Over the past 10 days I've invested almost $1,200 in Uniden scanners. That would be the BCD396T and the BCD996T. This should make me a good customer. I had heard a lot of good things about the BCD996T, but then again I had also heard a lot of good things about the BCD396T.
The 996 has great features, especially multi-site systems and the ability to set analog mode or digital mode on channels. Setting digital only helps eliminate the digital buzz and decoding delay on the 996, which can be as long as 2 seconds if you keep it on All Audio mode. I hope that both of these features can be added to the BCD396T in a future firmware upgrade. I don't see why it wouldn't be possible other than flash memory size limitations or marketing/political reasons.
Now the question is, how does it work on a digital system in the middle of a city that has digital?
The answer to that is, it...oes...rk...ve...w...at...l...no...rl..........P...6.
Wait, let me try that again.
The 996 st..........obl.....with ad......ann....fer....on....te....5kH....cing.
Can't understand that? It must be because there's another transmitter 12.5kHz away from the frequency of this forum!
The reality of the new digital systems is that they really do use 12.5kHz spacing, and there very well may be another signal 12.5kHz away from the one you want to listen to. And if a radio can't handle that reasonably well, you're not going to have much luck listening to anything on those systems.
The 996, like the 396, does an excellent job of decoding a clean digital signal. But as soon as another transmission from a channel 12.5kHz away starts splattering over what you're listening to, you can forget about hearing more than every 4th or 5th word...That is if it can decode anything at all. And no, the attenuator doesn't help.
Dynamic memory, alpha tags, Close Call, GPS, hazard alerts, location keys and all that are nice features but they don't do much good if the receiver itself can't handle the realities of modern radio systems. A good receiver costs a lot of money and since these scanners are already over $500, the only choice seems to be removing some features if you build a scanner with a better receiver. Personally I vote for improving the receiver to cope with the channel spacing of modern systems before adding any more features. Heck I'd even say give me a digital scanner with the features of the BC245 and I'll pay $500 for it if it can reject adjacent-channel interference in an urban environment. That's right, no alpha tags, no dynamic memories, nothing! Just a digital scanner that works even when two adjacent frequencies are active at the same time.
Just my 2 cents to add to the $1,180.85 that I've already spent!
The 996 has great features, especially multi-site systems and the ability to set analog mode or digital mode on channels. Setting digital only helps eliminate the digital buzz and decoding delay on the 996, which can be as long as 2 seconds if you keep it on All Audio mode. I hope that both of these features can be added to the BCD396T in a future firmware upgrade. I don't see why it wouldn't be possible other than flash memory size limitations or marketing/political reasons.
Now the question is, how does it work on a digital system in the middle of a city that has digital?
The answer to that is, it...oes...rk...ve...w...at...l...no...rl..........P...6.
Wait, let me try that again.
The 996 st..........obl.....with ad......ann....fer....on....te....5kH....cing.
Can't understand that? It must be because there's another transmitter 12.5kHz away from the frequency of this forum!
The reality of the new digital systems is that they really do use 12.5kHz spacing, and there very well may be another signal 12.5kHz away from the one you want to listen to. And if a radio can't handle that reasonably well, you're not going to have much luck listening to anything on those systems.
The 996, like the 396, does an excellent job of decoding a clean digital signal. But as soon as another transmission from a channel 12.5kHz away starts splattering over what you're listening to, you can forget about hearing more than every 4th or 5th word...That is if it can decode anything at all. And no, the attenuator doesn't help.
Dynamic memory, alpha tags, Close Call, GPS, hazard alerts, location keys and all that are nice features but they don't do much good if the receiver itself can't handle the realities of modern radio systems. A good receiver costs a lot of money and since these scanners are already over $500, the only choice seems to be removing some features if you build a scanner with a better receiver. Personally I vote for improving the receiver to cope with the channel spacing of modern systems before adding any more features. Heck I'd even say give me a digital scanner with the features of the BC245 and I'll pay $500 for it if it can reject adjacent-channel interference in an urban environment. That's right, no alpha tags, no dynamic memories, nothing! Just a digital scanner that works even when two adjacent frequencies are active at the same time.
Just my 2 cents to add to the $1,180.85 that I've already spent!
