Bought a used 396T instead of XT. thoughts?

[razorseal]

Hello everyone,

I saw an ad for a 396T here and I thought it was a 396XT... well my dumbass didn't see that the radio was actually a 396T and not the XT that I thought it was... I paid 317 for it.

now that I have this radio, what should I do? am I missing alot of things from the XT?

what features does the XT have that the T doesnt? what will I miss out on?

I'm really bummed out about this

 

[wise871]

Look here. Everything in BOLD is what your missing.
BCD396XT - The RadioReference Wiki

The T is still a good handle scanner. Not sure what to do on this one.

 

[razorseal]

man... i'm really really upset about this. I can't believe I didn't see the fine detail.

 

[wise871]

You could always sell it for the amount you paid for it and start again. Until then, give it a try.

 

[razorseal]

ughhhh....

I'll give it a try, if u remember we talked on the phone, and my demands for a scanner are pretty basic. I don't need too many features, but I think I'm missing something because proscan says that this radio only supports single site per system or something, which really limits what I want to do.

 

[nx_2000]

I own both. I bought an XT several weeks ago after a few months with the 396T. The reception seems better on the XT and the "multi-site support" is a nice if not critical feature. Multi-site is the only reason I bothered upgrading since I live in a metro area with three sites in range. It doesn't work as well as I would like but at least it's easy to toggle groups within a system with multiple sites.

I would try out the scanner you have for a month and if you're wanting for more, move up to the XT.

 

[razorseal]

is the sound quality better? the T model has horrible sound. I must say, the T model does everything I need it to do, which is just listening to specific TGs really.

how about digital decode quality? some P25 systems, I hear alot of digital garble in the background. manually tuning them didn't help much.

and lastly. it says the 396XT has EDACS ESK support. isn't ESK some kind of encrypted radio mode? so I can listen to FHP with the 396XT??

 

[nx_2000]

The sound quality sucks on the XT too.

 

[razorseal]

jeez really..

what about the p25 decode capability?

 

[911scanner]

Maybe this Wiki page can give you some hints on improving the P25 digital decode: P25 audio decode level adjustment - The RadioReference Wiki

And it seems as though by looking at the FHP Wiki page, while you may be able to hear some traffic, most may be full time encryption (un-monitorable) Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System Trunking System, Statewide, Florida - Scanner Frequencies

Maybe that question would be better asked & answered in the Florida group on RR


MM

 

[Ablice]

I would not be so distraught by it.

If you program the 396T right, you can handle things fairly well.

For a 3-site trunked system, your 396T has enough memory to create three seperate systems.

Heck, I have programmed (accurate to last year, and probably won't update it, but...still) every LE freq in California except Orange County, Santa Maria and Santa Monica -- they're encrypted.

And I still have only used 66% of memory. With just my local county freqs, I struggle to hit 20% memory.

And for that matter, I have yet to encounter a P25 system that used separate P25 NAC codes, even LAPD -- they have separate freqs for each channel, and keep the same NAC code all down the line (that was the last I checked it).

 

[CoolCat]

The sound quality sucks on the XT too.

Define "sucks". I think the sound quality on the 396XT is very good considering the size of the speaker it has.

To make a feature packed scanner fit into such a small form factor, there are going to be some sacrifices (the small speaker and combination volume/squelch/selector knob are two examples).

 

[razorseal]

I'm not worried about mem. I doubt I'll ever fill it. Could have used the multiple site option tho.

The p25 is pretty bad on the decode. I couldn't get the manual tuning right I think. I hear lot of digital garble in the bg. You can hear it in my feed.

I'm really looking for a better sounding, better decoding radio in this size...

 

[ilgrant]

I still use my 396T. It is a capable scanner for P25 listening. There were a couple of firmware updates that addressed the way it decoded P25. You may want to check and make sure if you have the latest in the radio.

 

[CoolCat]

BCD396TFirmwareUpdate < UnidenMan4 < TWiki

There have been 7 firmware updates for the 396T. It looks like they worked out most of the bugs related to P25 decoding and audio quality.

• P25 test mode setting defaults to 3 for best decoding performance.
• Improved P25 decoding on systems operating outside of the P25 industry specification.
• Improved decoding on P25 Multipacket Systems.
• Improved P25 Baseband decoding - this will improve the digital decoding quality on all P25 channels.
• Improve P25 audio performance in the Auto Threshold mode.
• Improve digital audio performance with AGC when the person transmitting suddenly speaks loudly.

 

[razorseal]

That's the one I have... I can't imagine how bad it was before!!!

like I said, if you want to hear the quality, check it out on my feed. it's my city's radio... and I'm well within range.

 

[Squelchtone]

I hear lot of digital garble in the bg.

I recently asked about digital P25 garble on the US Customs freq in Boston, and was told that the P25 I was picking up was encrypted. Could this be the case with the digital garble you are hearing?

Or you could sell your rig on ebay for $300 Buy It Now if you're this unhappy with it. Someone will snatch it up..

Squelchtone

 

[razorseal]

It's not encrypted in boca raton.

 

[GTO_04]

is the sound quality better? the T model has horrible sound. I must say, the T model does everything I need it to do, which is just listening to specific TGs really.

how about digital decode quality? some P25 systems, I hear alot of digital garble in the background. manually tuning them didn't help much.

and lastly. it says the 396XT has EDACS ESK support. isn't ESK some kind of encrypted radio mode? so I can listen to FHP with the 396XT??

The audio quality is WAY better on the XT, not even close! The XT is WAY more sensitive on 800 MHz. And the XT is much better at P25 decoding. The T motorboats like crazy on MOT Type II 3600 baud systems. If you are monitoring a 9600 baud P25 system you may find the T to be acceptable. But otherwise the XT is just a lot better overall.

GTO_04