Many thanks to Brian Shoop, who kindly took the time to help us with many techincal questions on scanners, frequencies, systems, etc. We haven't been scanning for several years, our last scanners being the first generation trunk-trackers, and now that we were wanting to get back into scanning, we needed a scanner that could monitor the new MECA system here in Indianapolis. Brian guided us in the type of radios available that would fill the bill, discussing models, features, pros and cons, etc. We ended up with a new Uniden BCD996T, which got here Wednesday. We had problems at first because Uniden has a "catch 22" situation on these. They come with out-of-date software in them from the factory. You are asked to register your scanner with Uniden to be able to download the updated version. However, you must have both an ESN number and a CHECKSUM number to register your scanner. The ESN number is IN the scanner under "settings" but there will be no checksum number. You have to download the updated software to get a checksum number. BUT, you have to REGISTER your scanner to download the software that provides the checksum number!! We never were able to register the scanner, or download the updated software into the scanner, but thanks to Brian, we were able to download the programming (frequency information) we needed, and we are really enjoying the scanner. It seems to be a very heavy-duty quality unit, which it needs to be, as we bought it from Bearcatwarehouse.com, and while the outer cardboard box was undamaged, the actual scanner box was shopworn and damaged on all four corners and appeared to have been dropped more than once before being shipped to us. We contacted them to see if it was a refurbished or returned item, or to see if there was any explanation as to why the box was damaged, but they said no, it was brand new, and they didn't seem very concerned. However, at these prices you would have thought they would have taken better care of the product. So far no problems, but buyer beware. Happily, Brian has made our scanning fun again, and we truly appreciate all the time and effort he made to make that happen. So, thanks Brian, for your patience in fielding all of our many emails, answering all of our questions, and guiding us back to scanning! (We also gained a lot of valuable information from your website and have downloaded a great deal of it for future reference.) It's people like you who really make things better for the rest of us! Thanks, Brian!
The Clarks
The Clarks
