I bought the ARC996 last week just a day or so after my new BCD996T arrived. I have experimented with conventional channel programming so far. The groups programming have been sort of quirky. That is probably to be expected since this is a beta version. For example, I tried to set up one system with 20 groups, but the software would only save 10 even though I had not exceeded the memory capacity. In another scenario a group that is supposed to be capable of up to 250 conventional frequencies, the software would only save 200. I have noticed in the history logging that I need to be careful about the Log Settings. I have tried it both with the Log Every Event in History Grid checked and unchecked. With the Log Every Event in History Grid box unchecked it looks really neat to see the log and what subaudible tones are listed. It can be somewhat misleading, however, if the subaudible tones are important to you. For example. there is a certain VHF fire frequency used in my area, BUT the history log showed a PL tone that I didn't think was used locally. It showed a number of HitCounts with the "suspect" PL tone. So for fun I programmed an amateur simplex frequency with a number of different PL tones. Then I did test transmissions with various PL tones. The HitCount went up with the different transmissions, BUT the log would only display the most recent PL tone decoded. Probably to most people this is a non-issue, but I like knowing what tones are used on various frequncies. So, if you want an accurate list of frequencies and ALL of the PL/DPL tones used on them, then check the box Log Every Event in History Grid. Also, with regards to the above, the HitCount increases sequentially if the radio is scanning. If you monitor one channel in the manual mode, the counter does not increase the HitCounts with each transmission. I just switched from the BC796 with ARC250, so many of my comparisons will be with that experience prior to this. I know that the ARC250 has an Auto Lockout after logged option and I liked to use that in the Search mode with going through conventional searches. There is also an Auto Resume after logged function that I liked to use in the conventional search mode. I did not see these in the current beta version, but I would like to see these added to updates on this software. I know that there is no longer negative delay like the BC796 has, but it might be nice to have that under software control, if this is possible. Another feature that the BC796 has that the BC 996 does not have is the ability to do a search with tone enabled. It was an all or nothing feature meaning if you wanted the tone on for search bank 1, it was also on for bank 2 through 10. I must say that the ARC996 seems to transfer data faster than the ARC250 does. Also, the history log seems to be saved even when you close out of a session. That is a pretty nice feature. I would also be interested in seeing what other applications work well with the BC996. For example, will something like LTRDump work with this to help map out LTR systems. Also, I suspect decoding NAC codes will become more important in the future. Maybe the ability to integrate something like kNACk with ARC996 could be very handy.
