My 396XT gets delivered tomorrow!

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Silverhair

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I decided to upgrade from my Bearcat 210XL to a BCT396XT. Pretty excited as it gets delivered tomorrow. I opted for the usb cable to simplify the programming interface. I've also downloaded Freescan and have been loading it via my premium subscription deal.

Feeling pretty good about this, but am already dissapointed in the user manual.
 

mikemsu1

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ha the manuals are a joke IMO in most cases...but there is value deep within. RR is my manual.

From what I hear you're going to be very happy with the new investment, I have a 396T and could not be happier, have been very pleased with reception. I don't have a whole lot of bad things to say about anything Uniden puts out....tried and tested (by all).
 

KE4ZNR

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I decided to upgrade from my Bearcat 210XL to a BCT396XT. Pretty excited as it gets delivered tomorrow. I opted for the usb cable to simplify the programming interface. I've also downloaded Freescan and have been loading it via my premium subscription deal.

Feeling pretty good about this, but am already dissapointed in the user manual.

Holy crap that is a heck of a jump from a 210XL to a 396XT!!
your experience will be the following:
1) Utter confusion at the differences in the new radio vs the old one.
2) Anger at the learning curve difference between the two
3) Total involvement in learning the features in the new radio.
4) Moment of clarity when all becomes clear
5) Total devotion to new radio (better half will not like this part ;))
6) Total loss of memory in ever owning any other radio
Have no fear, it sounds like you are wise and decided to "get your feet wet" before the radio arrived. Kudos :)
Of course you always have the RR.com Forums & Wiki and us veteran "Radio Geeks" to help you out! :cool:
Happy Monitoring!
Marshall KE4ZNR
 

Silverhair

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Thanks for the words of wisdon Guys!

My old scanner only receives the Virginia State Police dispatch & Prince William County fire dispatch. Got it cheep on Cragslist just over a year ago. Fun, but it leaves much to be desired...

I'm preparing myself for the learning curve as best as I can. I have a contractor at work who has a 396T - I know he can coach me from time to time. Also glad to have a resource like Radioreference handy!
 

jimg

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I decided to upgrade from my Bearcat 210XL to a BCT396XT. Pretty excited as it gets delivered tomorrow. I opted for the usb cable to simplify the programming interface. I've also downloaded Freescan and have been loading it via my premium subscription deal.

Feeling pretty good about this, but am already dissapointed in the user manual.

I've had mine for a month or so, and it is a great radio! Also, I was able to program my manually, both conventional and digital systems, but I'm sure the computer will be much faster.
 

DaveIN

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From and XL to and XT in 1.21 seconds, Great Scott! Enjoy the new radio, try not to do too much all at once and you'll get it figured out. Or you could just ask that geek Marshall :D
 

Silverhair

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Its here.

Oh my!

Interface with Freescan seemed ok, but in uploading to the scanner, it said there were errors. Now, Freescan wont communicate with the scanner. Oh boy, this is going to be a uphill deal...
 

Silverhair

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Northern Virginia
Ok, I cycled power & connections and Freescan is now controlloing the radio nicely.

I've uploaded lots of items to the scanner. Just listened to my first P-25 chat. cool!

Now I gotta figure out how to organize this mess.
 

DaveIN

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If the errors happen often, you may want to try a lower baud rate on the radio and FreeSCAN.
 

RadioDaze

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Orange County, California, USA
1) Utter confusion at the differences in the new radio vs the old one.
2) Anger at the learning curve difference between the two
3) Total involvement in learning the features in the new radio.
4) Moment of clarity when all becomes clear
5) Total devotion to new radio (better half will not like this part ;))
6) Total loss of memory in ever owning any other radio

Don't forget the red forehead from repeatedly slapping it and muttering "I should have done this years ago."
 

mikemsu1

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Round Lake Beach, Illinois
I have learned a few errors may not be out of the norm and very rarely effects programming and reception. It's when you see 20 something errors that I have had the issue. I had that happen once by loading all conventional, trunked and digital into one profile and programming all at once. I then made a profile for each (conventional, trunked, etc) and programmed/sent to radio one profile at a time and errors dropped from 26 to 3.
 

cpuerror

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I'm not sure what software you are using, but if it's FreeSCAN even 3 is on the high side. I would suggest checking to make sure control channel output in the scanner is turned off. Seems to be turned on by default.
 

DaveIN

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Interesting, my Control Channel Outputs have been turned off by default. I'll have to look a little closer.
 

Silverhair

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My Control Channel Outputs were turned off (by default).

So far, so good. Freescan is working ok, but I have sooo much to learn here. This thing is 3 miles wide & 2 miles deep! :)
 
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