kevin_kcm1991
Newbie
The county i live in has just went to the viper syston i am look for a scanner that will pick the viper up i have heard that the bearcat bcd996xt will but i want to find out for sure before i buy it can someone help me?
Need a scanner that will pick up viper in nc
- Thread starter kevin_kcm1991
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I moved your post from the Uniden Forum to the NC forum where those
of us very familiar with VIPER can help you out.
The Uniden BCD996XT will indeed pick up VIPER just fine.
So will the Uniden BCD396XT, Uniden HomePatrol HP-1, and the current
GRE/Radio Shack Scanners.
Basically, all current digital voice scanners will receive VIPER fine.
We have a great RR.com Wiki which has a ton of good general scanning info within and feel free
to read over the sticky threads at the top of this NC forum.
Hope this helps you out!
Happy Monitoring!
Marshall KE4ZNR
of us very familiar with VIPER can help you out.
The Uniden BCD996XT will indeed pick up VIPER just fine.
So will the Uniden BCD396XT, Uniden HomePatrol HP-1, and the current
GRE/Radio Shack Scanners.
Basically, all current digital voice scanners will receive VIPER fine.
We have a great RR.com Wiki which has a ton of good general scanning info within and feel free
to read over the sticky threads at the top of this NC forum.
Hope this helps you out!
Happy Monitoring!
Marshall KE4ZNR
kevin_kcm
Member
Thank you that helped me out alot!!! i just have one more question how hard are they to program can i program it?
robkermit
Member
Kevin I have bcd396t and monitor viper in Mitchell County... They are not hard to program especially if you have the data cable and use a computer.
kevin_kcm
Member
ok thats what i dont understand is how do u program it of the compunter do u care to tell me how to program it of the compunter im going to get a scanner as soon as i can and i want to make sure i can program it?
robkermit
Member
Kevin,
For uniden models, there are 2 different cables. One is RS232 (serial) and the other is USB (prolific rs232 integrated serial adapter---not compatible with Windows 8).
Once connected you use Freescan to create the channel list and write to the scanner.
For Mitchell County here is the way you want to program your scanner:
Create system, call it Viper
Create site, if you are on South End use Woodys Knob tower
On north end, use Locust Knob.
Create groups with the talk groups you are interested in monitoring.
On the scanner, you can do ID Scan or ID Search. Scan allows you to monitor only the channels you have inputted, while ID Search allows you to monitor all feeds from the tower. Sometimes this can be good or bad. For us monitoring Woodys Knob, this can be bad as a lot of Burke County radios are affiliated and get served off this tower. The bad part is, if you are listening to a transmission from Burke county and something gets transmitted for the home area, you will miss the home area transmission. Nonetheless this a mode you can change simply by pressing the Scan button on the keypad.
Also, if you have an older analog scanner, I would recommend that you continue using it to pick up VHF channels instead of trying to monitor viper and the old VHF frequencies on the same scanner.
For uniden models, there are 2 different cables. One is RS232 (serial) and the other is USB (prolific rs232 integrated serial adapter---not compatible with Windows 8).
Once connected you use Freescan to create the channel list and write to the scanner.
For Mitchell County here is the way you want to program your scanner:
Create system, call it Viper
Create site, if you are on South End use Woodys Knob tower
On north end, use Locust Knob.
Create groups with the talk groups you are interested in monitoring.
On the scanner, you can do ID Scan or ID Search. Scan allows you to monitor only the channels you have inputted, while ID Search allows you to monitor all feeds from the tower. Sometimes this can be good or bad. For us monitoring Woodys Knob, this can be bad as a lot of Burke County radios are affiliated and get served off this tower. The bad part is, if you are listening to a transmission from Burke county and something gets transmitted for the home area, you will miss the home area transmission. Nonetheless this a mode you can change simply by pressing the Scan button on the keypad.
Also, if you have an older analog scanner, I would recommend that you continue using it to pick up VHF channels instead of trying to monitor viper and the old VHF frequencies on the same scanner.
kevin_kcm
Member
Ok thank you for your help when i get my scanner i may send u a p.m to get some more help from if u dont care hopeful i will have me a viper scanner when i get my tax money back!!! I'am going to keep all my old scanners going just like they all ways did i have all the channels mitchell county uses i say they will still uses some of the private channels but thank u for all you help!!!
robkermit
Member
They are still using VHF fire, tac1, tac2, tac3, tac4, and occasionally I will hear them talk on channel 20.
kevin_kcm
Member
Yeah i hear them when they talk! I orded me a scanner do u have the all the viper channels and what the name of all the channels are??
VIPER information is here in the database:
Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders (VIPER) Trunking System, Various, North Carolina - Scanner Frequencies
Marshall KE4ZNR
kevin_kcm
Member
I just got my viper scanner and cant not program it can some one walk me thought it?
reconrider8
Member
what city are you close to? northern nc or southern western or eastern? if you were close to me i would program it for ya
Recon,
He lives in Spruce Pine, NC!
That is in the far Western mountains, near Pisgah National Forest!
286 Miles from you, or about five hours!
He lives in Spruce Pine, NC!
That is in the far Western mountains, near Pisgah National Forest!
286 Miles from you, or about five hours!
reconrider8
Member
hey i didnt know where it was and i was just being nice and offering if he was close to me
Oh sure, I understand!!!
Very Nice of you!!!
(No sarcasm, I really mean it!!!!)
Very Nice of you!!!
(No sarcasm, I really mean it!!!!)
robkermit
Member
Kevin,
Are you on the north or south end of Mitchell County? Also, did your scanner come with a programming cable?
Are you on the north or south end of Mitchell County? Also, did your scanner come with a programming cable?
reconrider8
Member
there aint many people that would offer their time to do it but i love programming scanners even by hand
robkermit
Member
Kevin,
Did you go with the uniden scanner? If so then it probably has the same interface as mine and I should be able to walk you through programming it by hand if yours did not include the PC cable.
I am also in Ledger so I am not far. If you can't figure it out then I may be able to meet up with you some time with my laptop to load my channels file into it.
Also, did you get an 800 MHZ antenna? If not you're going to have a bad time picking up viper.
Did you go with the uniden scanner? If so then it probably has the same interface as mine and I should be able to walk you through programming it by hand if yours did not include the PC cable.
I am also in Ledger so I am not far. If you can't figure it out then I may be able to meet up with you some time with my laptop to load my channels file into it.
Also, did you get an 800 MHZ antenna? If not you're going to have a bad time picking up viper.
kevin_kcm
Member
robkermit
I live on the south end of the county and i got the barecat bcd996xt an it did come with a cable you hook up to compunter. ive only got the antenna it come with. where dou get the 800hmz at?
I live on the south end of the county and i got the barecat bcd996xt an it did come with a cable you hook up to compunter. ive only got the antenna it come with. where dou get the 800hmz at?
robkermit
Member
FreeScan File
Kevin,
Here is the file I used to program my scanner. It should work for your scanner too.
Download FreeSCAN from here:
FreeSCAN - Sixspot Software
Once you install this, attach the scanner to your PC using the cable that was included. If it is the USB cable, it may need drivers, it should automatically download and install the drivers. If not, you can get the drivers from: Uniden USB Cable
Download the attachment from this message. It is in WinZIP format. You will need to unzip the file to get the "996" file you need for FreeSCAN.
Open FreeSCAN, open the 996 file attached to this message, go to Scanner>Upload Programming.
Once this uploads to your scanner, you should be good to go.
Kevin,
Here is the file I used to program my scanner. It should work for your scanner too.
Download FreeSCAN from here:
FreeSCAN - Sixspot Software
Once you install this, attach the scanner to your PC using the cable that was included. If it is the USB cable, it may need drivers, it should automatically download and install the drivers. If not, you can get the drivers from: Uniden USB Cable
Download the attachment from this message. It is in WinZIP format. You will need to unzip the file to get the "996" file you need for FreeSCAN.
Open FreeSCAN, open the 996 file attached to this message, go to Scanner>Upload Programming.
Once this uploads to your scanner, you should be good to go.
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