Getting PC to recognize scanner

[buckyswider]

Hi all, well, I have been the 'go-to' guy to program PRO-xx96 scanners. So someone asked if I could program their buddy's scanner- I ask 'is it a radio shack?' "Yes".

So it shows up...Uniden BCD396XT. Aye Karumba. So I figure I've been looking for something new (I can't stand the PRO-668 I recently purchased) so I did a little googling and found all I'd need was a cheap cable and freescan, so why not give it a shot?

So I spent 10 bucks and bought this cable off the bay of e's:

USB PP Interface Cable Cord for Uniden Bearcat DMA Scanner Radio BCD396XT BR330 | eBay

Got it today, hook it up the the Uniden, turn it on, hook it up to my PC (Win7x64) and...nothing. I already had the Prolific PL-2303 driver (v1.10) installed for my USB-to-Serial for PDW, but the PC doesn't even seem to notice I've plugged in the cable/scanner. I've emailed the seller to find out what chipset the cable uses (to see if I need a different driver), but even without the proper driver I would think the PC would bonk when I plugged in the cable and then tell me there's no matching driver.

So at this point I'm thinking I have a bad cable...anybody have any other ideas? Thanks!!

 

[marksmith]

Sounds like it. The bc-1 cable from Uniden generally runs around $30, and if I remember, the driver's are for the cable, not the radio.

You get the usb device connected windows activity just plugging in the empty cable without a radio.

I think it's actually a usb to serial driver involved here.

You start freescan after connecting the device (cable and radio) and freescan detects the Com port and the specific supported radio.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

 

[Voyager]

That cable may not use the prolific driver. Did it say what it uses? Or is it a straight USB cable? (which will not work on the Uniden scanners)

If you have a USB-to-Serial converter, see if the guy has the serial programming cable that came with the scanner and you will be golden.

 

[buckyswider]

Yeah, it seems like that's it. It seems to be just a straight thru cable. So I order the USB-1 cable. Now to see if I can get my 10 bucks back! Can you guys take a quick look at that ebay link to see if I was in the wrong here and should have realized it's not a programming cable? If that's the case, then I won't bother and just eat the 10 bucks....

 

[UPMan]

I've complained to that seller, before. That cable will plug into the listed scanners, but certainly won't work with any of them, as it is a straight-through cable with no integrated serial converter. It is actually a cable for a very small number of digital cameras sold nearly a decade ago that also used that connector for USB.

 

[ka3jjz]

Sounds like it. The bc-1 cable from Uniden generally runs around $30, and if I remember, the driver's are for the cable, not the radio.

You get the usb device connected windows activity just plugging in the empty cable without a radio.

I think it's actually a usb to serial driver involved here.

You start freescan after connecting the device (cable and radio) and freescan detects the Com port and the specific supported radio.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

Well, almost. You have to be sure to set up the menus to set the port to the correct speed. There's a whole section in the FreeScan User Guide on this very topic, and it's one that is often missed.

Mike

 

[Voyager]

I've complained to that seller, before. That cable will plug into the listed scanners, but certainly won't work with any of them, as it is a straight-through cable with no integrated serial converter. It is actually a cable for a very small number of digital cameras sold nearly a decade ago that also used that connector for USB.

Complain to eBay. They are spamming Uniden's model numbers and are selling cables that will not work.

And to the OP, file a complaint with eBay and with PayPal.

 

[buckyswider]

Well, they gave me my money back no questions asked. I guess if they get enough complaints ebay will take action? Not sure though...

Oh well, got my USB-1 today, it works, now off to figure out how to program this thing...all looks good so far but I have rogue range scans on 'railroad' and 'news' that I can't seem to get rid of....

 

[Voyager]

Look into the SEARCH WITH SCAN option (and disable it).

 

[buckyswider]

Thanks! Even the "easier to read" sections around this don't explain much. I can't find a way how to *disable* "search with scan", but I had found how to set the lockout for these banks which apparently has something to do with SwS. AND, there's no way to do this with Freescan (not that I could find anyway, and I poked around for a long time looking for it). . I had to do it on scanner itself. And, oddly, I edited some more systems/groups in freescan, and after I uploaded that, the two services were again unlocked!! So although it doesn't look like there's any way to toggle it with freescan, apparently the setting is in there somewhere. So I again did the unlocks, then downloaded the data from the scanner into freescan, and used that as my base to make my changes off of. Aye Karumba!!

 

[Voyager]

Select the SET SCANNER OPTIONS, click the CUSTOM SEARCH tab, and tick the LOCKOUT boxes on all the searches.

But, locking them out works, too. Make sure you click the L/O button twice to make the lockout permanent or it will return with a power cycling.

 

[buckyswider]

Thanks again Voyager!

But it looks like it isn't a "Custom Search" (they were all always locked out) but instead a "Service Search". I found the L/O settings by using the "Edit a Service Search" section of the Easier manual. Each service (News/Railroad/Air/Racing etc; I think there are 12 different) has a "Unlocked/Temporary LO/Lockout" setting. I went to both News and Railroad and set them to "Lockout". The other 10 services already had that set.

But this particular setting is the one that doesn't seem to be visible in Freescan.