BCD 396XT APCO Scanner

[jlande]

I am on my 3rd 396xt. It scans but does not pick up traffic. If I shut it off for a few seconds it sometimes fixes the problem. Unfortunately (and what scares me the most) is sometimes I have to do it a few times. What am I doing wrong? This is my first "fancy scanner" I know a little about scanners but would not say I am good at it. I really enjoy listening and would LOVE to learn how to get the most out of this scanner but honestly I am about to give up and just go back to my old PRO 528.Any suggestions. BYTHE WAY.I said it was my third. I bought the original at Radio Shack.The first one had something wrong with charging (exchanged for a new one at RS) The second had a problem with the sound I had to use head phones(exchanged for new one at RS) Great respect for the customer service at Radio Shack. Starting to wonder about Uniden radios. I am not a rich man and spent A LOT of my money on this scanner, Please help.
Jeff

 

[teufler]

polk cty

try this file , for polk cty.

 

[jlande]

I have the freq and talk groups and stuff and it worked just fine. Now I am having problems with it scanning and not picking up anything. If I shut it off and then start it back up again it picks up traffic again. What I am afraid of is that it will do that and when I sart it up again it wont work.

 

[teufler]

The file can always be loaded and reloaded again and again. If you loaded my file, erase all and load, per Freescan, and you are picking things up, lets start with, hold on something and monitor. If that works, then what kind of antenna are you using? The robber duck is okay if you 10 miles or so from the towers , but an external antenna, any antenna should show a marked increase in signal strength. The file has conventional and trunking systems. Open the file, ctrl k brings up the quick key assignments. make a note ofg what is where, then turn off systems and see what stays receving and what does not. 3 - 396xt's with problems are rare. Perhaps there is nothing on the systems to pick up. You've got West Des Moines, thats a separate 800 trunking, then the Racom system , thats got most. It is an Edacs system, which I think was created correct. The problem is small, you are close.

 

[teufler]

polk cty added

ok, another file, added counties to the west, south and east. These are different systems. Some are conventional, some type 2 p25, one is a hybrid type 2. One has to work, then we can go from there as a building block.

 

[W8RMH]

I had a BCD396T that I carried daily for 6 years, and now have a BCD396XT that I have carried daily for over 2 years and never had any problems with either.

It sounds like your problems are more related to operator error or your programming than to the scanner itself. If you are getting bad units from RS I would steer clear of them. They have been known to put bad/returned units back on the shelves for resale.

If these issues clear after you re-power, I wonder if you may be inadvertently hitting lockout (temporary) which could lockout the frequency or channel you need to receive to effectively monitor your agencies. After a power up these temporarily locked out items are unlocked.

 

[pinballwiz86]

Hi op! It sounds to me like your scanner's memory got "corrupted".

Do you remember running the scanner without batteries and turning it off just by unplugging the power cord? That'll do it sometimes. Reset the scanner and start again.

Good luck.