Official BCD396T Discussion Thread (Post-release)
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RADIOGUY2002
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Apco 25, Need Help
I rx one of these new scanners and am unfamilar to the standards in which to allow for apco 25 to work or digital formart for that matter. The systems I am interseted in listening to are TSA, O'hare Uhf, NWCDS.
Please help me programed correctily.
I rx one of these new scanners and am unfamilar to the standards in which to allow for apco 25 to work or digital formart for that matter. The systems I am interseted in listening to are TSA, O'hare Uhf, NWCDS.
Please help me programed correctily.
jpm
Member
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2002
- Messages
- 1,007
Again no one answers the question. how far are you from the systems towers. I'm 3 miles from NWCD digital tower with a nextel tower out my back yard and all my uniden scanners sound crystal clear. When there is a bad transmission the dispatcher aknowledges that the units signal is bad. I have in possesion the 250d, 785d,796d and the 396d uniden scanners. HERE WE GO AGAIN with the UNIDEN products.
there is no doubt that the sma to bnc adapter will break if a big enough antenna is on it and it is dropped. the outside ring is only held on by a (iam going to call it) c clip.
the manufacturers have done a great job making antennas that dont break easily. the only draw back is that the radio will break before the antenna does. $30 is less than $520!
a good example is the yaesu ft-50 r. the sma connector is pressed on-made to break when it has to.
bill simpson
n1jbs
the manufacturers have done a great job making antennas that dont break easily. the only draw back is that the radio will break before the antenna does. $30 is less than $520!
a good example is the yaesu ft-50 r. the sma connector is pressed on-made to break when it has to.
bill simpson
n1jbs
safetyobc
Member
Has anyone tried the keyboard trick on the 396 that you can do on the 246 to use it kind of like freq counter? I forget the keyboard combo off hand, it was HOLD, and two other keys during power up. Just curious if the 396 has the same feature, not that I would use it...
troymail
Silent Key
396 Fire Tone Out - Not working?
Anyone able to use the fire tone out (FTO) feature? I've programmed
in several fire companies but it hasn't worked yet.
I read somewhere that any of the tone pairs on the same frequency
will alert as long as you're monitor/standing by... is that true?
Or do I have to be sitting on the exact station/tone pair...?
(the manual says it should work)
Also - information for my local system says there is no "tone gap"
(I read that as ZERO). The 396 doesn't let you go to 0 -- 1 ms is
the shortest....
Any ideas?
EDIT --- oh - what's this? If I'm in Tone Out Mode and I hit HOLD,
the display switches to Tone Out Detect.... ok - it opens the radio
to monitor mode...
Anyone able to use the fire tone out (FTO) feature? I've programmed
in several fire companies but it hasn't worked yet.
I read somewhere that any of the tone pairs on the same frequency
will alert as long as you're monitor/standing by... is that true?
Or do I have to be sitting on the exact station/tone pair...?
(the manual says it should work)
Also - information for my local system says there is no "tone gap"
(I read that as ZERO). The 396 doesn't let you go to 0 -- 1 ms is
the shortest....
Any ideas?
EDIT --- oh - what's this? If I'm in Tone Out Mode and I hit HOLD,
the display switches to Tone Out Detect.... ok - it opens the radio
to monitor mode...
W4KRR said:
I was talking about the audio volume. Most equipment goes from 0 to 10 and a few special pieces of audio gear are louder so they go from 0 to 11. It is a Pro Audio thing.
I can not see the comment on the old thread so it must be the BC330T that goes from 0 to 10.
I had a surprise when my local fire department popped up in the default Boston Area system. Some of the frequencies listed as "Boston Area" seem to be quite far away from Boston and maybe "Eastern MA" is a better tag.
73 Eric
well I may have a solution to the rather large belt clip that comes with the 396. Spent just under $3 at Wal Mart and bought a cheap tape measure with a belt clip that screwed on. Removed the belt clip from the tape measure and attached it to my 396.
What I need to find is an M3-.5 X 10 flat head machine screw. The round head screw tends to get caught when I try to take it off. The clip also spins, but it is a start.
Sorry for the quality of the pictures, but I reduced them so they would fit without taking the entire page.
What I need to find is an M3-.5 X 10 flat head machine screw. The round head screw tends to get caught when I try to take it off. The clip also spins, but it is a start.
Sorry for the quality of the pictures, but I reduced them so they would fit without taking the entire page.
"I read somewhere that any of the tone pairs on the same frequency
will alert as long as you're monitor/standing by... is that true?"
Not yet, Paul mentioned that was coming in a firmware update.
"Or do I have to be sitting on the exact station/tone pair...? "
Yes. Only one with the radio right now.
- Rob
will alert as long as you're monitor/standing by... is that true?"
Not yet, Paul mentioned that was coming in a firmware update.
"Or do I have to be sitting on the exact station/tone pair...? "
Yes. Only one with the radio right now.
- Rob
Just thought I would throw this comment out. Seems as if a lot of people are trying to find alternatives to the stock belt clip holder. Personally, since I see myself wearing this radio a lot more than my Pro-96, I like the arrangement. It does not come off unless I want it to, and once it is on your belt it doesn't seem so big. Granted sitting there on the desk it looks huge, but I have plenty of other radios for sitting on the desk. :lol:
chris24
Member
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- May 29, 2005
- Messages
- 5
LEH that is an awesome fix. I haven't had a chance to try the stock beltclip yet but I can see why people wouldn't like it. I'm still trying to get feeling back in my wrist from entering all those alpha tags. I cannot wait for some sort of software!!
I'm a fan of the new style belt clip. IMHO it's a lot more rugged than a plastic clip. The weak point with this one for me is the belt clip itself. The "post" locks into the clip but the clip can still obviously come off of your belt. I continue to be a fan of those that wrap around the belt and secure with snaps. I have one from my 246T case that works dandy with the 396T.
Re: Need Some 396 Help in CT
Ok that was the problem, works well now....
loumaag said:
Ok that was the problem, works well now....
SOFA_KING said:
That would be the network access code.
Unfortunately, such information is pretty hard to come by. I don't know of any cheap way to figure out the NAC a particular agency is using. Only a very expensive service monitor would be able to pull the NAC out at this time.
However, if Uniden does add NAC support, they could probably add a NAC finder to go along with it.
There's also the issue of P25 conventional talkgroups. If you're throwing in NAC's, why not add in the capability to distinguish (and show) different talkgroups on the same frequency.
Hello,
I ran an experiment for determining the tone out frequencies this past weekend. Boston, Ma Fire uses two tone paging followed by a voice announcement on a dedicated frequency.
I used Scanner Recorder to record the tones. I recorded using 44.1 16-Bit bit Mono WAV. I figure that using compression may affect frequency accuracy. I had to make sure there was no clipping of the waveform so the levels need to be set. Using Super Narrow Band FM (NFM on Uniden) mode may cause problems on a Narrow Band FM (FM on Uniden) signal. The line jack on my Uniden 898T was used.
People have mentioned using a Frequency Counter to determine the tone frequency. The problem with frequency counters is that for 1 Hz resolution you need to count for 1 second and for 0.1 Hz resolution you need to count for 10 seconds. Not very good for a quick paging tone.
I used another method of finding frequency by finding the period of a cycle of the waveform. It can be converted to frequency by the equation Frequency = 1/Period. If you use the Audacity audio editor you can find the period by doing a mouse click to put the cursor at a positive zero crossing and then hold down the mouse button and drag the selection over to the next positive zero crossing. At the bottom there are selection time values and the period is the difference shown in the parentheses. You can use any point of the waveform but I use the zero crossings to make it easier.
It appears you need to figure out a couple of the tone pairs so you know what "standard" is being used. Boston Fire uses Quick Call 2 tones. Some tone pairs are both from Reed Group 4 and some tone pairs are one from Reed Group 1 and one from Reed Group 2. From what I understand about QC2 the first 100 codes (00-99) use the same Reed Group for both tones and the second 100 codes (100-199) use adjacent Reed Groups.
To make things easier I precalculated the periods for the tones in the Groups I am interested in. I also select 10 cycles and then divide the time by 10 to get a more accurate count.
Another nice feature with Audacity is you can zoom the vertical scale up to see the area around zero. This allows more accurate determination of the zero crossing.
I have figured out that the first 100 codes are used for Stations and the second 100 codes are used for "Cars" (Chiefs, etc). I got a few stations and cars figured out. I have not tried the tone out in the 396 yet and may wait until the update.
73 Eric
I ran an experiment for determining the tone out frequencies this past weekend. Boston, Ma Fire uses two tone paging followed by a voice announcement on a dedicated frequency.
I used Scanner Recorder to record the tones. I recorded using 44.1 16-Bit bit Mono WAV. I figure that using compression may affect frequency accuracy. I had to make sure there was no clipping of the waveform so the levels need to be set. Using Super Narrow Band FM (NFM on Uniden) mode may cause problems on a Narrow Band FM (FM on Uniden) signal. The line jack on my Uniden 898T was used.
People have mentioned using a Frequency Counter to determine the tone frequency. The problem with frequency counters is that for 1 Hz resolution you need to count for 1 second and for 0.1 Hz resolution you need to count for 10 seconds. Not very good for a quick paging tone.
I used another method of finding frequency by finding the period of a cycle of the waveform. It can be converted to frequency by the equation Frequency = 1/Period. If you use the Audacity audio editor you can find the period by doing a mouse click to put the cursor at a positive zero crossing and then hold down the mouse button and drag the selection over to the next positive zero crossing. At the bottom there are selection time values and the period is the difference shown in the parentheses. You can use any point of the waveform but I use the zero crossings to make it easier.
It appears you need to figure out a couple of the tone pairs so you know what "standard" is being used. Boston Fire uses Quick Call 2 tones. Some tone pairs are both from Reed Group 4 and some tone pairs are one from Reed Group 1 and one from Reed Group 2. From what I understand about QC2 the first 100 codes (00-99) use the same Reed Group for both tones and the second 100 codes (100-199) use adjacent Reed Groups.
To make things easier I precalculated the periods for the tones in the Groups I am interested in. I also select 10 cycles and then divide the time by 10 to get a more accurate count.
Another nice feature with Audacity is you can zoom the vertical scale up to see the area around zero. This allows more accurate determination of the zero crossing.
I have figured out that the first 100 codes are used for Stations and the second 100 codes are used for "Cars" (Chiefs, etc). I got a few stations and cars figured out. I have not tried the tone out in the 396 yet and may wait until the update.
73 Eric
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2002
- Messages
- 1,931
Using Cool Edit you can set up an infinite play loop for a selected segment of the recording. With a click of the mouse the selection can be set to start and stop on zero crossings. I get 0.1 Hz accuracy using a counter connected to the audio output from the computer, even if the tone is only 0.25 second long.
scancapecod said:
Try getting the 'stock clip 396' off with another radio beside it on your belt, though. You can't turn it without rubbing the other radio and risking scratches on both. Also, it won't stay on a duty belt - the clip is way too small.
Joe M.
My 396 came via UPS this afternoon. I'm running it on Alkaline batteries until I get the NiMh set charged up. I have an external charger that should work fine for that.
Here are my initial thoughts. First, unlike Scott, I find the audio to be clear, not raspy. I do find it a bit touch to find a comfortable volume, but I've only played with the radio for an hour or so. The display is fine, it just takes getting used to. I'm glad that Uniden dumped the holographic display and matted the display window. The viewing angle is much wider than the 250/296. The menus aren't all that difficult to navigate at all, again it's a matter of getting used to the concept. Easier than the 296 menus, at least so far.
I like most of the features. The selectable alerts are nice as it the fact that the channel beep is NOT tied to the keypad beep.
Sensitivity seems very good, but that's an initial impression. I'm using the RS 800Mhz antenna, and it's good on 800 and UHF.
I like being able to toggle between ID Scan and ID Search by pressing the SCAN button when in a trunked system.
Size. It's pretty small, but that's a good thing. This scanner, especially with the blue display lighting, is going to be good for discreet scanning. If you want to scan somewhere like an airport most people aren't going to look at this radio twice. Even more so if you use a small antenna.
I'm not all that sure about the belt clip yet. However, using the same type of "button" as most microphones does open up some interesting possibilities. I'm sure that a case will be forthcoming as well.
If the pre programmed systems are all like the Mass. ones, they won't be all that useful, but it's still a nice attempt and should be okay as a start.
There are only a couple of things not to like. First, since there aren't channel numbers or ID lists, there's no way to do direct channel entry. I suppose that will be manageable if you keep the systems small enough. Then again, you don't have to try to figure out if you are locking out a bank or an ID list. <G> This is however going to make it difficult to use in a vehicle, at least while driving. Any possible mobile version is going to have to fix this.
Another gripe is not being able to alternate between Alpha Tag and Frequency or TG number. Every trunk tracker from the 245 on has had this, but it's been dropped. Unless I missed it, you either get Alpa or Numeric, but you can't get the radio to alternate them automatically.
The radio isn't difficult to program manually, but it is damnedly tedious. Software, Uniden's or Butel's can't come fast enough.
Overall, I think that this is winner. It will be really interesting to see what a possible mobile version might be like. Especially if it's built on the same chassis that the BCT8 uses.
Gary
Here are my initial thoughts. First, unlike Scott, I find the audio to be clear, not raspy. I do find it a bit touch to find a comfortable volume, but I've only played with the radio for an hour or so. The display is fine, it just takes getting used to. I'm glad that Uniden dumped the holographic display and matted the display window. The viewing angle is much wider than the 250/296. The menus aren't all that difficult to navigate at all, again it's a matter of getting used to the concept. Easier than the 296 menus, at least so far.
I like most of the features. The selectable alerts are nice as it the fact that the channel beep is NOT tied to the keypad beep.
Sensitivity seems very good, but that's an initial impression. I'm using the RS 800Mhz antenna, and it's good on 800 and UHF.
I like being able to toggle between ID Scan and ID Search by pressing the SCAN button when in a trunked system.
Size. It's pretty small, but that's a good thing. This scanner, especially with the blue display lighting, is going to be good for discreet scanning. If you want to scan somewhere like an airport most people aren't going to look at this radio twice. Even more so if you use a small antenna.
I'm not all that sure about the belt clip yet. However, using the same type of "button" as most microphones does open up some interesting possibilities. I'm sure that a case will be forthcoming as well.
If the pre programmed systems are all like the Mass. ones, they won't be all that useful, but it's still a nice attempt and should be okay as a start.
There are only a couple of things not to like. First, since there aren't channel numbers or ID lists, there's no way to do direct channel entry. I suppose that will be manageable if you keep the systems small enough. Then again, you don't have to try to figure out if you are locking out a bank or an ID list. <G> This is however going to make it difficult to use in a vehicle, at least while driving. Any possible mobile version is going to have to fix this.
Another gripe is not being able to alternate between Alpha Tag and Frequency or TG number. Every trunk tracker from the 245 on has had this, but it's been dropped. Unless I missed it, you either get Alpa or Numeric, but you can't get the radio to alternate them automatically.
The radio isn't difficult to program manually, but it is damnedly tedious. Software, Uniden's or Butel's can't come fast enough.
Overall, I think that this is winner. It will be really interesting to see what a possible mobile version might be like. Especially if it's built on the same chassis that the BCT8 uses.
Gary
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