bcd396t fire tone out questions

[joeynshelby]

I have the BCD396T and I am trying to program the fire tone feature. I have several questions...
I have both wintone and bctool downloaded. I noticed bctool has a recording feature. If I understand correctly you have to have the in-line cable with the 1/8" plugs on both ends that goes from the scanner to the sound card. Is there anyway to set bctool up to record thru the PC cable that came with the scanner (the one you use to program). Also, if I use bctool to record the tones then I would have to use another program to analyze them right? So..I am think the best best would be to buy the plug from Radio Shack and use wintone to kill two birds with one stone. Am I even close to understanding this? Can somebody point me in the right direction? Thanks!

 

[MarkEagleUSA]

Is there anyway to set bctool up to record thru the PC cable that came with the scanner (the one you use to program).

No... the data port on the 396 doesn't provide any audio. You need to use a patch cable from the headphone jack to the PC's sound card.

 

[jkahn]

Tone Out Question

You are partially correct.
The programming cable cannot be used because it does not carry the audio signals.

If you buy the cable at Radio Shack (or anywhere else) and connect the radio to the sound card, the scanner/software combination can be used to record to the hard drive and the tones can be analyzed to find the ones you want.

Remember, when you use the radio in fire tone out mode, it is not able to scan normally, just like in weather alert mode. It becomes like a plectron type pager and is silent until a programmed set of tones activates it, and then it allows you to hear the fire call.

Hope this helps.