996T Sloooow Scan/796D-996T Observations
I like my 996T and wish to keep it. It is a powerful fine scanner and I like its many features. I also have a 796D I like and also wish to keep. I use the ARC250 and ARC996T software for scanner files management. I have pre-amped tower mounted antennas and enjoy great ground wave coverage. I live in central Virginia. For some background..always the pioneer Virginia decided their present state police analog high band repeater and other govt. (i.e., forestry, game wardens, etc.) radio systems no longer were worthy and selected Motorola to bring them 21st Century communications. The Motorola solution was to install an APCO25 Smartzone vhf trs...yes, a vhf trs called "STARS". Only Alaska and possibly a couple of other states, if at all, have anything operational that are remotely close. The plan was to use existing state police repeater sites and add microwave links, TI lines, etc. for interoperability comms with selected cities, counties and all mandated state radio users and some present non-radio users....everything for everybody. It worked fine on paper and reality is some state entities (i.e., VDOT) backed out leaving STARS mostly as a state police radio system upgrade with about 20 other small volume state govt. users. After installation began, Motorola realized there were not enough current licensed 158-159 mhz. high vhf frequency allocations for STARS. Va. made an emergency license authorization request to the FCC for some additional 151-152 mhz. frequencies which was approved. About 1/2 of the Division 1 STARS first installation phase has been completed with 9 operational STARS sites. Presently VSP is simulcasting comms. on their two vhf analog repeaters with STARS so I have an instant comm. reception comparsion with one exception. I experience solid reception of 4 of the 9 STARS repeater sites. The STARS P25 audio signals are excellent except when the mobile doesn't fully access the repeater and the system ground wave coverage is very impressive. I recognize I will not be able to hear every STARS talkgroup due to various talkgroup/site affiliations.
Due to control channel incompatibity issues the 796D cannot properly track STARS in the trunked scan mode. It will receive the P25 transmissions fine in the conventional scan mode and decode them but the dispatcher/mobile comms are hit and miss depending on where the 796D stops in the scan cycle. The Pro96, 2096 and Uniden 396T and 996T are the only scanners proven so far to receive the STARS trs. I decided to get the 996T for obvious scanner feature reasons. Not wanting to have a bad programing experience like I did with the 796D using the Uniden supplied software...ugh!, I purchased the Butel ARC250 and then ARC996T. They are worth every penny of their reasonable cost for the ease of files management afforded. The first thing I did with the 996T was to delete all those 500+ preloaded trs that were using 94% of the scanner's memory. I create my own scanner files. The 996T MUST be programed as a "Motorola APCO25" option for it to properly scan the vhf STARS trs. A Motorola vhf type 2 option that requires bandplan entries cannot be used because STARS requires 6 bandplan table entries but the 796D and 996T allow only a maximum of 3 entries.
From initial reception I noticed the 996T was missing some comms I was hearing on the two simulcasted vhf analog repeaters. I tried changing various hold times even removing all trunked frequencies except the primary and alternate control channels. Currently 90% of all STARS talkgroups are repeated through the Richmond STARS site. I programed only one system file, one site level file and one talkgroup file and no quick key. With that system file being the only one loaded and scanning in the 996T it still missed some comms I should be hearing. Signal strength is not a problem. Watching the scan display (Mode 2) it seems the scanner is slow sometimes to lock onto a talkgroup. Other times when there is an analog repeater transmission the 996T misses the STARS simulcast totally. Other times it might pick part of a P25 transmission before the conversation ends. With only a few possible exceptions all mobiles inputs are repeated through the repeaters at initial call in. Usually if there is a scanner programing problem it is me doing wrong or failing to do something I should. The slow scan speed as expected is noticeably slower when in the ID search mode.
My 996T is performing as designed. I have concluded that's the way Uniden designed it and made it and live with it. There's nothing that can be done until possibly a 997T model with a faster microprocessor model is marketed. Please do not tell me my 966T scanner settings are incorrect. They are not. Close call and Wx are off. No hold times are above zero. Only one "barebones" system file with one site file are loaded with two control channel frequencies and selected for id scanning. I don't understand why Uniden used such a relatively slow microprocessor compared to other scanners with faster scan speeds. I guess it all bottom lines to a dollar sign. But now I always have the feeling I am missing some comms whether or not I actually am. Radio Shack digital scanners don't seem to have the problems Uniden scanners do with digital trs.
I have a few 796D/996T comparison observations that may be of interest. My 796D is more sensitive than my 996T. For example, using the same antenna system there are 2 additional STARS repeater sites that are below threshold on the 996T that the 796D locks on and decodes P25 comms. immediately in a conventional scan. The 996T does not detect them. Unfortunately the 796D is not selective and therefore suspectible to RF intermod primary from the 158.7000 mhz. paging and occasionally FMI and TVI. Conversely using the same antenna system the 996T is not bothered by these same signals. I have experienced only two 996T RFI situations that were not "killers". Other than that the 996T appears basically RFI "bulletproof". From visual observations I suspect but cannot prove that the 796D scan cycle is faster than the 996T. In my opinion, in the 996T some sensitivity was sacrificed for better selectivity and RF intermod reduction/rejection.
Maybe it is my imagination but I would swear the 800 mhz. trs scan faster than the STARS vhf trs on the 996T. Vhf and Uhf trs don't get the attention/documentation 800 mhz. trs do because vhf trs are smaller in number having "uniques" compared to 800 mhz. "standard" trs.
Last week I experienced much frustration during several days attempting to program the 996T's Search and Store feature for a system file. A 996T system level file requires minimally one site level file be created. Using the same previously discussed STARS file, whenever I made the necessary console entries, "Search For" and "Search and Store", aftering selecting the site file I received the "over limit" message. Per the manual this means the 256 maximum talkgroup number has been exceeded. After rereading the owner's manual many times and exhausting all various programing options I called Uniden Tech help. The tech was very helpful but after 1.5 hours on the phone testing on his 996T, he kept getting the same error message I got. He researched it and later informed me to change the maximum value to "255". I did and S&S feature worked fine. "256" for a maximum talkgroup default value is correct for Close Call but not for a system file S&S. S&S is expecting only one file level. However, by having to select the site level file this is interpreted by the scanner as entering talkgroup number 257 which is a no no. In my opinion this is a Uniden scanner design error or failure to document the two maximum talkgroup differences in the owner's manual. Additionally, subsequently reading Uniden group posts other users previously had experienced the same problem. Uniden techs should have had access to either a "known problems" log or "lessons learned" reference. I never thought to question the validity of the owner's manual's instructions or default values. Why should I? These problems should have been identified in beta testing. Minimally tech help should know about known scanner problems.
