New 436

[dangitdoug]

I just bought the 436. I set up favorites. The unit appears to be scanning but I'm getting no hits. I'm in San Diego County.

 

[omlbed]

Check your Service Types. That's the most common gotcha.

Easier to Read BCD436/536HP Digital Scanner Manual

Good luck!

 

[Ubbe]

Do a simple test by stopping scan by the CHAN button and then enter the control channel frequency of a system you have in your favorite list, or any conventional channel that you think have a lot of activity, and follow by another push of the CHAN button.

There's no limitations or filters stopping you from monitoring in that mode so turn the squelch down to 0 before doing the check to see that you have audio and if there's a control channel received it should breifly be heard and then the scanner mutes and indicate on the display what type of system it is.

if you hear nothing, just noise, then you are not in range from the transmitters and probably need to monitor from another position or have to use an external antenna on the roof.

/Ubbe

 

[K4EET]

Make sure that whatever agency you want to listen to is not using encryption. You can determine that from the Radio Reference database information. Hope you figure out what is going on with not hearing anything...

 

[hiegtx]

I just bought the 436. I set up favorites. The unit appears to be scanning but I'm getting no hits. I'm in San Diego County.

Have you updated the database since you received the scanner? If not, the database version loaded is likely a couple of years old. If you've installed Sentinel, you'll see the date of the database down in the lower left corner of the screen. On the scanner itself, press Menu
Then scroll down & select "Manage Full Database"
On the next menu, scroll down & select "Information".
That will show you what the version date of the database is installed.

There's been comments in another thread, noting some significant changes in which system is being used in your area. If the date shown for your database is more than a couple of months old, then that's likely one reason you are missing traffic.

As omlbed has already noted, check the service types. When shipped, the default public safety service types that are enabled are the ones labeled as Dispatch (Law Dispatch, Fire Dispatch, EMS Dispatch, and Multi-Dispatch). Also enable the Tac and Talk types for those (Law Talk, Fire Tac, etc). Make sure that the types are enabled both in the scanner, as well as in Sentinel.

 

[ofd8001]

And after updating the full database, you might try scanning it. Best way is to re-set your zip code, which gives you the option of turning the full database on.

This way it lets the scanner scan with "factory" programming, which can give the comfort feeling the scanner works. Then it is just a matter of figuring out what might be an issue with either the Favorites List or Profile.