BCi25D v. BCi96D

[JacobInIndy]

I have a 796D and a 296D. In Indianapolis, police, fire and EMS is all P25 9600 baud trunked.

I have read that the BCi25D in a 796D will track a 9600 baud system, but I can't get it to work. It will only trunk with the BCi96D card.

It will decode just fine(very well, actually) in conventional mode, but it will not lock onto the control channel.

Is there an update to the BCi25D card that I need to do so it will trunk the 9600 baud system?

 

[sjlamb]

I believe that only the BCi96D (in a 796D or 296D) card will track a 9600 baud system. No way for the BCi25D card to track 9600 baud that I have ever heard of. I have read of others who have tried with the same result that you are reporting.

 

[UPMan]

The BCi96D and BCi25D are functionally identical. The only difference between the two are the paper label. The 796 should be able to follow a 9600 bps control channel using either card.

Control channel decoding is performed by the scanner's CPU, not the card.

 

[JacobInIndy]

The BCi96D and BCi25D are functionally identical. The only difference between the two are the paper label. The 796 should be able to follow a 9600 bps control channel using either card.

Control channel decoding is performed by the scanner's CPU, not the card.

Ok, so is there an update I need for the BCi25D so the scanner will use it correctly? The scanner is updated to newest firmware.

Neither the 296 or 796 will track 9600 baud trunked with any BCi25D card I have tried. We have a few.

 

[sjlamb]

The BCi96D and BCi25D are functionally identical. The only difference between the two are the paper label. The 796 should be able to follow a 9600 bps control channel using either card.

Control channel decoding is performed by the scanner's CPU, not the card.

Learn something new everyday... I stand corrected. Thanks, Upman.

 

[garys]

I can only share an anecdote from a trip I made to MN back in 2004. I had a 296D at the time and programmed it for Hennepin County's trunk system. When I got settled in at my hotel I turned on the scanner and got... nothing. I rechecked and reprogrammed the scanner and still got nothing. Then I remembered that I usually ran the scanner with the digital card turned off. I turned it on and started to receive the trunk system. I turned it off, and back to nothing. Contrast this with a 2002 trip to CT with a 250D. I had everything programmed in for the CTSP and the scanner started tracking talk groups, but there was no audio. In that case, I had left the card back home in my 785D. CTSP uses digital audio, but a 3600 baud control channel, while ARMER uses a 9600 baud control channel.

So, even though the CPU does the decoding, something in the digital card has to be turned on for 9600 baud control channels to work properly.

Again, anecdote and UPMan has resources to actually know what he's talking about, but I thought it odd that the 296 would not decode a 9600 baud control channel with the card deactivated.

 

[UPMan]

There was an update for the card a few years ago. It is at:
http://www.uniden.com/my/downloads.cfm?product=BC796D

 

[DaveIN]

Wasn't the ability to turn off the BCiXX card off an endeavor to save battery life when P25 was not needed?

As I recall the control channel had to be saved in the trunked mode for it to track correctly and then search or scan in the trunked mode in order for it to start tracking. Press the scan button, then trunk, then the bank that the trunked system was in to start tracking.

 

[sjlamb]

I would love to have the OP confirm that he got this card to do 9600 baud on his equip. and HOW he finally got it to work.

 

[JoeyC]

I would love to have the OP confirm that he got this card to do 9600 baud on his equip. and HOW he finally got it to work.

As UPMAN already stated, the card has nothing to do with trunk tracking. It is only used to turn the 1s and 0s of digital into the audio you can understand. The scanner will track a 9600 baud system with no card at all.

 

[sjlamb]

As UPMAN already stated, the card has nothing to do with trunk tracking. It is only used to turn the 1s and 0s of digital into the audio you can understand. The scanner will track a 9600 baud system with no card at all.

No one was doubting Upman. Upman's input, however, does not reflect the Op's reality.... and THAT is what my post was referring to. How the OP made out with his problem and what was the solution for him?

 

[JoeyC]

I would love to have the OP confirm that he got this card to do 9600 baud on his equip. and HOW he finally got it to work.

I was only responding to your post, not stating that you doubted what UPMAN said.

 

[JacobInIndy]

No one was doubting Upman. Upman's input, however, does not reflect the Op's reality.... and THAT is what my post was referring to. How the OP made out with his problem and what was the solution for him?

Well, I still had no luck with the BCi25D card tracking the 9600 baud Phase I digital system. Luckily, I was able to update the firmware of another BCi96D card and stuck that in the 296D...works like a charm.

I understand what is being said about the scanner tracking the system, but I have not seen either the 296D or 796D track MECA's 9600 baud system.

So, to answer your question, no my reality does not reflect Upman's input.

 

[sjlamb]

Well, I still had no luck with the BCi25D card tracking the 9600 baud Phase I digital system. Luckily, I was able to update the firmware of another BCi96D card and stuck that in the 296D...works like a charm.

I understand what is being said about the scanner tracking the system, but I have not seen either the 296D or 796D track MECA's 9600 baud system.

So, to answer your question, no my reality does not reflect Upman's input.

Keep us posted on anything new with this. Your pain (and hopefully; eventual solution) could be very useful to others in the future.

 

[garys]

Wasn't the ability to turn off the BCiXX card off an endeavor to save battery life when P25 was not needed?

That's why I did it.

As I recall the control channel had to be saved in the trunked mode for it to track correctly and then search or scan in the trunked mode in order for it to start tracking. Press the scan button, then trunk, then the bank that the trunked system was in to start tracking.

Yes, the control channel had to be originally programmed in Trunk Mode, with the proper type of trunking system selected. I used ARC250 back then, so that was not a problem which is could be with manual entry. The situation I had definitely corrected by turning the card on. I remember the "DOH!" moment and going into the menu system to turn the card on. That's all I did and it worked. I'm still baffled to this day as to why that worked if the two cards were identical.

Again, I'm not doubting UPMan's statement, just relating my experience. It's entirely possible that I did something else wrong and fixed it without noticing.

 

[garys]

No one was doubting Upman. Upman's input, however, does not reflect the Op's reality.... and THAT is what my post was referring to. How the OP made out with his problem and what was the solution for him?

That would be the OP and me that had similar experiences with the i96D card either not installed or not turned on.

 

[NUGEN]

I can confirm that the Bci25 and 96 are in fact different cards. When using a BC796D firmware updated on a P25 system the 25 card does not decode, but when you pull it and insert the 96 it decoded almost instantaneous. Case in point they are NOT the same. I've experienced the same issue with 2 separate scanners and separate cards. The Bci25 will not work on p25 phase I system, but the 96 does.

Label or not you can't argue with results. I respect your opinion UPMan but would love to know how your saying the 25 will decode a 9600baud rate. Is there an update of some sort of card update for the 25 to work?

 

[Squelchtone]

As others already mentioned, I have full reverence for UPMan, but I have always understood that both BCi25d and BCi96d cards will fit into and work on a BC785d and a BC796d, BUT the BCi25d has a limit where it can only decode trunk control channels using 3600 baud, where as the BCi96d can decode the older 3600 baud control channels AND the newer 9600 baud control channels.

Page 6 of the following instructions show that the firmware upgrade does in fact check to see if it is an older BCi25d card and comes up with an error message if it is. http://my.uniden.com/files/BCi96VUPD.pdf

I'm still hoping a pallet of new in box BCi25d cards shows up on ebay one of these days for $20 each Buy It Now =)

Squelchtone

 

[UPMan]

Control channel decoding is done in the scanner, not in the BCi25D/BCi96D card. The limitation is in the scanner's firmware (BC250D cannot decode 9600, BC296D can).