BCD325P2/BCD996P2: BCD996P2 programming there has to be a faster way...

[trevin8]

The P2's already come preprogrammed with an older copy of the RR database... To get it you would have to reset the scanner.

Now if it were me, I'd program each county as a system. Then each group in each system (county) may be something like Police, Fire, EMS, etc.

Yes, keeping more than one copy of different scanner databases from ProScan will help. I do this all the time. One is for here at home and another on the go.

North Dakota is rolling out a new system and is/will be mostly encrypted.

I have a very novel way using PHP code and pulling data from the database webpage and using Notepad++ to copy/paste to ProScan. Because I can copy/paste, I can upload HUGE amounts of data. LOL! Having said that, I can probably make you a Proscan database file. I own both P2's. Is there anything you want in particular? It sounds like you want the whole U.S. You could do that, but have to limit on the departments. That, and well, I don't think I'm willing to go through 50 states of data.

Haha that’s awesome and much appreciated.
I mainly just need highway patrol then my thought was with the gps unit I could close call priority mode everything else.

if you have a way to make quick work of it I would be happy to toss you some pizza or beer money for your time.

Priority states would be North Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Washington, California, Wyoming, Oregon.

Actual cannonball run states are New York to LA and that can be weather dependent but you get the idea.

So the car is a dedicated cannonball car New York to LA. But there are several other runs it will make first before that attempt.

Initial testing will be done in Montana to North Dakota.
Then Canada to Mexico maybe in Montana that’s undecided.
So I’ve been working on just kind of the western part of the United States for now.

I just did a run through Nevada to California with only a radar detector and Waze and did just fine. In a bright orange super car haha.
This is only an additional layer of protection.

It’s my understanding that if I put all highway patrol the gps unit would do the work for me?? So it didn’t matter how much I threw on there but I’m understanding now it may make sense to add based on the run that’s going to be made.

 

[trevin8]

Excellent responses! Not much I can add, But, while I understand the reason to have all this data available for travel etc. the actual listening is what counts and even with the fastest scanners one can only expect to hear one thing at a time and scanning too much will very much limit your ability to easily tell what is happening.
Obviously, multiple scanners are the answer but I realize this is not practical. My only advice, limit what you scan at one time, not only by region but by type or any other criteria that interests you otherwise you will get frustrated by quantity rather than quality.

For sure. To add to what was asked earlier about asking people that have done these rally’s and things an outstanding number of people just done use scanners at all and instead recruit others to listen from home and report in as scouts essentially. Sounds like most of it is broadcast online?

 

[sfb88]

Somewhat OT. So, they still do the cannonball run. I remember that for a number of years it was associated with Car & Drier magazine. I thought that the formula for success was not supercar top speed but reducing the number of stops. A nondescript van equipped with extra fuel tanks ( and maybe a portable toilet) for extended range would be an example.

 

[trevin8]

Somewhat OT. So, they still do the cannonball run. I remember that for a number of years it was associated with Car & Drier magazine. I thought that the formula for success was not supercar top speed but reducing the number of stops. A nondescript van equipped with extra fuel tanks ( and maybe a portable toilet) for extended range would be an example.

Haha allegedly.
It is totally.
So the car has 40 gallons in additional fuel, everything has been geared for fuel economy. It’s stripped down to the basics. I’ve shaved almost 300lbs of stuff from the interior.
All coefficient of drag calculations have been done as well as fuel stop times.

You are correct it’s about averaging and maintaining speed. Nothing crazy. My last moving average was in the low 80’s. It’s the fuel stops and heavy traffic in New York and LA that means for higher speeds.

 

[hiegtx]

I think you want the Sites (and not Groups) to have location data as the sites are physical locations. You can map them out in ProScan.

No, you do need location data for both sites, as well as groups.

This is the Ellis County site details (on NTIRN, a regional system used in parts of Dallas, Tarrant, Johnson, & Ellis County:


As you can see, you have site location & range details for that site.

Here's the Group for County (not individual city) talkgroups:


You have location details for that group in the Group's header.

There is no location data directly associated with the individual TGIDs. Their status (on, or off, due to location) is determined by the location details for the Group.

 

[mass-man]

Thank you for the reply. I bought the Uniden BC-SGPS Serial GPS adapter kit.
I'm getting through the states fairly quickly. It'll be a good setup for now for testing purposes in my state and a couple states over where I need to get fuel mileage averages and data built out for the car. Ill then retire the 996P2 to live in my pickup or the house. (if my wife will allow it. haha drives her nuts.. until its something interesting then shes all ears). So at the end of the day I spent $250 on this one and the rest of my accessories will work with a different model liek you've suggested then that will be fine.
I would imagine the sds200 would be similiar in size and i could mount that in the car where i had this one. Where the handheld might be good to pop in and out of rigs.

Having worked with the SDS200 and owning several 996P2s the 200 is double the height of the 996 About the same width and depth! It was a bit more work to get it installed in a mobile.

 

[hiegtx]

That will work too. You could drag & Drop channels from one group to another -or- you can select many channels at the same time by clicking the 1st channel then hold down the Shift key then click the last channel then click the Copy (menu in Red) then select the other group node then click the Paste menu item. After all the channels have been moved, then delete the empty groups. Also right clicking the mouse will show a menu with a Copy & Paste too.

trevin8,
If you want to 'combine' some of the groups to reduce your total group count for a given system, you might try this:

Download the group for a specific State Trooper/Highway Patrol division. That's going to list the frequencies (or talkgroups) used for units in the counties that are covered by that division (pr "Troop"). The location details for that individual troop's area should encompass all of the counties covered by that troop (or division, if that is what it's called).

You could then drag & drop the individual counties' talkgroup channels into that specific state trooper's group, and the location should be wide enough to cover the counties in that group. (You would need to massage the headings (titles) for the groups. They are truncated due to the character limit on the DMA scanners.

 

[hiegtx]

The P2's already come preprogrammed with an older copy of the RR database... To get it you would have to reset the scanner.

Not exactly. First, even at the 25,000 channel memory, that's insufficient to accept the entire database.

What I think you are referring to is the message on the T and XT scanners to "Restore Preprogram list? Enter Yes or No" message that popped up after resetting the T & XT series scanners. From the Easier to Read manual:

Scanner Reset to initialize the scanner's memory, turn off the scanner. Then press 2, 9, and Hold while turning it on (It helps if you can lay it flat). The scanner will give you the option 'Restore Preprogram List? "Yes"=E/No="."', if you press 'E/Yes', the scanner reloads the preprogrammed systems.

Important! This deletes all programmed data.

That "reset/restore" message is referenced on the easier to read pages for the 996T, 996XT, and 996P2.

The 325P2 replaced the 396T & XT series scanners, and that same 'reset' message appears in it's "Easier to Read" manual as well. I don't own the 996P2, but do have the 325P2. If I perform the reset on it, I do not get a "Restore..." query. All I get is "Nothing to Scan" once the reset is complete. In the event that the 996P2 still gives that message, it likely is the same system list where a number of entries are obsolete, and old enough to vote.

 

[trevin8]

Wow, thanks. That's awesome. Ill give it a go.

 

[BinaryMode]

Not exactly. First, even at the 25,000 channel memory, that's insufficient to accept the entire database.

What I think you are referring to is the message on the T and XT scanners to "Restore Preprogram list? Enter Yes or No" message that popped up after resetting the T & XT series scanners. From the Easier to Read manual:

Scanner Reset to initialize the scanner's memory, turn off the scanner. Then press 2, 9, and Hold while turning it on (It helps if you can lay it flat). The scanner will give you the option 'Restore Preprogram List? "Yes"=E/No="."', if you press 'E/Yes', the scanner reloads the preprogrammed systems.

Important! This deletes all programmed data.

That "reset/restore" message is referenced on the easier to read pages for the 996T, 996XT, and 996P2.

The 325P2 replaced the 396T & XT series scanners, and that same 'reset' message appears in it's "Easier to Read" manual as well. I don't own the 996P2, but do have the 325P2. If I perform the reset on it, I do not get a "Restore..." query. All I get is "Nothing to Scan" once the reset is complete. In the event that the 996P2 still gives that message, it likely is the same system list where a number of entries are obsolete, and old enough to vote.

Ah, I looked in the manual (I don't find the so-called "easier to read" version easier to read) and it's on page 6. For the 325 it's on page 19. See attachments.

Haha that’s awesome and much appreciated.
I mainly just need highway patrol then my thought was with the gps unit I could close call priority mode everything else.

if you have a way to make quick work of it I would be happy to toss you some pizza or beer money for your time.

Priority states would be North Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Washington, California, Wyoming, Oregon.

Actual cannonball run states are New York to LA and that can be weather dependent but you get the idea.

So the car is a dedicated cannonball car New York to LA. But there are several other runs it will make first before that attempt.

Initial testing will be done in Montana to North Dakota.
Then Canada to Mexico maybe in Montana that’s undecided.
So I’ve been working on just kind of the western part of the United States for now.

I just did a run through Nevada to California with only a radar detector and Waze and did just fine. In a bright orange super car haha.
This is only an additional layer of protection.

It’s my understanding that if I put all highway patrol the gps unit would do the work for me?? So it didn’t matter how much I threw on there but I’m understanding now it may make sense to add based on the run that’s going to be made.

I'll see if I can't do this. No payment necessary.

 

[trevin8]

Ah, I looked in the manual (I don't find the so-called "easier to read" version easier to read) and it's on page 6. For the 325 it's on page 19. See attachments.






I'll see if I can't do this. No payment necessary.

Thank you that's awesome. Can't wait to start testing.
If i used one of the pre programmed menu's I don't get any local HP or Police. I tried that.

 

[wtp]

they does come with pre-programmed systems. but not too many.
and with 25,000 channels for memory it might be hard to fit it in there.
you would have to set up the ones you want and then use GPS to lock and unlock the systems.

 

[trevin8]

I would think that with 25,000 I should be able to fit all Highway patrol and Police. I would think.
Thats the plan is to hopefully fit Highway Patrol, Police and Sheriffs. Then use GPS to use the specific counties or states data.