bcd996xt

[cmed325]

just purchased a bcd996xt,,now what?,,downloaded freescan,,its having pblms seeing radio,,checked com port seems connected,,any better info out there,it comes with a disk but no paper manual?

 

[ka3jjz]

There are several questions to ask here, and frankly not enough information to address any one of them;

a. I would assume you have a USB-serial converter to connect the PC and scanner. Did you load the drivers? Many times if you dig a bit, you can find more up-to-date ones than those on a CD or floppy. Did you confirm using Device Manager what COM port you are using? This article in our wiki discusses this topic in detail...

Connecting scanners via USB - The RadioReference Wiki

b. Did you set up the port on the 996XT? It's usually good practice to allocate the front port for programming; it's the only one that will work if any firmware updates come out (the back port is not set up for this). We have a summary article in the FreeScan user guide (also hosted in our wiki) that tells you how to go about this...

Freescan - Connecting Scanner to PC - The RadioReference Wiki

c. Our Uniden DMA FAQ has numerous links to articles and websites you will find helpful - primary of which are the Easier to Read manuals. There's one for the XT series you can buy from Scanner Master, and one you can download (free) for the 996XT. Either will be a much better read than the mess from Uniden.

Uniden DMA FAQ - The RadioReference Wiki

d. Finally, as alluded to earlier, FreeScan's user guide is hosted in our wiki; or, in FreeScan, go to Help/Online Help. The URL is:

FreeScan User Guide - The RadioReference Wiki

You might want to check in with the Scan New England folks along with our own Massachusetts forum and see if someone has a file for your area. Keep in mind that FreeScan will import UASD or BuTel files as a source.

That should be enough for now. Time to start reading

best regards..Mike

 

[brownlab]

The answer above is much better than mine but this is how I configured the XT and Free Scan.............
If your XT came with a Serial Port Connector then you most likely have to change your Communication Port (Com 1) to 9600 Bits per second. That is what I had to do. Assuming you are using Windows, you go to your Device Manager, click on Ports (Com&LPT1) and then click on Communication Port (Com 1). There is a drop down menu and use that to change to 9600. Next assuming you have already downloaded Free Scan, go to "Scanner" and choose "Upload Programming" click on the Comm Setting and make sure Port# is Com 1 and Port is 9600. Now hook you cable to the Serial Port of your computer and to your XT Scanner. Now click on the Start Auto button of Free Scan and the program should automatically find and configure your scanner to your computer.

 

[ka3jjz]

Unless you're running an older computer, why run at 9600? Most modern serial ports can do 115200 without breaking a sweat.

??

best regards..Mike

 

[brownlab]

No, I originally downloaded FreeScan to a Dell D 610 (not too old) for programing the Uniden XT. Honestly, I have not used a serial port for anything in years so I just used the lowest setting and it worked. You are correct about 115200 but I was just describing (or replicating) how I got it to work the first time. Since then, I have switched to a USB connection.