Plunge: 396XT

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sammyjenkis

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Dec 5, 2006
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23
Location
Erie, CO
Hello Uniden folks:

I currently own a PRO-96 that has had display problems and I was leery of Radio Shack products in the first place. I've had it fixed once and don't want to sink any more money into this unit.

So, I'm considering the 396XT and it seems like a great scanner.

I do have a couple questions:
-Is there Uniden or third-party software to assist programming?
-Will this unit decode the 700 MHz systems?

Thanks,
Sammy
 

KE4ZNR

Radio Geek
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Joined
Jan 21, 2002
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7,254
Location
Raleigh, NC
Hello Uniden folks:

I currently own a PRO-96 that has had display problems and I was leery of Radio Shack products in the first place. I've had it fixed once and don't want to sink any more money into this unit.

So, I'm considering the 396XT and it seems like a great scanner.

I do have a couple questions:
-Is there Uniden or third-party software to assist programming?
-Will this unit decode the 700 MHz systems?

Thanks,
Sammy

--Yes there are several software packages available including Freescan which is Free! And the radio will come with a programming cable (unlike Radio Shack scanners) so all you need is a computer :)

--Yes it will work on 700Mhz.

You won't regret buying the 396XT
Marshall KE4ZNR
 

QRFactual

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Jan 11, 2009
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Massachusetts
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

I have owned alot of scanners over the years and Uniden has definately been the best! Uniden listens to their consumers and trys to please us. Their scanners are only getting better with each new model, and I LOVE my 396xt.
 

Brebuck

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Joined
Jan 13, 2007
Messages
97
Location
Elwood, IN
Yay! bcd396xt !

Aftre initial trepidation with the overwhelmimg capapabitities with poor documentation, freescan, RR and all the kind member assiseance,the bcd396xt reeally rocks and is my fanorite possession and likely the best out there.
 

jclarkr6

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Joined
Dec 12, 2007
Messages
155
Location
Coles County, Illinois
BCD396XT Highly Recommended

The BCD396XT was my first digital scanner and I was really impressed with how well it performed. I use FreeScan (which is free!) whenever I feel the need to use software to program the scanner. However, since the only computer I own is a Mac, I do most of the programming by hand. The menu layout of the 396XT and the DMA layout might be a little overwhelming at first, but it didn't take me long to figure out what I was doing. There are also some hidden menu items that are difficult to find (press hold while powering up the scanner to unlock important P25 settings), but those are discussed elsewhere in the Uniden Scanners forum. As others have mentioned, the 396XT can also monitor 700 MHz systems. I would highly recommend the BCD396XT!
 

KE4ZNR

Radio Geek
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 21, 2002
Messages
7,254
Location
Raleigh, NC
Well I like the 396 because it is portable. But I was wondering if the 996 had more features.

Only minor differences between the 396XT & 996XT:
--996XT has upside down display capability
--996XT has record out.
Other than that the 2 radios have the same features..just one is a handheld and the other a base/mobile.
Marshall KE4ZNR
 

MarkWestin

Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2005
Messages
659
Location
Caribou, Maine
The only other added feature that I can think of that the 996XT has that the 396XT does not is two serial ports on the 996XT and only one serial port on the 396XT. This allows the 996XT to use both a GPS unit and a Remote Head at the same time as opposed to the 396Xt which can use either a GPS unit or a Remote Head, but not both at the same time.

Mark
 

randybcd396t

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jul 9, 2005
Messages
222
Location
Los Angeles
Hello Uniden folks:

I currently own a PRO-96 that has had display problems and I was leery of Radio Shack products in the first place. I've had it fixed once and don't want to sink any more money into this unit.

So, I'm considering the 396XT and it seems like a great scanner.

I do have a couple questions:
-Is there Uniden or third-party software to assist programming?
-Will this unit decode the 700 MHz systems?

Thanks,
Sammy

Did you decide to buy the BCD396XT? If you do you will not regret it. In my opinion this is the best portable scanner available.

If you get the BCD396XT you basically have 3 choices for software. ProScan, FreeScan, and ARC-XT. I have all 3 products myself. When I started with the BCD396XT I found each of these software packages had advantages over the other. I would switch back and forth depending on what I needed to do. Recently I find myself using ProScan almost exclusively. It has the best UI, it's the easiest to use, and has the most complete feature set. So this is what I would recommend you use. You can download all three products and decide for yourself.
 
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