cure-all update that will fix everyone's problems. I'm no fanboy (and he's the one who brought up the carpet/radio analogy, not me), but seriously...if he's THAT unhappy with the radio, maybe it's time to move on.

-- B
 
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