USAD software+BCD396T

[cbscanman15]

hello,
i have downloaded the USAD software of the undien website and i am very confused with it,i want to put in some freqs but all it is showing me is the pre-programmed freqs.This is confusing to me what am i doing wrong and what do i gotta do to get my alpa tag in my radio + talkgroup and freq.

P.S. is a talk group useful? beacuse i just want to put a freq in but i want to know what a talkgroup really does is it a good thing to have it in there or not.
thank you any help is greatly appricted!

 

[rdale]

Take a look at the trunking wiki and read through the basics... That'll make it MUCH easier to program a trunked system after you know what they are and how they operate.

 

[KL]

Or just spend $39 and get the ARC396 software and make a small donation to this site so you can access the RR database.

I pulled my hair out for 2 hours trying to use the Uniden s/w and not get anywhere, but with the ARC396 s/w and the RR database, I was up and running with 1 large trunked system in less than 5 minutes, and 10 more minutes later I had 3 more large system up and running.

 

[trace1]

I found the Uniden software to be very easy to use.

hello,
i have downloaded the USAD software of the undien website and i am very confused with it,i want to put in some freqs but all it is showing me is the pre-programmed freqs.This is confusing to me what am i doing wrong and what do i gotta do to get my alpa tag in my radio + talkgroup and freq.

P.S. is a talk group useful? beacuse i just want to put a freq in but i want to know what a talkgroup really does is it a good thing to have it in there or not.
thank you any help is greatly appricted!

Under Scanner Configuration click on the NEW button, also you'll have to ADD the systems you want, and simply follow the prompts. I just recently purchased a BC396T also and had downloaded the software from Uniden several days earlier. While it may not be as easy to use as the ARC396, which I’ve never used, I had absolutely no problems with the free software. Once my scanner arrived I connected it to my computer and had mine set up and ready for use in about 10 minutes (700+ frequencies). I added some more frequencies just today an decided to enter those manually, which was very easy also.

Good Luck!

Or just spend $39 and get the ARC396 software and make a small donation to this site so you can access the RR database.

I pulled my hair out for 2 hours trying to use the Uniden s/w and not get anywhere, but with the ARC396 s/w and the RR database, I was up and running with 1 large trunked system in less than 5 minutes, and 10 more minutes later I had 3 more large system up and running.

I’ve seen some other post here about how much better/easier the ARC software compared to the one from Uniden but I really had no problems using it. I’ve got all the local MOT 800Mhz sytems as well as many Conventional systems plus several systems that are between where I live in Alabama and Jonesboro Arkansas (The reason being is that is where my wife’s family lives and we’re going to be going up there next month.), I ended up with over 700 frequencies.

 

[cbscanman15]

Thanks Alot Guys

 

[4phun]

Under Scanner Configuration click on the NEW button, also you'll have to ADD the systems you want, and simply follow the prompts. I just recently purchased a BC396T also and had downloaded the software from Uniden several days earlier. While it may not be as easy to use as the ARC396, which I’ve never used, I had absolutely no problems with the free software. Once my scanner arrived I connected it to my computer and had mine set up and ready for use in about 10 minutes (700+ frequencies). I added some more frequencies just today an decided to enter those manually, which was very easy also.

I find the combination of UASD (not USAD) , NOTEPAD, FIREFOX, and MS EXCEL to be easy to use. IMHO there is no need for any other software for the BCD396T but for those that need more hand holding the Butal product seems to be the best choice. I merely read the help file and determined that ARC396 didn't offer enough new capablity for me to make the switch.

The 996 version of UASD has an updated ssytem module which I find easier to use than the previous version but you can NOT use UASD 996 to write to the 396T at this time. I run both versions at the same time to edit my USD files and the UASD 396 to finally wirte the updated information to the 396T.

REMEMBER
DO NOT TRY to write a 996 configuration file to the 396 just the USD ones!

 

[JTMax]

996 Software

Where did you get the 996 software. I didn't see it on the uniden site.

 

[4phun]

Where did you get the 996 software. I didn't see it on the uniden site.

Send an email to UPMan requesting a copy and a user registration code.
He will send you a link to download from and the code you may need.

 

[SIMON11]

Arc software is first class. So easy to use.

 

[KL]

I find the combination of UASD (not USAD) , NOTEPAD, FIREFOX, and MS EXCEL to be easy to use. IMHO there is no need for any other software for the BCD396T but for those that need more hand holding the Butal product seems to be the best choice. I merely read the help file and determined that ARC396 didn't offer enough new capablity for me to make the switch.

You are probably very experienced with this, more power to you!

But perhaps you should try the trial ARC396 software which is a free download with only a couple of minor limitations compared to the full version, you are also a Donating Member so in 2 minutes (or maybe even less) you will be able to find out just how easy it is to use the combination of ARC396 and RR Data Base, and without using multiple software package like you had described.

Perhaps some would consider me to be "lazy", but I buy a scanner to listen, not to spend lots of time entering the necessary information using several pieces of software, ARC396 and RR DB does this for me so seamlessly and quickly, it's the best money I've spent in a long time.

I guess this is like comparing using assembler language vs. using high level language, I could learn the harder way of doing things, but why would I?

Anyway, just my 2 (Canadian) cents worth.

 

[triryche]

I second the motion about getting the ARC software. Don't even waste your time with that Uniden junk. That software is horrible. The ARC software is the best out there and affordable! I use it on several Uniden models. http://www.butel.nl

Mike K9DRX
http://www.qsl.net/k9drx

 

[rfsparkz]

I purchased the Butal software and find it very easy to use along with the info on this site.It took me only a couple of minutes to load up trunks for my area and listen in.Thank goodness as the next day we got hit with a major snow storm here. 73 Russ VE3ELL

 

[4phun]

OK just 4phun I will download and try the Butel software.

It may be similar to the Win96 software Don Star wrote for the PRO-96 as it had a data imprt facility.

Anyway I will get back to you as to how it compares to my totally free approach to programming the BCD396T. I just took a quick look at the ARC396 manual and it looks like they stick closer to the windows uniform tools for accomplishing tasks. It looks like any other windows program and therefore it may feel simpler use.

You are probably very experienced with this, more power to you!

But perhaps you should try the trial ARC396 software which is a free download with only a couple of minor limitations compared to the full version, you are also a Donating Member so in 2 minutes (or maybe even less) you will be able to find out just how easy it is to use the combination of ARC396 and RR Data Base, and without using multiple software package like you had described.

Perhaps some would consider me to be "lazy", but I buy a scanner to listen, not to spend lots of time entering the necessary information using several pieces of software, ARC396 and RR DB does this for me so seamlessly and quickly, it's the best money I've spent in a long time.

I guess this is like comparing using assembler language vs. using high level language, I could learn the harder way of doing things, but why would I?

Anyway, just my 2 (Canadian) cents worth.

 

[4phun]

I second the motion about getting the ARC software. Don't even waste your time with that Uniden junk. That software is horrible. The ARC software is the best out there and affordable! I use it on several Uniden models. http://www.butel.nl

Mike K9DRX
http://www.qsl.net/k9drx

You have to buy a different copy for each Uniden model don't you? The ARC396 version can not program a BC780XLT for instance?

 

[4phun]

OK after two crashes of ARC396 which indicates it is not one hundred percent stable on a fast XP laptop I got it working correctly. It reads from USB port as serial port eight just as all my other serial software does.

It accomplishes the same thing UASD does but with far more finisse. I actually like ARC396.
It has its rough points but over all it is very nice and fast.

I like the quick key management which was well thought out.

Editing names seems easier with the little counter indicating how many alpha characters I have left. In Excel I use condiional formating and LEN. I also use LEFT to grab just the first sixteen characters of a long name to see if it looks good for quick and dirty.

IMHO entering good data and descriptive tags for the advanced user will be faster and far easier in ARC396 as less steps would be involved. I haven't looked at PRO feaures yet and I doubt that they would interest me.

The web import on rr.com is similar but much more polished compared to Win96. It also seems to be very fast but that could just be this machine and my fast connection.

 

[KL]

Vic,

Hats off to you for putting aside your initial opnion to test drive the ARC396 and provide the rest of us "newbies" with your thoughts, it seems you have changed your opinion in a positive manner about this software

I have the ARC396 s/w installed on a 3 year old 1.2M GHz ThinkPad laptop with XP Pro O.S., it installed the first time without any problem.

While I still only have dial-up connection at home, the frequency upload from RR database to the ARC396 is still very fast, it took less than 10 seconds to upload a large trunked system, very efficient operation in my opinion. In fact it was done so fast that I thought something must have gone wrong and the program must have stopped running, imagine my pleasant surprise when the local PD communication comes through the speaker after writing the system to the scanner.

As for ease of use, I must confess I only read the .pdf manual for a couple of minutes before I decided to just try it out, it really surprised me how easy it was even without reading through the whole manual at least once. I also found most of the screens, icons, options etc. fairly intuitive, not perfect, but pretty darn good.

I seem to recall the USB/Serial problem you mention was on the Butel FAQ, they indicated the comm connection on the 396T is a conventional serial port, so there might be some minor issues with using USB as the comm port.

Disclaimer: I'm not related to Butel, just a very pleased customer.

 

[4phun]

Warning

WARNING

If you are using UASD software please check your files carefully. I have discovered a grievous problem with UASD software that almost had me returning the BC396T as not being as good as the PRO96. I had not realized there was an error in the programming of the scanner. Thinking back about some posts I have read about the 396 I suspect others have been bitten and may not even realize it.

Since I have been using both 396 and 996 beta UASD software I am not positive as to the source other than that there is a problem in that one of these pieces of software is dropping data into a black hole.

Here is what I am seeing.
The software saves the channel tag but does not get the TGID or the frequency for that channel in some entire groups. It will store a 0 for the TGID and I don’t remember what it did for frequency data as I just deleted a whole directory filled with USD files in my anger. There will be groups that are good and others with bad data in the same system.

Thinking that the scanner was properly programmed with the exact same data I was using for the PRO-96 I could not understand why I was hearing so much more with the PRO-96 in id scan mode.
Well duh?

Since the scanner doesn't easily display the channel data programmed into it unless you bore down through a long series of menus or it is actually stopped on a good TGID you don't notice this. If it is a zero for the TGID or frequency channel you aren't going to notice that anyway since it would never stop there.

How did I discover this? I was challenged to look at ARC386 which I felt was unneeded as 'I knew I had already properly programmed the 386'. As I was exploring the functions of ARC386 I noticed that you could compact your database in the scanner by removing blanks and duplicate TGID and frequencies.

I was opening each of my 86 systems and deleting duplicates last night when all of a sudden I hit one where the data simply disappeared. You can imagine my shock when it happened again. I then examined the data carefully to see what was going on and discovered that I had been bitten. These were files I had created by quick paste of data from Win96, it looked good in UASD but UASD failed to write it as it looked.

ARC386 is far from perfect but IMHO it will make your life with a 396 a lot better if you do a lot of copy and paste. Actually I have discovered that ARC396 makes creating new systems from rr.com so easy that it is pointless to move older P96 files with the shortened channel tags over to the BCD396T.
It seems easier just to blast through each system by creating them from scratch all over again using Butel's ARC386.

 

[MarkEagleUSA]

These were files I had created by quick paste of data from Win96, it looked good in UASD but UASD failed to write it as it looked.

The only problem I've had with UASD is the fact that it doesn't like extraneous spaces in the data, especially frequencies and TGID's. For example, copying & pasting (via Windows) data from the RRDB results a "no-break space" character (ANSI 0160) at the end of the string ("851.31250 " instead of "851.31250").

 

[Al42]

I seem to recall the USB/Serial problem you mention was on the Butel FAQ, they indicated the comm connection on the 396T is a conventional serial port, so there might be some minor issues with using USB as the comm port.

To the software, a USB port looks like any other serial port. It only looks different to programmers who don't understand how computers work.

As far as the differences in the programs, Butel and UASD, if you want to edit the files by hand, stick with UASD. Butel's software may be easier to use (although I don't find it to be), but his files are a lot less human-readable than the UASD files.

 

[4phun]

To the software, a USB port looks like any other serial port. It only looks different to programmers who don't understand how computers work.

As far as the differences in the programs, Butel and UASD, if you want to edit the files by hand, stick with UASD. Butel's software may be easier to use (although I don't find it to be), but his files are a lot less human-readable than the UASD files.

I don't have problems with either program communciating via USB and the scanner. I use the same USB - Serial adapter I bought at CompUSA for the Pro-96. As to slowness compared to Win96 I found the answer in Butel's documentation that writting to the BCD396 would take up to ten minutes and it was not a defect in the software but a limitation in the Uniden scanner and its 'dynamic memory' design. Any type of communication rewriting the scanners memory is going to take some time.

I also can also read the good files in the BCD396 with UASD and then save the whole thing on the PC as USD files. Butel imports USD so the trip in theother direction is easy to make. When sharing files I feel USD is the format to use for the reason you mention that you can read them even with notepad.

I bought ARC396 PRO today from HRO when I ordered another antenna for the BCD396. I subscribed to their ARC396 yahoo group and see it is well supported if any user has an issue with the operation of the ARC396 softrware.