local help

[9erhater]

anyone in the marin / san rafael area using uniden bcn396t scanners. just wondering how many people are using this scanner in this area. how far you are getting out. if so what type of antenna are you using?
just trying to see what is my realistic listening range.

 

[SCPD]

Make sure you program each Zone as a separate Site so the Scanner will not lock on a weak Site.

 

[9erhater]

I dont think I understand what you mean by zones, or sites. I have a bc396t, and I have been reading till my eyes crossed.
I still dont undertand the whole system and talkgroup thing. maybe it just new lingo for banks and groups, I am still waiting for my usb cable I ordered. so I can see whats on this scanner. I guess if I could see what others are doing as to what there (worksheets or files) look like as for how it is broken down, maybe I will get a better understanding. if I can physically see it I will understand it. kinda wierd because when I read the owners manual it seems easy for me to understand most of it. Although I think that I may delete all the preprogrammed stuff off, and try reloading the stuff I will use.(mostly west coast) but I will probably see whats on it first. I am simply just doing for a hobbie to kill time while my bones mend from a car accident I was in. I think when I learn the basics I will be alright.
thank you
Ed

 

[kma371]

I dont think I understand what you mean by zones, or sites. I have a bc396t, and I have been reading till my eyes crossed.
I still dont undertand the whole system and talkgroup thing. maybe it just new lingo for banks and groups, I am still waiting for my usb cable I ordered. so I can see whats on this scanner. I guess if I could see what others are doing as to what there (worksheets or files) look like as for how it is broken down, maybe I will get a better understanding. if I can physically see it I will understand it. kinda wierd because when I read the owners manual it seems easy for me to understand most of it. Although I think that I may delete all the preprogrammed stuff off, and try reloading the stuff I will use.(mostly west coast) but I will probably see whats on it first. I am simply just doing for a hobbie to kill time while my bones mend from a car accident I was in. I think when I learn the basics I will be alright.
thank you
Ed

what software are you going to use?

 

[9erhater]

currently, just tinkering with freescan and arc396. I read the wiki page on the zones but still dont understand how I will set up different zones on the scanner. it seems like alot. but Im sure the radio should have space for it.I do like the way it is outlined, but do I make those each its own system, or talkgroup. thats the part I do really get. I suppose it requires more reading.

 

[inigo88]

Zone = Site in the case of MERA. So you should be able to program MERA as one system, but then plug in different sets of frequencies into each site. Then as you change location within the county the scanner can lock on to the control channel from the site with the best decode rate. This is how the RSSI feature works on commercial Motorola radios and scanner manufacturers have started to pick it up.

Beyond that I have no specific experience with the BCD396T.

 

[9erhater]

sorry to be such a pain, so I would load the MERA as one system, and then place each zone as its own group? them assign a quikkey to each zone?
OR
do I load all the all the MERA to a system, and then create a group for each categorie (fire, sheriff, emt..ect) then place eack one of those in one group.? I know my radio only allows 20 groups per system. when it has 28 to choose from do a create a separate sysem for those 8

last questions for now. do I have to create a system for trunking and create another system for conventional. or can I build one mixed system as one and load all of them together..

is the uasd files the same as the two above, I have read up on it. but still not clear on it.
is there or is it just another way to program all the other systems. or do I Create a system for each type.
as of now I am tinkering with arc 396 and freescan. scanner is a bc396t. anything will help
sorry for so many questions, I am probably overthinking everything, just one of my curses.

 

[gg13]

I have listen to Marin from Petaluma and use the East Zone only on a bcn396t & 996T. If you are still looking at software you may want to give Proscan a look. Hope this helps.

 

[9erhater]

Thanks GG, well I recieved my usb cable today, and I am listening to marin now, the only thing I really dont get is how to organize the systems and groups, right now I will hear a call and miss the rest of the transmission, because it scans through the rest of the channels. I know I can shut off some groups but I dont know if I will be locking out any channels that I may need, to hear the other side of it,or if they were uploaded in order. I am currently playing with freescan now and like it. maybe after I get a better hang of this scanner and get a little more experienced I may upgrade to proscan, I saw the demo and it looks really good. I am just trying to get a feel of how everyone is programming this area in there scanners. and trying to understand what uasd is, I am guessing it is just the tgid numbers that ids the frequency, and doesnt have anything to do with the actual programming of a frequency. maybe I am wrong. or if I can just load those numbers into my scanner and then scan with it. I know I will look back at this post someday and feel like a real idiot. but I will just keep reading and learning.