BCD396T Questions

[Benjamin_Winn]

Have read manual over three times now. I have trunking up but in my area 4 localities share 1 trunking system.
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=556
As you can see there are MANY things on this page. I have entered the frequencies for chesterfield and they work but i get three different ID's and am not sure what they are. Know they are police but i mixes with EMS and other agencies. How do i enter the individual places. For chesterfield i wanna do the fire and police different. And eventually do it for all the other three localities. Can someone please get back to me and maybe have some steps included. It would greatly be appreciated.

Only ID's i get are 200-0 300-0 400-0

Is there supposed to be info flashing on the screen or do i have to enter that as a name?

 

[slicerwizard]

Only ID's i get are 200-0 300-0 400-0

It looks like for some reason, you entered a fleetmap for that system. Don't do that.

Is there supposed to be info flashing on the screen or do i have to enter that as a name?

You have to enter your own names for each talkgroup of interest.

 

[Airdorn]

Systems are divided-up into groups, and groups into channels.


Set that beautiful scanner up like this:

SYSTEM: Richmond/Henrico/Chesterfield/Col. Heights
(Site 1: Henrico co., Site 2: Chesterfield Co., Site 3: Richmond City)

Group 1: Regionwide
Channel 1: Regionwide 1
Channel 2: Regionwide 2
(etc.)

Group 2: Richmond Fire
Channel 1: FRAP Activation
Channel 2: Special OPS 1
Channel 3: Special OPS 2
(etc.)

Group 3: Richmond Police
Channel 1: 1st Precinct
Channel 2: 2nd Precinct
(etc.)

...on and on for up to 20 groups.

Try to cram it all into 10 groups and then assign each group a quick-key. That way, you can select/deselect groups within the system at a stroke. One way you can cram it all into 10 groups is to combine some of the smaller talkgroup categories here in the RR database into a single group in your scanner. You can also just ignore stuff in the system you probably won't ever hear or care to hear.

Or... extra stuff that might not be as important, but you just don't want to ignore can just be put into its OWN system. But what I usually do is just have 1 big "Misc." group that contains all the talkgroups that might be a little less 'important', like public works, sanitation, etc.

Of course, while programming those 3 SITES above, you have to feed it all the frequencies. When programming the groups and channels, you should give the groups descriptive names, and each channel has to get the associated talkgroup ID and each channel should get a nice descriptive name. Your scanner doesn't magically receive the names of talkgroups and TGID's.

Setup like that, your scanner will toggle the site name and the Group name, and display the active channel name under it when the scanner stops on some activity.

Oh also, be sure each System you program gets a System quick key from 1 - 99. That makes it super easy to select systems to scan.

Do yourself a favor and use that USAD software from Uniden that is free to you, or one of those 3rd party packages for the 396T that people here like. I've personally only ever used the software from Uniden for my 996T. Tryignt o program the scanner entirely from the face of the scanner itself will be a frustrating, counter-intuitive task and you'll end up throwing the scanner out the window.

 

[Benjamin_Winn]

Appreciate it. I am right now programming through the free software. One more question. From this site radio reference what do i put in TGID name and what do i put in ID. That would be greatly appreciated

 

[Benjamin_Winn]

Just messed around and turned fleetmap on and it works like a charm thanks!

 

[Airdorn]

What do you mean you turned fleetmap on and it works great?


'TGID name' is the description of the ID.. like "Police Dispatch" or "Car-Car" or whatever.

'ID' is the actual talkgroup number.. this site calls it 'DEC', as in, the decimal representation of the talkgroup ID.


SO, for example, Richmond Fire FRAP Activation would be:

TGID name: FRAP Activation
ID: 2880

Etc. etc.

Btw, if you are a premium subscriber, then there's way to simply import the entire RR database for that site to your scanner as a complete System.

Personally, I like entering it all by hand... fastest way to get adept with that gorgeous scanner.

 

[Benjamin_Winn]

Yeah I meant to say Fleet Mapping was on. I turned it off. Didn't realize it was on. I have a computer that doesn't have a Serial Port. But am going to purchase one soon. Entered it all by hand by using top nob. Lol took like an hour. I got all of chesterfield and colonial heights. Cause thats all i care about for now. Thanks appreciate all your help. (didn't realize DEC was ID but i get it now. Thank you!!!

 

[Airdorn]

Then I imagine your computer has a bunch of USB ports.

You can get USB-serial converters off ebay for dirt cheap... maybe $10. They come with a driver disk. You install it once and then you always have a serial port anytime you plug the thing into an available USB port.

Or, I think Uniden has a USB data cable which is essentially the same thing, but for $30.