Please Help.

[d9a3k]

I've searched and searched and searched, I'm ready to pull my hair out. Can you please tell me how to input these frequency's { Springdale (Troop L)* 866.58750c 866.83750a 867.68750 867.93750 868.21250 } onto my BCD396T, I got this nearly 2 years ago and still have not figured it out. Yes I said 2 years. I did not want to ask for help because almost everytime I see someone asking for help they get shot down and told to read the forums. Well I can honestly say I have and still have no luck. Please help me out.

 

[Kennrth]

The new generation of scanners use dynamic memory access. I'm much to busy to attempted to manually enter much of anything into these radios. It's a long process and difficult using the radios menus. . My scanners are connected to my computer using the rs232 cables supplied. I use software to organize the memory. FreeScan is free. I took a subscription to Radio Reference and download 90% of whats in my scanner from here from there database. I download from Radio Reference organize it with quick keys and upload to my radio. I save these profiles so I can always upload later.
One mistaken keypress can screw the operation of this radio pretty good. Rather than spending days trying to fix this. I reconnect to my computer and reload my settings . Radio back up and running in 20 minutes.
I haven't used the USB port - it can be problematic. The radio is not USB compliant - Needs special USB-1 cable designed for this radio and usb drivers from uniden. I suspect the new generation will be truely usb compliant. But not now.

Sorry but this is the type of Scanner you have.
The memory is dynamically organized. No Banks anymore. You have to create Systems, And what type of system, there are several. Conventional system is the most straight forward. There are Trunk System types which are many and technical. Without specific information about a specific trunk system it can not be set up properly. Groups have to be created under the system where the frequency is entered with many of it's attrubutes. In the Radio Reference Database it all done for you.

To enter frequency you need to know what system to put them in and under what group. I personally would never consider trying to do this inthe radios menu controls. Lifes too short.

 

[davidmc36]

Have you tried this? Some find them helpful cause they are written in a manner that is eaiser to understand.

 

[gray6077]

Do you use software?

I use FreeScan to program my 396XT and I"ve got Shell Lake (Troop D), Lake City (Troop C), and Jonesboro (Troop C) in mine. It's free and simple to use. Post on Arkansas forum as well for additional assistance. I have programmed it manually (just to know how to do it) but I am at work and don't have the scanner (so as to describe the steps).

 

[d9a3k]

Hooking it to my computer would be great if I had somewhere to hook it. My computer is on of them small ones and does not have a place to hook my scanner into. I thing ill just sell it and get one more user friendly.

 

[mikemsu1]

you mean a netbook? You CAN get a USB capable scanner cable and use that with freeSCAN and your 396T. I'm typing on a netbook right now and it absolutely has a USB port. Any computer made in the last 10 yrs has a USB port. It is going to take just a little effort and want on your part to get everything together and program it but IT IS well worth it and you'll enjoy hours of scanning entertainment once you do. You won't be disappointed if you do and you'll learn a great deal in the process. No one is shooting you down here...this is a great place with a lot of people willing to help.

 

[d9a3k]

Yes my computer has USB ports, Just nothing that will hook to the cable that came with my scanner. I had a premium member ship on here and used a scanner software with my old PC and had no luck there either. I have the want and will to do it. I just dont understand it enough to figure it out I guess. Ill figure it out someday........

 

[rmiller818]

Yes my computer has USB ports, Just nothing that will hook to the cable that came with my scanner. I had a premium member ship on here and used a scanner software with my old PC and had no luck there either. I have the want and will to do it. I just dont understand it enough to figure it out I guess. Ill figure it out someday........

You could also get a USB to Serial converter, many members on here have reported success with that.

 

[rvictor]

Yes my computer has USB ports, Just nothing that will hook to the cable that came with my scanner. I had a premium member ship on here and used a scanner software with my old PC and had no luck there either. I have the want and will to do it. I just dont understand it enough to figure it out I guess. Ill figure it out someday........

The scanner comes with a serial cable. Many newer computers don't have a serial port. In that case one needs either a serial to USB adapter or the Uniden USB-1 cable which has the adapter built into the cable. In either case one needs to install the appropriate driver for the adapter or USB-1 cable before attaching the adapter or cable.

Once you've done that, you should be able to get software such as FreeScan to communicate with the scanner. You can then use your premium membership to download the systems that you want from the RR database into FreeScan. You can organize them the way you want them, assign them appropriate quick keys, and upload them to your scanner.

Start by getting the appropriate adapter or cable, installing the drivers, and getting the scanner and computer communicating. Stop back for further help if you run into a problem. Once you've got that working, we can help you with the next step of getting the data from the database into FreeScan.

BTW, although the 396T is complex due to its flexibility and capabilities, it isn't significantly more so than other scanners with similiar capabilities so changing scanners isn't really going to solve your problem.

Dick