DonS
Member
GRE must "get" something (even if it's not someone's idea of "intuitive") if, 5 years ago, they were selling a scanner that would monitor UCAN in December 2008.
Announcing the BCD396XT and BC346XT Scanners
- Thread starter UPMan
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GRE must "get" something (even if it's not someone's idea of "intuitive") if, 5 years ago, they were selling a scanner that would monitor UCAN in December 2008.
Once again arrogance prevails.
PHOENIX_SCANNER
Member
And there are plenty of people who would say just the opposite. Look, Uniden makes a great product, I have owned most of them, and my favorite analog scanner is the BCT15, but Uniden has been lagging behind in the technology area, (witness your NEED for GRE), so maybe GRE isn't as bad as you are saying. People who needed NAC decoding have had no choice either, just like you. Only GRE does it NOW. I didn't care for having to do the funky adjustments to the digital parameter on the Unidens, and even then they couldn't match my GREs for dealing with my local P25 simulcast system, and after careful side by side testing, they were sold, and the GREs were kept.
Anyway, competition is a Godsend, be grateful for it! GRE or Uniden as a monopoly would be weaker manufacturers. Each one pushes the other. I agree that GREs look and feel cheaper, and have far inferior displays, but they do great things, and it is forcing Uniden to step things up. This "update" to existing models won't do it for me, but I have a feeling their next line is going to kick some serious butt, and I can't wait. I predict (and hope) the tech balance shifts once again.
From the sounds of it, you just want another Uniden with a different brand logo on the front panel. That's like saying "I hate Mac, I wish it was more like Windows!". Then what's the point of competition and choice that benefits everyone in the end? You can hate something all you want, that doesn't make it bad for everyone else.
If it's that bad, you should sell your GREs, move on and spare us any further "hate talk" and "non-constructive criticism", never mind this is a Uniden thread....
So sorry you missed our announcements regarding rebanding updates. Here's a link to the original message (posted 8/25/2008). The dates for those updates not yet released have been pushed out about 2 weeks since that article was published. Could have saved you some angst...
Funny, my GRE radios seem to be much easier to use than the similar Uniden models. They seem to hold up just as well, or better too. My Pro-43 had a couple of keypad replacements over the years, and a BNC change at about the 10 year point, but it sailed on and worked fine, but my Uniden radios had either died or required major work by then. Most of the time, the Uniden radios stayed a few years, then got sold. I still have a Pro-2004 I bought new, and a 2005 I bought later. Both work fine.
Seems like Uniden's quality control has improved greatly in the last few years, it used to be pretty comical sometimes. Speaker jacks not soldered in, antenna leads not soldered, so soldered so badly the radio was deaf. The funniest one was when they put the blob of epoxy on the CPU, didn't wait for it to dry, and the speaker wires went into it and it solidified. The speaker jack was never soldered in, so when I took the radio apart to fix the almost always dead speaker issue, it ripped the speaker jack out of the PC board. I had to use a hair dryer to soften the epoxy enough to pull the speaker wires out, so I could put the radio back together. In general, the GRE radios used to have much better QC than Unidens had, but now, they are pretty close.
Seems like Uniden's quality control has improved greatly in the last few years, it used to be pretty comical sometimes. Speaker jacks not soldered in, antenna leads not soldered, so soldered so badly the radio was deaf. The funniest one was when they put the blob of epoxy on the CPU, didn't wait for it to dry, and the speaker wires went into it and it solidified. The speaker jack was never soldered in, so when I took the radio apart to fix the almost always dead speaker issue, it ripped the speaker jack out of the PC board. I had to use a hair dryer to soften the epoxy enough to pull the speaker wires out, so I could put the radio back together. In general, the GRE radios used to have much better QC than Unidens had, but now, they are pretty close.
BOWLERPBA
Member
Screen Masking of freqs. on the display.
I have looked over all of the documents that have been produced thus far on the BCD396XT and have not found anything of being able to mask the freq. on the display as earlier Unidens were able to. Am I missing something? Thanks for you reply.
I have looked over all of the documents that have been produced thus far on the BCD396XT and have not found anything of being able to mask the freq. on the display as earlier Unidens were able to. Am I missing something? Thanks for you reply.
SOFA_KING
Member
My Eyes Hurt!
OK...I read ALL 29 PAGES of this thread just so I would not get chastised for asking a question that someone else might have asked. It took hours and my eyes hurt. So many "one liners" to waste space and time wading through. And "search" doesn't always work depending on how things are phrased...so here goes!
Paul,
I know maybe it is too late to change anything as the unit is really done, but what about a DOS (digital operated squelch) feature for those of us who listen to systems with OTAR or MDC1200? If you have ever heard the constant rekeying BRAAAAAP BRAAAAAP BRAAAAAAP (X 21) on rekey day, it is enough to drive you nuts! Especially when you hear the final verdict from the mobile that says "I did not get all that...send it all again". You know...that guy who is on the distant repeater instead of the local one! UGH! Even MDC1200 bursts get annoying. Perhaps this feature exists, but I did not see any reference to it. It would be good to have.
My vision of how this would work is this...The DSP quickly detects the MDC1200 data and mutes audio for a standard time interval (just like big /\/\ radios). If the bursts repeat 3 times in a row, the scanner continues scanning. This way you do not waste time on digital noise that you can't make any use of. Sound like a future firmware fix...maybe? This would be a great feature!
BTW - Thanks for taking my suggestions (like NAC, selectable DIGITAL mode, and ENC mute) on the last 396 official thread a couple of years ago. At the time it was like not many people saw the value of those features. How things change, huh?
Phil
OK...I read ALL 29 PAGES of this thread just so I would not get chastised for asking a question that someone else might have asked. It took hours and my eyes hurt. So many "one liners" to waste space and time wading through. And "search" doesn't always work depending on how things are phrased...so here goes!
Paul,
I know maybe it is too late to change anything as the unit is really done, but what about a DOS (digital operated squelch) feature for those of us who listen to systems with OTAR or MDC1200? If you have ever heard the constant rekeying BRAAAAAP BRAAAAAP BRAAAAAAP (X 21) on rekey day, it is enough to drive you nuts! Especially when you hear the final verdict from the mobile that says "I did not get all that...send it all again". You know...that guy who is on the distant repeater instead of the local one! UGH! Even MDC1200 bursts get annoying. Perhaps this feature exists, but I did not see any reference to it. It would be good to have.
My vision of how this would work is this...The DSP quickly detects the MDC1200 data and mutes audio for a standard time interval (just like big /\/\ radios). If the bursts repeat 3 times in a row, the scanner continues scanning. This way you do not waste time on digital noise that you can't make any use of. Sound like a future firmware fix...maybe? This would be a great feature!
BTW - Thanks for taking my suggestions (like NAC, selectable DIGITAL mode, and ENC mute) on the last 396 official thread a couple of years ago. At the time it was like not many people saw the value of those features. How things change, huh?
Phil
ScannerDude244
Member
Will the new radios come with a USB cable?
oldtymer
Member
BCD396T upgrade
I have version 3.01.00 on my BCD396T scanner. Is there a later version of upgrade? or do I have the latest?
Thanx in advance,
oldtymer
I have version 3.01.00 on my BCD396T scanner. Is there a later version of upgrade? or do I have the latest?
Thanx in advance,
oldtymer
oldtymer - this thread is about the XT. You don't have one of those...
Anyone else think it's kind of confusing/weird that Uniden didn't come up with new model numbers for these to-be-released scanners?
There's already a BCD396T out. Adding an X into the model number is annoying. Why not call it the BCD397T or something?
There's already a BCD396T out. Adding an X into the model number is annoying. Why not call it the BCD397T or something?
Smerri
Member
Q1 2009 begins Friday.
We are entering the final stretch.
We are entering the final stretch.
I think they will least wait 30 days to see what unit’s gets return from Christmas and give them a chance to close out their books for 2008. Then make announcement for them just before tax time when people will have the extra cash to buy them.
oldtymer
Member
Thanx for the information...!!! I checked out the proper model number and discovered that I do have the latest update for the 396T.
How up are you on scanner history? Do you know the difference between a BC100XL and a BC100XLT? It's night and day. The XL had 16 channels, the XLT had 100. And the cases and buttons were completely different between the two scanners.
I agree. The naming of the BCD396XT does seem confusing.
SOFA_KING
Member
I was reading the BCD396XT manual and was blown away by many of the features I saw. I'm still trying to grasp the whole System and Group concept. I'm used to the Bank and TG sub-bank format, so I'm trying to understand if SYS & GRP do the same. I'll keep reading and searching...
Anyway, there is one thing I think could be improved on conventional CTCSS/DCS/NAC searching. In fact, I see no reason for the separation of analog and digital. It might be OK to have the option to split them if I only want one or the other, but most times you do a search for something unknown you want whatever you can get, and without limits! And so...
Paul,
Can the firmware be re-done to change the logic on conventional CTCSS/DCS/NAC searching? I think it would benefit the search function(s) to include all forms of code searching at the same time and not separate them into digital or analog searches on channels/frequencies. I do not see any need for hardware changes, just logic. The logical flow could be something like this:
The scanner lands on an active search frequency (or a conventional channel frequency you are trying to ID) and stops to determine P25 or Analog. If it is P25, the speaker opens (if not encrypted) to hear the traffic and the scanner starts looking for NAC codes. If it is Analog, it looks for CTCSS and DCS codes but the speaker stays closed until a positive code is found. If no codes are found it keeps the speaker closed and starts to resume search or scan if you were in that mode. On manual or hold it just waits for the next squelch opening and does the appropriate code search.
This way the scanner does complete code searching on a given frequency and stays silent unless it gets something useful. You may want to make a second option selection to open the squelch on analog signal detect (like CSQ) and do it's searching while you listen to the analog or digital traffic, but the first option is designed to keep the radio focused on legit signals and not get hung up on noise and images. The second option is like regular CSQ searching with all code detection. Some activity is still only CSQ, I know, but for those in heavy RF areas the noise and hang-ups are counterproductive. Most systems use codes, so it makes sense to determine the signal is legit before opening the speaker or hanging up the scan or search.
One other thing I would like to see is a better way of doing "mixed mode". In most cases some sort of CTCSS/DCS/NAC will be used on conventional channels. I know many systems that use both P25 and analog on the same frequency. Rather than enter two channels, one digital and one analog (which takes memory and slows down the scanning), it would be better to give the option to enter both a CTCSS or DCS and either an ALL P25 or a NAC. Some systems use multiple NACs on a single frequency, so better yet a list of NACs (maybe up to 8?). Even a list of PLs would be nice too, but I guess it depends on decode time.
Those ideas would save memory, Save time scanning or searching, provide full search for both modes thereby capturing all the traffic and not just digital or analog, keep the radio quiet and focused on legitimate traffic, and make known multi-mode / multi-code channels more efficient to manage. Sound like some good ideas?
Thanks!
Phil
Anyway, there is one thing I think could be improved on conventional CTCSS/DCS/NAC searching. In fact, I see no reason for the separation of analog and digital. It might be OK to have the option to split them if I only want one or the other, but most times you do a search for something unknown you want whatever you can get, and without limits! And so...
Paul,
Can the firmware be re-done to change the logic on conventional CTCSS/DCS/NAC searching? I think it would benefit the search function(s) to include all forms of code searching at the same time and not separate them into digital or analog searches on channels/frequencies. I do not see any need for hardware changes, just logic. The logical flow could be something like this:
The scanner lands on an active search frequency (or a conventional channel frequency you are trying to ID) and stops to determine P25 or Analog. If it is P25, the speaker opens (if not encrypted) to hear the traffic and the scanner starts looking for NAC codes. If it is Analog, it looks for CTCSS and DCS codes but the speaker stays closed until a positive code is found. If no codes are found it keeps the speaker closed and starts to resume search or scan if you were in that mode. On manual or hold it just waits for the next squelch opening and does the appropriate code search.
This way the scanner does complete code searching on a given frequency and stays silent unless it gets something useful. You may want to make a second option selection to open the squelch on analog signal detect (like CSQ) and do it's searching while you listen to the analog or digital traffic, but the first option is designed to keep the radio focused on legit signals and not get hung up on noise and images. The second option is like regular CSQ searching with all code detection. Some activity is still only CSQ, I know, but for those in heavy RF areas the noise and hang-ups are counterproductive. Most systems use codes, so it makes sense to determine the signal is legit before opening the speaker or hanging up the scan or search.
One other thing I would like to see is a better way of doing "mixed mode". In most cases some sort of CTCSS/DCS/NAC will be used on conventional channels. I know many systems that use both P25 and analog on the same frequency. Rather than enter two channels, one digital and one analog (which takes memory and slows down the scanning), it would be better to give the option to enter both a CTCSS or DCS and either an ALL P25 or a NAC. Some systems use multiple NACs on a single frequency, so better yet a list of NACs (maybe up to 8?). Even a list of PLs would be nice too, but I guess it depends on decode time.
Those ideas would save memory, Save time scanning or searching, provide full search for both modes thereby capturing all the traffic and not just digital or analog, keep the radio quiet and focused on legitimate traffic, and make known multi-mode / multi-code channels more efficient to manage. Sound like some good ideas?
Thanks!
Phil
Last edited:
i dont find it confusing or weird at all.it must be you that finds it weird or confusing
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