BC346XT, What radio types can it receive in the Bay Area?

[VistaListener]

I just received a BC346XT and tried to program it through FreeScan import Conventional and Trunked. I try to program in Solano County / Cities Police and Sheriff, and East Bay Regional Communications System, Police and Sheriff, but this particular radio seems to be obsolete for these systems. Is this the case? Or, is this radio capable of receiving these radio types?

 

[ka3jjz]

Just as a point of reference, let's just stick to the SF Bay area. See the very bottom of this page;

San Francisco County, California (CA) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

where all the trunked systems in this area are linked.

Assuming you are close enough and/or have a better antenna, you could potentially hear anything listed as 'LTR Standard', 'EDACS Standard' or 'Motorola Type II' (any flavor). You could not hear anything listed as 'Project 25 Phase 1', DMR Motorola, MPT-1327 or NXDX. Those last 3 formats are not currently decoded by any scanner, but can be done with external applications

Mike

 

[VistaListener]

ka3jjz, thanks for the info. Is Motorola Type II Smartnet the same as DMR Motorola? Because that's what I see in the link you provided under Fairfield, Suisun and Vacaville PD. Also, East Bay Regional Comm. System (EBRCS) is Project 25, Phase 1, so the BC346XT cannot hear them.

What type of external applications are you referring to?

I have a HP-2 and a BCD536HP and used Sentinel to program those systems, but was wondering about the BC346XT.

 

[kayn1n32008]

ka3jjz, thanks for the info. Is Motorola Type II Smartnet the same as DMR Motorola? Because that's what I see in the link you provided under Fairfield, Suisun and Vacaville PD. Also, East Bay Regional Comm. System (EBRCS) is Project 25, Phase 1, so the BC346XT cannot hear them.



What type of external applications are you referring to?



I have a HP-2 and a BCD536HP and used Sentinel to program those systems, but was wondering about the BC346XT.

Motorola type 2 and DMR are not the same.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[VistaListener]

kayn1n32008, thanks for assisting. I see the box of the BC346XT reads it is capable of Motorola I/II/IIi Hybrid. So, what is Motorola Type II Smartnet? Would that be consider the same a Motorola IIi Hybrid?

 

[kma371]

What is your location? For Solano county, where I think you are, it will do for a few more years as you can hear Fairfield vacaville trunked system.

If I were you, I'd get rid of it/take it back and get the 396XT. It isn't much more and gets the current digital systems in the area. You can find used ones on ebay cheap.

 

[kayn1n32008]

In the radioreference wiki, there is a primer on different types of trunking formats... easier to send tou that way. There are likely not many type 1 or type 2i systems left. They predate type 2.

 

[VistaListener]

I'm in the East Bay, Richmond area. This radio belongs to my brother in law who asked me to program it since I programmed my HP-2 and BCD536HP with Sentinel. So, I found FreeScan and thought I could help him. I'll give it a little more effort and, most likely, will suggest that he buy a newer model.

kma371, you suggest a 396XT? So, you're not a fan of the 436?

 

[kma371]

I wouldn't recommend the 436 to anyone. Take a look on the boards here and see how many problems people are having

 

[VistaListener]

Will do.