First BCD396XT Has arrived, first look and discussion!

[BenScan]

You could buy one at a great price at CEI ($489.95 including shipping), and if it doesn't work well for you, return, at least according to their website. I haven't tried returning, but it seems like a pretty generous policy.
I love my 396XT so far.

Communications Electronics Inc. - Uniden Bearcat Scanners - Call 1-800-USA-SCAN to order

Ben
Dallas/Fort Worth area

Still no user reports from Phoenix?

Hey Paul, were any of your beta testers from Phoenix? How did it do on the RWC system?

I hate to keep harping on this but $500 is a lot of money so I want to hear from others before I decide between this radio or the 346.

Thanks,
-AZ

 

[kenisned]

I'm just about ready to start location based scanning. How do you connect the scanner to a gps antenna? I understand that only certain kinds will work.

I'm assuming it's to that data port, so do I use the cable that I use for programming?

How will I be able to do that and use the remote head?

Thanks

 

[UPMan]

You use the supplied cable to connect to a serial GPS. You'll need to use a null-modem gender changer to connect the GPS's cable to the scanner's cable.

You cannot use the GPS and RH at the same time. I have seen someone on one of the lists mention that they were considering making a box that would take two serial inputs and alternatee between the two as input to the scanner...60 seconds on the RH, 3 seconds on the GPS. I've not seen anything further on that, though.

 

[wise871]

The UPS man has arrived. Thankfully he shows up early in my area and I work near my home. After 2 failed attempts at trying to load the scanner with FreeScan I was up and running. I’m more comfortable with Unidens UASD software and I look forward to its release.

I’ve only been running the radio for an hour now but I do see some improvements over the 396T. The biggest for me is the audio. I monitor a Mil P-25 (380-400) system in my area and I noticed the crispness of the transmission at default settings over the 396T. One of the biggest reasons I upgraded was for Multisite capability, improved P-25 decoding, talkgroup ID under talkgroup name and temp lockout. The other features are nice to have. I also tested out the Fire Tone-Out feature and it seemed to work as advertised. I’ll compare it to my Tone-Out listing over the next few days to see how accurate it is.

Signal strength only seems slight improved over the 396T. My buddy down the street has the 396T so will be doing some side by side comparisons later this week. I had to make adjustment to the contrast. The default setting of 7 makes it hard to read outdoors. 8 or 9 seem to work best for me. One note to pass on. The protective film over the display that everyone loves to leave on is slightly cloudy. Once I removed it I saw a big difference. I played around with the different color. I like the Cyan color as my backlight.

Again I’ve only had an hour to play with it. Thanks to UPMan and all the folks who already received there radio and posted in the forum. Reading your comments and how-to’s prepared me. Lucky for me my workload is light today at work since I brought the radio with me.

 

[DaveIN]

Congrats Dan, enjoy the new 396XT!

The first thing I do when I get a new radio is pull the shipping plastic off the display and put PDA protective sheeting on. Cheap insurance and never regret putting it on the display.

 

[wise871]

Congrats Dan, enjoy the new 396XT!

The first thing I do when I get a new radio is pull the shipping plastic off the display and put PDA protective sheeting on. Cheap insurance and never regret putting it on the display.

Dave
Good idea. I have it on all my other devices, It never dawned on me to put one on my radio.

 

[K5RYA]

I noticed that. I thought maybe I had missed something on my 996T and went back and it looks like the 996T only supports location info for sites, not channel groups like the XT's. Do you know if we will see an update for the 996T that will bring this functionality or will we have to wait for a XT version of the 996 for this feature?

 

[jnewell]

I had to make adjustment to the contrast. The default setting of 7 makes it hard to read outdoors. 8 or 9 seem to work best for me.

Minor note - mine came out of the box set for 10, which has been working well for me; I use white backlighting, which might make a difference.

 

[walt991]

Does the display on the 396XT appear washed out? It almost looks like the two LED's at the bottom of the display are out too far and seem really bright. It seems like the LCD text on my old 396T was much darker.

Anyone else notice this?

 

[wise871]

I first saw this until I followed the recommendation of other users. Try adjusting the contrast to 10.

 

[walt991]

I tried changing the contrast, but it still doesn't look right.

 

[wise871]

I tried changing the contrast, but it still doesn't look right.

I don't have a 396T to do a side by side comparison but I do see what you’re talking about with the two led lights. I can live with it at setting 10. Tomorrow me and a friend are going to do 396T/396XT comparisons and I will check the display brightness.

 

[DaveIN]

Can you post a picture of the display?

 

[kenisned]

Does the display on the 396XT appear washed out? It almost looks like the two LED's at the bottom of the display are out too far and seem really bright. It seems like the LCD text on my old 396T was much darker.

Anyone else notice this?

Funny you mention that.

I was looking at it today and thinking the display wasn't as bright... but it was in the context of thinking about the incredible battery life! I'm getting like 8 hours plus of scanning.

I think this might be a power saving feature.

 

[wise871]

Dave
I know you weren't talking to me but here are my pics using Contrast 10.
***Important Note***
Do not use a flash. When the flash was on, my entire display went blank. I cycled the power on and off and it came back on. Not sure how a flash effects an LED display.I also tried it on my 15 and 996 also. They all went blank till power was cycled.

 

[jnewell]

In addition to contrast, there is a setting for brightness. Make sure it's not on "low."

 

[JANFINE]

Re: Priority

For some reason when I read the radio with one of the software packages (free scan or proscan) my Priorities on trunked systems get wiped out of my scanner. That and not being able to write back my GPS coordinates is a pain. Also with all the info in my radio it's hell trying to find a system when they are not in alpha order.

I also found out for the GPS to work on a system the system quick key had to be turned on.
I thought it would turn it on and off like the BC15 and BC996. Unless it was that I had more than 1 system in the system quick key.

 

[cpuerror]

FreeSCAN will have improved support for GPS in the next version. If you enter coordinates in a conventional group they will be downloaded, saved and uploaded but cannot be edited at this time.

To sort systems, click on View * Sort System List. Hope that helps.

 

[DaveIN]

Dave
I know you weren't talking to me but here are my pics using Contrast 10.
***Important Note***
Do not use a flash. When the flash was on, my entire display went blank. I cycled the power on and off and it came back on. Not sure how a flash effects an LED display.I also tried it on my 15 and 996 also. They all went blank till power was cycled.

I see the LED "hot spots" at the bottom, but this is not too bad. I think it was alread mentioned that there is a brightness setting and the contrast out of the box may be the wrong setting for the vewing angle you want to use.

 

[UPMan]

I also found out for the GPS to work on a system the system quick key had to be turned on.
I thought it would turn it on and off like the BC15 and BC996. Unless it was that I had more than 1 system in the system quick key.

GPS only affects the L/O status, not the SQK or GQK status. This is the same as with the BCT15 and BCD996T. Otherwise, you'd never be able to tell the scanner to not scan a system you are within range of (for example, there are some "event" systems I seldom want to hear...even when I'm within range).