FYI: BC796D SOFTWARE DEFICIENCY

[W4UVV]

Unless Uniden has corrected its BC796D software, it contains a deficiency. The deficiency is the 796D software has difficulty(i.e., signal will not lock, etc.) in processing talk groups 40,000 and above. Uniden doesn't advertise the deficiency or the solution for it. I was lucky. I saw a post in the Va. state forum earlier this year about it. This deficiency also may or may not affect the quality sound adjustment for TRS users with talkgroups 40000 & above. Uniden has been aware of the problem and has a software upgrade fix available from the internet.

I forgot to bookmark the link after downloading. Last week I was curious to see if it was available on the Uniden web page via a search of BC796D. I was unsuccessful in locating the upgrade link. If it is there I couldn't find it. Fortunately I did save the software upgrade and instructions on my PC. The software upgrade file is "BCi96D115.ZIP". Absent searching Uniden's webpage, an email to Uniden should provide the URL for downloading.

When I bought my 796D this past spring I experienced problems trying to use the pathetic installation software provided by Uniden. I wasted two weeks trying to get it to work on two different computers that exceeded the configuration specifications for installation. Again, fortunately I was told to get the ARC250 software which was specifically designed for Uniden TRS scanner file editing and transfer. <www.butel.com> It is great and in my opinion everything the Uniden packaged installlation software should be but isn't.

That problem solved, I had another one. The city of Hopewell, Virginia,
uses talkgroups 40,000. Virginia Beach, Virginia, uses 60,000. Needless to say I had significant difficulty in locking onto a Hopewell TRS signal before the software upgrade. Other TRS users I monitored used talkgroups lower than 40000 and worked fine. After installing the software upgrade that problem was solved. The TRS signal locked on Hopewell and the audio was almost ok. A quality sound adjustment corrected that problem. Now all TRS I monitor are fine.

If you have problems programing the 796D, the ARC250 software will make life a lot easier and it's a good idea to upgrade the 796D software.

Hope this helps. I've been there.