Local help please - Peterborough/Durham/Northumberland

[olopokram]

Hello everyone!

I'm fairly new to scanning and recently picked up a Uniden BCD396. I've tried my best to understand how to effectively use it, however need some guidance. I was wondering if there was anyone in the Peterborough/Durham/Northumberland area that would be able to reach out to help guide me? Thank you in advance for your help!

Mark

 

[BC_Scan]

Peterborough/Durham/Northumberland

why limit yourself , as that is an old scanner (but a good one) why limit your search there are plenty on here that have and still use that could assist you
I am in Vancouver , how can I help ??

 

[Forts]

If you are looking for info just on the operations of the scanner, check this online manual out. I find them to be quite useful..

Easier to Read BCD396T/UBCD396T Digital Scanner Manual

 

[gary123]

I have a 396. I keep it in my glove compartment. It is ideal for CC frequencies on the fly. It's small enough and using CC capture with Auto Store it's great for hunting near tower sites and other places like factories, malls etc. Small, low profile sits in a pocket and is not visible.

It works great on FleetNet as well as aircraft and rail. I highly recommend using the Butel ARC396 software. This makes programing the unit easy.

My only real complaint is that it eats batteries. Typically, it lasts about 3 hours on alkaline and 4 on rechargeables.

 

[olopokram]

I appreciate the response. It was programmed by the second to last owner and it seems like the programming has a comprehensive database.

However, I'm on the edge of Peterborough and Northumberland County and primarily listen to OPP. My issue is that I'm getting Quinte West and Lindsay predominantly, and Peterborough and Northumberland very rarely.
I find this odd because I'm getting coverage well outside my area, but next to nothing in my immediate area. I'm trying to figure out how I can confirm what frequencies I need, if I have them and are they active? That's where I'm stuck.

Thanks again!

 

[EJB]

I appreciate the response. It was programmed by the second to last owner and it seems like the programming has a comprehensive database.

However, I'm on the edge of Peterborough and Northumberland County and primarily listen to OPP. My issue is that I'm getting Quinte West and Lindsay predominantly, and Peterborough and Northumberland very rarely.
I find this odd because I'm getting coverage well outside my area, but next to nothing in my immediate area. I'm trying to figure out how I can confirm what frequencies I need, if I have them and are they active? That's where I'm stuck.

Thanks again!

The thing with the 396T is you have to put in a lot of talkgroups on order to get to listen to what you want.

For instance, for me here in Hamilton in order to make sure I get to hear the local OPP, I have to put in the MTO TRANSPORT talkgroups, the digital ones. Newer scanners handle patches better. You only have to have the actual Burlington and Niagara TG to listen to them, but on the 396T I had to have the Halton, Hamilton and Peel MTOE talkgroups to monitor them.

I was out in your area last summer, I was able to monitor out to Frontenac, Peterborough and such.

Maybe someone out there knows which OPP talkgroups in your area are patched with each other and which are patches with MTOE.

It's a good scanner, I have one on the shelf and really enjoyed using it. It's the perfect size.

Bell FleetNet Ontario Provincial Government Zone 2 Trunking System, Southeast Zone, Ontario

Bell FleetNet Ontario Provincial Government Zone 2 Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

Put in the talkgroups for the detachments you see are close to you and put in the MTOE talkgroups for your area, or all of them and you will be able to monitor the OPP.

Become a member here and download the data right from the site or cut and paste and copy the database to spreadsheets and then to the ARC software. You can do a sample and get some of the data for free or pay for it and have it for life.

It's extremely hard to program these scanners by hand.

And make sure you are able to hear the towers, the ones near you.

 

[gary123]

I recommend before you mess with the programming read and save the codeplug. then you can verify the towers that it has in it as well as the TG. EJB is correct you have to enter in all the TG. The 396 does handle patched TG BUT it acts weird and will sometimes only grab the patch off one of the two patched TGs. IE: it will hear the patch (TG 1 and 2) if you have TG 1 in the scan list but may not pick up the patch if you dont have TG2 as well.

Another tip on the 396. Just scan the local tower. Again it tends to be a bit slow when bouncing from tower to tower. This can result in missed calls.

 

[olopokram]

And this is where it gets tricky for me, as I don't know how to program it manually or via computer and where to find the appropriate tower frequencies. Any suggestions on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again everyone!

 

[Noseybody]

And this is where it gets tricky for me, as I don't know how to program it manually or via computer and where to find the appropriate tower frequencies. Any suggestions on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again everyone!

I found many videos on you tube to help me with the basics. Don't expect to be a pro overnight

 

[gary123]

The first thing you will need to do is know exactly what is in the scanner. Once you know that, you can then edit the sites and TG. I highly recommend getting some software to read and save the code plug that way you can always go back to what it does right now.

Basically, you want to edit the Motorola system trunked frequencies. and then in the department edit the TG's or add to them.

PM me for more detailed information. That way we do not fill the thread with one time only posts.

 

[EJB]

And this is where it gets tricky for me, as I don't know how to program it manually or via computer and where to find the appropriate tower frequencies. Any suggestions on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again everyone!

If you get the ARC software message me. I probably still have some files and I'd do it over the phone with you or by Skype if you want.

Why don't you program a tower that you can hear? The outlines are on this site on how to do it. If you can do that, run it in Search and you will see which talkgroups pop up on the tower.

The 396T is great in that you can literally put in a bunch of FleetNet towers each in their own Quick Key.

For instance, when I drove to work (work? What's that you bum!!!) I had the Charlton tower in Quick Key 1. When I hit Oakville I'd disable Charlton , then choose Fonthill, then in Mississauga, disable Fonthill and use Britannia in Mississauga, then at work use that or King City or Mowat each in its own quick key.

Depending on how you use your scanner, if you travel, you have tons of room to put in all kinds of stuff. Literally used 70 quick keys in that radio.

Programming your Uniden scanner for Bell Mobility Radio's Fleetnet system

This FAQ applies to the BC-780, BC-785D, BC-250D, BC-296D, BC-796D ONLY. See further below in this thread for instructions on the BC-396. This FAQ assumes that you've set the digital audio quality parameters properly before starting. If you have problems receiving the digital talkgroups...

forums.radioreference.com

Pick the tower in zone 2.

 

[slicerwizard]

The 396 does handle patched TG BUT it acts weird and will sometimes only grab the patch off one of the two patched TGs. IE: it will hear the patch (TG 1 and 2) if you have TG 1 in the scan list but may not pick up the patch if you dont have TG2 as well.

I would say that no, it doesn't handle patches. It only sees the supergroup in a patch. That's why you have to program and enable a whole bunch of talkgroups - because any one of them (like an MTO group) may be the supergroup and that's the only group the scanner looks for in your programming, not the OPP group(s) you really want to hear.

 

[gary123]

Nice explanation thank you.

 

[ka3jjz]

You can find videos from the Scanner School on understanding DMA, trunking and an index for YouTube here...

Uniden DMA Resource Page - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

This is a small part of a much larger document that covers these DMA scanners in detail. Keep this handy as there are things in here that the Easier to Read and the supplied Uniden manuals simply do not cover

Uniden DMA FAQ - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

Mike

 

[olopokram]

If you get the ARC software message me. I probably still have some files and I'd do it over the phone with you or by Skype if you want.

Why don't you program a tower that you can hear? The outlines are on this site on how to do it. If you can do that, run it in Search and you will see which talkgroups pop up on the tower.

The 396T is great in that you can literally put in a bunch of FleetNet towers each in their own Quick Key.

For instance, when I drove to work (work? What's that you bum!!!) I had the Charlton tower in Quick Key 1. When I hit Oakville I'd disable Charlton , then choose Fonthill, then in Mississauga, disable Fonthill and use Britannia in Mississauga, then at work use that or King City or Mowat each in its own quick key.

Depending on how you use your scanner, if you travel, you have tons of room to put in all kinds of stuff. Literally used 70 quick keys in that radio.

Programming your Uniden scanner for Bell Mobility Radio's Fleetnet system

This FAQ applies to the BC-780, BC-785D, BC-250D, BC-296D, BC-796D ONLY. See further below in this thread for instructions on the BC-396. This FAQ assumes that you've set the digital audio quality parameters properly before starting. If you have problems receiving the digital talkgroups...

forums.radioreference.com

Pick the tower in zone 2.

Appreciate everyone's responses! So last night when I was driving home, it finally locked onto my local tower that I've been wanting to listen to. This confirmed that it's programmed into the scanner. I pressed the "Hold" button and have been on it ever since. What I don't know how to do, is to save it so I can access it with the click of a button? Once I turn the scanner off, it will release the hold and will go back to scanning and I don't want to lose it. Any suggestions?

What's odd is that when the unit is normally scanning and I press Hold to then manually scroll through the saved channels, this one isn't anywhere to be found for some reason.
The channels which have the tower ID programmed in the display match those that are on the Radio Reference database, so it all appears to be programmed correctly. I just don't understand why I can't manually find them?

Thanks in advance!

 

[EJB]

I'm not sure if I explained myself well.

When I asked if you could hear a tower I meant that if you could hear the grinding sound of a control tower. If you did hear anything then you could be able to program your scanner to monitor something like FleetNet.

I'm not sure what you are listening to, what frequencies are you hearing activity on and what are you hearing.

Honestly I'm as dumb as he*l, I have no training and I'm clueless. These scanners are extremely hard to figure out at first. Very hard. Almost impossible to do it by hand.

Once you get it, it's all good. You will have people to help you. I'll help you if I can.

If you want to listen to FleetNet I want you to go into the Search, then go to Custom Search. Create a Custom Search for frequencies 141-144,

Then do that Custom Scan. See if your scanner stops at frequencies with a grinding sound. Make a note of it. Then come back and tell me what you got.

Remember, Custom Search, enter in 141. for Low and 144 MHz for High.

 

[mciupa]

I looked into your posting history and it looks like history is repeating itself:

396T manual programming help

Hello everyone, I'm new to scanning and the forum, so I appreciate your patience and help. I purchased a number of months ago a 396T. The gentleman who originally programmed it, has unfortunately passed away and am trying to figure everything out on my own. He programmed the unit perfectly in...

forums.radioreference.com

What have you changed since then?

 

[EJB]

I looked into your posting history and it looks like history is repeating itself:

396T manual programming help

Hello everyone, I'm new to scanning and the forum, so I appreciate your patience and help. I purchased a number of months ago a 396T. The gentleman who originally programmed it, has unfortunately passed away and am trying to figure everything out on my own. He programmed the unit perfectly in...

forums.radioreference.com

What have you changed since then?

The 996 P2, Mike, is it the same as the XT series or is it like the older 396T?

 

[mciupa]

The 996 P2, Mike, is it the same as the XT series or is it like the older 396T?

It would be the same as the XT but has the capability to do P25 Phase II

 

[olopokram]

Hi everyone,

I was able to figure out how to save a held channel, so over the last few few days I have been able to get the local towers and save them into my group. Thank you everyone for your help!