Help With BCD396T

[flpyro]

Need Help With Scanner

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I thought I would start here with this thread. I have the BCD396T and had the unit programmed for Lake and Sumter County (This is in central Florida). As we know,Sumter is analog and Lake has gone over to digital. The digital side is the probleam that I have right now. I can take the scanner and park under one of the towers and the reception is just unreal. NOTHING...it will just come and go.
Sometimes you get the other towns that are 15 miles away come in loud and clear. So last month I installed one small tower at my home. Did not want to go nuts here with large antennas at the house. I found one at Radio Shack that fit the budget.This did absolutely nothing to pick up the digital side for me.

Any help here would be gratefully appreciated.

 

[hiegtx]

Need Help With Scanner

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I thought I would start here with this thread. I have the BCD396T and had the unit programmed for Lake and Sumter County (This is in central Florida). As we know,Sumter is analog and Lake has gone over to digital. The digital side is the probleam that I have right now. I can take the scanner and park under one of the towers and the reception is just unreal. NOTHING...it will just come and go.
Sometimes you get the other towns that are 15 miles away come in loud and clear. So last month I installed one small tower at my home. Did not want to go nuts here with large antennas at the house. I found one at Radio Shack that fit the budget.This did absolutely nothing to pick up the digital side for me.

Any help here would be gratefully appreciated.

flypro,
You indicate that you 'had the unit programmed' for those two counties? So somebody else set it up for you?
Also, just trying to be clear, you are referring to the BCD396T, not the BCD396XT (the newer version of the 396).

First, I'd make sure that the Lake County system was set up as a P25 system (in the 396T, that's listed as "Motorola P25). If it's set up as merely Motorola 800Mhz Type 2, that's incorrect, and it won't work. (That's a common error.)

If you have the cable, and software, such as FreeScan, you can connect the scanner to the pc & read the scanner contents back into the software.
That would also allow you to save the programming file, and post it here, where somebody could take a closer look, and see if anything else looks out of place. (The FreeScan file extension, *.996, is not one that's allowable for upload, so simply rename it by adding ".txt" to the end. For example, if you save the scanner programming in FreeScan, the default name will be the scanner name, date, time, and the extension. Example- Saving the data on my 396T right now would yield BCD396T 02-06-2010 13:58.996. To make that simpler, just save it as "Lake.996" (without the quotes). Then, to upload, rename that file to Lake.996.txt .

While 'parking under one of the towers' would possibly overload the scanner, the fact that you're apparently not hearing the system when farther away would indicate a possible problem with the way that specific county is set up. Since you are hearing other cities, loud and clear, that would seem to rule out the receiver itself, & point back to a possible programming issue.

I would also check to see if the scanner had the latest firmware update applied. The current version for the BCD396T is 3.02.02. You can check which version is on the scanner now:
Press the Menu key (the bottom button on the left)
Scroll to "Settings" (the last item on the menu)
Press the "E" (enter) key
Scroll to "See Scanner Info" (again, the bottom item)
Press "E" again
Scroll to the "Firmware Version"
Press "E"
Your firmware version is then displayed.

 

[flpyro]

Hiegtx,
Thanks for getting back with me on this issue. I checked and the version I have shows it to be 1:13:17
As far as the radio system here in Lake I do know it to be P25.
My radio will show it is picking up on the P25. I only show one bar maybe two for the most part.
I will have to get the cable for the radio this coming week. At that point we will try the download.
I will keep you posted.
Thanks so much for your time.

 

[hiegtx]

Hiegtx,
Thanks for getting back with me on this issue. I checked and the version I have shows it to be 1:13:17
As far as the radio system here in Lake I do know it to be P25.
My radio will show it is picking up on the P25. I only show one bar maybe two for the most part.
I will have to get the cable for the radio this coming week. At that point we will try the download.
I will keep you posted.
Thanks so much for your time.

flypro,
Yes, the system you want to hear is a P25. I was asking to make sure it was set-up in the scanner as P25, not Motorola Type 2.

For handheld use, on a 800mhz system, your best bang for the buck is the Radio Shack 800mhz antenna.

But still, once you get the cable, & get the firmware up to date, then download the programming from the scanner & look at that. I still think that's the best place to start, since you're not getting reception even close to the tower(s).

 

[flpyro]

Hiegtx,
Ok I found my cable and did the download. I printed out the pages. What should I be lookinjg for?
Every thing looks normal as far as the correct channels go.Here is one section that I will have you look at.
Lake County Public (mot P25 Trunk Site)
Quick Key:None
Control Chan Only:Off
Lock Out:Off
Hold time: 2
Startup Key: None
Tape Out: Marked Only
GPS Enabled: Off
GPS Range: 0 Miles/ 0 KMs

If you can help with this one great. Let me know if you need anything else.

 

[flpyro]

Hiegtx,
Here is how I stand today. I did the firmware update. The old one was 1.13.17 I am now at 1.20.13
Now I did the next step to update the frimware to 3.02.02 I did get the new key to use for the download.
I get the screen for the download and enter the info to start the download. What shows up is the error message...This scanner is not an object for BC. Rewriting is impossible. Please turn off the power and remove the cable.
Now i tryed this some five times. No luck. Any thought,s on this one?

Thanks so much for your time.

 

[hiegtx]

Hiegtx,
Here is how I stand today. I did the firmware update. The old one was 1.13.17 I am now at 1.20.13
Now I did the next step to update the frimware to 3.02.02 I did get the new key to use for the download.
I get the screen for the download and enter the info to start the download. What shows up is the error message...This scanner is not an object for BC. Rewriting is impossible. Please turn off the power and remove the cable.
Now i tryed this some five times. No luck. Any thought,s on this one?

Thanks so much for your time.

flypro,
Let's take this step by step.
Go to Uniden's page for firmware updates on the BCD396T.
You've gone from 1.13.17 to 1.20.13, right?
Now, did you do all of the following?
Download & install the ESN loader
The loader is here, and it's instructions here.
The loader file is "zipped", and must be unzipped to install & run.

Next, make sure all the steps in this section are followed:
"If your scanner is at version 1.20.13 or higher:"
Register your scanner at MyUniden, if you have not already done so.
Get the key for the version 3.02.02 update from the MyUniden page.
When you download the update, that will also be zipped, and has to be unzipped to be loaded to the scanner using the BC_VUP utility.

Just follow all the steps listed, in order. Usually, when there's a problem, either one got skipped, or for some reason something did not load correctly the first time through. A re-do often solves the issue.

 

[flpyro]

Hiegtx,
I did everything to the letter. Still no go.It looks like it want,s to start the download after I type in the key mumbers. Up comes the error message.
Trust me I spent hours looking at all the post,s before I made my post on this issue.
Sometimes it,s some little thing I may have over looked. But I have gone over and over the instructions that I printed out.
I have the loader icon on the computer. And it,s ESN_Loader_V1 20 13.exe

 

[flpyro]

Hiegtz,
I think my issue here is my computer skills are going gray on me. One of the items that I need to download is the fileV3 02 02. This does download but I can not open it. Yes this comes down as a zip file and I run WIN-XIP to open them. The loader came down as a zip file and it is ok. That part works. It,s when I try to open the V3 02 02 file it tells me that it can not open this file.
The window is there and it will show the file BUT it is not zip.
Thanks again for your time.

 

[hiegtx]

Hiegtz,
I think my issue here is my computer skills are going gray on me. One of the items that I need to download is the fileV3 02 02. This does download but I can not open it. Yes this comes down as a zip file and I run WIN-XIP to open them. The loader came down as a zip file and it is ok. That part works. It,s when I try to open the V3 02 02 file it tells me that it can not open this file.
The window is there and it will show the file BUT it is not zip.
Thanks again for your time.

flypro,
The zip file you download, for firmware update 3.02.02, BCD396T_V3_02_02.zip, contains the file you'll actually load. That file is named BCD396T_V3_02_02.scn. Unzip the downloaded file, and that *.scn file should be there. If not, then the download was not successful. (That zip file is also in the files section, under firmware, of the 396T's Yahoo group. You would have to join the group to download it, I believe.)

From your comments, you were able to get the ESN loader to run, correct? You'll need that key to install the 3.02.02 firmware.

 

[flpyro]

Hiegtx,
Don't think I gave up on you. We still can not open that one file. Win-Zip does not work on this one.
I tryed two other computers with this download and the same thing happens.
The file I need to open is the V3 02 02
Can you open this file for me and email it? Or can you tell me what I need to know about this file.
Thanks so much for your time.

 

[Blugill2]

bcd396t newbie

I also have the 396t...can someone help me with programming frequencies into the scanner manually...I have entered several systems thru radio reference downloads, but would like to know how to enter a channel or frequency manually.. I have tried reading the manual, but I am confused..thanx for any future assistance