996XT and 15X Announced!

[SCPD]

Bravo for volume offset!

No lie: Just yesterday I muttered to myself something like, "I wish this thing (996T) had the ability to set varying volume levels for different channels."

I listen to a LOT of P25 and still some analog, and even with all the mode settings the way they should be (NFM vs FM vs AUTO, etc), I still can't seem to reach a happy medium for volume with my 996.

Then there's the local PD repeater that has to have about the lowest modulation setting I think I have ever heard on any repeater anywhere. Would like to have a talk with the installer!

The volume offset is reason enough for me to start saving my pennies.

Now if we could just get a feature that would force P25 channels receiving ENC transmissions to resume scanning (at least once around the block or so) so that no other traffic is missed due to a long encrypted transmission that keeps my 996 parked on a channel due to a transmission that I cannot hear.

That's just about my only remaining gripe for the 996T.

 

[soncorn]

Will the GPS still connect to a serial port, or will this one have a usb port?

 

[davidmc36]

Serial

MobileConnectingAGPSReceiver < UnidenMan4 < TWiki

 

[soncorn]

Serial

MobileConnectingAGPSReceiver < UnidenMan4 < TWiki

Thank You, I missed that page on their wiki.

 

[Mickel1138]

The BC996XT got FCC Clearance...

https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas...rame=N&application_id=718722&fcc_id='AMWUB360'

Mickel (AKA Big-Dutch)
Big Dutch Blog

 

[APX8000]

Does the new 996XT support RADIO ID ?

 

[davidmc36]

Does the new 996XT support RADIO ID ?

I don't see anything here that indicates that it does.

 

[APX8000]

I don't see anything here that indicates that it does.

Cmon Uniden....all I want is the radio ID feature. What's the problem? It's an easy add on. GRE added it as a firmware update. You would think Uniden would want to beat the competition. Instead, they are barely matching it.

I for one will now bypass dishing out the $500 give or take bucks on the new 996 and stick to my PSR's, which do everything the Uniden does and more.

I'm in no way bashing Uniden. I own a 780 and a BCT-15. Both are great analog scanners. But for digital and trunking, I think Uniden needs to offer more. This ONE FEATURE alone would sell more scanners...and I'm not the only one that has been asking for it.

Upman...I thought you had some power over there....

 

[davidmc36]

Cmon Uniden....all I want is the radio ID feature.....

Iv'e seen a lot of people asking for this feature and I'm a little baffled, who cares what radio it is that is transmitting?

.....PSR's, which do everything the Uniden does and more.

The one thing that only Uniden does is Location Based Scanning, that is something I can't live without.

 

[W6KRU]

Iv'e seen a lot of people asking for this feature and I'm a little baffled, who cares what radio it is that is transmitting?.

I gotta agree david. If I could hold on a RID, that might be useful though. :lol:

 

[stuck22]

What would be nice is different volume sets for radio ID's...Cmon.. how many of you have that one officer or dispatcher that just refuses to speak into the mic. Or like me where our city has just gotten an Auto-voice Dispatch system but the auto-voice is horribly quiet. It would be nice to set that one radio ID with a bit more volume to it.

 

[DaveIN]

If you could alpha tag an RID you could have a way to visually tell what agency/unit is in use in some cases. I.e. I tag an RID as Pump #1 and when the department is called out for a fire, I can see who is responding even if I missed the initial reply from Pump #1 to the dispatcher.

 

[APX8000]

Iv'e seen a lot of people asking for this feature and I'm a little baffled, who cares what radio it is that is transmitting

Ummm, I do...and obviously alot of others considering GRE would make a firmware update to include this feature. If it wasen't something that people wanted, why waste the manpower hours of programming. Same with your location based scanning...I could care less, but you and obviously others "can't live without it."

To concur what DaveIN said, I alpha tag all my RID's. I now have a way to visually tell what unit is responding even if I missed the initial reply.

One of the main reasons I like the RID feature is the use in identifying new talkgroups that are not normally used. I've located many "chit-chat" groups on trunked systems because of this. Without the RID feature or Unitrunker, you would have no idea who is affiliating to or using it. And I don't normally carry a computer around with me while scanning running Unitrunker. If all of a sudden I see a new talkgroup pop up with radio ID's from 4 Sheriff's narcotics unit portables, I can make an educated guess of who is using it vs. no RID and hearing "Bob to Brian."

Baffling huh ?

 

[davidmc36]

Ummm, I do...and obviously alot of others considering GRE would make a firmware update to include this feature. If it wasen't something that people wanted, why waste the manpower hours of programming. Same with your location based scanning...I could care less, but you and obviously others "can't live without it."

To concur what DaveIN said, I alpha tag all my RID's. I now have a way to visually tell what unit is responding even if I missed the initial reply.

One of the main reasons I like the RID feature is the use in identifying new talkgroups that are not normally used. I've located many "chit-chat" groups on trunked systems because of this. Without the RID feature or Unitrunker, you would have no idea who is affiliating to or using it. And I don't normally carry a computer around with me while scanning running Unitrunker. If all of a sudden I see a new talkgroup pop up with radio ID's from 4 Sheriff's narcotics unit portables, I can make an educated guess of who is using it vs. no RID and hearing "Bob to Brian."

Baffling huh ?

I can see now what you could use it for but the why is still a bit of a mystery. I guess I really don't care about the details of who is actually tranmitting, I more just want to hear what they are saying and want it to be clear when they say it, so to automatically switch to a site that is close enough to get clear comms is very important to me. I can't see being able to watch the display and decipher all that info while I am actually driving the car, the whole idea of the GPS is to keep my eyes and hands off the radio and on the road and wheel while mobile. If I were out and about and parked somewhere doing a bit of listening then a netbook would let me do all the TG, RID, etc sleuthing necessary.

I am seriously re-thinking my plan of upgrading the 996T in the car to the 996XT though. Especially since I have done the whole internal GPS mod to the 996T already, it was going to become my base for streaming. I am thinking maybe a PSR 600 for a base station, since I would never put one in as a mobile lacking the GPS feature, and they are much cheaper than the 996XT will be. I think it would be a great scanner to have at home and do all that sleuthing of details sitting at my desk.

Baffiling huh ?

 

[APX8000]

I'm in no way denying the fact that the 996 as well as the majority of all Unien scanners are great products. My point is that new products should be better than what's out there already.

I can see your point about location based scanning. I recently took a trip from NY to FL and had to program all the states into my scanner and switch banks as I drove along. Allowing the unit to automatically search and scan for you is a pretty nice feature.

 

[jimg]

Yes. All features between the two models are substantially the same aside from:

* Form Factor (mobile vs. handheld)
* Backlight Dimmer
* Record-Out Jack
* Power options

Will the upgraded remote head have the option to change the colors in the display, or will the display color remain as it is now?

 

[UPMan]

The remote head has only a firmware update. To add colors to its display would require a hardware change...

 

[FlashSWT]

I haven't read this whole thread so forgive me if it has been brought up already.

Having 500 TGs per trunked system is awesome for here in Houston but I really hope the ability to have more than 10 Group Quick Keys will also be an option. Having double the TGs isn't nearly as useful if we still have to cram them all in 10 Quick Groups.

.

 

[W4ELL]

I haven't read this whole thread so forgive me if it has been brought up already.

Having 500 TGs per trunked system is awesome for here in Houston but I really hope the ability to have more than 10 Group Quick Keys will also be an option. Having double the TGs isn't nearly as useful if we still have to cram them all in 10 Quick Groups.

.

I have found myself, especially with the XT, dividing my trunked systems among several systems instead of trying to cram everything into the 10 GQKs of ONE system. You can turn SQKs on and off a lot faster than GQKs so having a system for each service makes things easier to follow. It also allows me more control over what I want to hear and keeps everything nice and organized.

Example:
I have one trunked system divided into several systems as follows...

SQK1: Knoxville Police
GQK1: Dispatch
GQK2: Supervisor
GQK3: Records
GQK4: Detectives
GQK5: Car to Car
:
:
GQK0: iCall wildcard

SQK2: Knoxville Fire
GQK1: Dispatch
GQK2: Tac Channels
:
:
GQK0: iCall wildcard

I won't go on with them all, but you get the idea. With this configuration, I can fine tune exactly what I want to hear... the GQKs remain useful but are not as limited, with each service now having 10 each.

I don't know if there are systems out there with more than 500 TGs per service but I am sure one could find a way to subdivide these among several systems to work around both the 500 TG and the 10 GQK limitations.

This certainly isn't the answer for everyone, for various reasons, but it has worked great for me. I have even carried this configuration over into my conventional systems too.

 

[ghg]

Putting in my vote to add trunked Radio ID in the 996XT

Upman,

I would like to put in a request to have the 996XT (or 396XT/396T via F/W upgrade) have
some way of extracting trunk radio-ID on Moto trunks, at least via the computer interface (e.q. proscan.org)
The GRE PSR500 has this already I understand.

Thanks for all you and Uniden have done or the scanning hobby!

--ghg