BC 996T- local help/Kent County Delaware

[wb3j]

Hello all....

I bought the BC 996T last year....it's gotten limited use. This is my first scanner purchase in for this type of receiving...so I am new to the trunk-tracking & the various systems. Also, to be honest, I'm not real sure I understand the new methods of memory usage....systems...groups, etc. I've owned scanners & receivers for 35 years...but I just ain't getting this.

To make things more confusing, I have been using the ARC software for programming. Quick keys...system quick keys...group keys. I'm just not grasping the programming & usage. I was hearing some state PD stuff for a while, I'm no longer receiving it. The conventional systems work ok. I'm thinking I'm programming improperly or it's programmed but not being turned on.

Is there a member that lives in my area (Smyrna) that might have so time in the evening that could lend me a hand going over my settings & programming? If so, I'd like to possibly meet up and go over my scanner & laptop.

Thanks....

Jim
wb3j

 

[ka3jjz]

Jim our wiki has several links and articles that should help you out. (Anything in blue - or in the wiki, underlined - is a link)...

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/BCD996T

I would download and read the 'Easier to Read' manual for the 996, and scan through some of the other articles. These are all linked in the 'Related Pages' section of the article.

I would also jump to the Delaware forum and ask if someone has a ARC996 .mem file for Kent County. Loading a pre-defined file might give you some clues as to how things are set up. Remember, with DMA scanners, there are NO banks - you must allocate your freqs from a pool of memory. Quick keys are somewhat like the old bank keys - these can be turned on and off at will.

73 Mike

 

[silvery37]

I just programmed mine and it took a while. But it might help if you think about it like this. The system is like a large umbrella that is going to contain all the information. It is similar to banks that were used in the past. For a trunked system the system doesnt really contain much information and doesnt hold the frequencies or id's. It is a place to organize the sites and groups. Under the system you will have to create a site. The sites contain the frequencies that are used for whatever you are programming. For a trunked system this will typically just be the control frequencies and their backups. The groups are where you program the actual talk group id's. It helped me to look at one of the preprogrammed systems on the 996 to see how it was organized.

 

[wb3j]

Thank-you for the responses. I've done a lot of reading when time allowed it....I do have the basic understanding of the trunked systems too. What I'm having difficulty with is the control of the scanner after programming. System quick keys....group quick keys, etc. I'm no longer hearing any of the trunked systems I was hearing, and since I'm having difficulty with the QK's & the ARC software, what I'm thinking is the unit is programmed but the frequencies are not active during scanning.

jim

 

[silvery37]

I tried using the BC tool software for a while. You can download it for free here http://www.bctool.org/. A lot of people like it but I couldnt get it to work with my computer. I ended up just using the uniden software they give you at their website. After I figured it out it is actually very easy to use and works well.

You could just start very basic. Just create a system and then program the control frequencies into a site. Dont bother making any groups. Then just tell the scanner to search instead of scan. To do this make sure the system is unlocked and press scan. When it is scanning the system hit the function button and then the scan/search button. This changes from the scan mode to the search mode. In the search mode the scanner will stop on any active talk group that is operating under the control frequencies you have entered.

One thing that confused me was all of the preloaded stuff in the scanner. I removed all of this and it made it easier. Any thing that is programmed in the scanner and is not linked to a quick key will be scanned unless it is locked out. When something is linked to a quick key the scanner only scans it when the key is activated.

The group quick keys are only accessible if the sytem is active. For example in my area I programmed the police into a system. The system uses four different sites. All of these sites use the same quick key because they are all used by the police department. So I hit one quick key and all of the control frequencies used by the police are scanned. If I want to turn off one of the sites I can still do it by locking out the site. For this system I programmed each of the cities 9 sectors as a separate group. When the system is activated I can scan the entire city or an individual sector by using the group keys, but if I hit the site quick key the entire police system is turned off.

If you have specific questions let me know and I will try to help. It took me about 7 hours when I first programmed the unit to get everything I wanted into it. Now that I understand the software and organization it just takes a minute or two to add or change something.

 

[silvery37]

Another example: All of the city services use the same control frequencies as the police department. I wanted them to be on a seperate quick key so I created a new system. The sites in this system have the exact same frequencies as the police system but they use a different quick key. The difference between the two systems is in the groups. The police groups only have police talk group id's and the city services only have service id's. I broke the groups down by energy, waste management, and parks and rec.

What happens when scanning is that the scanner will only stop if one of the programmed talk group ids is acitve. Although the police and services use the same control frequencies they only stop on the ids I programmed.

If the unit is set to search instead of scan there would be no difference between the systems because the scanner would stop on any active talk group.

 

[wb3j]

thank-you...

Jim