Have been away from scanning since the late 1990's. I had an old pro 57 from Radio Shack. Became interested in the hobby again. Just received my BCD996XT in the mail today. I have been reading non stop since ordering it from Scannermaster last week. I used Freescan and a subcription to RadioReference to download and upload the frequencies I want to monitor. Within 15 minutes of taking the scanner out of the box I had uploaded and was listening to the OPP and EMS on fleetnet zone 2. I have read consistently that the 996XT is a bugger to program. I can't help feel like I've missed something because I didn't find it that bad. I know that the capabilities of this scanner is probably beyond my understanding right now, but I've got it running. I've also got some more time to learn about this thing.
Did I miss something?
- Thread starter mrnurse
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se
Member
Hi.
My very first scanner I ever owned was also the Pro-57, which I got as a Christmas gift in 1989. That thing had great audio output which was the only good thing about that scanner. I replaced it with a Pro-2006 in May of 1991 and I LOVED the Pro-2006. Ive owned several scanners over the years since then. In my opinion though with trunking being so commonplace these days I would strongly recommend a UNIDEN HomePatrol-1 for its 'SIMPLICITY'. Thats just my 2 cents worth, but Im a satisfied customer.
Sheldon.
.
My very first scanner I ever owned was also the Pro-57, which I got as a Christmas gift in 1989. That thing had great audio output which was the only good thing about that scanner. I replaced it with a Pro-2006 in May of 1991 and I LOVED the Pro-2006. Ive owned several scanners over the years since then. In my opinion though with trunking being so commonplace these days I would strongly recommend a UNIDEN HomePatrol-1 for its 'SIMPLICITY'. Thats just my 2 cents worth, but Im a satisfied customer.
Sheldon.
.
I had a similar experience with my 246. It was my first DMA scanner and 10 mins out of the box I was listening to EDACS in YOW by downloading from RR and programming with software. If you follow instructions exactly and double check what you are doing you can be up and running fairly quick. After that it was interesting learning just what the scanner can do. Great choice for a scanner. I see you went about it the right way. Reading and learning all you could before it arrived. I always try to find an online manual for an item I am waiting for to read before it arrives.
I guess the only thing you missed out on was the experience of taking it out of the box, trying to program using only half the required steps, and then moaning to anybody who will listen how you got ripped off.
Welcome back to scanning!
Glad your experience programming the 996 was a good one. Many (myself included) have ended up a few hairs less programming DMA.
Enjoy!
Glad your experience programming the 996 was a good one. Many (myself included) have ended up a few hairs less programming DMA.
Enjoy!
Finally a newb without a couple hundred stupid posts! It really is easy! So easy a caveman can do it... but not all Radio Reference newbies lol
Lol. I have been away from scanners for a while bit I've been on many forums and witnessed how merciless people can be to newbies with questions that are easily found by doing a quick search. I have always been a fan of RTFM. It's amazing what you can teach yourself with a little perseverance and a lot of reading. Playing around and getting stuck has always been a good motivator for me too.
Glad to be back into scanning. The antenna that came with the 996XT gets everything I was looking for. I will get an outdoor one for the roof when the snow and ice are gone.
Glad to be back into scanning. The antenna that came with the 996XT gets everything I was looking for. I will get an outdoor one for the roof when the snow and ice are gone.
EJB
20 + year membership
I absolutely agree with you Matt!
To the original poster:
Your posts are a refereshing change to people who post on here and are overwhelmed and either know it all or wont take the time to take advice.
Your scanner is a great one, I love the fact that you can scan multiple sitees with it and it fits in your pocket! You will have lots to listen to, check out all the OPP and MOH talkgroups, almost anything there can be scanned for your area.
If you have any questions please dont hesitate to ask. You will also find amazing information in the wiki and database.
Welcome to the site
Eric in Burlington
Might have a hard time fitting a 996XT in your pocket. Plus there is that pesky ac adaptor dragging around behind you 
EJB
20 + year membership
Wirelessly posted (LG-GR500FD/V10a Teleca/Q7.1 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 UP.Link/6.5.1.0.0)
Oops! I stand corrected. Not a portable 396xt
Oops! I stand corrected. Not a portable 396xt
KE4RWS
Member
People & their scanners
Ain't that the truth? Can't tell you how many people I've seen do just that and then swear up and down the scanner was a piece of garbage. By then many people have already made their mind up and just want to dump the scanner.
There's just no hope for some . . .
Ain't that the truth? Can't tell you how many people I've seen do just that and then swear up and down the scanner was a piece of garbage. By then many people have already made their mind up and just want to dump the scanner.
There's just no hope for some . . .
Gee guys - Please let me apologize on behalf of all the other newbs like me who came here to learn about how to program their scanners. Sorry for clogging up the forums with our hopeless questions.
Maybe if we pray real hard we will come back as gifted and cool as you in another life.
Maybe if we pray real hard we will come back as gifted and cool as you in another life.
As long as you can do two things you will be fine:
1. Use the search button
2. Take advice given (actually read it)
If the above two conditions are met I believe you will find us the quite welcoming bunch.
KE4RWS
Member
I don't think WZ1 meant it the way you perceived it. It can be so easy to misinterpret written text from others vs. talking in front of another. I know what WZ1 means though, and if you've spent any time on this board you would see all the stuff that comes through here. And while no one here is complaining about answering questions that are deemed "simple" once you gain some experience using your scanner, many of the questions asked here can easily be answered using the search feature, directing the person to a thread that has already covered the issue in question.
I think that's all he was implying here. But using the search feature doesn't just apply to this forum, as ALL forums encourage reliance of it's search functions.
We all love to discuss how to use our favorite scanners, and we're always happy to help but the search function is a feature even admins will tell you to use in any forum
I don't think WZ1 meant it the way you perceived it. It can be so easy to misinterpret written text from others vs. talking in front of another. I know what WZ1 means though, and if you've spent any time on this board you would see all the stuff that comes through here. And while no one here is complaining about answering questions that are deemed "simple" once you gain some experience using your scanner, many of the questions asked here can easily be answered using the search feature, directing the person to a thread that has already covered the issue in question.
I think that's all he was implying here. But using the search feature doesn't just apply to this forum, as ALL forums encourage reliance of it's search functions.
We all love to discuss how to use our favorite scanners, and we're always happy to help but the search function is a feature even admins will tell you to use in any forum
Yup, well said.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2.1; en-us; ViewPad7 Build/FRG83) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)
If You start with the assumption that someone else has almost always had the same problem as you, you will usually be more persistent when researching anything.
I think that far too often people are too freustrated by the time the post, and as a result don't ask questions or follow directions well.
Victor
If You start with the assumption that someone else has almost always had the same problem as you, you will usually be more persistent when researching anything.
I think that far too often people are too freustrated by the time the post, and as a result don't ask questions or follow directions well.
Victor
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