Upman T line scanners Unit ID Upadte

[al95]

Originally Posted by al95

There we go again there might or might not be an update in the future no one knows not even Upman (or maybe he does).
Following is from the newsletter Upman send us


Why Do We Need Your ESN?

As we create new firmware loads for your scanner, we sometimes use information licensed to us by third parties. For those updates, we need to keep careful track of which scanners do and don’t include the update. We might also need to charge for some of these updates in the future, but don’t worry, I’ll make sure that any for-pay update has features you’ll be glad to pay for. Oh, and this first major update is free!
To manage this process, we are setting up a system that will create a registration key for any major update we come out with (a major update changes the first digit of the firmware version…right now we are still in Version 1, but Version 2 is on the horizon and I can almost glimpse a Version 3).
Since the registration key will be generated from your scanner’s ESN, and will be unique for every scanner, getting your ESN right is critical for making your update work (if you use a key for another scanner or don’t enter a key, your scanner will not work until you successfully apply the update with the key).

This info was taken from Upmans March 3,2008 Upmans update, which was ESN and Checksum update. Sorry if users got confused.

[XTS3000]

Originally Posted by rdale

No, he wouldn't, and no, there would be no legal liability. This thread contains nothing we didn't know all along.

Think again! Paul is the Product Manager for Uniden, if he puts out an announces for a new feature being added, and it never does, Uniden can be sued.

This exact same thing happened with Logitech, they announced support for Z-wave home automation on their Harmony 1000 remote. This feature was never mentioned in the owners manual, only in a press release from the company after the release of the H1000 remote. This feature was never added to the firmware. Logitech now has a U.S. Class Action Lawsuit over this and has to replace 1000's of remotes for users that "thought" Z-Wave was going to be a feature.

Arthur Fulford vs. Logitech Inc. <----Google it

Paul has to be very carefull what he says, and/or how he says it. Otherwise he and his company can be legally responsible.

[rdale]

Originally Posted by XTS3000

Think again! Paul is the Product Manager for Uniden, if he puts out an announces for a new feature being added, and it never does, Uniden can be sued.

He has mentioned firmware releases coming, and that's always happened. Uniden never sold the 996XT as being capable of decoding ProVoice, which is why Logitech apparently did.

[al95]

Originally Posted by XTS3000

Think again! Paul is the Product Manager for Uniden, if he puts out an announces for a new feature being added, and it never does, Uniden can be sued.

This exact same thing happened with Logitech, they announced support for Z-wave home automation on their Harmony 1000 remote. This feature was never mentioned in the owners manual, only in a press release from the company after the release of the H1000 remote. This feature was never added to the firmware. Logitech now has a U.S. Class Action Lawsuit over this and has to replace 1000's of remotes for users that "thought" Z-Wave was going to be a feature.

Arthur Fulford vs. Logitech Inc. <----Google it

Paul has to be very carefull what he says, and/or how he says it. Otherwise he and his company can be legally responsible.

Originally Posted by rdale

He has mentioned firmware releases coming, and that's always happened. Uniden never sold the 996XT as being capable of decoding ProVoice, which is why Logitech apparently did.

Upman has not announce any firmware or updates to the T line of scanners. The only updates and firmware updates that will be avaiable is for the XT line of scanners thats the only announcement he has posted in an other thread. Rdale is right when upman mentions updates are coming updates are release with two or three wks.

[motorman105]

Why not just sell the 396T, put some money with what you make on the sale and get the XT? That's what I did. Don't kid yourself, someday there will be a replacement for the XT and the firmware upgrades will end. I can' t imagine what else can be done to make this hobby more complicated but I know there will be something new coming down the road in a few years and we'll all have to have it!

[Dewey]

Originally Posted by sjlamb

Remember the days when you bought a scanner and that was the end of it? It had features and functions when it left the store and that was the best it was ever going to be. No updates, no firmware improvements, no new features. It was what it was.

{SNIP}

That's not exactly true. I used to update my old Pro-4 by replacing the crystals... .

Dewey

[al95]

Originally Posted by Dewey

That's not exactly true. I used to update my old Pro-4 by replacing the crystals... .

Dewey

Was replacing crystals easy? What it expensive to replace?

[Dewey]

Originally Posted by al95

Was replacing crystals easy? What it expensive to replace?

Naw... that was just an attempt at some tongue-n-cheek humor at a couple of the other replies. Crystals generally ran @ $4.95 each, and just plugged in to the scanner after removing the crystal access cover (door). They were small metallic "cans" that looked very much like the metal plug-in portion of a USB cable or drive. They had two prongs (leads) sticking out of the bottom where they plugged in. The attempt at humor was because your crystals were you frequencies. If you wanted to pick up a frequency, you went out and bought the crystal compatable with your scanner and plugged it in. The crystal picture attached was found on eBay...

[rvictor]

Originally Posted by al95

Why was the checksum and ESN update done in the first place? If you read that update for the ESN & Checksum Upman state that they might have to charge for feature we wanted in the future. It was called a pay for feature update? Those update don't cost $500.00.

I guess they should have charged for the rebanding upgrade. Then you'd be happy that they did what you think they said they were going to do. Right?

They never promised any upgrades, but they gave you one for free. Terribly unfair, huh?

Dick
(Still waiting for the hybrid upgrade for my 1996 auto. It's a big car, so I know that there would be enough room for it.)

[wvscanner]

Originally Posted by XTS3000

Think again! Paul is the Product Manager for Uniden, if he puts out an announces for a new feature being added, and it never does, Uniden can be sued.

This exact same thing happened with Logitech, they announced support for Z-wave home automation on their Harmony 1000 remote. This feature was never mentioned in the owners manual, only in a press release from the company after the release of the H1000 remote. This feature was never added to the firmware. Logitech now has a U.S. Class Action Lawsuit over this and has to replace 1000's of remotes for users that "thought" Z-Wave was going to be a feature.

Arthur Fulford vs. Logitech Inc. <----Google it

Paul has to be very carefull what he says, and/or how he says it. Otherwise he and his company can be legally responsible.

From this the Logitech was a product that was not out on the market before the announcement, and goes to say that it has it when purchase it. Where 396xt has been already out and is not market from the vendor with the feature.

[wvscanner]

Originally Posted by al95

Keep this thread open changed my mind. Only owners of the BCD396T and 996T scanners can post on this thread. What do you think about Uniden, after Upman has posted in this thread?

I have the 396t, I have to say it was the scanner that I want when it came out. I don't have a problem with what I bought. It did came with some problems p25 signals but Uniden was nice enough to try to fix these problem where people did not have to send them in.

Don't get me wrong I would like to have some of the features of the xt. I don't expect Uniden to give more new feature out on anything but their current production model. This could been something that Uniden might had done in doing thru pay update since it would be something they would have to invest getting it to work with the older scanner without having a loss. However they were people saying no to the updates.

[al95]

Originally Posted by wvscanner

I have the 396t, I have to say it was the scanner that I want when it came out. I don't have a problem with what I bought. It did came with some problems p25 signals but Uniden was nice enough to try to fix these problem where people did not have to send them in.

Don't get me wrong I would like to have some of the features of the xt. I don't expect Uniden to give more new feature out on anything but their current production model. This could been something that Uniden might had done in doing thru pay update since it would be something they would have to invest getting it to work with the older scanner without having a loss. However they were people saying no to the updates.

When I brought my scanner the BCD396T I also didn't have any problems except for the P25 problems as you say Uniden try to fix. I read some members saying they still have some problems with P25 on the new BCD396XT. I don't know if it is true or not.

[KE4ZNR]

Originally Posted by al95

When I brought my scanner the BCD396T I also didn't have any problems except for the P25 problems as you say Uniden try to fix. I read some members saying they still have some problems with P25 on the new BCD396XT. I don't know if it is true or not.

Not true here in Central NC. I have both a Uniden BCD396XT & BCD996XT.
Both work great here. Radio reception is an imperfect science however. What works good for me may not work good for you.
Both Radio companies do the best they can with a tough situation: to try to make these radios work the best they can for radio systems that can vary widely from city to city & state to state.
Marshall KE4ZNR

[XTS3000]

I had the 396T since the say it was released in late 2005(?), and since it's initial release Uniden has added quite a few new features, and fixed others - all for free.

Charging for Rebanding? Probably was a good thing they released that for free, however ESK I had expected that would be the pay-for-option.

P-25 decoding problems may be the transmitter, not the 396(X)T scanner. When P-25 problems are encountered, go into the P-25 fine tune screen. Watch the "ERR:_ _ _ X AUTO". In auto mode, if the "X" is 8-12 the P-25 should be great. If the "X" is above or below 8-12, then it's the transmitter out of alignment. Yes the newer T and XT firmware is always in Auto mode.

[GregFromOregon]

I'm still waiting for the BCT7 update so it can receive digital..........

[werinshades]

Originally Posted by XTS3000

P-25 decoding problems may be the transmitter, not the 396(X)T scanner. When P-25 problems are encountered, go into the P-25 fine tune screen. Watch the "ERR:_ _ _ X AUTO". In auto mode, if the "X" is 8-12 the P-25 should be great. If the "X" is above or below 8-12, then it's the transmitter out of alignment. Yes the newer T and XT firmware is always in Auto mode.

Not when it comes to simulcast/multi-path systems. Someday, they will have this resolved..996XXT perhaps? lol

[DDan]

Originally Posted by werinshades

Not when it comes to simulcast/multi-path systems. Someday, they will have this resolved..996XXT perhaps? lol

I wish I shared your optimism but I don't It's kind of a hard thing to explain without visual aids for me. If you combine two AC signals which are out of phase they negate each other to some extent depending on the phase shift. Two AC signals at 120 volts that are 180 degrees out of phase add up to zero volts

To get back to RF, two RF waves 180 degrees out of phase result in no signal on the antenna. If you had 2 towers equidistant from your location and the terrain was equal in both directions, and they are both line of sight to your antenna, and ..., and one was 2.5 miles away and the other was 5 miles away, you would get zero signal induced on your antenna because the distance doubled and phase is shifted by 180 degrees. This would be a worst case situation prevented by system design. Your scanner isn't even involved at this point so it can't add anything to situation.

IMO the only thing the scanner could do in this case is speech pattern recognition and correction of a packet that is received with an incorrect pattern but you need a lot more processing in the scanner than they currently have.

I have made some generalizations and left out some detail above but it is basically correct I think. If I'm wrong someone will point out my errors, I'm sure. The point I was attempting to make was the distortion of the intended signal by the reception of the two signals which are out of phase.

I was at the Thuderboat race at Mission Bay a few weeks back. Our camp was on Fiesta island between two of the PA speakers locally and we could also hear the PA from the other side of the bay. To say the audio was hard to understand at times would be an understatement. The delay to the other side of the bay changed with direction and the delay to the local PAs changed as you walked around. Everyone interested in what multipath distortion is would have received a good lesson that weekend. I sure did.



I tend to ramble but I think I've outdone myself.

[XTS3000]

^-----what he said....

I live next to a simulcast 9600 p25 700Mhz system, and anywere I drive within these 2 sites I never have any problems what so ever. I got lucky there. Others in different simulcast areas (same system)do indeed have problems. Very possable they are picking up 3 towers at the same time. The 396T and XT both work just fine for me in MY area.

Since the 396T was released, Uniden added:
Rebanding
ESK
CC DND

What else was added?

[rckydenver]

Well, glad i found this thread i too was hoping for UID for the T's as well. Spending $500 for 396T and possibly no more updates and then going out to spend another $500 for an XT model just to see UID's, no thanks. Well maybe this will be the last update for those XT users, and another new digital scanner is in the works." Maybe" i'll wait for that one. Oh well Uniden.

[KE4ZNR]

Originally Posted by rckydenver

and then going out to spend another $500 for an XT model just to see UID's, no thanks. Well maybe this will be the last update for those XT users, and another new digital scanner is in the works." Maybe" i'll wait for that one. Oh well Uniden.

Uh, You might want to go read over the Wiki entries for the XT line of radios again...you get a hell of a lot more than "just UIDs" in the XT radios. I understand your frustration but the XT line of radios have so many updates that the regular 396t/996t could not handle.
But hey, it's your loss if you don't want all of the added features of the XT line of radios.
Marshall KE4ZNR