BCTool... "Tool" alright!

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ntnahed

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Anybody use BCTool for a 396T? I d/l'ed it, connected to my scanner, got the files imported to BCT from my 396, saw the group/bank names, but couldn't find the freqs or TGs. Yes, I went to the yahoo group, but couldn't find squat. For example, the database has all of 2, count 'em, 2 files. The "Files" section has a few more, and I thought I'd lucked out when I saw the FAQ by Rob, the author of BCT.
Here is the ENTIRE FAQ, from start to finish, in all its glory: (Not updated since 2008)

Hi,

Until I've created a section on the website, the following is a list of FAQs. Please, please, please read them before posting - the same questions get asked a lot and this will save everyone time.

1. Q. Why does the backlight button in Radio Control toggle my scanner backlight? Why doesn't the backlight in Radio Control match what my scanner is doing?

1. A. There is no facility to 'ask' the scanner what the backlight is currently doing, so bcTool has to make a guess (rightly or wrongly) as to the state of the backlight when it starts. It always assumes it is off, so clicking the Backlight button on Radio Control will 'toggle' the backlight. Equally if you have the backlight timeout set to, for example, 10 seconds, then clicking Backlight in bcTool will turn the scanner backlight on for 10 seconds but it will stay on indefinitely in Radio Control. Blame Uniden for that one :)

3. Q. What baud rate and com port settings do I need?

3. A. Depends on your computer, but the baud rate should always be 115200 for the best experience with bcTool. It needs to be the same setting on the scanner and in bcTool to work correctly. As for the com port number, if you are directly plugged in to the only COM port on your computer, that's probably COM1. If you're on a USB/serial adaptor, look for the COM port with the highest number and it'll probably be that one. If you have trouble, check in Device Manager to see what COM port your ports have been assigned.

Thanks!

rob.

Yeah, thanks... I wonder what the non-existant Q2 was? Maybe "Is there an actual User's Manual?"

I looked on the Yahoo group, the BCT website and here on RadRef, to no avail. I aint exactly a newbie, been scanning since 1978, using software on Vertex, RS and Uniden since the early 1990's. Butel is good but expensive, I've got an issue with Starrsoft, and bucks are tight these days. I was hoping to find some freeware, and I could be wrong, but is BCTool just "Toolin" me around or what? Is there actually a User's Manual for BCT, and where can I find it, and does anybody else think, as I do, that the BCT FAQ is a joke?
 

ka3jjz

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Unfortunately development on BCTool is dead; the author's real job is taking up all of his free time. FreeScan is in constant development, and I have used it with my 396 (in fact that's all I use with it these days) and it works pretty well. Like the name suggests, it's freeware and we have the user manual hosted in our wiki. (Note that anything in blue is a link).

Assaf (the author) occasionally does check in on RR, but he's much easier to reach on the FreeScan forum, which is found on the same site as the software. He's done a terrific job of developing FreeScan, and has added many features that BCTool has yet to match.

By the way, we also have a DMA FAQ which explains many of the functions and terms that the new DMA based scanners now have. At the bottom of this page is the link to the 'Easier to Read' manuals. Between that and the software you should be good to go

73 Mike
 
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WouffHong

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say What???

Unfortunately development on BCTool is dead; the author's real job is taking up all of his free time.

Mike, why do you treat the friendliest, honest Software guy I've met, and his EXCELLENT, intuitive, program, thusly?? Rob is NOT letting BCTOOL die, and is even gradually working on the server version. Yes, food on the table is always a prime mission in anyone's life, but why knock him and/or bury the project (in error) under your respected Admin account status?

we note that you seem to want to designate BCTOOL as DEAD in favor of Freescan, your apparent favorite and in doing so, commit an abuse (IMHO as moderator of 12 Groups, some since the early 90's and even FIDONET days) of Admin protocols that mandate (morally, at least) that declaring someone's project DEAD, (validated by the quasi-lofty position of an ADMIN) and promoting someone else's is never to be done and neutrality is to be the byword.

I'm sure, in restrospective reflection, you will agree, OM..

Just a comment on your rather apparent strange, hasty-generalization statement, and not a rant, Mike.....

Mac
 

ka3jjz

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Hardly; I sympathize with poor Rob. He's been battered on his Yahoo group about when he's going to get back to developing the program. I wish he would, frankly - competition is good in this business. It is a sad fact that he hasn't had the time to develop it, and he's said so on his group.

Facts is facts - no favortism, just the truth, ma'am. 73 Mike
 

WouffHong

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Facts is facts- ayuppp... :)

Hardly; I sympathize with poor Rob. He's been battered on his Yahoo group about when he's going to get back to developing the program. I wish he would, frankly - competition is good in this business. It is a sad fact that he hasn't had the time to develop it, and he's said so on his group.

Facts is facts - no favortism, just the truth, ma'am. 73 Mike

Yup.. Indeed they are.

Facts ARE Facts -- WHEN they are FACTUAL! :roll:

Problem being, when one in your (or my position) declares an erroneous "factoid" as "FACT" with our Admin" hat on, the damage propagates outward, becomes 'Gospel' and the damage becomes even MORE "factual" by virtue of it's spread as such, and "Poor Rob" (as you deem to call him, smacking of 'patronization'), is the unwitting victim.

I have been on his group since early development stages and also as BETA tester and subscriber to both the main and server groups, so my interpretation(s) of his state of progress and enthusiasm to provide one heck of a quality, and SUPERIOR HCI (which he has) for his users is pretty much real-time, Ma'am... ;) - The only "Battering" you refer to exists at his rushed breakfast pancakes, I suggest.. :roll:

Mike - Nothing more need be said, and you have enough on your plate without me playing "defender of the downtrodden" , so take care and have a good weekend..

Don't stuff too many burgers and beer on mem-day. :twisted:

73 es G'day........ ;)

Mac
 

ntnahed

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Hey, I'm not trying to diss Rob - I admire anybody who can write computer programs. But seriously, shouldn't a user's manual be released along with the pgm? "Inutitive"? Maybe for you, not for me.
RTFM has been my watchword since I first started using radios and computers.Still is.
WITFM? That's a new one for me.

Same with the FAQ. Only 2 questions in the FAQ? I understand about people being busy, and I admire and appreciate a guy who is willing to donate his time and skills for the betterment of the community.
But I'd rather spend 70 of my favorite dollare on Gommert's excellent but expensive software than sit around chewing my teeth and playing trial and error on my radio and computer. So, back to Butel for me. And BTW, I did look into freescan - a nice pgm, WELL-DOCUMENTED, but I think Butel is the way to go for a less-intuitive guy like me. Which gives me an idea...
 
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Ive just started using this tool and it is driving me insane! Im manually inputting all the freqs and trunked systems only to find large chunks of them are missing later!

I just added the Lewisville TRS to it with 10 freqs...it saved the last eight but the first one is just blank and the 2nd reverted to 25.0000. THEY WERE ALL IN BEFORE I MOVED TO THE NEXT SYSTEM AND I CLICKED SAVE!

Speaking of the next system, Im also adding Plano TRS. It cant remember the last 2 talkgroups Im adding to the system. I type in the alpha tag & go to edit the TGID field...and the Alpha tag reverts back to "NEW TGID" as soon as I click it. So I put in the ID and click the A-Tag field...and the ID Field sets itself to 0.

WHAT THE HELL?

EDIT #1:

Ok...I got the Lewisville freqs to stay in. But this damn program just WILL NOT REMEMBER these alpha tags & TGIDs:

PLANO AUX 1 - 2672
PLANO AUX 2 - 2704

EDIT #2:

Well that didnt work....I tried typing one field, clicking save and then typing in the next. It looked promising because I was finally able to type in all four without the previous ones disappearing. Saved it with ALL FOUR typed in. Navigated to another system and came back...they were gone! No biggie, I saved...I loaded: IT SAVED THEM AS "NEW TGID" and "0" Despite actually having something typed in! This software is seriously flawed.


EDIT #3:

So I went to check a system that DID OK and WAS programmed into my scanner. It used to have 10 Frequencies, it has FIVE! IT LOST 5 FREQS! Furthermore...one of the 5 isnt one that I programmed into that system and belongs to another system!

DO NOT USE THIS PROGRAM. I came to ask for help with it but before anyone could reply I found that this is not worth the time. IT IS DEAD AS THE PREV POSTER SAID. USE A DIFFERENT PROGRAM IF YOU VALUE YOUR TIME AT ALL! THIS ONE DOES NOT WORK WHATSOEVER.

EDIT #4: One final nail in the coffin:

I used Freescan to download the data that BCTool had loaded into the scanner...surprise surprise surprise: I find Lewisville freqs in the Carrollton Trunked system. Plano TGIDs in Farmers Branch, Dallas Fire Rescue 463.875 was programmed as an EDACs system (despite that its conv and I only programmed in MOT systems) and Coppell was missing entirely. Clearly the worst scanner program Ive ever seen.

Now you might say that it's a result of 2 different programs looking at the same data...no, it cant be that. I didnt open it from my hard drive, I downloaded it from the scanner. It came off exactly as it was put on.
 
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ntnahed

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Butel - It aint cheap, but it works!

I should have just gone w/ Butel from the get-go. A buggy program, even if it's free, is like an elastic seatbelt - worse than nothing. I'm thinking a software review page on the wiki, or a sticky on the software forum might be worthwhile... might save some people some aggravation.

Man, I sure miss the old days - public safety was all conventional, cell phones were analog, and you could modify a pro-2006 with toenail clippers...
 

jamesa53

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Perhaps the old saying "You get what you pay for" applies here also.......Ive used Win500 and Arc160 successfully without too many problems.
 

kellykeeton

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Perhaps the old saying "You get what you pay for" applies here also.......Ive used Win500 and Arc160 successfully without too many problems.

i dno I paid for bctool and still havent seen updates, I totally understand Rob's predicament. However at the same time sort of cheeses me that I put down cash over a year ago to never see a update.

anywhoo thats my 2 cents, ...advice is never ever on the yahoo group bring up "where is the updates" all the old farts there slaughter you for even asking.

it all comes down to the old free as in beer or free as in speech code, bctool is free as in beer and with only one guy working on it this is what happens. The project isnt dead but isnt live either... a purgatory project.
 

minskie

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I tried BCTool. Wouldn't connect to my scanner, wouldn't log onto RR (keeps giving me a can't connect software error) so I gave up and bought ARCPRO. You get what you pay for I guess.
 

wvscanner

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I use BCTools every day on my 396t for logging and recording. I don't try the interface with RR to it. I know RR had change the scripts to that at one time not sure if BCTools ever did the update to that.
 

ka3jjz

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AFAIK Rob never updated BCTool (singular - BCTools is an antivirus software) when the XML service was shut down....73 Mike
 

KE4ZNR

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I tried BCTool. Wouldn't connect to my scanner, wouldn't log onto RR (keeps giving me a can't connect software error) so I gave up and bought ARCPRO. You get what you pay for I guess.


There are exceptions. You should have tried Freescan. It is free and it works great with most Uniden Scanners. :)

But yes, BCTool is long dead and anyone who continues to use it misses out on some of the great features Freescan or the Butel software gives them.

Marshall KE4ZNR
 

mdulrich

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BCTool is undergoing a major rewrite and I believe the author is close to releasing a beta. The new version will support the newest Unidens and the new RR database format.

Mike
 
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