BCD396T , How to eneter Site #

[clisp]

Hi,
I have a Uniden trunktracker bcd396t , my question is , is it possible to enter more then one site , so i do not have to reenter the same groups over and over
Thank you

[Raven95150]

You don't need to worry about each individual site, just make sure you have all the control channel frequencies for that system programmed. The scanner will just recieve the control channel from whatever site it can.

[clisp]

k , lets say , how do i enter all the info for las vegas , nv since they have more then once site without having to re-enter the groups http://www.radioreference.com/module...ame=RR&sid=706
i tried entering the control ones only but its asking me about "Input LCN"for each freq
Please give me an example on how to do this
Thank you and God Bless

[Raven95150]

Ok, I guess I just assumed you were talking about a P-25 system. I have never programmed an EDACS system because no one around here uses them.

[garys]

You will have to enter each site as a separate system. Once you have set up each systems frequencies and done the TGIDs once, you should be able to copy the TGIDs into each system. That's assuming you are using software and not doing this manually.

Actually, I would enter only the main site frequencies. It looks like those other sites are fill ins.

Gary

[loumaag]

First, software or not, you can enter a complete system and copy it to another system in the radio, then all you do is change the name of the system and edit the frequency table. Maintenance of the TG lists is the problem here...if you use the free UASD software from Uniden, you can use Notepad to copy and edit system files easily making that chore somewhat less onerous.

Second, the BCD396T requires all types of trunking systems to be set up site by site, unless you don't care what site it uses. If you program all the sites of CCh only types of systems (that is Motorola and Project 25) -- one TRS to one radio system; then the radio will track the first CCh it can receive and stay on that CCh until such time as it can no longer receive it. This was a shortcoming of all Uniden Trunk Tracking radios until the introduction of the BCD996T and BCT15, which allow site entry into a system.

[rvawatch]

Originally Posted by loumaag

This was a shortcoming of all Uniden Trunk Tracking radios until the introduction of the BCD996T and BCT15, which allow site entry into a system.

i wonder if this could be changed with future firmware versions? i dont know if it is even firmware related.

[ofd8001]

You pretty much have to program each site as its own separate system (unless it is a system where all sites use the same control channel). If you are at a location where you can receive more than one site, the scanner stops on the first control channel it hears. It won't, if I understand correctly, continue to scan for other control channels. Thus all you will hear is one site.

I can listen to the Indiana Safe-T system and can receive both the Henryville and Floyd Knob sites (and one or two others owing to the weather). I have programmed my 396 just like GaryS and Lougmaag describe (though I use the Arc software). The Arc software allows you to have more than one system open for editing purposes. That's good because if you have to make talkgroup changes, copying and pasting from one to the other(s) is all it takes. Be ware, however, you do use up a lot of memory because of doubling, tripling etc., of talkgroups.

I kinda doubt that this could be a firmware fixable issue. Uniden did address this situation with the 996. I don't know if they could put the same kind of setup in a portable though.

[loumaag]

As I read the previous post it struck me that perhaps a reminder of a scheme put forth years ago by someone might serve new users of such scanners.

On these large multi-site systems, take a site map and try and arrange your "systems" or "banks" so that you use three (3). Arrange the three systems (banks) so that they overlap each other in coverage but only put CCh's in each individual system (bank) that are not in range of the each other. The idea here is to keep maintenance (and memory use) down by only having to keep three systems (banks) in sync. Since you only place adjacent sites in different systems (banks) then you can be pretty sure that you will not be in an area that is not blinded by having the wrong CCh locked on.

This can best be illustrated by a straight line, say you were programming a scanner for traveling down an Interstate (of course in real life you need to do this in 2 dimensions, not a straight line.) You would program your radio in the following manner.

Site 1   Site 2   Site 3   Site 4   Site 5   Site 6   Site 7   Site 8  ....
Sys 1    Sys 2    Sys 3    Sys 1    Sys 2    Sys 3    Sys 1    Sys 2   ....

The idea here is as you travel down the road you first pick up Site 1, then Sites 1 & 2 and while in the middle of Site 2 you might be getting both Site 1 and Site 3 but as you move toward Site 3 Site 1 will start to fade and by the time you get in range of Site 4, Site 1 will be unreadable.

[skywatch]

I do that all the time with my pro-2055, in my vehicle. I monitor OK state DPS and it works pretty good for outlying areas, I have the 2 metro areas in seperate banks.

btw how is the interop going between here in Elk City and Amarillo?

Were putting up a MotoTRBO XPR8300 UHF 40 watt Digital Repeater here at work.

Jim