plaws, we need a full report on your new 396XT

[rockhound]

You said it was arriving Thurs.

 

[crayon]

He hasn't opened it yet. It is still sitting on his desk and he stares at it for hours ...

 

[plaws]

He hasn't opened it yet. It is still sitting on his desk and he stares at it for hours ...

Close. Brown brought it yesterday but last night was testing night and I'm the team liaison, so I didn't get to open the box until about 2100 after the paperwork was done and the website was updated.

So far, I like it. If you've had a 396T, the changes are incremental. If you've never had a 'T, you'll be astounded.

No UASD yet, so I loaded it with Freescan. I'm taking advantage of the Site feature to consolidate some systems I had in multiple times.

One gotcha - when I hit "E" on a conventional channel to play with tone settings ... there was no tone settings menu. Turns out that channels can be set to Analog, Digital, or All. Unless it's set to Analog, you don't see the tone menu. Interesting. On the 'T, you will never decode P25 if you are set to tone search, so this is actual a logical thing.

Nice to be able to see the TGID (or freq) *and* the alpha tag at the same time.

Still learning - more later.

 

[plaws]

One gotcha - when I hit "E" on a conventional channel to play with tone settings ... there was no tone settings menu. Turns out that channels can be set to Analog, Digital, or All. Unless it's set to Analog, you don't see the tone menu. Interesting. On the 'T, you will never decode P25 if you are set to tone search, so this is actual a logical thing.

Nice to be able to see the TGID (or freq) *and* the alpha tag at the same time.

Still learning - more later.

I'm liking the temp lockout. I scan with my Yaesu FT-90R in the car and it has it - touch one button and the channel is skipped until you power-cycle. Same with the '396XT - touch L/O once and a channel is locked out until you power-cycle. Touch twice, and it's locked out until you unlock it manually.

I'm liking the negative delay. It's on the '780XLT and other mobile units, but AFAIK, Uniden has never had it in a hand-held. I can now set my cop systems for "-5" or "-10" and scanning resumes after that number of seconds has elapsed whether or not the coppers are still talking. Since, IMHO, 95% (or more) of copper's traffic is nonsense, it's perfect! YMMV.

Sites feature is good. If you have a '996T, you know what this is about. Each trunking system has one *or more* sites attached to it. So, for all the metro OKC FDs that I have in one bank, I have two Sites, Site 40 and Site 8. I don't use the GPS option, but it does look at both towers so that I don't miss anything.

And, I have the backlight color change to Red when the radio stops on a fire channel and Blue when it stops on the cops. Green on Close Call hits. Yes, I am a dork. Why do you ask? :lol:



So ... who wants a BCD396T? Got all the original packaging, all the original parts, original manual, etc. Labels on the front panel are a little worn. I'm on the waiting list at Uniden for a new front panel (they're only a couple bucks), but no word on delivery. All labels are still visible, but it's obvious that the radio is nearly 4 years old.

I'll even program it with whatever systems you'd like. Oh, and it has the latest firmware, but I've got all the others on disk so if you don't *want* the current version, and assuming you can flash back to the old versions, then I can do that, too.

Looks like you can still get brand new units on eBay, so let that guide your price thinking. If I can't sell it to you local yokels I plan to put it on eBay in a week or so.

PM if interested. Cash or PayPal only.

 

[rockhound]

Glad you are enjoying it! I would like to take the"T" off your hands but my betrothed thinks I have more than I can listen to at one time now. So I will have to part w/ some of my old ones b4 upgrading. I really hate it when uses undeniable logic and sound economics.

 

[plaws]

Fs: Bcd396t

So ... who wants a BCD396T? Got all the original packaging, all the original parts, original manual, etc. Labels on the front panel are a little worn. I'm on the waiting list at Uniden for a new front panel (they're only a couple bucks), but no word on delivery. All labels are still visible, but it's obvious that the radio is nearly 4 years old.

I'll even program it with whatever systems you'd like. Oh, and it has the latest firmware, but I've got all the others on disk so if you don't *want* the current version, and assuming you can flash back to the old versions, then I can do that, too.

Looks like you can still get brand new units on eBay, so let that guide your price thinking. If I can't sell it to you local yokels I plan to put it on eBay in a week or so.

PM if interested. Cash or PayPal only.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Goes on eBay this weekend but would rather sell locally and deliver rather than deal with shipping.