Free Scan & 396 Xt

[SPLBASS17]

I'm new to scanning and just ordered the 396XT after reading a whole lot on here. It will arrive at my house on Monday. I down loaded Free Scan and just had a basic question....

How do you get the freqs. that you want onto Free Scan? I figured I can load all the Freqs that I'll want to monitor onto free scan now and when my scanner arrives just plug it in and transfer it to the scanner. But I can’t find anywhere to type in Freqs.

Do you have to have a premium membership to make this work? Maybe you can’t type in individual freqs and can only upload freqs in huge "bundles" from the premium membership feature?

What is the easiest way to go about loading all the Freqs in my area onto my scanner? Thanks!

 

[KE5BCP]

How do you get the freqs. that you want onto Free Scan? I figured I can load all the Freqs that I'll want to monitor onto free scan now and when my scanner arrives just plug it in and transfer it to the scanner. But I can’t find anywhere to type in Freqs.

Right click and choose "New System".

Do you have to have a premium membership to make this work?

No, but that would allow you to use the import feature of FreeScan.

 

[thewenk]

With FreeScan open, right click on the left widow pane. Then create a new system of the type you want from the choices listed. Click the + to add a new line to enter frequency/name etc. Also see this link for help.
FreeScan Uer Guide - The RadioReference Wiki

Dave

 

[cpuerror]

As W5JSS said, right click on the left tree view (white square) and choose "New System". For system type, for starting out, choose Conventional. You can then click on the group (one will be made by default) and begin entering your frequencies as well as create additional groups.

You can also reference the wiki for more information as to how to get started:
FreeScan User Guide - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[hiegtx]

I'm new to scanning and just ordered the 396XT after reading a whole lot on here. It will arrive at my house on Monday. I down loaded Free Scan and just had a basic question....

How do you get the freqs. that you want onto Free Scan? I figured I can load all the Freqs that I'll want to monitor onto free scan now and when my scanner arrives just plug it in and transfer it to the scanner. But I can’t find anywhere to type in Freqs.

Do you have to have a premium membership to make this work? Maybe you can’t type in individual freqs and can only upload freqs in huge "bundles" from the premium membership feature?

What is the easiest way to go about loading all the Freqs in my area onto my scanner? Thanks!

While a premium membership would be the easiest way to create a new file, it's not the only way.

You can also import scanner files created by either Uniden's UASD software (file format *.usd) or Butel's ARC software (file format *.mem or *.m96). There files in the Yahoo groups for both the BCD396T (the predecessor to the XT) and BCD996T for various New Jersey locations. I believe that you'd have to join the group before you can download a file. But once you've downloaded one (or more) of the files to your pc, then the rest is pretty straightforward.

In FreeScan, click the "File" Menu
From the dropdown, select Import
Choose the file type (Uniden or ARC)
Then you'll get a dialog box to navigate to where ever you saved the filed.
Pick the one you wish to import & click to highlight, then click the "open" button
This will create a 'system' in FreeScan if the same type as the file imported. Click on the system to expand it.
Review it for accuracy. Depending on when it was uploaded to the group, there could have been some frequency or usage changes, so edit to make any necessary corrections or additions from the database here on Radio Reference.

You can also ask in the New Jersey forum if there is anyone in your area with files they could email you for importing. A *.usd file from any on the DMA Uniden Scanners (BC246T, BR330T, BCT-15, BCD396T, or BCD996T) will import. You will need to do some 'touch up' editing, but they will still save you some time, especially on the text tags. On conventional channels (non-trunked systems), where a channel is analog, with a PL tone or DCS code, be sure & set the audio type to 'analog only', if you want the tone or code function to work.

And, as has already been noted, the user guide is in the Wiki.

 

[SPLBASS17]

Thanks everyone for the quick and helpful replys. Although I did try it the way you explained and with the Yahoo groups, I decided to save time and get the Premium membership, man did that make it easy.

I'm excited to see how it works and how the scanner will display the titles of who its picking up. Cant wait till tomorrow for delivery day!!! Thanks again guys

 

[mrkelso]

Premium membership is the way to go. Just click and load.

 

[SPLBASS17]

Definitely man. I'm wondering if I need to change the default settings to make it work correct with the trunked freqs I loaded. I guess I'll see if it works tomorrow, only thing that sucks is I'm gonna have to try to find some sort of adapter @ radio shack because I didn't know Uniden didn't provide a USB cord, pretty lame after spending $500 +

Mine as well upgrade the stock antenna while I'm there too lol. I heard the radio shack rubber ducks are way better than the stock ones.

 

[fmalloy]

I was in the same position. I paid the premium membership (totally worth it) and populated FreeScan. I had to change the COM port to get it to connect, but I was able to upload the programmed data and the scanner works. The only difference is that my laptop has a serial port, thankfully...