PRO 96 OR BC 296

[toddnbarbie]

I am going to Dayton this weekend any last words or info on which scanner to buy. Any feed back would help.My main listening is Hamilton County in Cincinnati.Thanks for any info or suggestions.Hope to see all in Dayton. Todd

 

[mlevin]

What's in Dayton that everybody is talking about? BTW, I personaly prefer the pro96. AGC, and V-scanner are just two cool.

 

[rdale]

"I am going to Dayton this weekend any last words or info on which scanner to buy."

Nothing has really changed since the scanners were released - you can go through the forum here and find plenty of info on both...

 

[Dubbin]

What's in Dayton that everybody is talking about?

The Dayton Hamvention!!!!! The one place that you could find just about anything you can imagine. I'll be there looking for some new toys :mrgreen:

 

[mciupa]

Pro-96 for the V-folders and the AA batteries.

Have fun :!:

 

[4phun]

I am going to Dayton this weekend any last words or info on which scanner to buy. Any feed back would help.My main listening is Hamilton County in Cincinnati.Thanks for any info or suggestions.Hope to see all in Dayton. Todd

The PRO-96 is on sale - download coupon from Radio Shack Web site.
Use it and also open a new store credit account to pay for the scanner and it knocks $75 of the price.

When the bill comes in close the account.

 

[DaveNF2G]

If you're interested in monitoring digital systems with Trunker or similar software, then you should choose the BC-296 for its computer control feature.

 

[4phun]

If you're interested in monitoring digital systems with Trunker or similar software, then you should choose the BC-296 for its computer control feature.

I literally fell out of my chair laughing over the recommendation of buying a Uniden 296D instead of a PRO-96 just so one can run trunker.


As soon as I can get it together I will post as to why the recommendation of buying a 296D just to run trunker instantly struck me as being hilarious.

;>)

But here are some clues, in one sentence why do people run trunker (FREEWARE) in the first place?

What do you need to run trunker (no trunk tracking)?
What are the benefits you have in running trunker in this setup?


What do you need to run trunker and to trunktrack a Motorola system at the same time?
What do you need to run trunker AND to trunktrack a MOTOROLA APCO-25 DIGITAL SYSTEM at the same time?

What is the total cost off all the components for the above compared to the street price of about $427 to $450 for acquiring a PRO-96 DIGITAL SCANNER?

Does trunker provide any benefits with an EDACS system?

What do you need to decode an EDACS system control channel?
What do you need to decode an EDACS PRO-VOICE DIGITAL SYSTEM and how much does it cost?




Vic

 

[scanfan03]

why do people run trunker (FREEWARE) in the first place?

So you can log new talkgroups, system ids, radio ids, time talkgroups, find out the rest of the freqs, instead of just the control channel.

What do you need to run trunker (no trunk tracking)?

any scanner that will scan the 800 band and a discriminator tap with a data slicer, or you can get T4Win and run it without a data slicer.

What are the benefits you have in running trunker in this setup?

trunker can control the Uniden scanners only. when a new talkgroup pops up trunker will tell it to follow that talkgroup, or any other talkgroup you want it to follow.

What do you need to run trunker and to trunktrack a Motorola system at the same time?

the first part was answered above, the second part is a scanner capable of being computer controlled.

What do you need to run trunker AND to trunktrack a MOTOROLA APCO-25 DIGITAL SYSTEM at the same time?

BC250, 780, 785, 796, 296, and other stuff mentioned above.

What is the total cost off all the components for the above compared to the street price of about $427 to $450 for acquiring a PRO-96 DIGITAL SCANNER?

the software is free, all you need is the comp., a mono to mono cable to plug into the data slicer or mic in jack on comp. if useing T4Win. and a data slicer if useing trunker.

Does trunker provide any benefits with an EDACS system?

T4Win does.

What do you need to decode an EDACS system control channel?

etrunker or T4Win

What do you need to decode an EDACS PRO-VOICE DIGITAL SYSTEM and how much does it cost?

I think etrunker will, but not sure.

 

[DaveNF2G]

But here are some clues, in one sentence why do people run trunker (FREEWARE) in the first place?

Because it does things the scanner won't do.

Priority tracking of talkgroups.

Individual unit IDs.

Priority tracking of individual units.

I-calls.

What is the total cost off all the components for the above compared to the street price of about $427 to $450 for acquiring a PRO-96 DIGITAL SCANNER?

If you already own a computer (which anyone participating in this forum probably does) and have a scanner already for the discriminator tap, then about $30 worth of parts and some time, or about $70 for an assembled slicer, and as you mentioned, Trunker is FREE.

Does trunker provide any benefits with an EDACS system?

Been out of the loop for a while? There has been an EDACS version of Trunker for quite some time. Not to mention a beta version that does all of the LTR flavors, including MultiNet (no scanners currently being manufactured will do that).

What do you need to decode an EDACS system control channel?
What do you need to decode an EDACS PRO-VOICE DIGITAL SYSTEM and how much does it cost?

Answer to question 1 - the same things you need to decode a Motorola control channel.

Answer to question 2 - a professional EDACS ProVoice transceiver. ProVoice is not APCO-25 compliant and cannot be decoded with any existing scanner.

Any more silly questions?

 

[kikito]

What do you need to run trunker (no trunk tracking)?

any scanner that will scan the 800 band and a discriminator tap with a data slicer, or you can get T4Win and run it without a data slicer.

You need an 800MHz scanner if the system is 800, there's a lot of 400 and VHF systems out there also.

What do you need to run trunker AND to trunktrack a MOTOROLA APCO-25 DIGITAL SYSTEM at the same time?

BC250, 780, 785, 796, 296, and other stuff mentioned above.

If it's a Full APCO25 system (9600 baud) then you're out of luck at the moment....

 

[4phun]

why do people run trunker (FREEWARE) in the first place?

So you can log new talkgroups, system ids, radio ids, time talkgroups, find out the rest of the freqs, instead of just the control channel.

This is a reasonably accurate answer to the first question, at least it is all in one sentence which shows you thought about it.

Scanfan, perhaps it would be better to ask

1. Why would anyone want to “log new talkgroups”?

2. Why would anyone want to “log system ids”?

3. Why would anyone want to “log radio ids”?

4. Why would anyone want to “time talkgroups”?

5. Why would anyone want to “find the rest of the frequencies instead of the control channel?”

Out of all of the above which is the most important “find” when running Trunker and why?
Clue it is in the documentation to trunker and you can not find it without trunker or similar software while monitoring a new trunking system.

Ki4je

 

[kg4icg]

I guess some people forgot that you can do a trunk search in the 800 and 900 mhz fequencies on the bc296/bc796 to find new control channels and tg's with out hooking it up to a computer and openning up the radio's to find the discriminator circuit, but oh well who am i to say anything, just adding my 2 cents. If you want ease of programming go with the Pro96. If you want computer control capabilities go with the bc296. I-Call funtion on the bearcats don't make it a better radio just because it's attaching a 6 digit number to radio's that isn't going thru a dispatcher, by the way i have the pro96 and the bc796d. Oh by the way i use id tracker to log new tg's when in trunk search mode.

R. Collins

 

[4phun]

What do you need to run trunker AND to trunktrack a MOTOROLA APCO-25 DIGITAL SYSTEM at the same time?

BC250, 780, 785, 796, 296, and other stuff mentioned above.

If it's a Full APCO25 system (9600 baud) then you're out of luck at the moment....

"If it's a Full APCO25 system (9600 baud) then you're out of luck at the moment..." only if you opted for a Uniden Digital Scanner!


There is a special mode built into the PRO-96 Digital Scanner that allows the radio to be used as a P25 9600 bps control channel data decoder so that the 9600 bps control channel data stream can be analyzed using a PC.

PRO-96 Control Channel Decoding - The Details
http://www.radioreference.com/modul...p;postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

 

[kikito]

There is a special mode built into the PRO-96 Digital Scanner that allows the radio to be used as a P25 9600 bps control channel data decoder so that the 9600 bps control channel data stream can be analyzed using a PC.

PRO-96 Control Channel Decoding - The Details
http://www.radioreference.com/modul...p;postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

That's true about the potential capabilities of the Pro-96, but nobody has developed anything yet to take advantage of it. It's a feature that looks VERY promising but nothing yet....

 

[kikito]

By the way, anybody downloaded and used the latest version(1.31) of Win96 yet?

I noticed under the Scanner menu there is a grayed-out choice of "Monitor". Any guesses as to what is for????

 

[b7spectra]

One would really need to run Trunker before they trash it. Why would someone want to track new trunk groups?????? How else does anyone find out the new ones? Also, tracking radio ID's is something that a lot of people like to do. I've got friends that work for an agency in a TRS, and you can actually set it up so that every time they key up, a beep sounds so you can listen to them, and them only! Also, it can be set up to record as well!

Run Trunker before you trash it.

 

[4phun]

One would really need to run Trunker before they trash it. Why would someone want to track new trunk groups?????? How else does anyone find out the new ones? Also, tracking radio ID's is something that a lot of people like to do. I've got friends that work for an agency in a TRS, and you can actually set it up so that every time they key up, a beep sounds so you can listen to them, and them only! Also, it can be set up to record as well!

Run Trunker before you trash it.

I don't think anyone is trashing trunker. It is a valuable program. The PRO-96 though has the most valuable features of trunker and etrunker built into it and you don't need an external computer to make it work.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves, no one has identified the most valuable featuers of trunker and why they are of such value. What you mentioned Mike is of limited interest to most people and it doesn't come close to being the make or break feature from trunker.

 

[scanfan03]

1. Why would anyone want to “log new talkgroups”?
3. Why would anyone want to “log radio ids”?

for fun (radio id's)

If the agency you want to monitor changes talkgroups, and you don't know what it is, usually the radio ID's stay the same, so when the unit or dispatcher keys up on the new talkgroup you will see their ID, because you can put text tags on the radio ids and talkgroups.

2. Why would anyone want to “log system ids”?

You need the system id to program a two-way.

4. Why would anyone want to “time talkgroups”?

So you can tell how much it talks. And also for fun.

5. Why would anyone want to “find the rest of the frequencies instead of the control channel?”

well obviously if you have the control channel, then you know that freq. but if you have a Pro-92 or something, you need all of the freqs. on that system. If there are multiple sites or systems in your area, then you can find out the rest of the freqs. on the system (the voice freqs.).

Out of all of the above which is the most important “find” when running Trunker and why?

depends on what you need or want.

 

[K7TKR]

I am going to Dayton this weekend any last words or info on which scanner to buy. Any feed back would help.My main listening is Hamilton County in Cincinnati.Thanks for any info or suggestions.Hope to see all in Dayton. Todd

I am not going to get into this "control software" debate and just attempt to answer your question.

I suppose it all depends on what you're willing to give and take in regard to features. Both offer APCO 9600 baud trunking (in the 96's case, you have to download the DSP update). There is programming software for both (although for the BC-296, it's included). And there are differences in how the data is displayed. I have the Pro-96 and I think it is in itself, more flexable than the BC-296.

If you research these boards, you'll see a lot of nit picking on both receivers. But I think you would probably be happy with eithor one.