AFRRCS and BCD396XT

[VA6IKR]

Hey, could anyone tell me if the Uniden BCD396XT is still a relevant scanner to listen to AFRRCS on?
I’m in St. Albert, so I’m primarily interested in listening to St. Albert and Edmonton. I know there are issues with simulcast and the best scanner for that is the SDS100/200, but that’s a bit out of my price range at this point.

Will I have any luck with the BCD396XT? Or should I save my money and try something else?

 

[lzrman]

I had the BCD396XT for Grande Prairie and it worked perfectly fine for the various agency's on the system. I recently replaced it due to not working anymore with the BCD325P2 and works pretty good. I've never taken it to Edmonton region so I am unsure.

 

[harryshute]

It will work fine off the St. Albert tower and all others outside the Edmonton Simulcast area. You can usually hear the Edmonton Fire Dispatch on St. Albert. But on Simulcast the 396XT will not work well if at all.

 

[VA6IKR]

Thanks for the replies! I ended up buying it and at my house in St. Albert I can listen reliably and even get some talk on the Edmonton site.

So far it’s been worth it, but it is making me want to try again getting my SDRs set up with Unitrunker so I don’t have to deal with as much distortion on the Edmonton site!