BCD996TX versus other receivers?

[KC9NCF]

I am including a link below for my question that I'm really hoping will catch some of the best feedback and ideas that can be given by you guys here at RR.

I need to know if the BCD996TX is the best out there for monitoring Illinois radio traffic or if there is anything better out here than that. What is the audio like? Does it hear well? Can it be taken portable with batteries or with a power supply? Are there any good hand-held receivers that will do digital that hear well and give great audio in place of the BCD996TX if it can't be taken portable?

ChgoMonitor mentioned in the Airshow thread for 2009 that he had to swap out the front end of his 996XLT and put an attenuator in line. Is this a common experience with this radio?

Uniden Bearcat BCD996XT Police Scanner Radio

What is everyone's recommendations?

 

[rvictor]

You might want to look in the Uniden forum where you'll find lots of comments from owners of that radio and other Uniden models as well.

Dick

 

[gmclam]

Be sure to include the GRE PSR-500 in your comparison.

 

[chgomonitor]

996xt

No I did not say that at all. What I did do was to hook a high gain antenna up to a 996XT about 2 miles away from and in direct line of sight to just about every high power transmitter in downtown Chicago. The result was that the front end of the radio became overloaded - "swamped out", not "swapped out". This is was a casual observation, not a test or critique of the radio, and it isn't something I'd suggest doing in downtown Chicago. I then put a 6 Db in-line attenuator into the coax feed and that cured the problem and the radio then functioned quite well at this very, very radio challenging location.

It ran for over 12 hours from a 7 amp hour sealed cell 12 volt battery which was also powering a Motorola amplified speaker, so yes, that can be done. The 996XT comes with both a hardwired 12 volt power cable for permanent installations and a cigar lighter plug.

Sorry, I don't have a GRE-500/600 series radio to compare it to. But I will offer my humble opinion that the Uniden 396XT hand held and 996XT base/mobile are at least slightly superior to the GRE's on the Illinois Starcom system - at least in the simulcast zones like North Cook and Lake County. I have heard GRE 500's and 600's demodulating these sites and the 996XT sounds much better. I suspect the 996XT also tracks the system better, too. The audio quality of the digital demodulation on the 996XT is superb. To my tired ear it still doesn't sound as good as analog, but its as good as I've heard P25 sound coming out of a scanner. To me, it actually sounds better than our real Starcom radio at work - a little crisper and cleaner, less "boomy".

My real critique of the Unidens has to do with the way they handle the 7.5 Khz step channels on VHF bands. I'm hoping Uniden can correct this in a future flash update. I have a post on this in the Uniden forum. If you find it, please don't quote me again. Thanks.

Happy Scanning! - Ted

 

[rvictor]

No I did not say that at all. What I did do was to hook a high gain antenna up to a 996XT about 2 miles away from and in direct line of sight to just about every high power transmitter in downtown Chicago. The result was that the front end of the radio became overloaded - "swamped out", not "swapped out". This is was a casual observation, not a test or critique of the radio, and it isn't something I'd suggest doing in downtown Chicago. I then put a 6 Db in-line attenuator into the coax feed and that cured the problem and the radio then functioned quite well at this very, very radio challenging location.

That's reassuring. I thought that I followed that thread pretty closely and didn't remember anything quite like that from Ted.

Dick

 

[KC9NCF]

First, let me apologize for misquoting you Ted. I didn't mean anything by it, I just simply got mixed up with what you said and probably what you meant...I'm not someone who works in that field day in and day out, so I can tend to get things wrong.

2. I was trying to remember that part of the thread by memory and failed to go back and check, so it was indeed my fault. My apologies again.

3. Thanks for the info so far from everyone.

 

[chgomonitor]

My real critique of the Unidens has to do with the way they handle the 7.5 Khz step channels on VHF bands. I'm hoping Uniden can correct this in a future flash update. I have a post on this in the Uniden forum. If you find it, please don't quote me again. Thanks.

Happy Scanning! - Ted

-This VHF "critique" was incorrect, I had made a software programming error, it works just fine on 7.5 Khz step channels on VHF - Ted

 

[scosgt]

This battery is sold a Staples and other places. It puts out 2 AMPS at 12 volts. I ran an IBM laptop for over an hour on one, and it will also jump start my motorcycle!

It is SMALL and LIGHT and would be a solution for a mobile 996. Don't know how long it would run, but it is a 8000 Wh battery, so maybe 2-3 hours or more?

XPAL Power | Products : XP8000N

 

[flyR-MyLs]

refrain from buying any scanner for now

well its been well over 1month since i had last visited this site, and sold that awful 396t. i started reviewing the forums section earlier today and i just shake my head; uniden, gre, and radio shack are not making these
scanners for the simple layman i.e. to be simple & user friendly. it seems the only ones that understand these unnecessarily complicated & high priced devices, are those that 1. work for the afore mentioned companies, 2. are friends with those who work for said companies and have direct access to those person day to day or 3. have time to attend hands on training seminars conducted by these firms. i have never seen a electronic device, costing 4-500 plus, give as many people so much grief/apprehensiveness. during the past 1-2 yrs, i myself was determined to get a scanner, never imagining that this one purchase would caused me to want to just smash it to pieces every time i looked at it. yes, i did call uniden and or scannermaster on numerous occasions, but when all was said and done, i was and i am happy to have gotten rid of the headache. my advise to those scanner newbies, with money to spend, do yourself a favor,
save your $$$ and wait for that ultimate scanner to come out, one with none of the shortcomings we read about daily on these forums. until then you and your's buy ssb/cb's "smile". now i wait for my aspersers to re:!

 

[W6KRU]

My FT857 was a lot tougher to learn than my scanners. No classes required. :roll:

 

[rvictor]

well its been well over 1month since i had last visited this site, and sold that awful 396t. i started reviewing the forums section earlier today and i just shake my head; uniden, gre, and radio shack are not making these
scanners for the simple layman i.e. to be simple & user friendly. it seems the only ones that understand these unnecessarily complicated & high priced devices, are those that 1. work for the afore mentioned companies, 2. are friends with those who work for said companies and have direct access to those person day to day or 3. have time to attend hands on training seminars conducted by these firms. i have never seen a electronic device, costing 4-500 plus, give as many people so much grief/apprehensiveness. during the past 1-2 yrs, i myself was determined to get a scanner, never imagining that this one purchase would caused me to want to just smash it to pieces every time i looked at it. yes, i did call uniden and or scannermaster on numerous occasions, but when all was said and done, i was and i am happy to have gotten rid of the headache. my advise to those scanner newbies, with money to spend, do yourself a favor,
save your $$$ and wait for that ultimate scanner to come out, one with none of the shortcomings we read about daily on these forums. until then you and your's buy ssb/cb's "smile". now i wait for my aspersers to re:!

I don't fall into any of the 3 numbered categories in your post and think that I'm fairly competent at operating my 396XT and 346XT. Neither am I professionally educated in an inherently technical field. These are complex devices that require some complexity in their operation. If you are waiting for some subsequent model that will read your mind and automatically do exactly what you want it to do, I suspect that you are in for a long wait. Some things require some effort. If you are unwilling to invest the effort, then you lose out on the ability to enjoy those things. Of course, there are some people who just lack the ability to understand such things. If that's your situation, I apologize for assuming that your problem was a lack of effort.

If you want a simple, easy to operate scanner, there are a number of 16 channel models available used for next to nothing. You won't have to be concerned with trunking, talkgroups, systems, sites, groups, CTCSS/DCS, Close Call, digital, bandscope, quick keys, or much of anything else. You may, however, have to look up each channel in the nice printed manual and enter the code for that frequency by correctly setting each of the 16 switches in the up or down position.

Dick