Announcing the BCD396XT and BC346XT Scanners

[UPMan]

Closest to the 330. Key assignments will be the same as the BCD396XT.

I should have photo samples next week, so will get the wiki up with photos, then.

 

[PiccoIntegra]

Yep, and makes it harder to parse too

I must the only one that caught Matt's sarcasm.

ugh.. my apologies Matt, I should have known. :roll:

Then what's the point in arguing someone else's opinion? I stated it as it will be, the data output will no doubt be inaccurate or lacking in data; the example given was already proof.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with stating your opinion. However, you made a suggestion solely based on "wasted effort and it looks terrible". That is not a valid reason to try and influence a radio manufacture. You did not state any such inaccuracy claims in this thread. Had you actually provided factual analysis, such as Rick did, I'd have kept my mouth shut. In fact, Rick's post changed my whole opinion of these data dumps. I don't have a radio with this feature so I didn't know the validity of it's output. Now that I'm aware of it, this option is not so high on priority list for my new scanner purchase. They'll probably keep the comments in there anyway to make it appear "different" then GRE's structured format.

It's also exactly why we don't share it, because of unappreciative people like you.
<snip>
That's all my argument is about. I have the experience to speak on what's right or wrong here.

Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back there, bud! The problem is with people such as yourself with some sort of self entitlement issues that keeps this hobby years behind. You made no such argument, it was strictly opinion. Rick bailed your ass out by posting something useful, you then conveniently mention inaccuracy. It's guys like Rick that deserve the recognition and respect, he has more then earned it. He's the only one keeping the home-brew decoders alive today. Without his efforts, I'd be dead in the water.

I never once questioned anyone's knowledge, involvement, or contributions to the community. You took it upon yourself to keep derailing the topic at hand and label ME as someone who is unappreciative and lazy. Your assumptions were unfair, and unwarranted. I'm jumping through the same hoops everyone else has, past and present, to understand the processes involved. I have no other choice.

If you want to keep your knowledge bottled up, fine. But don't walk around pounding your chest expecting some sort of respect from those not in the know. Your level of expertise means nothing without sharing it. Document it in Wiki, that's what it's there for.

 

[bwilborn]

OK, so now that we have a passionate discussion going on about discriminator output, I need to ask another question.

Is the discriminator output that will be coming out of the serial port a representation of the same type of data that would be output by the unfiltered audio? I ask this because I would like to know if it might be a good idea to hang on to my classic 396 and install a tap into it. I've been mulling this idea over for a little while now, and have not done it yet. If the quality of the data coming from the serial port is roughly the same data that, say, Pro96com would utilize from the analog tap, I might be inclined to not open up my old radio.

-- B

 

[SCPD]

It's guys like Rick that deserve the recognition and respect, he has more then earned it. He's the only one keeping the home-brew decoders alive today. Without his efforts, I'd be dead in the water.

Thank you Picco. Let me give props where they are due (more in just a moment).

If you want to keep your knowledge bottled up, fine. But don't walk around pounding your chest expecting some sort of respect from those not in the know. Your level of expertise means nothing without sharing it. Document it in Wiki, that's what it's there for.

Wayne provides Treport as a free download that runs on DOS or Windows - slicer or sound input.

He's published pages of information on Motorola trunking. Not wiki format - but very informative. Here's the index.

If the above doesn't count as sharing knowledge - then I don't know what does.

Now for the "props" ...

To say I credit Wayne with a lot is an understatement. Most recently he provided the "goods" on Motorola rebanding.

Allow me to acknowledge Slicerwizard. His open challenge of why should Unitrunker force the user to pick a signal polarity made me think. Now the program figures this out for you.

One more person deserving recognition is Mike Vander Veer. He was instrumental in vetting the pro96dmp code that became P25 decoding in Unitrunker.

Edit: shame on me for leaving out Eric Cottrell. He blazed a new trail in the understanding of LTR/Passport/Multinet and EDACS "EA" / Sitepro decoding.

There is a lot of information sharing - perhaps more than you realize (and understandably so since it happens in one-on-one conversation).

Enough of this - let's move on.

OK, so now that we have a passionate discussion going on about discriminator output, I need to ask another question.

Bring it on!

Is the discriminator output that will be coming out of the serial port a representation of the same type of data that would be output by the unfiltered audio? I ask this because I would like to know if it might be a good idea to hang on to my classic 396 and install a tap into it. I've been mulling this idea over for a little while now, and have not done it yet. If the quality of the data coming from the serial port is roughly the same data that, say, Pro96com would utilize from the analog tap, I might be inclined to not open up my old radio.

If you only want to monitor the types of trunking that are supported by the specific radio's CC dump feature (which means no Passport, Multinet or MPT1327) - you'll be content with the new model. Exploiting the CC dump feature requires tethering the radio to a computer. If you want to take your shiny new radio with you on the go - tap the older radio and leave it at home - logging new info on a computer. Either way - the "quality" of the data will be the same.

 

[bg_nashville]

I know it is what is 'under the hood' that really matters, but do people really like or prefer the two-tone color schemes? I still cringe every time I look at my Pro-96 and almost started to cry when I saw the 396xt photo on the wiki. I really think it makes the radios look like a toy. Does the marketing department have some sort of data to suggest that if they change up the color schemes that it will sell more radios?

 

[slicerwizard]

Exploiting the CC dump feature requires tethering the radio to a computer. If you want to take your shiny new radio with you on the go - tap the older radio and leave it at home - logging new info on a computer. Either way - the "quality" of the data will be the same.

I have to disagree - PC software fed by discriminator audio can do a much better job of extracting a bitstream from a weak signal than a scanner's processor can. I can maintain a 100% decode rate from a tapped Jedi radio up to the point where the radio gives up and starts checking the alternate control channels, so I really don't think I'd want to have to depend on whatever code is in the scanner.

I know it is what is 'under the hood' that really matters, but do people really like or prefer the two-tone color schemes? I still cringe every time I look at my Pro-96 and almost started to cry when I saw the 396xt photo on the wiki. I really think it makes the radios look like a toy. Does the marketing department have some sort of data to suggest that if they change up the color schemes that it will sell more radios?

I guess they want to make sure everyone knows you have a toy radio (e.g. a scanner)

 

[torontokris]

Edited.. sorry I thought you were commenting on the coloured lights not the 2 tone colour scheme. My mistake

I think a full flat black (on both the case and the front keypad would look the best

 

[SCPD]

I can maintain a 100% decode rate from a tapped Jedi radio up to the point where the radio gives up and starts checking the alternate control channels, so I really don't think I'd want to have to depend on whatever code is in the scanner.

I hear you Andrew but Bwilborn was asking whether to tap his '396. I don't think he wants to buy a old Spectra off eBay.

 

[Caesar]

Time to start saving up! This is great news and I am glad to see the new firmware out as well. Thanks Uniden

 

[bwilborn]

I hear you Andrew but Bwilborn was asking whether to tap his '396. I don't think he wants to buy a old Spectra off eBay.

Heh, yeah that's the preferred route. Alternately, I have a BR330T that I'm trying to get work with Unitrunker (as opposed to tapping my 396 for the time being). That conversation is another post in the making in the appropriate forum, but for now...this helps. I think the biggest decision on whether or not I'll do a "trade-in" on my classic 396 is the size of my tax return next year. I mean, there's always room for another radio!

-- B

 

[rgchristy]

Will there be individual channel delay settings?

 

[tunnelmot]

Thank you Uniden and UPman

First off, I would like to thank Uniden for producing such great products. I don't envy them, trying to fulfil everyone's wishes.

Here's my question. My ONLY issue with current generation scanners is audio.(volume/fullness). Hence my Motorola UHF/VHF conventional collection.

Since the XT is off and running, I would like to know if there are plans to have selectible audio level from phone jack. ("safe mode"-earphone vs "speaker mode") Speaker mics are useless with modern scanners.

I think that even full output from the jack would be great, as many would probably terminate their soon to be useless HT1000/MTX 8000 etc speakermics into a 1/8" plug to get some deeper/louder audio.

Hope I posted this in right post, I don't want to get blasted into outer space for wrong location.

Rich

 

[bmdoss]

Nice..

Looks like my old BR330T will be going on Ebay ... to get a BC346XT Any word on price?

 

[jfab]

Priority ID Scan -- lets the scanner apply priority to channels as they become active on the system
Please tell me this includes Talk groups on MOT or Edacs systems.

Will this feature be available for the 396t in the future via firmware? Upman you would be my hero if you could make that happen!

 

[BOBRR]

For Paul: Discriminator Tap For New Units ?

Hello,

Just a suggestion for whenever (next year ?) you folks issue a replacement for the 996.

On reading ll these posts, it seems the units that will be coming out in early 2009 have what's called a Discriminator Tap. But it seems this only outputs the CC stream ?

Would it perhaps be possible to add a true Discriminator tap, also ?

The reason being that there are several PC programs available, like Shipplotter, that caqn decode AIS
data (what ships transmit to tell other shipping their position, speed, etc.) but that require a "true" diascriminator output.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Landman]

Will these radios come with the 700 MHz rebanding already done or will they require an upgrade to properly trunktrack control channels from 769 to the low 770's?

 

[UPMan]

Usage of 700 MHz band channels have nothing to do with 800 MHz rebanding.

The current digital models cover 764.0000 - 775.9875 MHz ... so will the new ones.

 

[Landman]

700 MHz voice channels were rebanded recently by the FCC as well. There are now voice channels on freqs that were only data channels in the past. GRE issued a firmware upgrade so that the PSR 500 would properly trunktrack on the newly allocated voice channels. As you already know each frequency is assigned a channel number by Motorola which is what makes control channel only trunktracking possible. When the FCC shifted the frequency assignments in the 700 band around, some of the channel numbers got changed. My question is has Uniden already updated the firmware so that the scanner will properly trunktrack the new channel assignments out of the box or do we have to wait for an as yet unreleased firmware update? The state of Louisiana has been building a statewide 700 MHz system and several of the sites already use some of the newly allocated frequencies for control channels.

 

[UPMan]

Calling this "rebanding" is quite confusing (even the FCC doesn't call it that...it is generally called 700 MHz reconfiguration or consolidation or relocation). Due to the technical requirements of use in 700 Mhz, systems thus far implementing 700 MHz operation are P25 systems. Most P25 systems include all band plan information in the control channel data, so no fixed channel assignments are needed by the scanner. I doubt you'll ever see Motorola Analog systems in use in that band (the only type of system that would require such a channel assignment map).

Short answer: No update is needed for Uniden scanners.

 

[Landman]

Okay, now I understand, thanks. So they don't use the same channel number structure like 800 does. And, since the scanner can receive all the needed frequencies then it wont be a problem.