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davidfry

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hi sorta new to programming scanner.bought a bcd396xt like 8 years ago and couldnt figure out how to program it .i went online did ffree scan and through radio ref down loaded my area codes all was good till my local police changed something now dont receive their transmissions.tried to update scanner and put in new updates to frequencies but no change can somebody run me through how to use freescan and radio ref to update my scanner .maybe a link to something any help would be appreciated thanks
 

davidfry

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ok so i guess you want location of my local police? um hatfield township police montgomery county hatfield pa
 

ka3jjz

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FreeScan has a fairly complete help section, written as a wiki which is stored on this site. You can view it in FreeScan by selecting 'Help / Online Help'.

We also have a pretty extensive set of wiki articles to help you along, however, as Larry says, we need to know where you ;are (county/state is fine) as well as precisely what it is you want to hear. Without these things, no one can help you. Here is our wiki on these scanners;

https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Program_your_DMA_Scanner

Mike
 

bearcatrp

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Sounds like your are switched to P25 if they were analog before. I had the T version of that radio. Had to input allot of frequencies but it worked. I sold it for the 436, which is very simple to use. Just put your zip code in, select range like 10 miles, then start scanning. Pretty easy. We do need your county and state to help use determine if any changes happened in your area.
 

N8IAA

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ok so i guess you want location of my local police? um hatfield township police montgomery county hatfield pa
Looks like they still use the old Motorola Type II system until they switch to the new P-25 Phase II system. Looks like you will have to upgrade to a scanner that does Phase II. Suggest a 325P2, non SD card scanner. Less to go wrong. I, also, suggest FreeScan for programming.

Larry
 

N8IAA

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Sounds like your are switched to P25 if they were analog before. I had the T version of that radio. Had to input allot of frequencies but it worked. I sold it for the 436, which is very simple to use. Just put your zip code in, select range like 10 miles, then start scanning. Pretty easy. We do need your county and state to help use determine if any changes happened in your area.


396XT IS a digital scanner. Just not Phase II capable. Don't recommend using a SD card scanner for just one system. Too much info using the zip code way of programming.
 

hiegtx

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ok so i guess you want location of my local police? um hatfield township police montgomery county hatfield pa
Looking at your county, Montgomery, in the database, it may bee sadly out of date, and in serious need of updating.

As Larry already noted, if your agencies of interest (Hatfield Twp, and Montgomery County) are still using the Motorola Type II system, then updating your program settings would get you back to monitoring. What's confusing to me, is that the county also has a new P25 Phase II system as well. Looking at that system in the system's details in the database show a number of talkgroups for Fire, EMS, and Hospitals. Yet other than it's showing in the list of trunked systems at the bottom of the county's page in the database, it's not linked to any of the cities fire or police sections on the page itself. Usual database practice is to show a link to trunked systems used in the area of the page where the specific city or agency is listed. The Motorola system is linked to each city or agency that it covers. The new system should be listed as well, if the agency has either moved, or might be using both systems.

As also already noted, the new system is P25 Phase II, which your 396XT cannot decode. To try and resolve which system is used by Hatfield and Montgomery County, I'd suggest that you have your thread moved to the Pennsylvania Forum. Someone either in, or at least near, your county may be able to provide clarification as to whether or not Hatfield, and other agencies, have moved to the new system. If they have not moved, then you can update your programming. If the move has occurred, then you would need to change to a P25 Phase II capable scanner if you wist to listen.

To have your thread transferred to the state forum, do not create a new thread. Instead, click on the Report in the lower left corner of one of your posts, and request that a moderator move your thread to the state forum. Someone in your area would be more likely to see it there.
 

royldean

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Montco has not switched to the new P25 system. They are now targeting the summer months to do the switchover - so other than learning about how the new P25 system will work, stick to the Motorola system (for at least the next few months).
 

HM1529

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If all you are interested in is the police, you'll be out of luck. When Montco completes their system upgrade to the P25 Phase 2 system, all police talkgroups on the new system are supposed to be encrypted. As Roy said, the current target for the switch seems to be summerish. However, that has been pushed back several times.
 
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