Pro-96 or BCD396T

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jim293

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I have a Pro-96 and a friend of mine is interested in buying the Uniden BCD396T. His thing is he does not like the way the Pro-96 has the V folders and you cannot load all 5500 channels in the scanner if you wanted to do so. His problem with that is everytime I load something in the V folders I lose all the info that was in the main memory. I told him that is what the Win 96 program is for is to keep track of what you put in with out losing all of the info I put in. He was wondering if the BCD396T is similiar to the Pro 96 with its folders or diffrent. Thanks.
 

hiegtx

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The 396 has dynamic memory; it does not use banks or V-folders. You can create a 'system' for each trunked radio system you want to monitor, and then program up to 200 talkgroups for that 'system'. There is a limit of 400 systems.
Similarly, you can also create a conventional 'system' for those agencies that are not trunked.
'Systems', whether for a TRS' or conventional channels can be further organized by subdividing them into up to 20 groups. You can turn systems on & off with quick-keys, of which there are 100 available for use. More than one system can be assigned to a quick key. Similarly, there are 10 group quick keys that can be used within each system. Again, more than one group in the system can be assigned to the same key.

I generally keep 30+ active trunked systems loaded in my 396. A scanner with banks cannot scan that many, regardless of whether it is Uniden or GRE/Radio Shack. For conventional stsyems, I organize them by agencies for the larger cities (Dallas), then by city (medium size non-trunked) or county, or groups of counties (sparsely populated rural areas).

Remember that the '6000 channel' limit includes programmed frequencies, including conventional channels and control channels, as well as saved close call & search hits, etc. It also includes talkgroups in the trunked systems.

Your friend might also want to download & look at the 396 owner's manual for more information. Also, Uniden's software for the 396 is free. He can download it here. Then, by looking at some of the pre-programmed systems, this may make more sense to him. You do not have to have the scanner hooked up to run the software. When I ordered my 396, I downloaded the software & created my system files. That way, when the scanner arrived, all I had to do was plug in the programming cable, load, & go.
 

fmon

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jim293 said:
Thank you. I am sure he will go the uniden.
Ask your friend if they intend to scan 5500 freqs at one time, or 6000 using the 396? The V-Scanner scratch pad (.) is normally used for uploading the current working folder prior to downloading one of the other 10 folders.

Depending on the area your friend is scanning, read the recent comments regarding the free down-loadable DSP 1.3 upgrade on the Pro-96. People with both the 96 and 396 are stating the 96 is walking all over the 396 in reception of many digital coms with this upgrade.

Edit: I just looked up Yucaipa and found that all systems in the county are analog Smartnet II. Thus either scanner should work will. However, San Bernardino County fully programmed will task both to limits. Should be fun...:wink:
 
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loumaag

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jim293 said:
... His problem with that is everytime I load something in the V folders I lose all the info that was in the main memory. ...
A little off topic and really the wrong forum, but I have to ask. Why are you not saving main memory to the appropriate V-Folder (or scratch) before you load a new one into main memory?

And just to set the record straight, I much prefer the fact that I can directly access any of the 100 SQK's on my 396T than what I have to go through with my 96/2096 to change to a different V-Folder. :D
 

jim293

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Well I do save my main memory to a V- folder. I am using the Win 96 program. I normally monitor San Bernardino county but there are times that I go into the Riverside County V- folder. And that is what he does not like. If he wanted to pull up something he would have to go into the Win 96 and pull it up that way. Like you said it is just easier acess with the uniden.
 

loumaag

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jim293 said:
Well I do save my main memory to a V- folder. I am using the Win 96 program. I normally monitor San Bernardino county but there are times that I go into the Riverside County V- folder. And that is what he does not like. If he wanted to pull up something he would have to go into the Win 96 and pull it up that way. Like you said it is just easier acess with the uniden.
Jim,
Win96 has nothing to do with V-Folders, they are on your radio, not in Win96. Yes you can access the V-Folders on your radio with Win96 when your PC is connected to the radio. But Win96 has nothing to do with the transfer of a V-Folder into or out of main memory. Terminology is the key to everything, when you are working in Win96 (changing channels, setting settings, etc.) you are working with a Template. Such templates are either loaded from files on your disk or you can download them from the radio. The radio, whether it is connected to your computer or not has Main Memory and a set of 10 V-Folders and an extra V-Folder (scratch).

Sorry to drift on this OT subject, but too many people think that programming software has something to do with the V-Folders on this radio and it does not, the folders exist on radios that have never seen an interface cable.
 

scnnr

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Jim ,

The very first thing you should do once you have your pro96 programmed up for the systems that you normally bank is store it in the scaratch pad "." the delay or decimal key.

while scanning the system you normally scan press

PROG >FUNC > PROG

It should now say V-Scanner

Press 1-Save

Where is says save to press the decimal "." or delay key

press enter then enter again to confirm

You should see it saving to the scratch pad. "." In Win 96 this is v folder 10

When it is finished saving press enter then CLR to exit or 2 if you wish to load another folder

When you press clear it may reboot to the control channel, just press scan to go.

Sorry Lou, if we are getting off topic.

Randy
 

ampulman

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jim293 said:
I have a Pro-96 and a friend of mine is interested in buying the Uniden BCD396T. His thing is he does not like the way the Pro-96 has the V folders and you cannot load all 5500 channels in the scanner if you wanted to do so. His problem with that is everytime I load something in the V folders I lose all the info that was in the main memory. I told him that is what the Win 96 program is for is to keep track of what you put in with out losing all of the info I put in. He was wondering if the BCD396T is similiar to the Pro 96 with its folders or diffrent. Thanks.

I owned a PRO-96 but returned it. The secret to your problem is to save your current memory to the scratch pad (I think it was "#") then load your V-folder. When you're finished with the V-folder, just load from "#" (no need to save your working memory to the V-folder).

I am expecting delivery of a 396 tomorrow.

Ampulman
 

ampulman

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hiegtx said:
You do not have to have the scanner hooked up to run the software. When I ordered my 396, I downloaded the software & created my system files. That way, when the scanner arrived, all I had to do was plug in the programming cable, load, & go.

Gee, I wish I new that--after much procrastination, my 396 will arrive tomorrow.

Ampulman
 

loumaag

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Just to set the record straight, the scratch pad is just another V-Folder. So saving your main memory to the "scratch pad" is saving it to a V-Folder.
 

scnnr

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loumaag said:
Just to set the record straight, the scratch pad is just another V-Folder. So saving your main memory to the "scratch pad" is saving it to a V-Folder.
Lou is right it is just another V FOLDER , It should be V folder 10 in Win 96.
When you open up Win 96 with the cable connected to the scanner, click on scanner/ Virtual scanner/ then on Refresh, when they all load up folder number 10 is what is in your scratch pad on the scannner " . " In other words the decimal-delay key. If nothing shows up in Folder 10 then you have not saved anything to the scratch pad yet.

Wheeeew. :wink:
 

DaveIN

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ampulman said:
I owned a PRO-96 but returned it. The secret to your problem is to save your current memory to the scratch pad (I think it was "#") then load your V-folder. When you're finished with the V-folder, just load from "#" (no need to save your working memory to the V-folder).

I am expecting delivery of a 396 tomorrow.

Ampulman

Just curious, why did you return the PRO-96 and buy the 396?
 

ampulman

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DaveIN said:
Just curious, why did you return the PRO-96 and buy the 396?

I did respond to this question; guess it didn't make it through.

The reason was , my 96 became erratic in that it would not boot up (this after about 30 hours of use). Maybe it would boot up once in about 20 tries.

Coincidentally, in the Yahoo PRO-96 forum, there was a thread describing this symptom. One poster stated that RS informed him that it was a 'memory' problem and that the repair would cost over $300. Shortly after I developed the problem, the unit froze and would not boot at all.

RS had given me a replacement unit which I suspected was a 'retread'. It had a problem with the squelch, so I returned it.
Two for two--not a good prospect for a long healthy life, so I called the deal off.

Even during the brief time that I enjoyed my 96, I had continued to read and research scanning, trunking, and units in general, I liked the features, and programming ease of the 396, so the decision was made.

While both manuals could use some help, the 396, being menu-driven, is easier and more straight-forward to program/operate right out of the box.

AM
 

DaveIN

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ampulman said:
RS had given me a replacement unit which I suspected was a 'retread'. It had a problem with the squelch, so I returned it.
Two for two--not a good prospect for a long healthy life, so I called the deal off.

I didn't have the memory problem, but I also had two PRO-96's in a row with the same squelch problem. The 396 works great here.
 
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