Your thoughts on a BC346XT

[rmpetty]

Hello all & thanks for having me. This is one great place you have here. I have read all the stickies and "new guy" stuff I could find.
I am planning on buying a new scanner but cannot afford a digital. I am leaning toward to BC346XT and would like your thoughts as to whether this would be a good choice.
Also, I can't afford any "extras" right now as far as program disks etc. I would like to know if I would be able to manually enter any freqs.by hand.
I reside in Park Ridge, NJ at his time. Thank for any assistance you can provide. Bob.

[pdfdems286]

although digital is the big push in new jersey now <including bergen county police>, the bc346xt is an excellent choice for an analog scanner. park ridge,i see is still listed for vhf. i had 2 bc346xt's,but chose to sell them off to buy a gre psr-310,because it does milair,while the bc346xt does not. i have contemplated buying another bc346xt. if you choose to get it, you may be better served learning to program it by hand.
i can help you,if you want. scannermaster is offering no shipping charge thru december.
if you price match it with scannerworld <currently the lowest,at $195.00> scannermaster will match the price/plus the free shipping. just my .02 cent's. you will enjoy this scanner.

at any rate, welcome aboard. glad to have you here.

[Rt169Radio]

I have the Uniden BC346XT and it is a quite a nice scanner. It looks good, covers alot of freq bands, has the ability to have 500 systems with 20 groups in each and a total of 9,000 channels, and has a nice selction of pre-programed searches, and has alot of features.

You can read all about it here.

BC346XT - The RadioReference Wiki

And you can get it from here.

Uniden Bearcat BC346XT Police Scanner Radio

[rmpetty]

Thank you both for the replies. I have one more question, at least till I get it and fool with it for a little while.
How can I tell if a freq. is digital ?
My old dept. is listed as follows.

855.73750 - Dispatch - type RM - tone 162.2pl - alpha tag 1- Mode FMN
855.73750 - Police 2 - type M - tone 162.2pl - alpha tag 2 - Mode FMN

Again, Thanks.

[ka3jjz]

The fact that it's using a standard PL tone tells you immediately it's analog. Digital sigs have their own equivalent, called a Network Access Code or NAC. It's usually written as a 3 character hex string.

It serves precisely the same purpose as a PL or DCS code on an analog signal Mike

[rmpetty]

Thank you guys for all the info. I promise I won't become a pest. Bob.

[UPMan]

Mode FMN (FM Narrow) also indicates it is analog. Digital channels would be set with a digital mode (like P25, DStar, etc).

[NWtoSFO]

Hey Bob. I've got a 346xt and love it. Prior to the Uniden I used Radio Shack stuff, but now that I'm used to the Bearcat, I won't go back. It isn't an easy scanner to learn or operate for a newcomer, but it's worth getting to know. The 346xt has a ton of features, good audio, simple layout and isn't a brick!. The only thing I don't like about it is there is no coverage of Mil-Air freq's. However, as more and more agencies in my travel areas are going digital, I will soon (very soon) upgrade to the 396xt, only because I like the 346xt so much. I say dive right in and learn it. You'll love it.

Matthew

[rmpetty]

Thank all. Am I correct in thinking that a digital scanner will also pick up analog freq's ? If that is correct I think for the first time in my 63 years, I'm going to hold off a little longer and get a BCD396XT. I usually run out and get something I think I really want only to find out that I have to go buy another.
Am I doing the right thing by holding out for the 396XT or will it be too complicated for a newbe? I value your opinions. Bob.

[scannerman5555]

the BC 346 XT scanner is the best scanner i every got work's very good too here on Suffolk County Long Island New York ! also i used a RS 800 ant plus a new ant from Scannermaster
BNC W100RX Multi-adjustable Telescoping BNC Antenna very good ant too !
worth every money i paid for it too the 1st ver that came out after the BC 246 !

[questnz]

One more thumbs up for 346XT, I shipped from Scannermaster to New Zealand few weeks ago as the scanner have all I need for NZ Band Plan. Not much Mil Air activities here so it not bother me. rest of the frequencies fit nicely to my requirements. I am using scanner with Watson antennas WSMA 801, 881 and 901 for Air plus Nagoya NA 771. Freescan help a lot to program scanner with the frequencies I have on my databases. So far so good. Enjoy the unit. Sold GRE 310, good scanner but too big in size. Not sure why but I can (faint) pickup nearby Correction facility on old BC 93 but didn't yet pickup them on 346XT (463.0500). Overall very happy with the new toy.

[captncarp]

BC346XT is my scanner of choice right now, so I have two of them. Programmed by hand, not a problem.
They are what I call a QUIET scanner, no static or braking squelch except when there is a real transmission on a programmed freq. and it is loud and clear.

[rmpetty]

Guys, for the first time in my 63 years, I'm using my head. I'm thinking about holding out a little longer and getting the BCD396XT. In the past I've always jumped when I thought I wanted something and then had to spend more to get what I really wanted.
Will a digital scanner also pick up analog freq's? Am I making a smart decision? I value your opinions. My thanks, Bob.

[questnz]

Absolutely, 396XT will pickup everything analog, digital etc. It will NOT pickup digital encrypted frequencies. Do your homework, everything going digital these days. Also check frequencies in your area. 396 XT is double the money+ of 346XT but is more futureproof. Maybe Santa will be kind to you ?. Good luck. Chris

[UPMan]

As far as complexity of programming, BC346XT and BCD396XT are identical. You will need to learn about the general architecture of trunked radio systems in order to understand how to program the scanner. The alternative to this is the HomePatrol-1, which has a little less flexibility, but which you can substantially program by knowing your zip code.

[rmpetty]

I have just sent my letter to the Ebay Santa requesting a BCD396XT. After all, I have been good all year so I think he will agree. I'll let you know how I make out.

[94caprice9c1]

You will not be disappointed! I have both and they are awesome radios. You might want to consider Freescan for programming. It works great and is freeware, I use it all the time. Good luck.

[KD2DLL]

I have owned a 346XT for about 5 months now. I love it. I do not really need to have a digital model(in the time being) so I went with the 346XT. I recommend using freescan to program it. I use Arc XT pro because I got a really good price on it. Freescan will make programming 10x quicker than by hand. I recommend that you still learn to program by hand anyways for those on-the-go additions or changes.

[VE7CFF]

been using my 346XT for several years. Programmed with the Greater Vancouver WARS/ECOMM EDACS system to monitor fire. I'm an emergency ESS volunteer, and need to be in the know. I've been using FreeScan and Radioreference from the beginning.

[rmpetty]

Where can I find that FreeScan software? Thanks.