Official BCD996T Post Release Thread

[garys]

Resistance was futile, I gave in and ordered one from The Ham Station. Excellent service as always.

Set up was pretty easy, as was installation. The hardest part was finding where Uniden hid the registration screen for the UASD software. After that, programming was a breeze.

My initial impression is that it's more sensitive on UHF and VHF high. Not enough VHF Low to really judge without a lot more listening. At first I thought 800 was only about the same, but I think it's a little bit better after listening a while longer.

Building the function button into the rotary channel selector was a great idea. As complex as it is, the radio is fairly easy to operate while mobile. One thing that does puzzle me is unlocking systems that were programmed as locked. Neither using the quick keys nor using the L/O button seem to work to do that. What I had to do was drill down in the menu system and change the status to unlocked. On a similar note, I haven't been able to figure out how to change or add a PL or DPL without doing the same thing. In the 796D, just pressing "E" gets you to the PL screen, but that function isn't included in the menu that pops up when I press "E" in the 996T. Then again, I only got it yesterday and have spent about two hours figuring it out.

I like the auto dimming feature and the temporary overide too. Very nice features. The display is easy to read, even for my old eyes.

Over all, it's looks like it's going to be a winner.

Gary

 

[UPMan]

To unlock the system, F+Scroll to the system, then F+L/O to unlock.

To quickly change a channel's settings, while holding on the channel, press E. (There are a number of settings associated with a channel, so this takes you to the channel setting menu.)

If you are using tone search, when the scanner determines the tone, if you press "E" during the transmission, the scanner's first prompt is to ask whether you want to save the found tone.

 

[epbernstein]

RCL Feature in 996?

I posted a separate thread, but maybe this is a better way to get an answer from Upman or someone else more knowledgeable than I:

Is there an equivalent feature in the 996 to the "RCL" feature in the 396 that is accessed by the FCN-7 key sequence?

 

[DaveIN]

No sir, no recall switch combo.

 

[epbernstein]

Oh well--it's really handy on the 396. At least I didn't miss something obvious...

 

[dbrown2]

Help,
I am able to to get the flashing green and red display. I then wait for my display to appear as normal and after the copywrite screen and such and press the function knob and while the F is flashing I press the vol knob once. I then get the following at the bottom of my screen.

AGC=0 Vol=0 ANA Res Time: +0 I can adjust the +0 number down to -4 and up to +6. But I don't see the words "P25 RES TIME" anywhere.

------

Here is the procedure for tweaking AGC for P25 Reference
Gain and P25 Res Time for the BCD996T.

1. Power on the 996T while pressing the HOLD/RESUME button. The display will rapidly flash between red and green. The display will then appear as normal.
2. Press in the function knob. WHILE THE F IS FLASHING IN THE UPPER LEFT OF THE DISPLAY, press the volume knob ONCE.
3. The text "P25 RES TIME" appears in the bottom line of the display, with +0 next to it.
4. Rotate the scroll knob to adjust the setting. -7 was the recommended setting for the 396T.
5. Once set to the desired level, press the scroll knob.
6. Press the scroll knob again, and while the F is flashing, rotate the knob. P25 REF GAIN now appears, also with a +0 to the right of it.
7. Rotate the scroll knob to adjust the setting. +3 was the recommended setting for the 396T.
8. Once set to the desired level, press the scroll knob.

 

[dbrown2]

Never mind it helps to have Digital turned on.

 

[2112]

Hi, Paul...

Is there any chance that the silver "trim ring" on the front face of the radio will ever be issued in a different color... perhaps black or charcoal? I'm concerned that the current, bright silver color on the front face will cause the scanner to stand out too much in a dark-colored vehicle interior, making it more attractive to theft.

Is this something that can be engineered to be easily interchangeable by users to give them a choice?

Please excuse my ignorance if these issues have been discussed before.

Many thanks again. :-D

 

[djbrane]

My wife bought me one for Father's Day from USAscan. Ordered it Wednesday afternoon, was at the house by UPS before noon on Thursday.
Too bad I haven't had any time to actually play with it yet.

What a Father's Day present, my wife is so wonderful!!!

 

[UPMan]

Is there an equivalent feature in the 996 to the "RCL" feature in the 396 that is accessed by the FCN-7 key sequence?

Actually, I (and others) found that RCL is generally slower than:
HOLD
F+SCROLL to the system
SCROLL to the channel
So I took out the function to utilize the button for other things...

 

[UPMan]

Is there any chance that the silver "trim ring" on the front face of the radio will ever be issued in a different color... perhaps black or charcoal?

I suppose that, once the BCT15 comes out, you could order the equivalent part from it (both models are shot from the same tool) and swap pieces. Having disassembled more than one of these in the past, I can tell you that it is not for the faint of heart (and normal warranty disclaimers would certainly apply...).

 

[dfw1417]

Knob color

I guess if you use the knob enough the silver coating will wear off and it will then become black, I have seen this happen on other coated knobs similiar to this type.

 

[ruarc]

missing talkgroups!?

OK, boys and girls, I HAVE a problem, a BIG problem!

I'd just been playing with my 996, not using it to scan seriously.

Today, I set it up to scan only the San Diego Fire Dept., and got NOTHING.

Using the program, I did 'scanner view', and found that almost HALF the systems I'd set up show NO talkgroups in the radio!
I checked the datafiles, and they DO show everything.
I erased everything, reprogrammed, re-read the radio, and STILL missing talkgroups on 7 of 17 systems.

Since I have another radio here, I checked it, and SAME thing.

Has anyone else seen anything like this??

 

[epbernstein]

Actually, I (and others) found that RCL is generally slower than:
HOLD
F+SCROLL to the system
SCROLL to the channel
So I took out the function to utilize the button for other things...

Fair enough, unless it's a trunked system where you have to scroll through a whole bunch of frequencies to get to the TGs. It was nice to be able to go to system -> group -> channel.

But I'll live...

Thanks for getting back to me--that's the most valuable thing.

 

[ruarc]

Well, THAT was 2+ hours I could have used for something better.

Damned 'leading zeroes' problem again.

WHY can't Uniden fix that?

And while I'm talking about fixing thngs, Uniden, the scroll button is too big, and/or too close to the 6 and 9 buttons, for those of us with bigger than pencil-sized fingers. AND the scroll button should have ridges on the FRONT, as well as on the sides; when you're programming by hand, it's much easier to use the front of it, IF it doesn't slip under your finger.

 

[garys]

Well, THAT was 2+ hours I could have used for something better.

Damned 'leading zeroes' problem again.

WHY can't Uniden fix that?

I had the same problem with one Group on the Conn. State Police system. All of the others seem to have programmed correctly, but it took me three tries to get this Group to "take" during programming.

Two other things I 've found. It seems that trunked systems can't be added to start up buttons if you are hand programming. UASD has the set up activated for trunked systems, but I don't know if it actually works or not.

Also, there doesn't seem to be a MUTE function. Again, if there is, I can't find it.

Gary

 

[K9GTJ]

UASD software crashes...

I am using the online monitor and in the extended mode to do logging. (It seems the preprogrammed SAFE-T system for Indiana isn't correct so I am sorrting that out.) Anyway, I come up with "Out of Bounds" errors. That sucks as anything I have logged up to that point is lost. (I have tried twice to let it run unattended and came back hours later with that error message.)

Any thoughts?

Also, I wisded I could log to an access database or even a flat text file so I don't lose everything when it crashes. That seems like an easy option to put in.

Also, I wished a USB cable was included rather than a serial cable. That seems so backwards to me. My new laptops don't have a serial port. I had to break out a 4 year old laptop to run the software.

 

[STiMULi]

Also, I wished a USB cable was included rather than a serial cable. That seems so backwards to me. My new laptops don't have a serial port. I had to break out a 4 year old laptop to run the software.

You know why frogs wished they had wings?

By shipping the serial cable they made it where you can buy (almost) any serial to USB converter and have both. Plus it would make it more expensive for those of us that already have the adapter.

 

[DaveIN]

UASD software crashes...

I am using the online monitor and in the extended mode to do logging. (It seems the preprogrammed SAFE-T system for Indiana isn't correct so I am sorrting that out.) Anyway, I come up with "Out of Bounds" errors. That sucks as anything I have logged up to that point is lost. (I have tried twice to let it run unattended and came back hours later with that error message.)

Any thoughts?

Sounds like you tried to upload a UASD file that included more than the allowed talkgroups. If you want all the talkgroups for the SAFE-T system then yoou would need to do multiple systems with the same tower and dfferent talkgroups.

As for the SAFE-T data, I think it all came from the Radio Reference database, so if it is incorrect for you area, please submit the correct data to the database.

 

[K9GTJ]

Sounds like you tried to upload a UASD file that included more than the allowed talkgroups. If you want all the talkgroups for the SAFE-T system then yoou would need to do multiple systems with the same tower and dfferent talkgroups.

As for the SAFE-T data, I think it all came from the Radio Reference database, so if it is incorrect for you area, please submit the correct data to the database.

I am using the included SAFE-T programming from Uniden. However, I made a copy and locked out most sites but my local sites to have a smaller scan. I was not receiving anything when I did that.

I discovered that some of my local counties only have one of the control frequencies programmed and the secondary control frequency is not programmed. So I went back and loaded the full listing and was just monitoring which ones were coming up on use.

It is when I am doing the extending logging I get an error. (See attachment)

It will work for a while but will crash and then cause me to lose all my collected data.

Also, I think that the RR database is fine. Only the Uniden preloaded data is incorrect.