396T manual programming help

[olopokram]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to scanning and the forum, so I appreciate your patience and help. I purchased a number of months ago a 396T. The gentleman who originally programmed it, has unfortunately passed away and am trying to figure everything out on my own. He programmed the unit perfectly in my opinion, very organized and tailored to my area. I would however, like to add additional towers and frequencies for when I travel. I listed to the OPP exclusively and would like some guidance as to how to manually add a tower (ie. Toronto & Mississauga) and the appropriate frequencies. I've been exploring through the scanner and am somewhat familiar with it now, but am worried I'll screw something up and lose the great set up that I have. I unfortunately don't have a USB cord, hence why I'm looking at doing this manually. I live in the Campbellford area and have Peterborough, Whitby, Pontypool and Cobourg towers currently programmed. Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[ka3aaa]

Programming by hand will be a daunting task depending on what you want to add to the scanner. I would strongly recommend that you get a software package and the proper usb cable for the 396T scanner and go from there. Also i would download the manual for that radio because there is a lot of useful information in it. There is a web site by the name of Marks Scanners where you can download the manual.

If and when you get the software set up and going you can download the radios configuration and just add to that what you want then reload it back into the scanner and save the file somewhere for safe keeping. I like Pro Scan myself but there are other programs you can use that you don't need to pay a small fee for, its up to you what scanner program you want to use. Do some research first before deciding.

The other option you have is get someone local to where you are and have them program the radio for you.

Good luck

 

[wtp]

try these

Easier to Read BCD396T/UBCD396T Digital Scanner Manual

FreeSCAN - Sixspot Software

gotta go

 

[olopokram]

Thank you for the replies. Again, I'm not looking at programming via computer, just the old school way. I've tried manual inputting the Campbellford tower last night and it went better than I expected. The only thing that I'm struggling with is that anytime I'm listening to any other tower, it displays the frequency on the third line down. When I try scanning the new tower, it just says NFM. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[wtp]

when you say tower

i guess you mean frequency on a conventional system.
trunked systems will show the control channel frequency
conventional will show the mode you have set.

 

[greggk]

Maybe I missed something. Could you copy the SD card and hold as a backup? As others have said, consider a USB cable and there is free software out there. Again, just a thought.

 

[troymail]

FreeSCAN - Sixspot Software

+1 - this is the way to go

Maybe I missed something. Could you copy the SD card and hold as a backup? As others have said, consider a USB cable and there is free software out there. Again, just a thought.

It's an older radio that doesn't have an SD card. Best thing is to use Freescan and create a backup to your hard drive first....

 

[wtp]

it can be done

i have over 150 systems and 2500 channels in mine.
it takes time and i live with numbers on my county system, it is how i started .
and if your system is like ours you will find that you don't want quite a bit of the talkgroups.
when you can receive a personal message i could send some bare bones kind of programming.
step by step.