hello all new member here, well i have been a member for a couple of weeks now but not posted anything. i have myself a BCD996xt, i have freescan downloaded and i have having some trouble programming it. does anyone know if there is a youtube or any videos out there that explain how to program them?
bcd996xt
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captclint
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Welcome to RR FreeScan User Guide - The RadioReference Wiki see creating systems and groups and links at the end. If this doesn't help, please tell us your state and county, and what you are trying to program.
Here's another source: Easier to Read BCD996XT Digital Scanner Manual
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Alright i will check that out. and thanks for the help i am in Johnson county in Kansas. looking to get the traffic and police.
can i program different groups for different county's and then switch to the groups as i enter the county? i travel from KC to Wichita often to see family.
can i program different groups for different county's and then switch to the groups as i enter the county? i travel from KC to Wichita often to see family.
captclint
Mentor
It is quite daunting. I think the 1st thing that helps is to understand systems, sites and groups. A conventional system is like the main folder on your PC, under which you have groups, which are like sub folders. You must have at least 1 system, and 1 group under it. However, for Johnson County, Kansas (KS) everything is on Kansas City MetroMARRS which is a trunking system. Under a trunking system, you have site instead of groups. So you would look at the list of sites and program the closest one. In freescan, you would "create a new system" Mot type II P25 and call it Johnson County. Under site, you enter the RED frequencies under trunk freq.
Then, under the system, look for IDseach, and check that. Send to scanner, and you should start hearing all the activity. Later, you can chose to only hear things of interest to you. This is a really short explanation(maybe too short). You really need to study up on Trunking. This should get you started...check the short version at the end: Trunking Basics Note, by selecting IDseasrch, you don't need to have any talk groups programmed. It will hear all of them.
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see now you made that SO much easier to understand! thank you very much. this will get me started for sure!
and now this should be the same when i go and program a different county?
I am very new to the radio scene but i will go and do some more reading up on it all. thank you once again
and now this should be the same when i go and program a different county?
I am very new to the radio scene but i will go and do some more reading up on it all. thank you once again
I have followed your instruction to a "T" and i got the scanner to program and it is scanning the frequencies that i set (the RED ones) but i am still not picking up anything on the scanner. during the transfer i got 9 messages saying "error setting band plan on custom search" i did some looking and found someone saying that the trunking systems do not have the band plan, not sure if that is correct or not.
this is the antenna that i have
https://www.scannermaster.com/Wideband_Antenna_with_Mag_Mount_and_BNC_p/01-541326.htm
captclint
Mentor
I would ask on the KS forum to see if you need a custom band plan for Johnson County.
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okay so i got it to work. i started messing with options and this is what i found out. when you were telling me to program it as site type "Mot type II P25" i was selecting "Mot 800MHz Standard (type II)" i changed that over and now i am picking things up.. where did you find that i was supposed to select that type? i was trying to look through all the counties that i travel to and i cannot find where any of them say what type it is. or are all of them the same?
alright so after changing over that programming option i have been able to hear more but i know something is still not right. because most of the time all i can hear is the dispatch talking back to the officer and i never hear what the officer is reporting. anyone in the Kansas city area that would be willing to meet up and give me a lesson on how to use this and program it the proper way ?
captclint
Mentor
If you are talking about Kansas City Metro - Metropolitan Area Regional Radio System (MARRS) then you must change the system type in FreeScan to Moto P25 Std. I don't think selecting Mot 800MHz Standard (type II) will get you anything. You should also select the frequencies in red and blue on the SITE nearest to you in the site column. It must be set to P25 since that system is digital(P25). I may have misunderstand your comment, and maybe you DID select P25, but now you are not hearing the mobile units. As I indicated before, you will get better help on the Kansas Radio Discussion Forum
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I did post up in the Kansas board and with almost 300 views i have not had a single person reply offering to help me, here is a link to that thread. http://forums.radioreference.com/kansas-radio-discussion-forum/269325-hey-guys.html
now this is how i have my scanner programmed.
Trunked System Setup
Name- Johnson County
Type- Mot Type II/P25
then i have a site created in that called
MARRS
which i have the following frequencies under the "Trunk Frequencies" tab
772.98750
774.48120
774.73125
853.77400
853.96250
852.85000
I am not sure if i am doing this correct or not. i have other systems also programmed for local areas i travel to and I just scan through all of them at once because i cannot figure this damn thing out.
Give me a better idea of what you are trying to do:
What do you want to hear?
Police? Fire? EMS?
Cities?
Put that together in a pm message & send it to me, along with your email address, and I'll see if I can create a FreeSCAN file along those lines then email it to you.
You can look at that file, along with what you have, and perhaps get some ideas. Down at the bottom of the first page of the FreeSCAN User Guide in the Wiki are links to a couple of YouTube videos on using the software.
Attached is a Johnson County Kansas (MARRS) file I threw together with a quick import. The file is compressed. To open, save it to your pc, then unzip it with a file utility such as WinZip, or the free 7Zip. Some versions of Windows can also extract the file as well. You can either load & use the resulting decompressed file, or import it into your existing file. That's done using the following commands in FreeSCAN:
File->Import->From FreeSCAN
Then use the browse option to get to the place where you saved the downloaded & unzipped file.
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Got your pm
I have that same antenna. I use it on my SUV, a Chevy TrailBlazer. While there are, of course, better antennas, this one receives what I expect to hear when I'm out on the road, and at a decent cost.
If you are also trying to use it in your house, be sure and give it a 'ground plane' by placing it on something metallic. In the past, I've used a mag mount antenna at home, placing it on a metal clipboard, which I stuck under the books on a top shelf. Not as good as the rooftop antennas I have now, but better than a stock antenna.
glad you got it. thanks for the advice but the antenna is mount on the car and thats where it stays for now.
I have two of those antennas.
Usually use one to feed my Home Patrol, the other to feed one of the 396XTs when I'm out of the metro area.
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