I have had many scanners over the years, one of them was a 396T that I purchased very close to being new in 2007 in a trade involving some cash and a 296 that went to a tow operator in the area who was not allowed to chase calls, as is the law of the land in our area.
I used the 396T for about 3 years until I sold it to have funds to purchase the Home Patrol when it came out in 2010. I don't regret the deal, the HP1 was a wonderful addition to my 'shack' for 4 years until I traded it to a friend for a PSR800.
When I had a chance to get a 396T again, I jumped at the chance and traded my PSR600 for it along for a good many gadgets and antennas and such. So along with my PSR800 I now have 2+ scanners (I have a few other radios like a tapped Rat Shack scanner that is tapped and a Uniden 250 that came to me for cheap without a digital card) and I would like to comment on the differences with the two scanners, the PSR800 and how the 396t performs in comparison.
The 396t does a decent job on both the P25 local systems that are in my area now that weren't there in 2010. The PSR800 can decode the P25 local system here well enough but the audio on the PSR800 easily out does the 396T. Same with the audio on our provincial mixed analog/digital system. Various firmware upgrades on the 396T have negated the difference in anlog/digital audio but both sound better on the PSR800. The 396t seems to be less 'deaf' on a few of the more distant towers on our provincial system. I prepared to scan this multi-tower system with individual quick eyes, a site, a quick key. On the PSR800 I can load a bunch of the local towers on one system. It is great to have options like this, you don't have to fumble with your scanner as you travel out of receiving range of one tower. That's progress I guess.
I do find though that the PSR800 is quite 'deaf' on these different towers, I will hear acitivity on the 396T that I do not on the PSR even though I am using the same antennas for both. That is unsettling, as I occasionally commute out of range from one tower here to another. In doing these occasional commutes I do not like to miss anything. As such I will probably use the 396T in my travels and leave the PSR800 at home and use 'another' radio that I have to monitor.
I am very much interested in radio id's and tagging them as I have done over the last 6 years or so with Trunk 88, the HP I had and now with the PSR800. The HP and PSR800 did a great job with RID's, I see no difference between the two. Nothing beats Trunk 88 IMP with this but while the PSR800 allows me to tag there is less space to allow them to show on the screen.
An example: the HP would allow me to tag a EMS unit as such: Region/City/County EMS # 3189 with the actual radio id in brackets (35666):
Halton Ems 3189 (35666).
The PSR only allows a certain amount of space on the radio display:
Halton 3189(35666).
It's a small thing but RID's were a passion for me when I got the Home Patrol, much less so with the PSR800. I am lucky that this 396T that I just got is tapped and I can use it along with my old Rat Shack scanner for use on T88 and Unitrunker (Ugg, sorry, I don't like Unitrunker but until someone develops software to decode the new P25 systems...) to use with software.
Another thing I found with the 396T in regards to close call. I work for a company that uses Moto Turbo techmology on a very busy system, either on a large Moto Turbo system or low power one. I have used the company radios on a few occasions and I brought my 396T to work to see if Close Call could 'hear them'. No go.
I cannot give out any info on the company that I work for nor will I talk about what I know on a public forum but what I will say that the close call feature with the 396T is not going to handle it. I can hear all day when I am at work that the companies radios are active but never did the Close Call hear them. Something to think about for anyone looking to buy a 396T. I dunno if the 396XT is any better at this as I do not have one.
In closing, as our area here in and around Toronto sees all cities/counties or regional municipalities (Ontario Province has consolidated most if not all of the smaller cities and towns outside the larger cities, if Boston has a city population of 700,000 with numerous suburbs, Toronto and Hamilton have swallowed these suburbs whole and created megacities, its as if Boston swallwed everything from Lawrence to Tuanton or if Chicago swallowed all of the towns in Cook County as one large city) switch to P25 systems that either use encryption or Phase 2 comms we might see a lot of 396/996 T's and XT's on the market as many of us upgrade to the new HP2, 436/536 and whatever GRE is today, Hustler I think.
So if anyone see's the market flood with the older Uniden scanners and anyone is interested in purchasing them, this is my view, solely my opinion, of what they will do or wont do.
By all means, please post comments on this review. It is pretty much the only way that I can help keep this site out in any way anymore.
Eric
I used the 396T for about 3 years until I sold it to have funds to purchase the Home Patrol when it came out in 2010. I don't regret the deal, the HP1 was a wonderful addition to my 'shack' for 4 years until I traded it to a friend for a PSR800.
When I had a chance to get a 396T again, I jumped at the chance and traded my PSR600 for it along for a good many gadgets and antennas and such. So along with my PSR800 I now have 2+ scanners (I have a few other radios like a tapped Rat Shack scanner that is tapped and a Uniden 250 that came to me for cheap without a digital card) and I would like to comment on the differences with the two scanners, the PSR800 and how the 396t performs in comparison.
The 396t does a decent job on both the P25 local systems that are in my area now that weren't there in 2010. The PSR800 can decode the P25 local system here well enough but the audio on the PSR800 easily out does the 396T. Same with the audio on our provincial mixed analog/digital system. Various firmware upgrades on the 396T have negated the difference in anlog/digital audio but both sound better on the PSR800. The 396t seems to be less 'deaf' on a few of the more distant towers on our provincial system. I prepared to scan this multi-tower system with individual quick eyes, a site, a quick key. On the PSR800 I can load a bunch of the local towers on one system. It is great to have options like this, you don't have to fumble with your scanner as you travel out of receiving range of one tower. That's progress I guess.
I do find though that the PSR800 is quite 'deaf' on these different towers, I will hear acitivity on the 396T that I do not on the PSR even though I am using the same antennas for both. That is unsettling, as I occasionally commute out of range from one tower here to another. In doing these occasional commutes I do not like to miss anything. As such I will probably use the 396T in my travels and leave the PSR800 at home and use 'another' radio that I have to monitor.
I am very much interested in radio id's and tagging them as I have done over the last 6 years or so with Trunk 88, the HP I had and now with the PSR800. The HP and PSR800 did a great job with RID's, I see no difference between the two. Nothing beats Trunk 88 IMP with this but while the PSR800 allows me to tag there is less space to allow them to show on the screen.
An example: the HP would allow me to tag a EMS unit as such: Region/City/County EMS # 3189 with the actual radio id in brackets (35666):
Halton Ems 3189 (35666).
The PSR only allows a certain amount of space on the radio display:
Halton 3189(35666).
It's a small thing but RID's were a passion for me when I got the Home Patrol, much less so with the PSR800. I am lucky that this 396T that I just got is tapped and I can use it along with my old Rat Shack scanner for use on T88 and Unitrunker (Ugg, sorry, I don't like Unitrunker but until someone develops software to decode the new P25 systems...) to use with software.
Another thing I found with the 396T in regards to close call. I work for a company that uses Moto Turbo techmology on a very busy system, either on a large Moto Turbo system or low power one. I have used the company radios on a few occasions and I brought my 396T to work to see if Close Call could 'hear them'. No go.
I cannot give out any info on the company that I work for nor will I talk about what I know on a public forum but what I will say that the close call feature with the 396T is not going to handle it. I can hear all day when I am at work that the companies radios are active but never did the Close Call hear them. Something to think about for anyone looking to buy a 396T. I dunno if the 396XT is any better at this as I do not have one.
In closing, as our area here in and around Toronto sees all cities/counties or regional municipalities (Ontario Province has consolidated most if not all of the smaller cities and towns outside the larger cities, if Boston has a city population of 700,000 with numerous suburbs, Toronto and Hamilton have swallowed these suburbs whole and created megacities, its as if Boston swallwed everything from Lawrence to Tuanton or if Chicago swallowed all of the towns in Cook County as one large city) switch to P25 systems that either use encryption or Phase 2 comms we might see a lot of 396/996 T's and XT's on the market as many of us upgrade to the new HP2, 436/536 and whatever GRE is today, Hustler I think.
So if anyone see's the market flood with the older Uniden scanners and anyone is interested in purchasing them, this is my view, solely my opinion, of what they will do or wont do.
By all means, please post comments on this review. It is pretty much the only way that I can help keep this site out in any way anymore.
Eric
