Recording conversations

[altec]

I'm new at recording conversations on the scanner. I have a bcd396t and would like to record the 10 codes being said on the scanner. I tried the bcd396t advanced virtual control and the audio sounded very poor and I could not tell what they were saying. Any good programs on recording this on scanners? Thanks

 

[Skud]

IDtracker is a good one that I use. If you need to record different systems(or banks in the old style scanners) that you like to listen to in order by time I would use Scanner Recorder instead of IDtracker. Otherwise if you only listen to one bank/system.

As an example, if you have a trunked system and then a conventional system, IDtracker cannot record both to 1 file. So you would have two files, and you would have to listen to the traffic on the trunked system and then listen to the conventional one instead of hearing all the traffic in order.

I record our states P25 system that the county uses, but the county fire is on the old VHF radios and I would like to be able to hear the traffic in order but idtracker cannot do this so at this time I only record the P25 trunked system and choose not to hear the fire traffic.

Below is links to both. And both are free.


IDtrackerII
http://bellsouthpwp.net/k/d/kd5eis/IDTracker/IDTracker.htm

Scanner Recorder
http://www.davee.com/scanrec/

 

[ka3jjz]

It's far more likely that there's an issue with the connection, rather than the program. It would be helpful if you would add some detail to 'audio sounded very poor'. Is it distorted? Too high? Too low? Is there a hum on the signal? Are you using a laptop? Did you try using another input (some have seperate line in or mic in jacks)? Some laptops require an attenuating patch cord (RS has them, among others) to cut the levels to the PC. More details, please.

You may need to go into the volume controls for your soundcard (some systems place a speaker in the System Tray. Double click it and see what you get...). You may need to go into Control Panel to access the Sounds icon. Fooling around with the levels may work. Lock onto your local NWS station - something that has constant audio is what you need. If you can play it through your PC with good clean audio you are halfway home. You may also need to adjust the volume on the 396. Some fooling around with the controls is more than likely needed here.

ID Tracker II is certainly one program (and very popular, as well as being free), as the other poster mentioned. There are several others - BCTool (although last I heard that one has a bug with recording that hasn't been addressed yet...), Scan Control, the pro version of ARC396, ProScan and Trunkstar. All of these are linked on the 396 wiki article (note anything in blue or underlined is a link).

73 Mike