coreymcl said:
I don't know if there is a short answer to this question but besides Miltary comms. what else would the BCD396T not allow me to monitor should I choose too? Also can you tell me more about this 800 MHz band antenna? I don't know where to start asking questions on this piece.
Thanks again for the help!
Corey
The 396 will monitor mil-air comms just fine. The 330 is a little more sensitive, but the 396 does cover the band.
As for other frequency coverage, what would you "miss" with a 396 that you could hear with a different scanner, like the BT330T? You would not miss anything in the area of public safety and trunked radio systems. They both cover the same bands. What the 330 includes that the 396 does not are some broadcast tv audio coverage (in the Uhf tv band), the AM broadcast band, and bandwidth below what the 396 gets (below 25Mhz), where there are some international broadcasters. This coverage would be much more useful if the 330 would receive SSB signals, which are used extensively in the shortwave bands. It does not get SSB.
Full frequency coverage specs are at the back of the owners manuals for tje
330 & the
396. The 330 is not digital. To get Grand Prairie, your neighboring city Mansfield, and many federal agencies, you need to go digital. That means either the 396 (handheld), or 996 (base/mobile).
The Radio Shack 800 Mhz
antenna will improve your reception on the trunked systems using that band. Living in Grand Prairie, you probably will not need it to hear your 'hometown' system. However, it would help reception of more distant system, if they interest you, such as the Fort Worth/Tarrant County TRS, NE Tarrant, Carrolton, etc. Mansfield is, I understand, a weak system, so might help there. Mil-air, and Vhf-high stations such as Tx DPS, Dallas County SO, and other southern cities such as Duncanville & Cedar Hill, probably would come in better on the standard antenna that comes with the 396 than they would with the 800 antenna. My suggestion, if you get a 396, is try the original first, with the systems you want to hear. If all of them come in, save the $17 + tax. Or, get the antenna, and keep it handy for when you're out in the car, farther out from GP, & need the extra range.